So I'm kind of confused what to do here.

[Juany118]

There is also the fact women like them.

All the above said, in this case you need to decide then, what are your priorities physically. Getting big, martial arts, or both. It could be from talking with your Sensei getting big will hurt the art you chose. Since you seem to really want to really excel at the Martial Arts as well it may mean you would be better served looking for a different art to study. Or maybe you really like the art you are taking but want to keep getting bigger so you may have to accept that you are limiting yourself when it comes to your art, even if only to a small degree. Only you can make these decisions though because we each set our own priorities.

 

[zanaffar]

Keep getting hyuge and pushing big numbers as long as you can! If you keep up with your martial arts training AND get swole in the process, you're going to be a scary dude! If I had the choice of running into someone who looked like Brock Lesnar, or someone who looked like Anderson Silva in a dark alley, you can bet your *** I'd have slightly better control of my bowels having met the latter. You can be quick, flexible, strong, and large as long as you keep your body fat levels in check.

I guarantee you that you won't get to the "immobile bodybuilder" levels without heavy use of PEDs, and even with those it's not guaranteed without having excellent genetics and spending hours upon hours lifting every day. So unless you hop on the gainz tren to HGHville, you're never going to get "too big" to still be excellent at martial arts.

 

[Juany118]

Keep getting hyuge and pushing big numbers as long as you can! If you keep up with your martial arts training AND get swole in the process, you're going to be a scary dude! If I had the choice of running into someone who looked like Brock Lesnar, or someone who looked like Anderson Silva in a dark alley, you can bet your *** I'd have slightly better control of my bowels having met the latter. You can be quick, flexible, strong, and large as long as you keep your body fat levels in check.

I guarantee you that you won't get to the "immobile bodybuilder" levels without heavy use of PEDs, and even with those it's not guaranteed without having excellent genetics and spending hours upon hours lifting every day. So unless you hop on the gainz tren to HGHville, you're never going to get "too big" to still be excellent at martial arts.

I don't think anyone is saying that getting bigger doesn't help. People are also not saying body builders are immobile. Thing is you only have so many hours in a week for training; martial arts, weights, cardio, does your art require more flexibility than others, what have you. Next you need to look at your Martial Art. If striking is involved in the art what muscles does it use? Here is an article about weights and boxing style punches How Can An Athlete Improve Their Punching Power? but that type of work out isn't universal. As an example Wing Chun uses different principles and then you get into arts like Tai Chi Chuan and Baguazhang etc that definitely throw punches in different ways. It can be because there is a lot of core rotation and "snapping" to power the punch as one example.

This is all before you run into the slow twitch vs fast twitch muscle fiber issue and there, just working on maxing out a particular lift works against punching because it's not raw strength that makes for a powerful punch. Simple weight lifting is mostly slow twitch. For a punch you need speed, some punching styles more than others, and that is fast twitch and that means, if you are using weights to cultivate the muscle, lifting weights that are heavy enough to put stress on the muscle fibers but also light enough to allow you to lift it explosively.

Now once you got your strength training out of the way, do you need extra flexibility? Also never forget cardio. I have come out on top more than once simply because I made the bigger stronger guy "run out of gas". Martial Arts are about, imo, looking objectively at the requirements of your art then training your body holistically. I get the feeling from reading the OP's post he first, hasn't actually talked in detail about why his Sensei said that strength wasn't a major factor and then he has his priorities in opposition, he wants to get BIG and study the Martial Art in question but appears to not really want and answer from his Sensei regarding getting "big" because if it makes sense he feels he will have to make a hard choice since he bother wants to get big and excel in the Art.

 

[JowGaWolf]

Well I would like to be one of them.

The only one I know that has done what you are trying to do is this guy. Known for his martial arts acting and weight lifting

And this guy. Take note of the training that he's doing and the size of the weights.

This is what he used to look like

 

[JowGaWolf]

Here's a good interview that I think you should watch

 

[zanaffar]

This is all before you run into the slow twitch vs fast twitch muscle fiber issue and there, just working on maxing out a particular lift works against punching because it's not raw strength that makes for a powerful punch. Simple weight lifting is mostly slow twitch. For a punch you need speed, some punching styles more than others, and that is fast twitch and that means, if you are using weights to cultivate the muscle, lifting weights that are heavy enough to put stress on the muscle fibers but also light enough to allow you to lift it explosively.

I hate being pedantic, but working with heavy weights at low reps (2 - 6, or even working on a 1 rep max) IS how you engage fast-twitch (Type IIa and IIb) muscle fibers. Slow-twitch (Type I) muscle fibers are able to provide their own source of energy and are used in aerobic activities like steady-state endurance training, circuit training, and, to some point, high-rep weight training.

If you've ever seen bodybuilders, powerlifters, or strongmen doing warm ups to get ready for a 1 rep max attempt of an exercise, let's say bench press, you'll no doubt see them throwing up the weight as quickly and violently as possible during those warm ups. The weight goes up slowly at higher weight not because our muscles are moving slowly by the nature of the muscle fibers utilized; the heavy weight is moving slowly DESPITE us exerting as much force as quickly as possible. If I try to lift my 1 rep max in a controlled, slow motion, I won't even be able to get it off my chest.

Punching and kicking speed comes down to proper technique and your body getting better and more efficient at doing the movement, and from everything I've seen, read, and personal experience on the topic, lifting heavy can only be beneficial.

 

[Juany118]

I hate being pedantic, but working with heavy weights at low reps (2 - 6, or even working on a 1 rep max) IS how you engage fast-twitch (Type IIa and IIb) muscle fibers. Slow-twitch (Type I) muscle fibers are able to provide their own source of energy and are used in aerobic activities like steady-state endurance training, circuit training, and, to some point, high-rep weight training.

If you've ever seen bodybuilders, powerlifters, or strongmen doing warm ups to get ready for a 1 rep max attempt of an exercise, let's say bench press, you'll no doubt see them throwing up the weight as quickly and violently as possible during those warm ups. The weight goes up slowly at higher weight not because our muscles are moving slowly by the nature of the muscle fibers utilized; the heavy weight is moving slowly DESPITE us exerting as much force as quickly as possible. If I try to lift my 1 rep max in a controlled, slow motion, I won't even be able to get it off my chest.

Punching and kicking speed comes down to proper technique and your body getting better and more efficient at doing the movement, and from everything I've seen, read, and personal experience on the topic, lifting heavy can only be beneficial.

The last time I checked to work fast twitch it's not just a matter of weight by explosiveness. You are right some do it in that matter but it is not universal.

Regardless my primary point is to say that if you say...
A) I want to excel in my Martial Art
B) I want to get big

You need to see if A and B are compatible. I know basically nothing about the Martial Art the OP studies but I know if he was say studying Wushu being big would likely be a detriment as that art also requires A LOT of flexibility, overall speed and essentially gymnastic skill. The amount of time needed to practice all those skill sets would cut into the time you can spend on throwing plates around.

Also I think it important to acknowledge that different punching and kicking techniques utilize different muscle groups, some use A LOT of core muscles. A lot of weight lifters I see tend to neglect core work that an art like Tai Chi Chuan uses to generate a punch.

So all I say is the OP needs to figure out if his method of working out fits with his MA's methodology, if he wants to excel at it. Now if he wants to get big in whatever way he wants and it's not optimal for the art and he doesn't care that's cool. If he wants to balance the two that's cool as well.

I look at MA's like running. If you want to compete at a 1/4 mile and in the way you train is different than if you want to compete at 5k, 5k is different than marathon etc. So depending on the methodology of your martial art (if that is your primary focus mind you), the weight work you do should be tailored to it.

 

[Ironbear24]

Indeed they do but first, as someone else said you have girlfriend. She was with you before you could bench 300 lbs. Next, in my experience, while of course most people have certain ideas regarding attractiveness and or a "type" there are complications with the muscle bit. First if it's gym bunnies beware my friend. I work with some guys who push heavy plates every morning. They have gone out with those chicks and it has never worked out well.

Second you need to be careful on your own. You seem to have a lot on your plate. I assume your work, or go to school, you then obviously spend a lot of time in the gym (pressing 300 is no small feet) and you study martial arts, not a small time commitment. No relationship can be healthy, without paying attention to the person (paramour) or persons (family and friends) involved. Also I have watched people who ended up defining themselves by those muscles. That is bad for two reasons. First they become and obsession and everything else becomes secondary. Trust me your "better half" and family don't want to feel like they are second to a bar bell. Then you end up "stuck" with the gym bunnies.

The above may not apply to you, just a caution since I have seen it happen. Me I am pretty slim, but also athletic and fit. I never had issues getting girls. In my experience what they are really attracted to isn't big muscles (and this is actually something evolutionary psychology supports), it's males that are "simply" fit and appear confident. Confidence comes from different sources for each person. If you want relationships to last though you need to make sure that "source" doesn't become an obsession.

The gym bunnies are too skinny for me. I like plumpy women. But I do see your point, right now I am having to drag myself to the gym because I am sore from yesterday's dojo session. My balls also hurt cause I got kicked in the nuts by the sifu, and I was wearing a cup and it still hurts.

I haven't been to the gym since Saturday and it is killing me on the inside knowing I haven't been there in 3 days.

 

[Juany118]

The gym bunnies are too skinny for me. I like plumpy women. But I do see your point, right now I am having to drag myself to the gym because I am sore from yesterday's dojo session. My balls also hurt cause I got kicked in the nuts by the sifu, and I was wearing a cup and it still hurts.

I haven't been to the gym since Saturday and it is killing me on the inside knowing I haven't been there in 3 days.

Well I know how that feels in the other direction. I went for a long run last Thursday before class. In class we did drills on to, well not pretty way to put it, stab someone in the inner thigh with a knife so they bleed out. Thing is you don't bend at the waist, rather at the knees. I am 5'11" my "opponent" 5' even. So 20 minutes of squats after that run. Friday my quads were SCREAMING even though I made sure I wore my compression shorts to bed.

 

[zanaffar]

The last time I checked to work fast twitch it's not just a matter of weight by explosiveness. You are right some do it in that matter but it is not universal.

Regardless my primary point is to say that if you say...
A) I want to excel in my Martial Art
B) I want to get big

You need to see if A and B are compatible. I know basically nothing about the Martial Art the OP studies but I know if he was say studying Wushu being big would likely be a detriment as that art also requires A LOT of flexibility, overall speed and essentially gymnastic skill. The amount of time needed to practice all those skill sets would cut into the time you can spend on throwing plates around.

Also I think it important to acknowledge that different punching and kicking techniques utilize different muscle groups, some use A LOT of core muscles. A lot of weight lifters I see tend to neglect core work that an art like Tai Chi Chuan uses to generate a punch.

So all I say is the OP needs to figure out if his method of working out fits with his MA's methodology, if he wants to excel at it. Now if he wants to get big in whatever way he wants and it's not optimal for the art and he doesn't care that's cool. If he wants to balance the two that's cool as well.

I look at MA's like running. If you want to compete at a 1/4 mile and in the way you train is different than if you want to compete at 5k, 5k is different than marathon etc. So depending on the methodology of your martial art (if that is your primary focus mind you), the weight work you do should be tailored to it.

Agreed. Can you be a UFC champion and a bodybuilding champion at the same time? Not a chance in hell. Can you be fairly skilled in a combat sport and be bigger, more muscular, and more shredded than 99% of the population? Without a doubt!

Admittedly, I don't know what it takes to be great in the other arts you mentioned like Wushu and Tai Chi Chuan. Perhaps size truly is a huge detriment when you're graded on twisting and flying through the air like in some Wushu demonstrations I've seen, and you'll never be able to reach the top without sacrificing those delicious gains.

It's all a sliding scale, and depending on the OPs definition of "large," "skilled," and what his ultimate goals are, he will have to balance his training accordingly. Not everyone is a genetic monster like Brock Lesnar. If you're expecting to have his NCAA champion speed while walking around at a shredded 260 lbs, you might have to re-evaluate your dreams. Otherwise, train hard, and you can reach a pretty damn good final result.

 

[Juany118]

Agreed. Can you be a UFC champion and a bodybuilding champion at the same time? Not a chance in hell. Can you be fairly skilled in a combat sport and be bigger, more muscular, and more shredded than 99% of the population? Without a doubt!

Admittedly, I don't know what it takes to be great in the other arts you mentioned like Wushu and Tai Chi Chuan. Perhaps size truly is a huge detriment when you're graded on twisting and flying through the air like in some Wushu demonstrations I've seen, and you'll never be able to reach the top without sacrificing those delicious gains.

It's all a sliding scale, and depending on the OPs definition of "large," "skilled," and what his ultimate goals are, he will have to balance his training accordingly. Not everyone is a genetic monster like Brock Lesnar. If you're expecting to have his NCAA champion speed while walking around at a shredded 260 lbs, you might have to re-evaluate your dreams. Otherwise, train hard, and you can reach a pretty damn good final result.

Exactly what I was trying to say. It's all about priorities in the end. Only so many hours a week to train and do the regular things in life. Now if I was independently wealthy and didn't need to work I would prioritize my Martial Arts training. I wouldn't only be going to my School to learn WC and Kali, I would be going to the "Mother School" where my Sifu's Sifu teaches. I would apply to the Inosanto Academy to be a Visiting Student for Kali, maybe even check out Silat, which I have only a small taste of since some Silat is in the Inosanto Kali I currently train in along side Wing Chun (gotta love it, Martial Arts and a California Vacation ). All the while doing the same physical training I am now, maybe a little more, but my focus would be on my MAs. No decision regarding such priorities is right or wrong, but a decision does need to be made imo, MA>physical training, MA=PT, MA<PT, whichever is cool but one of those three needs to be decided upon.

As for you last bit, absolutely. Ever wonder why some people look at the NFL Combine and say "that guy must be doing roids?" It's because a linebacker likely should not be doing the 40 as fast as a tight end lol.

 

[zanaffar]

As for you last bit, absolutely. Ever wonder why some people look at the NFL Combine and say "that guy must be doing roids?" It's because a linebacker likely should not be doing the 40 as fast as a tight end lol.

I am of the opinion that if your job and livelihood depends on being a better physical beastmonster than your competition, then you're going to use every advantage available to you in order to achieve that. I've read anecdotal accounts on anonymous internet forums from various self-proclaimed physicians who have allegedly worked with some of world's top athletes (so take all that with a grain of salt) , and the stories are all the same: "Yes, everyone is doing PEDs. Some are bad at not getting caught." Having said that, you can give the average Joe the exact same doses as these alleged top athletes get, and they will never amount to anything as spectacular as the top guys. PEDs are only one part of the equation. You still need to have inhuman genetics, mental fortitude, and dedication to get to the top.

 

[Juany118]

I am of the opinion that if your job and livelihood depends on being a better physical beastmonster than your competition, then you're going to use every advantage available to you in order to achieve that. I've read anecdotal accounts on anonymous internet forums from various self-proclaimed physicians who have allegedly worked with some of world's top athletes (so take all that with a grain of salt) , and the stories are all the same: "Yes, everyone is doing PEDs. Some are bad at not getting caught." Having said that, you can give the average Joe the exact same doses as these alleged top athletes get, and they will never amount to anything as spectacular as the top guys. PEDs are only one part of the equation. You still need to have inhuman genetics, mental fortitude, and dedication to get to the top.

I used to be a competitive (though admittedly amateur) cyclist. You only have to look at lance Armstrong regarding doping in that realm. We had a saying regarding EPO, arguably the most abused PED in cycling. "EPO won't turn a draft horse into a thoroughbred" so I totally understand, and agree, with this sentiment.