Monday, June 25, 2007

Dragonball Training Manual- Part IV

Hurrah! It's time for more training tips from the Dragonball Universe.

THE SAIYAN SAGA


The first instances of training we see in Dragonball Z occur after Raditz has been dispatched, Goku killed, and Piccolo takes a position as Gohan’s babysitter. I do not recommend killing yourself to go train with Kaio-sama (King Kai), so let’s just move on to what everyone was doing in this time. We’ll break this down by character.

Goku

When Goku is killed in the fight with Raditz, he travels to Kaio-sama’s planet at the end of Snake Way in order to receive special training. When he arrives, he finds himself on a tiny little rock in the middle of nowhere in a level of gravity ten times what he’s used to. However, since we don’t have access to multi-G training conditions, we’ll just have to look at how he trained while he was there.

Monkey-Chasing With Kaio-Sama

We’re not going for ultra-authenticity here, so please don’t break into any zoos to get a monkey. Goku’s first task (after making Kaio-sama laugh) was to catch the loveable monkey, Bubbles. Like I said, we don’t have a monkey (well, you might if you’re lucky), so we’re going to improvise a little. Got a dog? Cat? Little brother? Whatever it is, if you have something smaller than you that’s also faster than you, then we’re good to go! (Your animals might not like you too much after this, unless your dog likes to run away with the ball after he fetches it.)
The point here is that these little speed demons tend to not just be quick, but make quick, unpredictable turns that will allow you to work on your agility, your reaction time, endurance and hand speed (you’ve got to catch ‘em, remember?). Believe me, this is murder.

Playing Cricket

Bad pun, I know. The next step in Goku’s training, after catching the amazing Bubbles, was to hit the lighting-fast cricket-like creature, known as Gregory, with a giant hammer. A giant hammer! In place of the hammer, we can use a baseball bat, a stick, or whatever. However, I recommend, if you can handle the weight, that we bring back good ol’ Mr. Sledgehammer. They come in varying weights and you can get one that is right for you.
In place of Gregory we will not be using our dog or cat or little brother. They’re just too big… and alive! Instead, get some golf balls, tennis balls- anything that’s relatively small and not too hard and have someone throw them in front of you as you run forward. This is really a little much, I think, but it’s the only plausible alternative unless you want to spend some money. Here’s the solution. Get an RC Car and have someone maneuver the thing around and run from you, while you try to smash it with the hammer. Get the fastest one you can find and get someone who knows how to run the thing (or someone who can practice with it before you start smashing it), because, while the smashing is very satisfying, I doubt you’ll want to crush the thing in the first two minutes of training because the operator couldn’t steer or the car only went two miles an hour.
I recommend an open, flat field with minimal water for this, for obvious reasons… preferably away from other people’s possessions, pets, or younger siblings. After running around trying to smash that little RC Car with the sledgehammer, you’ll be wiped. Try to switch up your hand position every now and again so you are getting a balanced workout. And a word to the RC operator: quick cuts and circles make it a lot harder than just going in a straight line the entire time.

I really hope you guys have fun with this.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

One part in Rocky 2 reminds me a little bit of the monkey traing thing. Micky (Rocky's trainer) makes Rocky catch a chicken to gain speed. It seems to me, just add ten times earth gravity, its about the same thing. Now where you would get a chicken is anybodies guess, but it has to be easier then getting a monkey plus once you catch it you could eat it too.

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