Your only enemy is the pull up bar, it will test you in many
ways that another human being cannot. To
me, Martial Artists are supposed to be the most elite athletes in the world,
capable of anything that is humanly possible, something like a superhero. Somebody that is elite in strength, power,
speed, coordination, balance, control, endurance, flexibility, and anything
physical in nature. Physically he is one
of the strongest human beings pound for pound.
To me, someone can never be a Master of the Martial Arts if
he has not mastered the basic pull up exercise.
It is a simple test that does not require the “Master” to hurt anybody;
he can perform this test at any time of day.
If he cannot execute proficiency in this test, he is not a Master of the
Martial Arts, this is just one of the many tests that need to be passed, not
just for the present moment but for his entire life.
A person who is great in pull ups does not have to show me
he can fight, I can already know that he is very fit for his size and that no
matter if he is trained in combat or not, his level of fitness is already
something that gives him an added advantage during an altercation. Many can pretend like they are capable in
fighting but you cannot really pretend that you are great in executing pull-ups,
you can either do it or you can’t. Those
who can’t, I already know where their weakness is and that gives me much added
confidence in knowing how to overcome that person with success if a physical
altercation should occur.
In addition it is simply embarrassing to claim yourself to
be a “Master” of the Martial Arts and you can’t even perform a simple pull up
exercise. That’s like claiming yourself
to be a Master of Basketball but you don’t even have the coordination to
dribble a basketball. We know how to
assess a personal trainer, if the trainer is not fit himself, there is
something wrong. But a “Master” of the
Martial Arts is supposed to be way beyond just a personal trainer. A “Master” of the Martial Arts should have an
Olympic gymnastic level of fitness pound for pound. Now, those who claim themselves to be
“Masters” but yet cannot perform pull-ups with ease are clearly fraudulent, and
they destroy the reputations of the true Masters of the Martial Arts.
Very nice post. Pull up is one of the easiest exercises ever. If one cannot do it, that clearly means he is not fit; therefore, he is not a master.
ReplyDeleteGood job, I like the post.
ReplyDeleteI agree, pull-ups to me are easy and i dont even consider my self even close to a masters level yet i can do them. If you have a master and he cant even do them that tells you automatically somethings wrong.
ReplyDelete