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The second exercise to build a good muscle chain

After the first exercise (read Exercise 1 for the abs to develop the muscle chain), it is now time to see the second one useful to condition our muscle chain (read Use the body power: the muscle chain).

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).

The idea, as always, is to repeat these movements in an always more precise way and gradually for longer and longer sessions. In such a way, while in combat: the most difficult areas where the chain normally loses most of its power will automatically react in the correct way.

A note by Master Kongling – The smaller the muscle memory (read The muscle memory) that we program, the better the final result will be: in fact, if the low-level functionalities of our body are not correct, even the most complex ones will never reach their highest potential.

The second multifunctional exercise for the abs

Condition the abdomen’s muscles to transfer our kinetic energy

As the past one, 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 it is scalable)
It does not stress our back (typical problem of the novice)
It allows long sessions (ideal to burn abdominal fat)
It makes natural the passage of the kinetic energy
It conditions the muscle memory of an area hard to manage
At an advanced level is useful to build speed (see Advanced speed and reflexes training)
It helps the metabolism
It teaches the abs to build instantaneous explosive power (incredibly useful for ground fighting, read Ground fighting)
…

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 relax and widen our legs, the knees are bent
Let’s join the soils of our feet (if we are very flexible we can even allow the knees to touch the ground externally)
Let’s put our hands behind our neck (we can even cross our fingers)
Let’s completely relax the neck muscles (they must not work at all)

The movement:

We have to raise and lower our upper body using the abs muscles only
While our head goes toward the ground we have to inhale with the nose
During this downward motion, we have to contract the buttocks to the maximum tension (in order to make them raise)
While the head goes upward we have to gradually exhale and relax our buttocks
The entire motion must be cyclical, the body swings up and down (the buttocks go up while the head goes down and vice versa)
Even the legs must accompany the loop
While the buttocks raise the part of the feet that is in contact with the ground must push away the ground

A note by Master Kongling – A note for the Core Course students: this type of abdominal workout is mandatory for 6 Dragons Kung Fu practitioners. The goal is to synchronize as much as possible: the breath, the abdominal strain and the contraction of the buttocks.

Execution details:

During the movement, the lower part of the back must not rise from the ground
We must not include the muscles of the neck, the head is supported by our hands / arms only
To have a reference, the starting point of the power are the feet and the point of arrival is the base of the neck
During the entire cycle, the feet do not move from their position
25-100 reps are good to start
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); at a more advanced level the movement can become a violent vibration (but this does not exclude the slow alternative)
To increase the effort of those who have already more training behind them, we can place a stable weight on the abdomen (from 5 to 50kg)
…

Final notes

Executed gently, this can be a very delicate exercise which is also fine for those who are beginners (or not practitioners)
As for the first, the description is more complex than the realization, however, if we are training correctly we should feel the effort in the upper part of our abdomen
As we already said, in our school, due to their benefits, these types of abdominal workouts are mandatory conditioning for all the practitioners (almost daily, alternating them or executing all for the same amount of duration 7 repetitions)
Outside the martial context, this practice is good also for general fitness purposes (even inverting the breathing but let’s never forget that the way we described here is the ideal one for our combat system)
…

A note by Master Kongling – As we have already stressed many times: there is a specific reason why we breathe out while our limbs move away from our body, to get used to increasing 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 third exercise for muscle chain development.

In-depth video courses

Muscle chain for martial arts: how to – A video course about the full path to develop a high-performing muscle chain
Basic 6 Dragons Kung Fu Exercises – The most core technical exercises to develop the martial skills of 6 Dragons Kung Fu
Advanced speed and reflexes training – The path toward real combat speed development

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:

Can you connect your muscles in one strong move?

Author: Master Kongling

Founder of 6 Dragons Kung Fu.

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