How Much Do You Train?

[paulus]

Hi

I'm reading Bruce Lee's biography (by Bruce Thomas) and apparently in the early 1960's Bruce was training 40 hours a week. I find this both staggering and inspirational (assuming it's true). So I was wondering:

• how many hours a week do you train?
• are you happy with that, or do you wish you could train more?
• what stops you training more?
• what are the pros and cons? Just kidding

For me, I've just started training 1 hour a day. Although this isn't much, it's a big step up from the 10 - 15 minutes I was doing daily! I wish I could train more, but at the moment there are too many other demands on my time. I find that slotting one hour in a secluded room in the gym (no audience) before work is good for me. On top of that I go to 3 classes a week, each lasting one hour. That makes 10 hours a week. I couldn't find other posts asking this question, sorry if I've missed them.

What about you?

 

[Eru Ilúvatar]

Hi! I strongly sudgest reading The ao of Jeet kune do to any martial artist. For training inspirations and info I would also sudgest Bruce Lees fighting method which is a 4 volume collection. I liked it.

About your question; at this point in my life I train everyday for about an hour(some days less some days more). We also have a WC group at Thursdays and we meet up and do Chi sao, attack eachother and basicly just experiment with what works and what doesn't for each individual. What stops me from training more is school and to some degree(have to be honest) laysiness Not having a WC class or instructor doesn't help either!

what are the pros and cons? Just kidding

 

[profesormental]

As much as I can...

Also, since I take the lessons and learnings from the forums and readings to my training hall, I consider this part of the training and study.

 

[Eru Ilúvatar]

Same here... I also found out that if you want to explain something to someone you have to understand it that much better. Thats the main reason for me to be on a forum besides learning from all you experienced people!

 

[paulus]

Hi! I strongly sudgest reading The ao of Jeet kune do to any martial artist. For training inspirations and info I would also sudgest Bruce Lees fighting method which is a 4 volume collection. I liked it.

Thanks for the suggestion Eru. I actually got the Tao of JKD as a Christmas present so I'll read that one next and also have a look at the Fighting Method.

My biggest problem regarding training is time. I've already replaced my daily weight training routine with WC practice, I think the next thing to sacrifice is sleep

 

[Yoshiyahu]

Yea, I don't own Bruce Lee's books but at my county library they hold quite a few of them. I had borrowed the Tao and coulpe of Jun Fan's fighting method. The only one I have yet to glimpse at is the Wing Chun Book by Lee. I also suggest you get Jun Fan's book of Chinese Gung Fu. Very good read...

As for practice. I wish I could work out 8 hours a day...man that would be ideal. But between two jobs and a wife uninterested in gung fu it makes my time hard...I try to work out a little each day...On weekends when I am off work I try to dedicate two to four hours...

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

Paulus I work a 9-5 job.

My training is daily. I wake up at 5am and train till 7am.

I come home about 6pm and train till about 8pm

When I walk,When I take a shower,When I stand in line or anything I am doing I am practicing my stance,balance,footwork,timing.

As a Martial artist everything to me is training even work.

I mold my life around my Martial arts not the other way around.

 

[Yoshiyahu]

Jadecloud I love your regiment. Were you ever in Military?

Anyway I wish i could do more like you. What time at night do you go to sleep. I get off work at about 9pm...I go to my first job around 8pm. An get off my second job around 9pm...so I usually get home about 9:30pm...I wish I had the time you have...boy...

On breaks or down time at work and between work I try to work on forms and some drills. I work on stepping on elevators as I walk through the hallways. Some times I do dan chi sau while walking alone. But my major work out comes when I off on weekends friday-sunday. But at night I try to get an half hour in to an hour each day after work...Sometimes I just get sleep.

 

[paulus]

Paulus I work a 9-5 job.

My training is daily. I wake up at 5am and train till 7am.

I come home about 6pm and train till about 8pm

When I walk,When I take a shower,When I stand in line or anything I am doing I am practicing my stance,balance,footwork,timing.

As a Martial artist everything to me is training even work.

I mold my life around my Martial arts not the other way around.

I find your routine inspiring JadecloudAlchemist, thanks for that.

I have lots of other demands on my time that 'prevent' me from doing more but I'm looking at ways I can make more time. I often have trouble sleeping so one idea I've come up with is to go to bed an hour later than normal and do an hour of WC before bed. Killing 2 birds with one stone - I'll be getting more practice and also exhausting myself so I have no chouice but to sleep.

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

Were you ever in Military?

I went to reform school.

What time at night do you go to sleep.

Around 12 or so.

When I was in Japan at my Motherinlaw's house The bathroom was huge like a room. So I would sit for an hour or 2 just mediating under the shower head sort of like an indoor Misogi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Misogi

Finding creative ways to improve your training is a good thing.

Living in America we tend to waste so much time on unfullfilling things that we neglect the things that matter most.

 

[dungeonworks]

Hi

I'm reading Bruce Lee's biography (by Bruce Thomas) and apparently in the early 1960's Bruce was training 40 hours a week. I find this both staggering and inspirational (assuming it's true). So I was wondering:

• how many hours a week do you train?
• are you happy with that, or do you wish you could train more?
• what stops you training more?
• what are the pros and cons? Just kidding

For me, I've just started training 1 hour a day. Although this isn't much, it's a big step up from the 10 - 15 minutes I was doing daily! I wish I could train more, but at the moment there are too many other demands on my time. I find that slotting one hour in a secluded room in the gym (no audience) before work is good for me. On top of that I go to 3 classes a week, each lasting one hour. That makes 10 hours a week. I couldn't find other posts asking this question, sorry if I've missed them.

What about you?

Paulus, would that be "Fighting Spirit" by Bruce Thomas? Great book in my opinion. I didn't get the feeling that JKD politics messed it up and thought it to be pretty straight forward and hard to put down!

As far as training, I had a little hiatus for a month or so, but usually:

Wing Chun: Class twice a week for two hours each and anywhere from 20-60+ minutes a day on my own. Usually stepping, straight blasting, SNT, practicing simultaneous block and strike, stance work...ect. I am not at any advanced level of Wing Chun (yet) and stick to what Sifu show me in class.

Physical fittness: Run 3-6 miles 3-4 times per week in the spring, summer, and fall as well as Combat Conditioning workout (bodyweight excercises). I also "kickbox" train in my polebarn in the warmer months. That usually is one, 15 minute round on the heavy bag after 15 minutes jumping rope (40-50 beats a minute) using various styles (doubles, crosses, single leg...ect). Winter time here in Michigan USA limits my running ability, so I take that time to get fat and lazy and let the knees and ankles heal up.

 

[Xue Sheng]

how many hours a week do you train?

Not enough, There was a time when I could tell you I train 10 to 20 hours a week that was specifically training, nothing else. I did however then do something similar to what JadecloudAlchemist is doing. I looked for training opportunities everywhere and somewhere along the way I forgot that. And right now I am lucky if I get an hour a day sometimes 1.5 hours and IMO to do JUST the Yang Taijiquan training justice that should be at least 2 hours a day all by itself. Throw in Sanda and I am at another 30 minutes to an hour (and that is light) and add Xingyiquan and you got at least 30 minutes of just Santi and that does not include anything else. If I could get the damn state to pay me to stay home and train I'd be just fine.

But sadly to be honest these days I would say I am likely, at this point, at 8 to 10 hours a week. Which, IMO, is not enough.. particularly if we are talking ICMA

are you happy with that, or do you wish you could train more?

Not happy and wish I could train more. And actually I am getting up earlier in the morning to do just that and I have paired some things out of my training to give me more time to focus on other parts of my training and I have added a couple of things back in that I feel I need.

My only problem is that I start to miss certain aspects that I had to cut out.

what stops you training more?

A combination of things, Family obligations, Work obligations and sometimes just plain laziness at times. The last month it was sick kids and then a sick me.

I need to adopt the JadecloudAlchemist training mindset, thank you JadecloudAlchemist for your posts, they were quite helpful :asian:

I also need to finish building that striking post in my basement to cut down on the Cruelty to Trees protestors that hang out in front of my house

 

[Eru Ilúvatar]

Paulus, would that be "Fighting Spirit" by Bruce Thomas? Great book in my opinion. I didn't get the feeling that JKD politics messed it up and thought it to be pretty straight forward and hard to put down!

About stuff on Bruce Lee... Theres a great DVD out there called Bruce Lee: A warrior's journey and it focuses on him as a martial artist and his JKD. It includes rare tapes of him training, rare speeches dictated by him about JKD philosophy and what I liked a lot too was that it includes a never bofore shown/uncut(before the dvd;now you can probably find it on youtube) footage of Game of death. It has a diffrent story and more complete fights. It's interesting becouse it is said in the documentary that he intended this movie to be a "tutorial"(for a lack of a better term) on JKD but he died before finishing the movie so they changed the storyline, names, fightscenes... Well if you seen the movie you will probably agree that it sucks big times Also they guy that they replace Bruce with is never seen in the face for obvious reasons which makes the movie experience pretty lame in my opinion..

Dungeonworks, I read on a thread a while ago that your thinking about joining a JKD school. How did that go, if you don't mind me asking? And what kind of JKD school was it(JKD concepts/jun fan jkd or something else entirely)?

 

[paulus]

Paulus, would that be "Fighting Spirit" by Bruce Thomas? Great book in my opinion. I didn't get the feeling that JKD politics messed it up and thought it to be pretty straight forward and hard to put down!

It is indeed that book, and similarly I find it hard to put down too. When I read that he was doing 40 hours a week, that just blew me away! I was fortunate enough to get another couple of Bruce Lee books for Christmas so with those and the pointers I've got in this thread they should keep me going for a while.

Wing Chun: Class twice a week for two hours each and anywhere from 20-60+ minutes a day on my own. Usually stepping, straight blasting, SNT, practicing simultaneous block and strike, stance work...ect. I am not at any advanced level of Wing Chun (yet) and stick to what Sifu show me in class.

That sounds similar to what I'm doing. I'm very lucky to have a training partner close to where I work so two lunchtimes a week I get to train with him too.

And right now I am lucky if I get an hour a day sometimes 1.5 hours and IMO to do JUST the Yang Taijiquan training justice that should be at least 2 hours a day all by itself. Throw in Sanda and I am at another 30 minutes to an hour (and that is light) and add Xingyiquan and you got at least 30 minutes of just Santi and that does not include anything else.

I know what you mean. My sifu also teaches Chen and qigong, which I would love to do, but there are only so many hours a day. If I could clone myself...

I need to adopt the JadecloudAlchemist training mindset, thank you JadecloudAlchemist for your posts, they were quite helpful :asian:

I'll second that!

About stuff on Bruce Lee... Theres a great DVD out there called Bruce Lee: A warrior's journey and it focuses on him as a martial artist and his JKD. It includes rare tapes of him training, rare speeches dictated by him about JKD philosophy

I'll see if I can find that. I'd be interested in seeing any footage of him training. I've seen the 20 second wonders on youtube, but they always leave me wanting more!

Thanks for all the responses, they're really helpful

 

[paulus]

For training inspirations and info I would also sudgest Bruce Lees fighting method which is a 4 volume collection. I liked it.

From looking at the table of contents on Amazon, it looks like these books are training guides (they look good). Were you able to incorporate any of the exercises into your training Eru?

 

[myusername]

Looks like I am the lazy one of the forum! I find it very difficult to train outside of class time. I train my jujutsu twice a week (Mon & Thurs) and boxing once a week (Friday). I always do a couple of hours exercise on a saturday afternnoon, whether that be going for a run or playing badminton with my girlfriend and that is the lot I'm afraid to say!

I have a few of my chief instructor's DVD's which I do generally watch at least once a week as I feel it keeps the techniques fresh in my mind for the next session. I also spend a fair amount of time on this forum and searching out MA and self defence information on the web in my spare moments. I don't consider this training as such but it keeps my enthusiasm up!

I probably would train more if I were a single man! I would love to train in Kevin O'Hagan's MMA classes (tues, thurs & sun) as he no longer teaches my jujutsu classes any more but I think my partner would be a little unhappy if I was out training every night! I think it is bad enough for her that I am always talking about it! There is a cost issue too as another three training sessions would mean another £72 a month we can't really afford.

I often have trouble sleeping so one idea I've come up with is to go to bed an hour later than normal and do an hour of WC before bed. Killing 2 birds with one stone - I'll be getting more practice and also exhausting myself so I have no chouice but to sleep.

As an aside the mental health nurse in me can't resist offering you some advice! Doing any exercise immediately before bed is likely to increase your heart rate and give you a surge of adrenaline thus making you even more awake (even if you are physically exhausted!) It is very unlikely to be of any help overcoming your sleep problems. I know a lot of people can and do do exercise before bed and sleep perfectly well, but in general these people would not have problems getting off to sleep in the first place and it is more about routine than the exercise.

Tips for improved sleep would be to do relaxing things before bed, may be have a long bath or practice a breathing/meditation exercise (A simple one to try is just laying down and resting your hands on your belly and then slowly and deeply breathing in for three seconds and then out for three seconds, all the time just feeling your belly rise and fall with your breath).
Try and go to bed and get out of bed the same time each day. Stick to your routine wether you get enough sleep or not. No lazy lie ins!

Try and separate your wakeful day time activities from your night time activities so no watching TV or eating in bed. Indeed try and make your bedroom a low stimulus enviroment with minimal noise and light levels. This will help your brain know when it is meant to sleep and meant to be awake.

The most important thing is to try and not get frustrated when you can't sleep! (as a previous sufferer of insomnia I know how difficult this can be!) Thumping the pillow and getting angry just makes the problem worse, acceptence is the key so just go back to meditation/breathing exercises. If it is mind racing that is keeping you awake try setting some time earlier in the evening to sit with your feelings and write down your thoughts in a diary or perhaps write a list of what you need to accomplish tommorrow so that it doesn't all come rushing into your brain the moment you lay down at night.

Sorry about this digression but as I said I couldn't help myself! Hope this helps but like I said, in my experience, exercise immediately before bed is unlikely to help if you are having trouble getting off to sleep.

 

[Yoshiyahu]

Thank you for your post...I am glad you took the time to share with us...Sounds interesting...An yea..when I work out I have more energy?

I don't know how you do it Jade cloud...go to sleep around 12am and wake up at 5am...



Man thats crazy!

Looks like I am the lazy one of the forum! I find it very difficult to train outside of class time. I train my jujutsu twice a week (Mon & Thurs) and boxing once a week (Friday). I always do a couple of hours exercise on a saturday afternnoon, whether that be going for a run or playing badminton with my girlfriend and that is the lot I'm afraid to say!

I have a few of my chief instructor's DVD's which I do generally watch at least once a week as I feel it keeps the techniques fresh in my mind for the next session. I also spend a fair amount of time on this forum and searching out MA and self defence information on the web in my spare moments. I don't consider this training as such but it keeps my enthusiasm up!

I probably would train more if I were a single man! I would love to train in Kevin O'Hagan's MMA classes (tues, thurs & sun) as he no longer teaches my jujutsu classes any more but I think my partner would be a little unhappy if I was out training every night! I think it is bad enough for her that I am always talking about it! There is a cost issue too as another three training sessions would mean another £72 a month we can't really afford.



As an aside the mental health nurse in me can't resist offering you some advice! Doing any exercise immediately before bed is likely to increase your heart rate and give you a surge of adrenaline thus making you even more awake (even if you are physically exhausted!) It is very unlikely to be of any help overcoming your sleep problems. I know a lot of people can and do do exercise before bed and sleep perfectly well, but in general these people would not have problems getting off to sleep in the first place and it is more about routine than the exercise.

Tips for improved sleep would be to do relaxing things before bed, may be have a long bath or practice a breathing/meditation exercise (A simple one to try is just laying down and resting your hands on your belly and then slowly and deeply breathing in for three seconds and then out for three seconds, all the time just feeling your belly rise and fall with your breath).
Try and go to bed and get out of bed the same time each day. Stick to your routine wether you get enough sleep or not. No lazy lie ins!

Try and separate your wakeful day time activities from your night time activities so no watching TV or eating in bed. Indeed try and make your bedroom a low stimulus enviroment with minimal noise and light levels. This will help your brain know when it is meant to sleep and meant to be awake.

The most important thing is to try and not get frustrated when you can't sleep! (as a previous sufferer of insomnia I know how difficult this can be!) Thumping the pillow and getting angry just makes the problem worse, acceptence is the key so just go back to meditation/breathing exercises. If it is mind racing that is keeping you awake try setting some time earlier in the evening to sit with your feelings and write down your thoughts in a diary or perhaps write a list of what you need to accomplish tommorrow so that it doesn't all come rushing into your brain the moment you lay down at night.

Sorry about this digression but as I said I couldn't help myself! Hope this helps but like I said, in my experience, exercise immediately before bed is unlikely to help if you are having trouble getting off to sleep.

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

go to sleep around 12am and wake up at 5am...

Well mediation is a great benefit.

If the body is healthy it needs less sleep.

I want to make some clarifications concerning my training.

5am I am awake stretching,mediation,Qigong and practicing Santi.

6am-7am I am walking circle.

There is just no way I can sit in Santi for more than 15 mins or walk circle for 2hours at a time yet working on it though.

When I am taking a shower I also practice mediation,Zhan Zhuang,and prayer. If you have ever seen the Seinfeld were Kramer does everything in the shower kinda of like that.

When I get home around 6 or so I practice Santi again if my legs are not to sore. and Walk circle as well as other things.

My routine is not really set in stone some days I don't want to do anything but watch tv its normal. But I hope this shows I am human lol.

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

I wanted to also add a funny story about one of my teachers who drank pots of Gunpowder green tea.

He would go thru days without sleeping sometimes very jittery anyway
one day he was teaching class and I asked him about all the Green tea he drinks. I asked him if he has to pee alot. He said yea but thats my business and no concern to you.

So go ahead drink more tea if you need time to train.

 

[paulus]

Doing any exercise immediately before bed is likely to increase your heart rate and give you a surge of adrenaline thus making you even more awake (even if you are physically exhausted!)

Thanks for the advice, I'd not thought of that. In that case, I could still go to bed an hour later but do the Wing Chun practice earlier.