THAT is very impressive. Do you have a video? I was thinking how beautiful some ofthe tai chi forms could look on a uni, the rocking back and forth on the wheel instead of shifting weight. I have been practicing long idles (like a full reve back and a full rev forward) while turning smoothly backwards and forwards (kind of making a scalloped pattern on the floor of the wheel were chalked), it had the same feel as some of the sequences of forms we did, come to think of it.
I’ll get laughed right out of the gym if I start doing that there. I’d be better off cleaning by basement out and practicing down there…
Mike Foote is right: pushups ARE the answer! They work so many different muscle groups you can’t believe it…even your core, which is so important, so ignored and so essential for balance. In our karate classes we did pushups on our knuckles (hands in a fist, wrists perfectly straight, most of your weight on the knuckles of the index and middle fingers). In this position your wrist wouldn’t be flexed at all. It’s not so bad on a carpeted surface…just don’t try it on hardwood floors!
that’s nothing…
our instructor makes anyone high green belt or higher do knuckle pushups. He makes me do Clapping Crunchies.
They’re doing a knuckle pushup, launching your upper body up, clapping, and coming back down into a knuckle pushup. try that a few dozen times. they hurt.
but yeah. To stay on topic:
Hands at about shoulder width, body straigt, fingers pointing forwards if you’re not holding fists. If you’re doing knuckle pushups, you put the top of your fist forward.
Check out this website. For most people I think it would be TMI, but I think the level of detail will appeal to the researcher in you. (plus, there’s PICTURES! ) Just go slowly and don’t do anything too far outside your comfort range. In general, the wider you place your hands the more you work your pecs, and the narrower you place them the more you work your triceps.
Pushups work slightly differently for girls because muscle strength to mass is different, and the joints are different too. Be careful, and don’t overdo them. Some physically fit and sporty girls find it hard to do any pushups at all.
But back to the original question:
Fencing would be ideal. It works in short bursts of intense physical activity after period of fairly vigorous but watchful movement and tactical planning - a bit like off road unicycling or, I imagine, trials.
The rider has to rely on feedback through the unicycle and his/her feet and hand in much the same way as a fencer relies on sentiment de fer.
I would have suggested some form of dancing, because dancing is all about dynamic balance and control. A martial art has the extra element of a hostile opponent. If you wanted to recreate that in your unicycling, I’d suggest the ancient European martial art of jousting.
Tai chi probably offers some of the same challenges and advantages as dancing.
Whatever you do, do it well, and have fun.
I meet lots of people who have done lots of martial arts. They are always the best beginner on the fencing course. They are usually the best beginner on a different course in two months’ time. “Winner beginners”, I call them. They do a couple of months, sometimes half a year, at an ancient art that would take a lifetime to master and think they’ve “done” Kung Fu, or whatever - in much the same way as the stereotypical American tourist has “done” Europe after a day in London, a day in Edinburgh and a day in Paris. The Chinese name for this approach to martial arts is hwan kin
Aikido, Karate, and Tae Kwon Do classes were full.
I tried Tai Chi. I had to face the truth: I’m a spaz. I can’t move that slooooow. The people were great. I love them. I want them all to unicycle with me and JOIN THE FENCING CLUB!!!
I am taking fencing classes. They start Wednesday. I can’t wait! I fenced before, so this will be some review, but with a new fencing coach who was a member of the Russian Olympic team and one of the coaches of the US Olympic team(Viktor Svatenko) I am happy to re-learn some footwork and parries!
Hey, I’m glad you posted to this thread again. Interesting topic to me, and I never would have thought to use the search function to search on “martial arts,” so. . .
Anyway, I was just talking with my wife about this today. I studied Kenpo Karate for awhile (not EPAK, but a Tracy’s offshoot), and learned a lot about balance, much of which can be boiled down to, “while extending your arms might initially feel like the best way to obtain balance, balance is often achieved more quickly by drawing in.” Or something like that. But as I’m learning to ride, I’m feeling like holding my arms out and using them for balance is helping. It seemed contradictory to me, but now I’m thinking it’s more likely just two different approaches that are each appropriate for their respective activities. I suspect that as I become more proficient on the unicycle, the need to use my arms for balance will probably decrease substantially over time, and I can revisit the differences and similarities in obtaining balance in the two different activities.
Blake, you’re sounding like some sort of fusion of my wife and I: I unicycle, she knits while drinking tea, and the average of our ages is 38.
thread jack>>> Ha! That’s funny. I’m single, but now I know why I can’t find Mr. Right… I’m already married to myself!
I am a better unicylist than knotter…whoops. I mean knitter.
Unjack>>>> yes, I think when you get better the arms come in and balance comes from the abdomen. You’ll feel the difference when you’re solid on that uni.
i’m a second dan in Moon lee Tae Kwon do. And i did ninjitsu for 5 years so far and I find it’s very good i have alot of body strength and balance plus flexibility as well and it has helped me lots in riding street
hoping to get an unbiased opinion from everyone here supporting me
My wife has been bugging me for years to do some cross training. I tell her that I get all the cross training I need.
I do a couple of days of Coker road riding, 7 miles juggling clubs on a 29" at least one day/week, and MUni (light–skinnies, small bumps, a downhill MUni bike trail in a local park).
I had been planning to post this wife problem, hoping to get an unbiased opinion from everyone here supporting me, to show my wife.
Now I guess I should add push ups–but it’s hard to change the routine…
I have been keeping up with the suggested push up regimine post ( by Mike Foote) in this thread best I can, And unicycling when I get the chance.
I am almost 40, and it was really fun to see how much more stamina I had than all the other 18 year old girls in the fencing class. I could do more push ups than many of the guys, too! we did drills where you move forward and backwards along the fencing strip using proper foot work. (Imagine wind sprints but using a far less efficient means of perambulating.) Half these young ones were heaving their chests and I was just waiting ready for the next batch of sprints.
It sounds like I’m bragging, probably to you yunguns here, but I post to let you all know not to discount us old fogies! And to you fellow old-fogies: we’ve still got plenty left to teach the squirts a thing or to!
) Just go slowly and don’t do anything too far outside your comfort range. In general, the wider you place your hands the more you work your pecs, and the narrower you place them the more you work your triceps.
