Fitness Exercises Used By Erstwhile Khalsa Army

[mundasingh123]

Hi, Does anyone have any idea about what were the fitness drills instucted by Guruji or carried out by Khalsa in preparation for combat other than just swordfighting . I guess conditioning is as important as acquiring a swordfighting skill since skills cant do without Body conditioningand building up stamina

[Singh559]

Their lifestyle was very physically demanding so they didn't need to go to the gym like we do. I think they did have specific exercises that they did but i'm not entirely sure. I know Guru Sahibs promoted wrestling very much..

[jassa]

There were no upto date facilities at that time like we have today. People use to far more physical work then we do. They use to walk run carry weight and eat.

[subaig singh mma]

Interesting question. I dont really have the answer. But I suspect that it was nothing complicated or fancy. Certainly, wrestling, would have been part of the curriculum as many of the Sikh warriors of old, such as Hari Singh Nalwa, were great wrestlers.

I suspect, that much of the training was bodyweight exercises such as dand (hindu push ups), baithak (hindu squats), twirling indian clubs, climbing ropes, and training with sacks of wheat and lifting stones.

They certatinly didnt have commericial gyms and bodybuilding would have been considered a waste of time as it doesnt have any translation for the fitness, strength and endurance required for real fighting.

[dalsingh101]

Of course they were taught shaster vidya too, but as alluded to earlier, a generally active life was the norm so there was no need to go to the gym.

I think they generally lived quite austere, spartan lives too (post 1708 until the rise of the Sikh monarchy), so getting overweight wouldn't have been a problem.

[OhTwadi]

Wrestling is one of the best things you can do to develop overall body strength. My dad tells me that in the old times people didn't do any specific exercise. They did hard labour all day so no specific exercises regime was needed. If anything, things like pushups, squats and pullups was all that was done.

I used to be a gym rat for a couple of years and I noticed that almost 85% of the people in the gym train incorrectly. They may look strong (have big muscles) but because they do only isolation exercises, they are quite weak. Mind you, they will still be stronger than the average person who does not workout at all. Isolation exercises are quite useless when it comes to building functional strength, things like bicep curls, tricep extensions, crunches, lat pull downs, etc. Basically, for the average person almost all exercises which focus on a specific muscle group are useless. Unless you are working toward a specific goal, for example, improving fitness for a particular sport you play.

Now, here is a list of full body exercises everyone should be doing to build real strength

- Squats

- DeadLifts

- Pull ups/chin ups

- pushups

- standing shoulder presses

- balance work

- stretching

Most of these are quite technical so you would want to get trained on how to do them correctly before jumping into it. Always remember, you are working out to get strong and fit, not to build big bukly muscles which have absolutely no benefit.

I leave you with a couple quote from a strength training coach with 30 years of coaching experience.

Exercises that attempt to divide the body into segments for separate training are much less effective, since it is the coordinated use of all the segments working together that produces the sport-specific movement. Whole-body exercises have been shown to produce superior results, through their ability to train the system as a coordinated whole as well as their capacity to perturb homeostasis and affect the entire hormonal milieu.

It is not productive for athletes to think in terms of body parts or muscle groups, as bodybuilders do. The human body functions as a system in sports (and life), with all its component parts operating together in coordinated synergy. It makes no sense to separate it into its constituent components for training when the desired result of the training is the improvement of the whole system. It does not function that way, and it cannot be effectively trained that way, since training must facilitate function.

They certatinly didnt have commericial gyms and bodybuilding would have been considered a waste of time as it doesnt have any translation for the fitness, strength and endurance required for real fighting.

:happy2:

[Balait_da_Sher]

People in those days had a lot of knowledge about body. Sure hard work kept people busy but dont forget akharas etc were still available. Desi version of the gym was your local akhara where the pehlwans used to wrestle and lift weights.

[dalsingh101]

Whatever our ancestor's were doing, they were doing something right in terms of keeping themselves physically fit. The following is a contemporary Afghan Qazi's (who accompanied Abdali Shah in his invasions of India), observation from 1764-1765.

Although we have to consider the point that a bit of hyperbole may have been used in the language, the overall point about the physical condition of the Singhs he was encountering in the conflicts he witnessed still stands.

"The body of each one of them is like a piece of rock, grander in appearance than [those of] fifty men of the enemy [put together]."

Jangnamah translated by Iqtidar Alam Khan in Persian sources of Sikh history. Eds. Grewal & Habib.

In stark contrast to the pot bellied 'sardars' we have today.

[Cisco_Singh]

If any of you guys ever happen to bump into Nidhar Singh ask him about the fitness regimes of traditional Khalsa warriors, as well aa teaching Shastar Vidiya, he also runs a completely seperate fitness class teaching "Sanjam Kiriya" teaching traditional fitness regimes and exercises. I checked it out a couple of times a lot of bethaks (squats), Daand (indian pressups), various stretches, breathing techniques etc...a lot of emphasis on legs. It's tough ...

[mundasingh123]

Interesting question. I dont really have the answer. But I suspect that it was nothing complicated or fancy. Certainly, wrestling, would have been part of the curriculum as many of the Sikh warriors of old, such as Hari Singh Nalwa, were great wrestlers.

I suspect, that much of the training was bodyweight exercises such as dand (hindu push ups), baithak (hindu squats), twirling indian clubs, climbing ropes, and training with sacks of wheat and lifting stones.

They certatinly didnt have commericial gyms and bodybuilding would have been considered a waste of time as it doesnt have any translation for the fitness, strength and endurance required for real fighting.

Are U the Subaig Singh the MMA Guy