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Well, I know that each sport has its own method of training because each focus on specific aspects.

For one, while I was learning fencing, we had a system of training- start with jogging, then footworks (like lunge, sidewards) and so on.

In arnis (kali/eskrima), my arm muscles somehow got bigger because of practicing all those strikes.

I am also trying taekwondo, which starts with basic excercises except that it has more leg stretches.

I wanted to try soccer because I think it has the most helpful excercise routine especially since I think soccer palyers have good endurance. I know a soccer player who runs fast and does not get tired easily.

Anyway, what sports are you into and how do you train?

I practice the chinese martial arts 形意拳（hsing- i chuan） and 八卦掌（bagua zhang）. These are what is called "internal" martial arts that focus of strategy, efficiency and body mechanics, as opposed to the external martial arts such as karate or taekwondo that focus more on strength. I do practice one external style, hung gar, but that is not my focus.

The training for hsing- i and bagua includes many core excercises to develop internal strength, and a fair amout of what is called "chi gong" which is simply excercises to help with breathing, relaxation, and body awareness. For hung gar, there is much more strench training involved, such as sitting in low stances while wearing large brass rings for weight. As well as many streches, splits, front splits, fron kick, back kick, side kick, axe kicks ect...

Hsing- i and Bagua are similar and radically different martial arts. Hsing- i is the hard, agressive and opportunistic. The philosophy of this martial art is to strike quicly, powerfully, and effectively, in order to just "get it over with". The description may make it sound rather hard and barbaric, but in truth it is mostly about relaxation and body mechanics to produce this power.

One of the main reasons I like hsing- i is its minimalistic strategy. The entire system consists of only five moves, but those five moves can be used in limitles variation, and each takes years of practice to master.

And another interesting aspect of hsing- i is the use of "short power" the ability to perform very strong hits at little or no distance. This wasy popularized by beuce lee with his "3 inch punch" I believe. But with the hsing- i method, you need no distance to pull of a strike at full power. This is one of the secrets of hsing- i's effeciveness is that short power.

This is by far my favorite martial art, I think that for self-defense and actual application, hsing- i is the way to go.

Then, Bagua is nearly its opposite. Where hsing- i focuses on striking as soon as possible to end the fight, Bagua is passive, focusing on dodging, avoiding, and moltly just not being there to hit. It is not at all mimimalistic like hsing- i. Because it derives from the shaolin, it contains countless techniques. But like hsing- i, it can be boiled down to a few basic principles for effectiveness.

Despite the difference in strategy, Bagua and hsing- i use the same body mechanics, only applied to different strategies. Since both of them are close-in fighting systems, there is a lot of knees, elbows, joinlocks and throws, ans well as the short power they specialize in.

These martial arts and their excercises take up most all of my training time, as they are extremely complex and confusing, but also very fun to do.

For my non martrial arts related excercises, I try to strech everyday, and alternate sit ups and push ups every other day, meditate occasionally, along with whatever else I have the impulse to do.

I like the internals very much, yes indeed. What is T'ai Ch'uan? Do you mean tai chi chuan, or more accuratley, tai ji quan (太极拳)? I did do that for a while, but I actually got bored with it. Its not a bad system by any means, but I have enough on my plate to deal with as it is. And besides, Hung Gar uses almost the exacs same body mechainics and strategies as tai chi, but just done larger and mroe extremely.

You could categorize the internal arts like this: Tai chi is the neutral, when pushed or affected somehow, you move just enough to neutralize it. I guess it depends on your branch of tai chi. I did yang, which is supposedly the softest of them. What is yours? Anyway, while tai chis is the neutral, bagua is the passive. You always get out of the way with lots of various evasive footwork, behind the opponent, or wherever. The philosophy is instead of maintaining your ground, to just not be there. If your not there, how can they get you? And then, hsing- i is the active one. Instead of standing your ground or avoiding, you simply land fist-first onto the opponents throat at the very first opportunity you get. I like this one. Its simple, concise, effective, and especially because there are only 5 moves to learn! Though they take infinite practice...