Friday, February 19, 2010

A general skill set

This sort of follows on from the last post.

I've been thinking about this for a while, trying to integrate different threads of the things that interest me in this whole physical training world.

Where I am coming to at the moment maintains the differences I've learned about between skill and strength. Strength training is one distinct area and - while there are controversies - I tend to come down in the HIT school as explained by Doug or John.

However I am still drawn to the general athleticism and enthusiasm of people like Erwan Le Corre or Frank Forencich.

I do not see the two schools as mutually exclusive though. Where I am now is thinking of the general building of strength - intense infrequent workouts - and then learning a set of fun skills, that will also be useful in life - more regular easy practice and play.

So currently I am training weights about once a week, but also training Krav Maga once a week - skill training - and doing easy playing around with other things - sprints, hill walks, gymnastic moves, turkish get ups.

In terms of an skill set I like the Methode Naturelle set of skills: fighting, climbing, throwing, running, balance etc. It is this general skill set that I am thinking of more and more as I get older. I want to maintain strength...but I also want to practice balance, squatting, fighting etc.

There was a thread years ago on a forum I used to spend time on about "Dad fitness" someone thinking about how to train to be fit for the tasks he had as a Dad - running after kids, picking them up etc. The more I think about it now, the idea for me would be to get strong and then practice the different skills.

Hope you don't mind the ramble....

6 comments:

Erik said...

We could use more rambling, actually!

I've been mentioning this in other paleo friendly blogs, but there's a recent post on Science Based Medicine entitled "Long for a past that never existed." I bet your readers would enjoy it (and the comments section).

http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=3904

Natural Athlete said...

I have come to similar place. For an overall fitness you have to balance physical development I Strength, Stamina endurance, and neurological development IE motor intelligence. Its an imprecise distinction but it makes for effective practice. I come back to the basic breakdown of you should be able to effectively move your own body, external bodies and defend yourself.

To use the closests proxies in my opinion to evolutionary fitness a overall fit person is part traceurs, part strong man, part reality Based self defense student.



I do disagree with the HIT strength is very much dependant on neurological as well as muscular adaption. The evidence to me is very much in favor of the Max effort model of strength development not the repeated effort when it comes to CNS development.

Its funny posted these two posts today as I am working on Defining my own ideas of GPP right now on www.evolutionaryathletics.posterous.com

Chris said...

Thanks Erik - that is an interesting discussion

Chris said...

Natural Athlete - I have been reading your blog for a while and really enjoy it.

That basic taxonomy of move self, move others and defend is a nice little approach.

OLDDUDE said...

Chris,
It seems this is where we end up with some age and experience, ie, trying to find the principles behind the things we do. To me it comes down to how we actually work, not how we think we do or how we want to but how does the machine work. We can tease out muscle actions, hormones, mental facilities, but it is only for discussion purposes. An awesome game.

Jeff said...

@Chris,

Great ramble. I think what you are saying makes a lot of sense. I have come to train in a very similar way. 1-2 HIT workouts and Jeet Kune Do for an additional skill training.

I am too much a beginner to understand the CNS issues.

jeff