Where to Start?

[Taoin]

Hi All,

I've just recently discovered Coach Sonnon's material and have een going through this website for the past month. I printed out the online catalog with the thought of circling the items that I would be most interested in.

Well, by the time I was through, I noticed that I had circled almost every video/dvd/book etc that was offered. As great as it would be to immediately get everything, I'm finding it wold be just a little too hard on my pocketbook. As a result, I thought I would come in here & hopefully get some advice from Coach Sonnon and/or members that are more experienced than me in using these materials.

Some background on me: I'm a 38-year-old 5'9 male. I practice Xingyiquan, a Chinese internal art that some of you may be familiar with. As a fighting art, it is very aggressive, with quite a bit of forward intent and utilizes movements that act as simultaneous blocks & strikes. I also practice some Filipino martial arts along the lines of Arnis, Pekiti Tirsia, Dog Brothers, etc.

I am interested in building "whole-body" functional strength as well as increasing my overall level of health. By the same token, despite my martial arts practice I have a great deal of physical & mental tension that hinders me in my performance. I'm looking for a way to decrease & hopefully eventually eliminate that long-standing physical & mental tension.

No major physical limitations, but I do have a collapsed disc on L5 that I have to watch out for.

So....I guess I'm trying to put together a program that will enhance my martial/fighting abilities, increase my overall strength & health & at the same time lead to mental & physical relaxation. Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Jrichardson]

Well, by the time I was through, I noticed that I had circled almost every video/dvd/book etc that was offered.

I am interested in building "whole-body" functional strength as well as increasing my overall level of health. By the same token, despite my martial arts practice I have a great deal of physical & mental tension that hinders me in my performance. I'm looking for a way to decrease & hopefully eventually eliminate that long-standing physical & mental tension.

No major physical limitations, but I do have a collapsed disc on L5 that I have to watch out for.

That first paragraph is practically a sales pitch for Body-Flow and Warrior Wellness...

clubbells would also be good for your whole-body functional strength, but in terms of your budget and your back, they'd be a second-stage option in my opinion.

If you just HAVE to take a look at some of the martial-artsy stuff, and can squeeze it into your budget, Shockability is a good first choice.

[Mike]

Warrior Wellness is a must to start out with. Warrior Wellness combined with clubbells is a great way to build a truly functional body.

I suggest starting with Warrior Wellness and then budgeting for a single 10 lb. Clubbell® with either/or the Clubbell® tape/book.

Clubbell® training and Warrior Wellness compliment each other so you won't be disappointed. If you have some extra cash, spring for a pair of 10's!!

[Ryan Murdock]

Taoin:

I'm sorry I don't have time to type right now, so I would refer you to this post in the MA forum http://circularstrengthmag.com/forum...pic.php?t=3384

Joshua had a similar question, and the responses were excellent. Please read my responses to his question. If I had more time to write, I would offer you that same advice.

Cheers, and welcome to the Forum!

[Taoin]

Thanks to all who have responded thus far! With so many recommendations, Warrior Wellness is at the top of my list right now.

A quick quick follow-up question or two:

1) What would be the major differences between me using the Warrior Wellness material vs the Zdorovye Health System?

2) My core martial art (Xingyiquan) is primarily a striking art--although any of the movements can just as easily become a lock or a grapple as well as a strike. I'm interested in enhancing my performance/abilities within the context of my Xingyi training. The reduction of fear reactivity & accompanying tension will do quite a bit to facilitate that. Are there any recommendations for any specific Coach Sonnon materials that will help me with the "martial" portion of the above?

Oh, just to clarify: my training focuses on "street-combat" type of situations not tournament competition or judging of forms. Likewise, I recognize the necessity of whatever you train in helping to enhance your health & vitality.

Thanks again everybody. I'm still open to any other input. Hopefully, I'll have something of value to share a few months from now!

[THEFORMERONE]

Taoin:

I own many of Coach Sonnon's ROSS videos, all excellent and I understand your desire to own them all. If you did, I hope you have time to sit down, watch, practice, review, practice, etc. Comprehensive tapes that leave the door open to further exploration and progression. For martial enhancement, I would suggest Shock-Ability and FistiCuffs. Both video series give you a good description of Joint Mobility and strengthening exercises, proper breathing and vibration drills, along with so much more. If you would like to incorporate grappling, Grappler's ToolBox is an excellent conditioning video series. I have not viewed ArthroKinetics, but it is on my next buy list, it just seems like a reasonable choice. (Maybe another member of the Tribe could comment on this.)

Basically, all Coach Sonnon's videos, have soooo much information to extract and extrapulate for continuing research and experimentation to ever-progressing refinement.

To build a functional body, well like I said, Grappler's ToolBox is awesome for conditioning and Body-Flow WILL release tension, Fear-Reactivity and integrate your body. Anways hope this helps, I gotta go. Good Luck with your decision!

Regards,

Jason B.

[bob_stra]

1) What would be the major differences between me using the Warrior Wellness™ material vs the Zdorovye™ Health System?

If Zdorovye is the whole 24 set encyclopedia, WW is "Aadvarks to Azure"

WW is easier to "follow to".

The reduction of fear reactivity & accompanying tension will do quite a bit to facilitate that. Are there any recommendations for any specific Coach Sonnon materials that will help me with the "martial" portion of the above?

The concepts actually replicate across the materials in different flavors. You might want to start with Fisticuffs as this would probably be the clearest example to you?