endurance question

[Life long Student]

I was watching a tennis instructor train a girl, he had her do a move like a goose steps some armies use when marching. He said there were many drills for developing explosive moves. He said that running was good for endurance but drills like this would benefit her in matches. I forget the term he used. So it maid me think about my training. I can run at 5.0 for about an hour with no problem and also 6.5 for the hole time, occasionally. But I still have trouble doing some of my northern forms. I get winded by the last run. Are there any suggestions on breaking through this persistent problem?

[Life long Student]

Plyometric
I just found the term,would this fix the problem?

[Scythefall]

I'm not familiar with the term, but I'm finding it kind of odd that you have endurance problems when you're capable of running such long distance. So I guess I'd have to ask,

1. Are you actually attending a kung fu class or is this maintenance of past training?
2. Do you practice traditional temple exercises and stance training or just practice forms and punch/kick drills?

The reason I ask is, just by attending a class and going through warm up, temple exercises, kick/punch drills, and finally forms like the 10 Shaolin sets should carry that endurance over to functional kung fu endurance. My main workout outside of Shaolin is treadmill or elyptical machines for 20-30 minutes which is considerably less than you do, but I am still strong and explosive after a couple of hours of training. I run out by hour 3 though, I have to admit. That's not for bragging rights or anything, but I'm wondering if you might be overdoing the running and that's just using up too much energy so when you finally get to your forms, you're runnin on reserves.

[Toby]

Dunno much about plyometrics, and I know nothing about your northern forms but I know that plyometrics are for developing explosive speed. Things like military pushups (?) where you push up into the air and optionally clap your hands on the upwards movement and do the whole thing fast. Not the same thing as endurance at all. There have probably been a lot of threads on plyometrics, so do a search of the forum and a google search. There've also been a few books written on it. I can see how plyometrics would help in tennis, because it's not a continuous thing, but a series of fast explosive movements followed by rests that are needed. Is this what you need for your forms? Maybe describe them in a bit more detail so we know what might help.

In the meantime, to give you something to read, one of the things I do is http://www.trainforstrength.com/Endurance1.shtml
Helps me, might help you. Hopefully Ford Prefect will reply with some more plyometric info for you.

[Life long Student]

Thanks Great web sight Toby that just might do the thing

[Ford Prefect]

Plyometrics are for explosive strength and really should only be used on advanced athletes who have reached respectable levels of maximal strength. They are usually well overdone in the States.

What your talking is raising endurance for a particular exercise. The best way to do this is to keep doing that particular exercise, in this case your forms. There is always a grand debate going on about how much carry-over "endurance" there is from one exercise to another. Just because you're a good runner with good endurance doesn't mean you'll be a good cyclist or swimmer. The same can be said for any endurance gained in another exercise being applied to your forms. The best bet it to just practice your forms until you puke.

[SevenStar]

what ford said.