All these different systems that sound pretty similar, what are the pros and cons?
Has anyone any first hand experience from any of these training methods?
Wich ones focus more on strength? Flexibility? Flow? Muscle tightness? Breathing? Becoming pain free?....
The methods that come to mind are Yoga, Ginastica Natural, Body-Flow and Warrior Wellness (Sonnon), Pilates. Did I forget anyone?
/Vic
Hi Victor, I have some first hand experience with all three.
"meaningful ones focus more on strength? Flexibility? Flow? Muscle tightness? Breathing? Becoming pain free?.... "
They all approach the above in one way or another. As for pro's and con's there are enough of those lists on various threads and I find they all come back to the persons experience with that form of training and honestly my "personal" experience is not your experience and as such its not going to be meaningful for you. There are allot of threads on this forum where people begin with good intentions of sharing info and then get into shouting matches regarding the best this or the best that. Suffice to say, describing these things and their value is allot like telling you what Thai food tastes like, all the writing in the world won't mean anything to you until you taste it for yourself.
All that having been said, I am sure you have some idea of what each of those health systems is about. They all have something to offer depending on your goals. If you are looking for something that compliments the combative arts well, then dig a bit into Sonnons stuff. The health system that is a part of R.O.S.S has many interesting exercises, breathing methods and movement drills that have a direct performance impact on your combative skill.
Hope this was somehow helpful.
Shawn
Thanks guys.
It sounds like if I for example do some kind of flow/mobility excercises(Body-Flow/Ginastica Natural/WW) before class and some more static stretching (static yoga poses/static stretching) on my weak areas after class I would be on the right track.
And on the days when I´m only doing this kind of work I could do the dynamic exercises first and end with the static ones.
How does that sound?
/Vic
Some before class mobility work is IMHO a good idea. It will get the joints moving and lubricated and also get you in a relaxed state and ready to flow when you roll. Often I see people get on the mat, real stiff and then after a few seconds of pummpling they learn a couple techniques and then try to tap their partner. The constant effort to "win" does more to stiffen them up than to improve their overall game. Starting with some kind of movement that doesn't have "winning" as a goal (for example bodyflow or Ginastica) focuses your mind on your movement rather than on the possible outcome of a sparring match and after all rolling is about moving.
Shawn
Victor W,
Believe it or not but what you stated (dynamic stretching before the workout; static stretching afterwards) has been advocated for many years by many collegiate and professional Strength and Conditioning as well as a few Track and Field coaches.
I came to realize this almost ten years ago after reading Kurtz book on stretching. He explain why doing dynamic stretching first, before, a workout and doing static stretching afterwards to the best way to do things. This point of view was echoed in my encounters with the Strength & Conditioning staff at a Div 1 university I interned at. I also heard the same philosophy advocated by a nationally known and respect Sprint coach in my home town.