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1druid1
22nd October 2002, 10:11
Hi

I have just found out for my next Karate Grading I have to do 300 knuckle pushups. My grading is in 4 weeks time, at the moment I can do 50, can anyone suggest a pushup training program that will allow me to accomplish my task in the given time.

Regards

Dougie (1druid1)

Bustillo, A.
22nd October 2002, 11:04
One idea, do the push-ups with legs raised up on a chair.

MarkF
22nd October 2002, 11:17
MY first inclination is to ask "why?" but then I can understand. How much time are given for three-hundred pushups? Are they in sequence with no rest? While they are knuckle style can you do them from the knees up?

I wish you all the luck in the world, really. Sounds like my ex-marine Phys. Ed. teacher in junior high school.
****


Dougie, please remember to sign your full name. You can take care of that using the User CP at the top of the page and set it as default.


Mark

22nd October 2002, 12:10
Originally posted by 1druid1
Hi

I have just found out for my next Karate Grading I have to do 300 knuckle pushups. My grading is in 4 weeks time, at the moment I can do 50, can anyone suggest a pushup training program that will allow me to accomplish my task in the given time.

Regards

Dougie (1druid1)

You must have ticked your sensei off pretty bad. ;)

First see how many you can do with out stopping.................then every day after that try to increase the number.
If you can do 50 nonstop now and you have 4 weeks to go then try to increase the number everyday by about 9 or 10.

The day before the test I wouldn't do any as to give yourself a chance to rest up.


I agree with Mark F......."Why?".

I know being in good shape is beneficial to the arts and all but it seems kind of like a Chinese saying I heard once.

"Go to battle Sharpen sword" The meaning being you should have sharpened your sword before you go to battle not while you are walking into the battlefield.

It just seems testing you over something you have not trained to do seems a bit odd........

Sochin
22nd October 2002, 15:41
We used to do 200-300 in a two hour class by doing sets of ten every so often. This was at a time I could do about 10 perfect push-ups. So we managed by cheating...everyone had a different style, bum up and just dip your nose a bit, bum down and lifting only the shoulders with the push etc.

I bet you find the same thing going on at the grading since the purpose is probably to drive you into new effort and test your abilities under stress you haven't felt before and not the perfection of the technique. This is done because they can't hire four guys to come in and beat you up ! :) and the effects of exhaustion are much the same as an adrenaline dump.

I hope so because it is impossible to increase your strength from 50 to 300 in that amount of time, if ever (genetics beign the biggest factor), :(
imo.

Hey, edited to say: "Good luck!"

Shitoryu Dude
22nd October 2002, 22:09
For my black belt grading we had to jump rope and do pushups and situps at the end of it all. Those with the best scores got some "bonus points" for their grading. As we did this at the end of several hours of nonstop testing, many of us were too exhausted to do very well, but we give it all we had anyway.

Once it was over I proceeded to drink some 2 - 3 gallons of water and gatorade without needing to pee overmuch.

If you have to do 300 pushups and can do 50 now - start doing pushups every chance you get. You'll be surprised at how quickly you can do 100 if you really put your mind to it, though doing 300 seems a bit much to say the least.

:beer:

23rd October 2002, 03:00
Originally posted by Kenzo
if you understand "fast twitch" & "slow twitch" muscle fiber and "true recovery time" then you would also understand the real reason why some people can not do 300 push ups...and as far as the recovery time...the truth is that he should not do any push ups 5-7 days prior to the event if he's been doing them up to that point...in other words he should be fully recovered before the grading...justr because you feel you are recovered it does not mean you ARE...


Unfortunately he doesn't have that kind of time to rest for 5-7 days.
What do you think would be the best way for him to reach his goal or come close to it given the time frame?

Rogier
23rd October 2002, 06:56
train for it as much as you can.. on the exam just do the best you can.. You either pass or you don't.

I can't imagine that if you do everything else correct that you would not pass because you cannot do 300 pushups...

And if you don't pass.... hey there always the next exam...

Goju-Ryu
23rd October 2002, 10:28
I think the aim of doing such number of pushups in an exam of that type is more psychological than physical...

In the past Saturday (19) I made my exam for 1st dan and at the end, after 5h of hard training, we had to do 100 pushups, 100 abdominals, 100 "squat downs" and 100 "with your chest in the floor raise your back". One of the Sensei's said: "Nobody's counting if you did 100 pushups or not, but YOU know if you did it or not, and if you didn't you'll have that weight in your conscience for a long time..."

I think he's very right in what he's saying...

By the way... I passed :D
I'm very happy now that I've reached this long time quest...

Rogier
23rd October 2002, 11:15
I hate pushups... I can't do them very well... but if my teacher tells me to do a hundred pushups on my knuckles I will do them, just not in 5 minutes... it will take me longer but I will do them all....

This of course brings up a question that was asked a few posts back...

how much time do you have to do these pushups??

TomMarker
23rd October 2002, 16:03
http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/4992/100push.html

Andy Watson
23rd October 2002, 16:24
I have found doing a circuit training routine, which I think is called "Strips", to be quite beneficial.

To begin do as many reps of a certain exercise as you can and remember the number. Carry on with the other circuit exercises and when you come back to, say push ups, do one less than you did before. Repeat this with all the exercises until you get down to 1.

By then you should be well knackered. I believe this is only good as a stamina builder and does not necessarily build muscle as much as other routines.

mushinmaster
24th October 2002, 12:54
Where I train, we do a few hundred a night. It's not for punishment or anything, but we do it to learn how to correctly use your body to punch and not your arm. We integrate the pushups into a bag workout routine, and by the end, if you want to maintain or improve your power from the beginning, which is possible, you need to use your body. This is the best way to learn to punch with proper technique, using the body and not the arm.

We usually do intensive power training at the end, where you focus soley on the form of your technique and developing your impact. With pushups, you learn to punch as hard if not harder after doing hundreds of pushups.

Goju Man
24th October 2002, 22:39
How are you to perform them? I guess it would be in sets or something. One way to improve on them is to do your set of fifty or sets. At the end, as your repitions get lower, drop your support from your toes to your knees. This is easier to do now and you can build your muscle. You should rest adequetly. Every other workout, try and increase your regular push up output by one or two and keep repeating.

Kenneth, I remember way back when I couldn't do a pull up and that was the method I used.

;)

nelsonl02
30th October 2002, 14:58
Doing 300 pushups is difficult but not impossible.
Robert Knecht set a Guinness record by doing over 7000 in under 4 hours at age 13.
In my "younger" days when I competed in powerlifting, doing 2-300 pushups non-stop was a minor challenge, today that's another story.
To achieve this by doing pushups alone is quite difficult. You need supplementary weight resistance exercises to build the muscle strength required. You also need to build up speed and endurance, this can be accomplished by doing the actual pushups. This also takes determination and TIME.
As a kyu or dan ranking requirement, I find it unusual since it is not an essential part of a well designed karate syllabus but a supplementary exercise. True, it would show spirit, stamina and endurance but not karate aptitude (kind of like just breaking boards for a ranking). In our own system by the time you do Junbi Undo (warm-up), basics drill, hojo undo (apparatus), kihon waza, yakusoku kumites, katas, bunkai (kata applications, free style applications, sparring (under 35) and shumatsu undo (cool down), 4-5 hours have gone by non-stop. So there is little need for pushup marathons in a grading.
N.Laviolette

nelsonl02
31st October 2002, 12:45
I train in Kingston Ontario Canada at present.
Yudansha in Meibuken Goju-Ryu and member of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai.
N.Laviolette

Robert Cheshire
2nd November 2002, 06:05
I suppose the ol' Jedi Mind Trick wouldn't work.

(hand waved) "I already did all of my push-ups"

Sensei: "who do you think you are waving your arms around some kind of Jedi? Mind tricks don't work on me - only push-ups! Give me 100 more"

All joking aside - Best of luck on your exam.

Sochin
2nd November 2002, 18:20
Nelson,

is that Sensei Tallack's group?

nelsonl02
2nd November 2002, 21:17
Sensei Tallack is now the Canadian International rep. of the Dai Nippon Butoku Kai (a group of us attended a Butokusai in Kyoto at the Butokuden , April/02).
He is our head instructor but not the owner of the dojo - see below
http://www.martialartsca.com
I believe that you wrote a book on Canadian Law & Martial Arts that he reviewed?
Regards
Nelson L.

mushinmaster
4th November 2002, 22:25
Well, it's Air Force week at USMA, and this is the picture outside my door
http://www.geocities.com/mushinmaster/P1010005.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/mushinmaster/P1010007.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/mushinmaster/P1010008.jpg

These "drop zones" may be the solution to your pushup problem. Comments? :D

mushinmaster
4th November 2002, 22:30
If the pics aren't coming up, just rt click and push "show picture" the last one cracks me up every time I go to take a leak:rolleyes: