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How to build a good kinetic chain (for martial arts)

The best way to develop our muscle chain (read Use the body power: the muscle chain) is by conditioning the muscle memory (read The muscle memory) of our body in groups:

At the beginning with the smaller ones
Then gradually moving toward the bigger ones
Finally implementing the whole

Note – This article has been originally asked by one of our Core Course practitioners on Patreon (see how to attend our home study classes here Learn Kung Fu online: a beginner-to-expert course).

How does kinetic chain conditioning works?

To educate us on calibrated, connected and sequential movements, we simply have to perform exercises that focus each time on specific areas (in this case the abs).

A multifunctional exercise for the abs

Prepare the abdomen’s muscles to transfer our kinetic energy

The exercise we are going to describe has a number of advantages that make it incredibly useful and effective (both for the beginner, both for the expert):

It strengthens the abs
It forces the sync with our breathing
In its basic version it is not tiring (but the effort can be increased in relation to our needs)
It does not stress our back (typical problem of the novice)
It allows long sessions (ideal for burning abdominal fat)
It makes natural the correct transfer of our kinetic energy (eg. of a blow)
It conditions the muscle memory of an area normally hard to manage
At an advanced level is useful even to build speed (see Advanced speed and reflexes training)
It helps the functionality of the metabolism
…

The exercise

The starting position:

Let’s focus on a good symmetry between the left and the right side of our body
Let’s lie on the ground in a supine position (belly upwards)
Let’s raise our legs until our thighs are perpendicular to the ground
Let’s bend our knees describing a 90° angle (the calves are parallel to the ground)
Let’s position our arms in the same way (elbows at 90° and forearms parallel to the ground)
Let’s join the palms of the hands in a prayer-similar position (the fingers are extended and tightened)
Even the feet must touch but not the elbows and the knees, they must remain in a natural position
Let’s avoid useless stiffness, we must be as much as possible relaxed

A note by Master Kongling – For the Core Course practitioners: the head can rest on the soil but if we have already started the ground fighting conditioning (read Ground fighting), it is necessary to implement the arch method to get used to maintaining it raised.

The movement:

Simultaneously, we have to let our hands and feet freely fall downward (but maintaining the 90° angle)
At the exact moment when we feel the elongation we have to explosively contract our abs to return to the starting position
Let’s imagine we want to use the inertia of our limbs to “break” our body in half and to use our abs, to keep it together
The movement should be similar to a small but continuous vibration
When we elongate let’s breathe out, when we compress let’s (passively) breathe in

Execution details:

The vibration movement should follow a curvilinear path
The vibration must be neither too broad nor too slow
Let’s focus our weight and workout on our center of gravity, the lower part of our back (read also How to improve balance: tricks and exercises)
25-50 reps are good to start (even 100 are good, the effort should not be so intense in this basic version)
It is important to implement the warrior’s breathing (read Breathe Yoga: the warrior’s breathing)
…

The variations

A few alternative execution methods (read Same exercises, different execution):

The speed of execution defines different goals (explosive and short aims to build speed, low and long strength)
An entry-level variation is to touch the ground with the feet and hands (to help the abs but let’s try to avoid it as soon as possible)
An intermediate-level variation is to push in a direction parallel to the ground (instead of downward)
An advanced level variation is to use 2 equivalent weights, respectively on our hands and on our feet (5-25 Kg for example)
…

Final notes

A few conclusive notes:

The description is more complex than the realization, however, if we are performing the exercise correctly we should feel the work in the lower part of our abdomen
In our school, due to its benefits, this type of abdominal workout is a mandatory conditioning for all the practitioners (almost daily)
Outside the martial arts context, this practice is good also for general fitness purposes (even inverting the breathing sequence)
…

A note by Master Kongling – There is a specific reason why we breathe out while our limbs move away from our body, it is to get used to increase the power of our blows (read /// Subscribe (it's free!) or Login to see this content ///).

In the next article of this series, we will see the second exercise for muscle chain development (read Exercise 2 for the abs to develop the muscle chain).

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu Exercises – The most important technical exercises to develop real martial capabilities
Advanced speed and reflexes training – A video course dedicated to combat speed improvement

In-depth articles

6 Dragons Kung Fu exercises’ characteristics – The common structure of 6 Dragons Kung Fu physical exercises
A great 1-minute cardio exercise – A simple but effective practice to start to build real stamina

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

What level of “pain” do you feel?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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