Here are some exercises you can use to develop neck strength.

None of them require any special equipment, and you can make big gains from just two 5 minute sessions per week!
Neck strength is probably the most overlooked aspect of martial arts conditioning, and it is one of the most important. The reason it is so undervalued is probably becauseneck strength doesn't usually make any noticable difference to your ability in training, and so it doesn't occur to most people that it could be important. But where neck strength really becomes important is in an actual street fight or full contact competition fight. If you get into a real fight then you are going to get hit in the head, no matter how good you are at blocking and dodging the chances are still pretty high that something will get through. There is only one trainable factor that will allow you to be able to take a punch to the head without being knocked out, knockeddown, or at the very least knocked off balance and out of your stride - neck strength. The stronger your neck, the better able you will be to take a punch, it's as simple as that. With this fact in mind here are some neck strengthening exercises you can add to your physical conditioning programme. Used together they take oly about 5 - 10 minutes (less at first), and are perfect for martial rts purposes. It's best to begin with a few stretching exercises or the neck - turning the head to the sides, and tilting it forwards and back and to each side - but remember that rolling the head around in a circle, the most common neck exercise, is for loosening and not stretching; stretching with this exercise can cause serious damage to the neck tissue. 1 - Forehead Roll - Kneel down and sit on your heels. Lean forward and pace both hands down, with your forehead on the ground between them. Taking most of the weight on your forehead, and using the hands for stabililty and safety, turn your head from side to side, rolling your forehead back and forth over the ground. Once you are used tothis movement you can move your head and hands forward, raising your bottom up off your feet. The further forward you move the

harder it will be. 2 - Head Stand - Simple but effective. You can do it against a wall for balance, beginning with around 1 minute and building up. 3 - Half Iron Board - Take a chair and rest the back of your head on the seat, then straighten your whole body so that it is a rigid board with just your heels on the ground, and try to hold this position or as long as possible. This is by far the hardest exercise, so don't feel bd if you can only hold it fora few seconds at first. You can also do this with both sides of the head, and the forehead against the seat. This exercise is used in kung fu iron shirt training.

An article on developing weight training programs and gym rountines specifically tailored for the needs of the martial artist.
Many people who practice martial arts also go to the gym to lift weights and do other resistance training. Naturally they believe that this extra training will give them extra strength and therefore make them a more formidable opponent in a fight, giving them an edge over a person who just does the martial arts training and not the weight training. This seems like an obvious presumtion to make - weight training makes you stronger and being stronger makes you a better fighter; but in many ways it is actually wrong. Lifting weights can complement martial arts training, but only if you do the right kind of training, otherwise it could easily be a hinderance. In fact, the kind of training that most people do at the gym would almost certainly have negative impacts for someone practicing Oriental martial arts, or martial arts in general. If you follow the advice that you might find in bodybuilding magazines, or mens health magazines, or if you follow one of the standard programes that personal trainers or the people who do your induction at the gym would give you, you will probably be doing 2-3 sets of something like 8-15

repetitions for each exercise. It is likely that you will also be using machines rather than free weights alot of the time, which are supposed to target specific muscles and improve your training. This is exactly the kind of training that a martial artist should not be doing. Firstly, in regards to the number of repetitions what you must remember is that there are different kinds of strength (fast and slow twitch muscle fibers and so on), and that there is not a precise correlation between muscle size and strength (have you ever noticed how power lifters are so much smaller than body builders in muscle size, despite the fact that they are stronger?). The kind of training described above, which would be used by most people who go to the gym, has one primary aim - to increase muscle size. This is an entirely superficial aim, as the size of a muscle is only a matter of appearance and nothing else. The problem for the martial artist is that larger muscles make for slower movements and a decreased range of motion. What's more the gains in strength from such training are not as significant as one may think because you would not be training for the kind of strength which is most often used in martial arts. You are training a middle range strength useful for lifting and carrying things and so on, but of little relevance to martial arts. For a martial artist it is much more important to develop explosive power - something which relies on speed and so can actually be hindered by larger muscles! For this the training routine of a power lifter would be much more appropriate than that of the body builder. This involves low sets of less than eight repetitions with a heavier weight, and regular 1 set lifts in which you try to lift as much as possible. During these lifts you should concentrate on the speed of your lift, pushing it up with as much explosive power as possible, rather than trying to be slow and controlled. It is also important for a martial artist to have

alot of stamina in the muscles, paarticularly the shoulders as keeping the guard up and throwing punches can exhaust the shoulder muscles quite rapidly. To help counter this problem very long sets of 20-50 repetitions with a light weight is very useful. It is also quite imporant to use free weights rather than machines. This is because the kind of strength developed by using machines which isolate particular muscles is not what is known as 'functional strength'. When you lift free weights you do not just train one set of muscles at a time but many supporting muscle groups as well, and many of these are small muscle groups which none of the machines, which only concentrate on the large mucles groups that look good when built big, actually strengthen. This means that whilst you may build very stronbg chest muscles, for example, if you actually try to use them to do anything other than a machine lift you will fail - not because the chest is too weak but becuase in any natural movement these small supporting muscles groups are used, and ifv they cannot 'keep up' with the chest then you will not be abl;e to perform the movement. I hope this artilce has been of use to you.

The Tao of Bridging

Fighting is conflict; to fight against someone or something is to struggle aggainst an opposing force, and to resist the strength of another and overcome them with your own strength.. A fight is a clash of Wills expressed in the clash of bodies. The art of fighting without fighting is therefore to engage in a fight, and to overcome an aggressive opponent, without the clash of bodies, without resistance, without the struggle between opposing forces, and ultimately therefore, without conflict. The art of doing this is in the soft

overcoming the hard, and it is the foundation of soft martial arts like Tai Chi. It is also a principle that can be applied by practitioners of so called 'hard' martial arts. To fight without resisting your opponents strength means that your movements must go with the flow of your opponents movements, rather than against them. You must find the harmony of the Tao within the Chaos of war, and marry your physical will to that of your adversary. That explains the reference to the Tao in the title of this article; the referrence bridging relates to the primary method by which this is learned, and subsequently employed. On a less prosaic note this article could just as well have been called 'the gateway to close range combat'. In any fight there are two primary 'ranges' refering to the distance between fighters. Long range combat means the distance of your arms reach or greater. At this range a fighter will primarily be looking to use striking and blocking techniques, although chargind takedowns are also an option. Close range combat means anything closer than arms reach; at this distance gaplling and wrestling become prominent. Any complete martial art must contain elements for both long range and close range fighting. MMA cage fighters, for example, often use a combination of Muay Thai for long range fighting and Jujitsu for close range fighting. The 'bridge', used in hard martial arts like Wing Chun Kung Fu, and made an art in itself in Tai Chi Pushing Hands, is a technique employed at the transition between longe range and close range to gain control over an opponent. The bridge is basically an extension of the block, the only difference

being that the bridge is 'sticky'. This means that instead of simply bashing a strike away in a parry, you seek to make and keep contact with the striking limb. In doing this you are not in any way resisting the force of the strike, but instead redirecting it. Your own force comes from the side, perpendicular to the force of your opponent. By doing this you encounter very little resistance, and by maintaining contact with your opponent after the intial parry and moving in close you are seeking to also maintain control over their movements. In the early and intermediate stages of mastering this technique it is used as a defense, and as a way of setting yourself up for a more attacking technique designed to win the fight. In Wing Chun, for example, a practitioner may move into a series of rapid short range strikes, of the kind perfected by Bruce Lee with his famous one inch punch. But it might jst as well be used as a method for a practitioner of jujitsu to get past a strikers attacks and move safely into grappling range to execute a submission hold or takedown. At an advanced level, however, this technique can encompass the entire method of self-defense. For an advanced practitioner of traditional martial arts with an element of personal development and moral awareness, such as the Wude of Kung Fu, who will have transcended the need for any kind of aggression, or to prove themselves in combat sports, this technique is the entrance to the art of fighting without fighting. At this stage, for a true martial arts master interested only in defending themselves and those arounf them, all aggressive and attacking techniques such as strikes and joint locks become redundnant. The true

master is able to completely control any aggressor with very little force; by going with the flow of the attackers movements and subtly redirecting them his opponent expends all of his strength to no avail. This is the pinnacle of the art of compassionate fighting, and one part of the art of fighting without fightin. For thise of us yet to reach the august level of a master the same principle can be used to create a fun and highly productive training practice. To do this two people face each other, wearing appropriate protective equipment such as gloves and gum shields and so on. One of them takes on the role of the attacker, and their job is to attack the other person using only strikes. Any kind of strike can be used in this practice, although you may wish to take out elbows and headbuts and such like to make the exercise safer and a little bit easier. Needless to say this exercise should be practiced as semi-contact rather than full-contact. The second person takes on the role of defender. Their task is to get through the strikes and get into close range, and then to maintain this for as long as possible, staying as close as they can to the attacker and avoiding being hit. They do this by sticking to their opponents limbs rather than by avoiding them, and using the teachnique described earlier. They should use as little force as possible. There is an almost infinite amount of variety as to what can happen in this practice, and it can be great fun and a real challenge. The defender will probably find it very difficult at first, so be prepared to take a few punches. When you begin to get the hang of it it can seem at times almost as if you are dancing to some hidden harmony rather than

fighting, pulling your attacker on invisible strings to the rhythm of some secret song.

Learn the art of fighting without fighting with 'no mind' kung fu!
The art of fighting without fighting is a phrase made famous by the great Bruce Lee, and was included as a line in at least one of his films, but it is not just an empty phrase used because it sounds good, it describes a very real and powerful aspect of kung fu called 'no mind'. Many people consider the attainment of the 'no mind' state to be the pinnacle of kung fu. Within the Chan Buddhist framework of the Shaolin temple and the philosophy that these warrior monks have imparted to the martial arts community the art of fighting without fighting is a spiritual acheivement, pursued in modern times purely for spiritual purposes, but this very special art also leads to a dramatic multiplication of your fighting skills. To put it as simply as possible, the art of fighting without fighting is the ability to wholly unite the mind and body so that there is no longer any distinction between thought and action. In this state a fighter does not have to think about what to do, consciously select the next move or decide how to react to attacks; the mind is completely clear present and alert, not distracted in any way by thought or emotion. When a fighter attains 'no mind' kung fu the instincts, reflexes and other natural intelligences of the body work in complete harmony with their technical style and training, rather than against it as is often the case, reaction times are greatly improved, the fighters awareness opponent and his intentions and actions increases and becomes more vivid, to the point that it seems that they have a supernatural sense of premonition guiding them, energy levels increase (especially in stressful situation where the tension and over-excitement of the mind negatively

impact the body), and hesitation and mistakes are eradicated. 'No mind' kung fu is not a style of fighting itself - it has no outer forms and techniques, but rather a state of being which greatly multiplies the effectiveness of any particular style (kung fu or not) that you may otherwise practice. Although it is very difficult to wholly attain to the state of 'no mind' kung fu it is relatively easy to begin to make progress towards it and you attain significant benefits for any amount of progress that you make. Aside from continuous training and repetition so that your techniques and movements become second nature and can be used without even needing to think about it there are three main methods for attaining 'no mind' kung fu that we will look at here: Qi Gong, imaginary opponent training, and 'the hammer principle' for training with a partner that was devised by Bruce Lee and forms a part of Jeet Kune Do kung fu training. One of the main purposes of Chi Kung, or later developments from it such as Tai Chi, is to promote greater unity between mind and body, and that is precisely what is needed to attain no mind kung fu fighting.When you practice Chi Kung exercises you should be constantly trying to increase your awareness of your whole body, silence the mind of extraneous thoughts, and feel your way deeper and deeper into every movement. People often do not realise how weak their body awareness actually is because, obviously, we are always aware of our bodies to some limited extent. But this peripheral and generally partial awareness is not enough for the purposes of kung fu; what you need is a full, clear, even and vivid awareness of your whole body, both internally and externally. Concentrate your awareness on a specific part of your body and you will notice how this awareness (direct awareness, not just the visual awareness if you are looking at it) is more detailled and vivid than your ordinary bodily awareness; the goal of Chi Kung is to increase your awareness of the whole

body to something like this extent. The Shaolin Steel Jacket training given in the Hard Chi Kung section helps with this and includes specific body awareness exercises; you may also want to look at the Basic Chi Kung Exercises in this site or learn about Taijiquan (Tai Chi). Imaginary opponent training is similar in nature to western shadow boxing. It basically involves practicing your techniques with an imaginary opponent in front of you. This need not just be an isolated training practice - ideally you should imagine an opponent in this manner whenever you practice any of your techniques. This sounds like a very simple and unremarkable practice, but it is actually very important and can be a powerful training tool if used correctly. The point of this training is to condition yourself to react automatically ina certain way in every possible situation. We all have instinctual responses, and for a martial artist these can work against you if the instinctual response is not in harmony with your techniques or style of fighting. This kind of training helps to unite your instincts with your technical training. You may have heard of a western psychological experiment called 'Pavlov's Dogs', in which a bell is rung every time the dogs are fed; after a while the sound of the bell causes the dogs to salivate and produce stomach acids in the same way as the sight of food does, even if there is no food present; in the same way you can programme your body to react automatically to your opponents actions in the appropriate way that your fighting style teaches. It is important that you put some effort into this and think about it; if you are practicing an attack do not simply imagine an opponent standing stone still in front of you allowing you to hit them, that would be pointless, instead think about the circumstances in which you would use that particular attack, imagine your opponent moving around in as realistic a manner as you can, imagine them moving into the kind of position in which your attack would be used, see the opening in their

defenses in your minds eye, and then exploit it. When you are specifically doing imaginary opponent training give it as much realism as possible; dont just practice one or two techniques and then let go of the visualisation and go back to the starting position to continue - try to cultivate some continuity. Imagine yourself hitting them and hold the visulaisation to include their reaction continue from there; make it as fluid and un-choreographed as possible, stringing together combinations. You should even imagine yourself missing or having your attack blocked sometimes, as this will inevitaby happen in a real fight. This can be quite difficult if you are not used to visualisation practices but it gets easier over time. Of course the same advantages can be gained from two person sets and from sparring, but imaginary opponent training does have some advantages. Compared to a two person practice set imagniary opponent training can be much more realistic and fluid, taking into account more different possibilities. And in sparring it is often difficult, especially in kung fu, to stick strictly to your style and not get sloppy and just scrap it out; you will also have a limited number of opponents with a limited range of attacks and techniques to deal with, whereas in imaginary opponent training there is no limit to the number of scenarios you can train. Training the hammer principle in Jeet Kune Do requires a training partner to practice with. It gives you two great advantages: not only does it help train you to act instantly without thought and cultivate the art of fighting without fighting, but it also trains you to take full advantage of the fact that your opponent cannot do this. The thing is that unless you are trainined to do otherwise your attack will not be instant, and the subtle movements of the body as it prepares to unleash the attack can be picked up by an observant and trained fighter. This training teaches you to recognise this preparation in others and anticipate their attacks, as well as to strike instantly yourself, without this initial period as the body

prepares itself, and without your opponent seeing the attack coming. In this training two people stand facing each other at just over the distance of an extended arm (this distance can be experimented with during the training to see what works best). One person, who is usually called the 'trainer' holds is hands up in front of his face, just under shoulder width apart, with the palms facing towards eachother. The other person is the attacker, and they stand in the on-guard position. For this training, however, the on guard position is slightly different to the usual position, and the reason for this is that it includes an extra little trick to land a punch without your opponent seeing it coming. In the ordinary on-guard position the hands would be held up in front of the face, at about the level of the nose; from this position straighten the lead arm, keeping the elbow and upper arm still, until the hand is roughly in line with the chin. You will notice that this lowering closes the gap between the lead arm and your opponent. Using this kind of movement in a fight would almost certainly be viewed by your opponent as a non-threatening gesture; they would notice the lowering rather than the fact that this was moving it closer to them, and would probably think it was because you were getting tired (lowering of guard is one of the most common signs of fatigue) or loosing concentration. Having closed the gap between your lead hand and its target without your opponent realising that this is what you are doing increases your chances of landing a punch without them seeing it coming. During a fight it is important to keep up your guard for defence, so this lowering would only be momentary, and followed quickly with a strike, but for the purpose of this exercise this lowered position is held stationary for the onguard position. This is because you are practicing to strike without giving your intentions away with the subtle physical preparations discussed above to your training partner, and this lowering would certainly give the game away to

an opponent who knows that you are practicing this technique. From these positions the attacker shoots out his lead hand in a finger jab whilst lowering the arm as if holding a hammer, and attempt to tap the trainer on the forehead with his fingers. The trainer must try to parry the attack, deflecting it away from his head. The attacker must concentrate on trying to strike without the trainer seeing it coming. The trainer must be focussed and present, and watch out for the attackers preparations so that he can anticipate the attack and parry it. At first these preparations will be quite clear to see, but as time goes on the attacker will be trained to gradually eliminate them. The first, and most explicit way that the attacker can do this is to move the hand before the body or feet, because this movement is smaller and harder to notice; also if you lead with the hand in this manner your strike will hit just before the lead foot lands, adding power tot he strike. Beyond this it is a matter of trying to erase the separation between the decision to strike and the actual strike. If you decide in advance, thinking it in your mind that you are going to strike, then it is almost impossible to stop this thought unconsciously transmitting itself to the body which then prepares itself for the strike. The idea is that the mind and body are united, that the decision to strike is simultaneously the action of striking. Although this distinction is not easy to explain or, perhaps, to picture precisely in your head as you read this, this training is specially designed to help you recongnise the distinction and eleiminate it - the subtle preperation of the body are inseperable from the time lapse between decision and action, and in trying to eliminate these so as to conceal your strike from your training partner you are also working towards the unification of mind and body. And by swapping around and having a go at being the trainer as well you learn to recognise them in yourself by first seeing them in your partner, and at the

same time you also learn a useful combat skill - to anticipate what your opponent is going to do before they do it.