Dragonball Training Manual- Part VIII

So, we're not really going to be introducing any new exercises today, (well, not exactly) but what we are about to look at is very important, regardless of what you train for. This brings us to the point of finally asking the big question: Why the heck am I doing all this stuff anyway?!

As always: Enjoy!

THE CELL GAMES: IT’S NOT THE OLYMPICS

So, the Androids appear, there’s a bunch of fighting and (surprise, surprise) an even more powerful threat appears to challenge our heroes. Cell, a super-powered amalgamation of a good deal of the heroes and villains in the Dragonball universe, bursts onto the scene and it’ll take more than a Super Saiyan to stop him. Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, and Future Trunks all enter the Room of Spirit and Time to train, where a single day on the outside is an entire year on the inside. The conditions are harsh: ten times gravity, constantly fluctuating temperature and atmosphere, and enough white space to drive anyone mad. For the most part, the training within the Room of Spirit and time consisted of sparring, which we’ve covered. However, there are a few concepts that I would like to cover here.

Environmental Training

The atmosphere in the Room of Spirit and Time could range from a great mass of fire to an infinite arctic and could make the shift almost instantaneously. With this, we take a very good concept: environmental training. What that means, is that you aren’t always training in a gym with nice mats and air conditioning (which, if you’ve been running, swimming, and doing construction work, you probably already know what I’m talking about here). Training in the blistering heat and the freezing cold can push your body to the limit and bring you to a completely different level of power-- mentally. Don’t push yourself into heat stroke or frostbite, but training in these conditions can really drive your mental strength through the roof. Aside from the mental part of this training, you can also exercise or practice your techniques in the woods, in a crowded room, knee/waist/neck deep in water, or even blindfolded. The point is to make your body and mind adapt to ever changing conditions, because the world is not a static thing-- it is always changing and situations can go from bad to worse in the blink of an eye. And you may not have a nice mat to fall on or time to stretch before you have to defend yourself by means of combat or making a run for it.

Going for Broke

We’ve already talked about sparring, but let’s take it a little further, since we are talking about the Cell Games. If you’re training and sparring and doing all of these interesting things, you must be doing them for a reason, right? If you’re training to fight, protect yourself, better health, or whatever, you need to test yourself to keep growing. I’m talking about competition. If you’re in high school, join the football team, the soccer team, the wrestling team… something! If you’re an adult, there are plenty of venues for you to compete. You can box, kickbox, enter grappling tournaments, mixed martial arts competitions, marathons, triathlons, power lifting meets… whatever! Competition will push you to new heights and focus you in on how exactly you want to train. I, personally, am for the fighting portion of competition, but you don’t have to go for that. (Although, this is a Dragonball Training Manual we’re writing, after all!) Whatever it is though, challenge yourself and have fun.

Dragonball Training Manual- Part VII

Here's a good chunk of info for you guys since my internet has been down for about five weeks. Hopefully, we'll be pretty regular from now on.

WAITING FOR THE END OF THE WORLD

After Freiza’s demise at the hands of Future Trunks, we find ourselves in the midst of a three year training extravaganza! Here we get to see lot of training from Goku, Piccolo, Vegeta (especially), and everybody else (here and there). However, most of Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo’s training is stuff we’ve already seen. So, we’ll move on to the things we haven’t, starting with:

Vegeta

Vegeta launches himself into a crazy training spree, putting himself through levels of gravity from 150 times to 450 times Earth’s normal gravity. But, that’s not all! He also introduces us to some interesting training!

Bodyweight Exercises

Yep, we’re back to that. Vegeta jumps on the bandwagon and does some stuff Goku does, but pushes some of it a little farther.

One armed knuckle push-ups- Vegeta uses just two lower knuckles on his thumb, index and middle fingers to do one armed push-ups. Same stuff applies as before, but you may want to start on your whole fist before going to this level.

One armed knuckle handstand push-ups- Just when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier, Vegeta goes and takes the handstand push-ups to a whole other level! Do not do this freehand and do not do this on your knuckles. Start by just practicing one-armed handstands against the wall, after you’ve gotten pretty decent at normal handstand push-ups. After you can hold a handstand on a single arm (for both arms) for about a minute, without dying, you should be ready to try a single hand stand push-up. Be careful, go easy, and don’t rush it. You can very easily hurt yourself if you go too quickly. The result of proper training here will result in great balance and magnificent strength. When you can get a single one-armed handstand push-up, practice freehand one-arm handstands (no push-ups yet). Eventually, you might be able to do push-ups in this position, but take one step at a time, there, Mr. Super Saiyan.

Martial Training

Vegeta didn’t just train strength, he also trained his skill inside the gravity chamber. So, he got himself some flying robots with energy shields, shot a Ki blast at them, and went to dodging. If you have flying robots, use ‘em. If you can shoot a Ki blast, we need to talk!
Dodging- For this training, you’ll need a ball of some sort. Get a basketball, a soccer ball, or a kickball and get ready for some hardcore dodgeball. If you have friends (which you may not if you’re reading this), get three or four of them together, have them get in a circle or a staggered position surrounding you and have them throw the ball back and forth at each other, while throwing it at you in random intervals. Do your best to dodge. If you get hit, since it didn’t really do any damage, crank out some push-ups or sit-ups or bodyweight squats as punishment.
Agility- This is kind of a fusion between bodyweight exercises and martial training. Vegeta did back handsprings in hundreds of times Earth’s gravity and moved around in a variety of other ways. For this training, practice rolling, diving, flipping, handsprings, and any other gymnast type exercise you can think of all on something soft (like a gymnast’s mat) and with proper supervision (like a gymnast coach). With this and the dodge training, you’ll be much more agile than you previously were.

Yamcha

Poor Yamcha. He’s completely worthless all the way through Dragonball Z, but he’s sport enough to give us a couple of exercises every now and again.

Punching in the air- same as punching with weights, but without the weight! You go Yamcha! You’re an inspiration to us all.

Weight lifting- Yamcha tries out some weights during this little break in action, but honestly, he’s a bit too strong for the weights he uses. However, weights should be great for us! We’re going to focus on just three exercises.

-Bench Press- This can be done seated, with a machine, or laying down on a bench pressing a bar. Keep your elbows in and press up, but don’t lock it out entirely at the top. If you’re at a gym, get someone to help you.

-Squats- With a weight on your back, squat down to where your legs form a 90 degree angle with the ground. Try to keep your feet flat and position your toes out a little away from your body. Seek assistance if available.

-Deadlift- With your feet shoulder width or wider (I go wider) apart, squat down and, with your head up and back straight, lift the bar across your shins and up till you’re standing. This is a lot of hip movement so don’t forget it. As before, seek assistance if available.

Later, guys!