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A”T” weight and a crucial exercise to master weapons

After having seen the risks related to the use of a martial weapon with an incorrect muscular setting (read Prepare arms, wrists and fingers to use weapons), let’s see a fundamental exercise to strengthen one of the most important parts of our arms (that comes from a Shaolin training tool, read Secret Shaolin training tools).

Note – This article has been 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).

What we need:

Let’s buy a modular handlebar (those commonly used in gym workouts)
Let’s choose a set of weights that we are sure we can safely lift with one arm (let’s not overdo it, the progression should be gradual)
Let’s move all the weights on a single side of the handlebar and let’s firmly fix them (as shown in the picture)

The exercise:

Let’s perform a short warm-up / stretching for wrists, fingers and arms (read How to correctly perform warm-up)
Let’s grasp the handlebar on the opposite side of the weights
Let’s start with position A, where our arm is perpendicular to the ground and the handle is parallel to it
Let’s bend the elbow and let us stop an instant when the handlebar becomes perpendicular to the ground (position B)
From this position let’s bring the dumbbell behind our back and even there, let’s stop for an instant (position C, the handle is perpendicular to the ground but this time with the weights down)
Let’s step back to position B, pause, position A, pause, position B, pause, position C (and then let’s loop the cycle)
At each position change, the pause is about 0.5 seconds

Variations

When we can effortlessly perform the movement we can gradually add more weights (let’s pay attention to the increase, especially in relation to our wrists)
Reached a certain ability level, we can start to alternate position C with lateral rotations of the wrist (to the right and to the left, first one and then the other)
Finally, obtained good control, we can begin to perform simple free spins of the handlebar (simulating the most basic movements of the weapon for which we are training)

A note by Master Kongling – In relation to the weapon we want to master, once we adapt our arm to train with a 3-5 times heavier and less versatile tool, we will no longer face inertia-related difficulties.

Final notes

In conclusion, it is important to stress that:

Let’s pay the utmost attention, at the first hint of excessive tension / pain we must immediately interrupt the exercise
Forcing our bodies (eg. by starting with uselessly too heavy weights) does not speed up our martial growth but rather leads to harm us (and this means slowing down or even stopping it
Let’s always try to search for soft, circular, slow, and continuous flow
Especially in the beginning, we do not have to train more than 3-5 minutes per arm; we have to start with very light weights or we will hurt (especially the wrists)
…

In future articles of this series, we will see other exercises useful for the same purpose.

In-depth video courses

Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu’s weapons – The core preparation for the martial weapons of 6 Dragons Kung Fu
Weapon disarming: what works and what not – The techniques, the premises and the preparation

In-depth articles

Learning the use of martial weapons – A free mini-guide about how to learn to use the martial weapons
The complete list of all the martial arts’ weapons – A continuously updated glossary of all the martial weapons

Questions

Reply in the comments and share your experience:

Can you bend the wrist without problems?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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