I said is LIKE a callous. Um, that was an attempt, admittedly poort, at an analogy on my behalf. Like, you form callouses when shoveling, or paddling a kayak, etc.
If you go out and try to beat the heck out of a makiwara first time out, your gonna hurt yourself. If you push farther than your body should go, you'll hurt yourself. Take it easy with it, use it to train. You wouldn't do 500 pushups your first day right? Same as you wouldn't go full force for 100 reps on a makiwara first day. Work up to it and according to your body. Use caution to prevent injury. As for the cancer thing, all I have to say is that is ridiculous.
Ok, we don't need to turn this into another great big conditioning debate do we? Makiwara is used by some to condition, but it's main purpose is a training tool to develop focus and power. I have used it only on numorous occasions though and it ain't that hard to condition with though I would'nt recommend going full power with it |Cain|
hey man, here's an interesting article on the subject: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/101/28_makiwara.html
makiwara training is bad for you if you punch it harder than you're ready to. if you hit a makiwara to the point that the next day your knuckles hurt then you're hitting to hard. that kind of training can be detrimental to the bones. if you ever get to see the learning channel (might have been discovery, but i think it was TLC) special called extreme martial arts, watch it. they go into the scientific aspect of conditioning. when those bones are broken down from impact, the bone replaces itself (kinda like muscle) with more dense calcium deposits. it makes the bone harder and sometimes even a small bit larger. on a makiwara, you have to make sure it has lots of spring though. the spring effect greatly relieves the amount of impact your wrist has to endure. the spring effect of a makiwara is like the difference between running on a gravel road or running on a treadmill, the treadmill is better for your feet because the impact is much less. and while on the topic of makiwaras, does anyone know if those clapper makiwaras with the padded front and adjustable springs are any good? i'm thinking about buying one.
The process of generating abnormal amounts of calcium in your osteoblasts to repare bone damage (are you listening? BONE DAMAGE! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SODDING UP YOUR GOD DAMN BOOOOOONES!) can encourage cancer. Basically any abnormal chemical stress on the body (such as breathing cigarette smoke into your lungs, or for that matter genereating calcium to repair damge caused by punching something hard without padding) can cause cancer
apparently, knight is more familiar with the calcium deposit aspect of it than i am, so i'll assume he's right about it causing cancer. but why would someone hit something that wasn't padded?
People do, in knuckle conditioning. Mind you, the makiwara isn't VERY padded. The level of padding I was thinking about was in terms of a heavy bag with bag gloves.
i'm thinking about getting one of those clapper makiwaras you put on the wall. the ones with the plack padding and adjustable spring recoil (not to be confused with the lame foam ones with dragons and kanjis on the padding). they look like they have more padding than a traditional makiwara. am i wrong in assuming that they do?
I dunno mate, sorry. Never seen one. However, I do have to give you the standard caution according to the power vested in me by the international leauge of annoying little gits: GET A HEAVY BAG.
i have a wavemaster standing back because i have no where to put a standard hanging heavy bag. the wavemaster doesn't quite do it for me though, goes over a lil too easily. plus, i can't use it in the house (my house shakes, lol) and its a hassle to drag the thing outside. whereas i'm hoping to get a clapper makiwara and i'll just nail it to a tree in my backyard.
Andrew has the right Idea. Using makiwara regularily first off is a gradual build up over time as to the impact. If I were to look for a term as to how to strike it "push" would be closer to what should be done in the beginning rather than punch. If you are cutting your knuckles on the makiwara you are hitting to hard to soon. Not only that but even after time repeated "punchin" will do damage to shoulders and hands. Conditioning as in other sports is better attained with high reps and low impact. For example conditioning the body with weights over a long period of time is done by high reps low weight, after this taxing the body with low reps and high weights can be done but now you are working towards something specific such as a cometiton of weight lifting. Practicing with the mac is the same. Condition with specific and low impact exercises with high reps and your hands and arms and shoulders will perform as you want them to when needed. If you go maximum impact repeatedly you will eventually cause damage. I am talking from experience, I am currently in a lull training with the mac because of damage I did to my shoulders. Basiclly after training high impact for 2 years I had moved my clavicals so much that they were rubbing bone on bone, very baffling for the doctors who were not aware of my training. It took me a while to make the connection also. I stopped training mac for several months simply because it was painful to do it and things got better. My clavicals have fallen back into place now and I am now training slower, with less impact, more of a push. In the last 10 years I met a man named Mike ODell, he has trained makiwara for many years and is currently in his 60's. I have seen him use it to cure arthritis buildups in his joints. The arthritis was not cured simply the calcium buildups that occur were broken up and movement was restored to the joint. I have seen this in several people that he works with. Mr. Odell does not have callus on the knuckles, but the knuckles themselves are large, not painful and when he contacts its like being kicked by a mule. I have sent many people to train with him regarding makawara, many feel he is to soft, many say he is to slow. The point is that he has mastered the conditioning side, it is simply not the flasy, high speed pounding that many of these people do as a demonstration. He can do this also, but says that is demo.... not training. This is my experience over the last 20 years of training Mak. Mike O'Leary
That's cool, I didn't know that could be done. I myself haven't used a makiwara yet. I've been studying Karate for only a few weeks now, and I need to work on getting my form and movements good and consistent before I start impact training/conditioning.
Does this make a difference? I always figure that a conversation that lasts along time is one well thought out. Seems it kinda came alive again. Mike O'leary
