TRAINING THE LEGS

[emmanuel manolakakis]

I’ve had a lot of questions from students about how to develop leg movements, working flexibility and creativity. Below I have compiled some drills and training ideas that I hope will help everyone. These are just a few ideas that have helped me personally and my hope is that they do the same for you.

WARM-UP / STRETCHING

1. Stick Rubbing
Begin by rubbing your legs with a stick (any kind will do). Rub as hard as you can without causing any pain. ‘Wake up’ your skin.

2. Stick Tapping
After rubbing your legs start tapping them all over. Tap as hard as you can without causing any pain. ‘Wake up’ your muscles.

3. Joint Rolls
Roll your ankles, knees, hips and waist, one at a time in a circular fashion. Make the circles as large as possible, without losing balance. Remember to breath.
Image you have a pen stuck to the joint and you want to draw a circle in the air.

4. Movement Stretching
A. Start to stretch legs out from standing position. As you reach the end of your flexibility for a given movement, switch into another direction and continue with your movement/stretch. Just never hold anyone position.

B. Same as number ‘a’ but use a wall to help you stretch. Remember don’t hold anyone position or your breath.

C. Same as ‘a’ & ‘b’ but now go the ground and use the ground to help you stretch.


STRENGTH

1. Wall Work
Squat up against a wall. Make sure that your back, heals and shoulders stay in constant contact as you go up and down with breathing. Same from the front.

2. Vertical Jumps
With your feet in a comfortable position - jump straight up as high as you can and land as softly as you can. Think of how a cat lands - very softly, almost catching itself upon landing.

3. Tension
Contract your entire lower body during inhaling then relax on exhaling.

Repeat 1 & 2 with the left and right legs.
Repeat 1 & 2 with the front, back and inside of the legs.
Hold the tension or relaxation as long as you can inhale and exhale.

4. Piggy Back Walking
Put someone on your back and start walking. Focus on breathing and posture.


DRILLS

1. Broken leg
Make one leg straight and declare it broken. Go to the ground and get up without disturbing or bending the injured leg.

2. Move a Chair (standing)
Put a chair in the middle of a room and start moving it with your feet first. Then progress to using your knees.

3. Move a Chair (from ground)
Put a chair in the middle of a room and start moving it with your feet first. Then progress to using your knees.

4. Shoe toss
Get a pair of old shoes – one’s that don’t lace up. Practice taking then half off and throwing them from your foot with a whip like fashion. Once proficient in the move, focus in on targets on a wall and try to hit them with your shoes. Start to see your legs and tools as well as weapons.


Hope this helps,
emmanuel

[Mike Marcon]

Good stuff, Emmanuel! Thanks!

[MelnikAlex]

dont forget barbell squats. The best leg extrecise ever!

[Sonny Puzikas]

Barbell squats? Best ever? IMHO not really...
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Sonny Puzikas
"Doing bad things to bad people since 1988"

"He who receives no help when at war should feel no confidence when at peace." - St. Isaiah the Solitary

www.gospelofviolence.com

[Mike Marcon]

Sonny, just curious. Would you elaborate on your response about barbell squats? Thanks!

[Tim Heuertz]

I don't mean to answer for Sonny or Emmanuel, but I think the point of this thread is to develop the use of the legs more than the strength of the legs. Squats are one of the two best exercises (deadlifts being the other) for overall body strength, but does nothing to help the "skill" of your legs. Learning to use your legs effectively doesn't require a whole lot of strength (in fact, one can be very gentle and still be effective).

You could beef up any of the drills/exercises here as you progress. For instance standing with your back against the wall and slowly squating while your partner does various attacks. Ward him off with one foot while keeping your shoulders, back, and other heel against the wall. Or, have someone sit in the chair you're trying to move with your legs. Gently nudge, dump, coil or otherwise move them out and take the chair without using your hands.

T
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Tim Heuertz
Omaha, NE

[Christian Brownless]

The drills you have wrote are brilliant and in regards to squats I favour deadlifts.

However, it depends on the routine you are doing in regards to squats; are we going for size, power, or endurance.

My strength routine I do besides martial arts is as follows:

Workout 1:

Close Grip Chins (Hang for five seconds, pull up hold for ten and lower) I go for control rather than blast out:

Medium Grip Chins (Same as above)

Workout 2:

Deadlifts (Increase weight each session by 5 pounds)

Bench Press (As above)

Side Press (Olympic Bar)

Workout 3:

Nieder Press (Olympic Bar held upright on a rough surface weightlifting mat so it doesn't slip, put twenty kilos at the top end (Use two 10 K plates, do to being smaller than 20k plate) hold in left hand and right foot forward and in a controled fashion twisting the hips throw out as if punching and then swop to the other side. Do 3 sets of 5-8 reps each side.

Full Contact Twist (Put an Olympic Bar into a corner (Use towel to protect wall) with a close interlock grip lift to waist height and pivot on your toes/rotate hips.

Dragon Flags (Bruce Lee Favorite)

To swop things around to confuse muscles, the following can be added to the above workouts and used in place of some of the above exercises.

Press Up Row: Get two dumbells place on floor length ways and go into press up position. From lowest position push up and balancing weight row with left and put down and row with right.

Wood Chooper (With either dumbell or medicine ball)

Pulley Pull Throughs (On cable cross over machine, attach a rope and lean over and pull rope (With light weight or what ever you can handle) through legs and stand upright.

Dips (either on dip station or using an exercise bench)

Wide Grip Chins (See Close and Medium Grip Chins Above:

Dumbell Lift Putdowns (Put a dumbell next to you face forward and squat down and pick up with left and twist to right side and put down on floor and repeat with right.

Exercise Ball Throws (Pick up one about 2 to 3 pounds) and as if your trowing a punch launch ball (This can be done with either hand and provide a good workout over a twenty minute period)

Double Dumbell Swing (Get in wide squat position with dumbelss between legs and swing both dumbells overhead.

Bow and Arrow Pulls (Using a bungie cord, hold in bow and arrow style and stretch out as if you are firing the arrow and rotate each side)

In regards to the above:

There are other exercises that you can do like sand bag training, medicine ball training, dynamic strength exercises and sledge hammer training in which you smash the sledge hammer into a truck tyer.

When I do the above Workouts I find it helps if I regulate breating, build up tension and grind through the likes of deadlifts and side press and in regards to chins I breath in, tense my armpits, pull up relax and tense armpits again and lower in a controled fashion.

I also, stretch and do joint mobility movements between sets and full warm down at the the end.

[Diana Robbinson]

The power of your limbs is useless if the trunk is not strong, your spinal errectors, abdomen and hip flexors must be several steps ahead of the legs(and certainly arms). Therefore, those who rely on calisthenics for strength training should do deadlifts. The same holds true for those who rely on barbells/dumbells for strength training.
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For a wise one two words suffice.

[Christian Brownless]

In your reply you seem to know what your are talking about, what exercises do you do.

I also, work on joint mobility, flexibility and endurance. I also like bag and pad work. I know a bag can't be like a human, but I get the bag swinging in all directions and close my eyes and when it hits me, I move like I do in the push drills.

I do the above when there is no one to train with.

[Diana Robbinson]

Hi,
I do olympic style weightlifting(thus, to answer you question what exercises I do: snatches, cleans, split jerks, power jerks, push presses, front-&back squats, lat pull downs, some military and bench pressing ), yes I may not have access to a qualified systema instructor, but I do have acces to a qualified lifting coach
In my opinion it's about as good as it gets for strength and power. It also improves flexibility of the ankles, knees, hips, elbows, shoulders and wrists.

However, if you do not have access to a coach, the olympic lifts can be hard to master and dangerous. If so, your best choice would be to build general strength of the trunk through deadlifts(weighted abdominal work and leg raises variations are a good idea too).

Barbell squats should also be in your program. I avise to do squats with full range of motion(you might have to work on your flexibility for a while, but it will be worth it.) and with a controlled decend.

If you have the previous covered, you can focus on the upper body, mostly by doing a variety of presses(military, bench, push press) and some pulling exercises(barbell rows, pull downs/pull ups/chin ups)

For flexibility, be sure to stretch the muscles you trained after your training, but it is also a good idea to work antagonisticly with pressing and rowing/ pulling exercises, meaning that if you do a set of bench presses, you follow it with a set of lat pull downs/chin/pullups, so that the imfamous 'pump' gets out of the chest immediatly. If you did not train like this in the past, you will notice significantly less stiffness the next day.

You can get very strong with just jumping and gymnastic moves, but one thing you have to use weights for is the lower back(deadlifts are excellent)


p.s. http://www.crossfit.com is popular among martial artists for their daily workouts. You will find them challenging, but you would be wise to avoid the high rep weight exercises, you don't want to get fatigued with heavy barbells, because your form will become sloppy, resulting in an exponential increased risk of injury.
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For a wise one two words suffice.

[Marc Bresee]

....I haven't heard Vlad nor his best teachers recommending weight or bag work. More the opposite though.

[Bradley Scheel]

I like to do snatches, does that count?
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Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders & says..."Oh sh&t*....he's awake!!"

[Mark Jakabcsin]

Bradley, (aka Man of Scheel),
Quickly stealing cheesy poofs from the pantry when your wife isn't looking doesn't qualify as a snatch.

IMHO, if you want to build a stronger body chop wood and dig ditches everyday. You will earn a far more versatile body with a much lower risk of injury or tension accumulation.

Mark J.

PS. Brad, will I see you in Chicago next weekend? I'll be there for Sunday only.

[Diana Robbinson]

What is the reason they discourage strength training if I may ask?

Michael ryabko looks like a endo-meso if you know what I mean, massive built, lots of muscle, lots of fat. He is probably naturally very strong and thus has no interrest in strength training like most of these specimens.

Physical labor is a good choice indeed, although the body will rarely go through a full range of motion, which can actually shorten the muscles.
_________________
For a wise one two words suffice.

[Bradley Scheel]

see you there Mark!

How is one "naturally" strong while avoiding exercise?
Apparently Diana hasn't been to a Systema event yet.
_________________
Live your life in such a way that when your feet hit the floor in the morning, Satan shudders & says..."Oh sh&t*....he's awake!!"