To Gym or not to Gym, that's my question

[JLSH]

Anyeonghaseyo

Ano yung mga advantages kung buff ang katawan sa pagdyigym sa performance ng isang tao sa Taekwondo? at kung meron disadvantages ano yon?

[tkdolympicgold]

A good book we can recommend is Weight Training for Martial Arts by Jennifer Lawler. It discussed in detail the advantages of strength training. If you're also concerned that increase muscle mass can affect your speed, you need to read the book, Warrior Speed by Ted Weimann. Here's also a good article that I found:

What is Strength?
By Brian Mackenzie
British Athletic Federation (BAF) Senior Coach
What is Strength?
The common definition is the ability to exert a force against a resistance. The strength needed for a sprinter to explode from the blocks is different to the strength needed by a weight lifter to lift a 200 kg barbell. This therefore implies that there are different types of strength.

What are the classifications of strength?
The classifications of strength are:

Maximum strength -the greatest force that is possible in a single maximum contraction
Elastic strength - the ability to overcome a resistance with a fast contraction
Strength endurance - the ability to express force many times over
How do we get strong?
A muscle will only strengthen when it is worked beyond its normal operation, it is overloaded. Overload can be progressed by increasing the:

number of repetitions of an exercise
number of sets of the exercise
intensity - reduced recover time
How do we develop each strength?
Maximum strength can be developed with:

weight training
Elastic strength can be developed with:

conditioning exercises
medicine ball exercises
plyometric exercises
weight training
Strength endurance can be developed with:

circuit training
dumbbell exercises
weight training
hill and harness running

Hope this helps and God Bless!