Apply 2-factor to static stances.

I am using GB to replace my previous conditioning for kung fu, and so far I'm happy with the results. With regards to kung fu, for a static stance like the horse stance, could I apply dual factor theory? I hold the horse stance for 2 minutes and 50 seconds before giving up. Applying dual factor theory, should my loading weeks be 50-80% of that time? Unloading be <50%?

My goal is 5 minutes, if I attain that, then 10, then 30. Why? Because there is training that can be done in horse stance to adjust habitual tight spots and the way your body holds it's own weight. Not unique to horse stance, but if I could hold it for 30mins, I'd be getting really strong legs while working on my tensions and constrictions.

Dual factor would be more like doing the horse stance for the 2:30 with extra weight, like a weight vest or barbell or two back packs (front and back to distribute weight evenly), slowly building up the weight you are using for a few weeks, and then back off to just bodyweight for most sets and one shorter set of the extra weight, with less total training volume.

You do not want to lose intensity so much as you want to drastically reduce volume. If you reduce intensity, meaning the resistance, you are going to lose strength and that's stupid. If you keep intensity and frequency the same but reduce set size and/or reduce volume of sets per workout (this one will ALWAYS be done) anywhere from 50-80% you will recover fairly quickly while keeping your gains from the 'fatigue' cycle.

If you are just going to use bodyweight, I would just run SSC. Much, much simpler. Besides, building up to a 30 minute horse stance is ALWAYS uncomfortable, there's no such thing as just holding it with no pain (at least from what I have heard from people). You get used to the discomfort and that is part of the training. At first it will cause weakness and eventually it will just be a burning sensation that does not sap your strength. SSC is, in my opinion, a better way of handling this. You shouldn't need a de-load, but if you did I would suggest just doing 1 set instead of however many you normally do. If you're just doing 1 set 7 days a week you will be fine, no need for de-load. Just add 10-30s every 2-4 weeks so that it never gets out of hand.

Do you think that SSC would yield faster results than say just forcing oneself to spend an extended period of time in the stance, really enduring a lot of the shaking and burning?

Also, what is happening by the time a person has been standing for 40minutes, and has been burning and shaking since the 10 minute mark?

Cyaneus said:

Do you think that SSC would yield faster results than say just forcing oneself to spend an extended period of time in the stance, really enduring a lot of the shaking and burning?

Also, what is happening by the time a person has been standing for 40minutes, and has been burning and shaking since the 10 minute mark?

Those are good questions. Personally, I think that a weekly max time effort in combination with SSC 4-5 days a week is the best way to go, but you will not be doing this like a normal SSC. You would simply perform 2:30s holds. That should be well within your ability every day. It will suck, but it will quickly become something you can do on a daily basis. I'd basically stay within 30s of your max hold time, or within 90% of max hold time once you get past 5-6 minute holds.

Because you're talking about hold times that go way, way past all energy system thresholds (on a motor unit basis) you can not achieve meaningful gains with half max holds. You literally have to push pretty close to the edge.

I am going to step out on a limb with this explanation, as this has not been studied in depth and probably will not ever be. I believe that the body is adapting to the stress by learning to cycle through motor units very quickly, allowing them all to clear enough metabolic 'waste products' to hold tension long enough for others to do the same, creating an essentially infinite feedback loop. Of course first the muscles involved will have to develop enough vascularization and whatever surface area to volume ratio characteristics are required by the physical/chemical characteristics of such activities (waste product and energy substrate transport and metabolism) to perform such long contractions.

That's basically why you start trembling: your body is switching between many small groups of muscle fibers so that they all get enough rest to produce tension and let other fibers rest. You fail when your body is unable to sustain the amount of force necessary to hold a position (almost certainly due to a steady build up of 'waste products' to the point where they can not be transported quickly enough to allow for sufficient energy production) but eventually your body can hold forever as long as you can deal with the pain. Once you get past the 5 minute mark gains are more about your willingness to tolerate pain than your physical ability to hold the position.

Of course the efficiency of the calcium pump may also be affected here, but we'll never know because there will probably never be any studies on this. I hope someone here takes this as a challenge and actually conducts a study complete with blood markers and whatever else can be used to assess my hypotheses!

Very cool hypothesis, and makes sense. I hope to be a medical scientist someday, and if I was one right now I would try and get a study going on this! But, just learning the citric acid cycle and lactic acid fermentation, it sounds about right. I also recall my professor mentioning a similar description on the activity of myosin/actin while doing a wall-sit.

Thanks for the advice.

-Cyaneus

Post.

Hahaha, thanks!

I'm doing 5 sets for 45 sec in a very large stance (one hand from the ground). Very effective for flexibility. Much more useful in my opinion.