Female Martial Artists

I have been training in Kung Fu for 13 years. In most of the tournaments I compete in, we don't seperate the competitors into male and female groups, we all compete against each other. I've always done well, usually placing first or second. But recently, I was moved from the 15-17 year old division to the adult division. I am the only girl and I'm fighting grown men. I have yet to win.

Is there anyone that has any ideas for ways I could train better? I train 5 days a week now, but obviously i'm doing something wrong because i'm not getting better. Any suggestions anyone?

Do you train against grown men? Seems like the only way to get better at it is to do it. However, in the styles I've trained in (karate, not kung fu), folks are always paired against each other by weight and age. It's not right imo that an 18-year-old female is pitted against a 40-year-old male.

But that being said...I'm sure you can find a number of advantages to use against your opponents, speed and surprise instead of strength. I hope your sensei is addressing this issue?

well, i think big part of the problem is that other than sensei, i am the highest rank at my dojo. All of the people I train with are bigger than me, but they also have less experience than me.

Well the first thing I want to say to you is, it's a tough situation to be in, but well done for wanting to do something like that.

I've thought for a long time that more females should do something, even boxing, as a form of defence, and then there might not be as many assualts on females as there are.

That being said, there are two things you could look to be doing.

1. You could try more bag work, even a boxing bag. You might need to wear at least some thin boxing glves or some hand wraps, and don't go for power, go for speed. Go for tapping style stuff, where your only aim is to make fast accurate contact with the bag, then you could slip in some power shots perhaps.

This would help you to build up things like Fast Twitch Muscle Fibre responses and accuracy. You can use the bag as a substitute person, especially if it's a bag with a makers logo on the front, as you can equate the logo with the opponents face, and then you have some perspective to work with, in terms of body shots.

If it was perhaps one of those bags, that looks like an upturned torso, that might also ber beneficial. Perhaps use both types if you have a facility that uses both types of bag.

2. Mirror work. Boxers do things like shadow boxing, also to have a theoretical opponent to work against. plus you can actually see the technique you're using as well

If there is any way you can increase strength, thne I'd go for that. You don't necessarily need to do weights, but you could do Medicineball work.

Things like this.

1. Squats holding the ball out infront of you.

2. Lunges same ball holding method.

3. Torso twists, sitting down moving to one side, pretty much to 90 degrees, then back the other way until you're almost 90 degrees to the left of centre. This would be good for things like Back and Core conditioning.

4. Press-ups on a medicineball. I would kneel on a mat if you're not able to do the straight back, tips of the toes kind, and then if you have to do that kneeling style initially, work up ot the other type over a few weeks.

5. Medicine Ball Curls.

Make sure obviously you're up to good muscle temperature, so at least 2-3 minutes of jogging, or something like that, don't workout with cold muscles.

If you're using just a small rubber Medicineball, then I'd aim for about 3 sets of 10 on each exercise, and then give yourself about 1 minute between sets. You could if possible progress upto the larger leather kind if you've got access.

Those exercises could be a way forward if you choose to explore something like that.

You might benefit from a decent Protein concentrate powder with Carbs in it, depending on whether you eat after workouts, or not. Or alternatively even if you eat after workouts / training sessions, could still add 1/2 scoop in with your Breakfast, to really take advantage of things like a revved Metabolism at Breakfast, and possible GH and Testosterone levels too.

As for what you're doing, I certainly want to wish you lots of luck with it. You definitely should be very, very proud of your activities, and proud of the effort and application you're clearly putting in.

I would always support the actions of any young lady, that was willing to dedicate solid time to something like this.

You're up against it, fighting adult men, but I KNOW, you have the past ability to win against people. It's clear you have quite a bit of talent at Kung Fu, and you are capable of quite a lot, so I really hope you continue to come back here, and let us know how we can help, or what else we can do, and I wish you lots of luck.

You're a young Lady with a lot of courage and Heart, and it's always great to see, especially with a discipline that can often seem daunting and off putting to many .

well, i think big part of the problem is that other than sensei, i am the highest rank at my dojo. All of the people I train with are bigger than me, but they also have less experience than me.

Can you visit other dojos with other experienced folks? It's just like playing soccer in this aspect...or any sport...a really good team plays horribly when they play against a really bad team, and they play really well when they play teams at their skill level or above. I don't think you're going to get better while sparring white belts.

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