History Main / ImposedHandicapTraining

When such handicaps are used for fun/glory instead of training, it's a SelfImposedChallenge. If done in a particularly dangerous fashion, this overlaps with TrainingFromHell. See CharlesAtlasSuperpower for the eventual result. When they reveal this sort of thing in the middle of "the real deal", like a combat situation, that's IAmNotLeftHanded. Also related is BoxingLessonsForSuperman, inasmuch as it's a similar means of expanding a character's repertoire by bolstering their superpowered abilities with beneficial skills that are mundane by comparison. See also WaxOnWaxOff for when exercise is disguised as a mundane task.

** The earliest example dates right back to the very first training Goku undertook, where he and Krillin wear weighted turtle shells while performing manual labour, which pushes their abilities beyond human (this is what Goku refers to in the page quote). Those training with Kami also wear a weighted shirt, boots and armbands, with Kami's evil counterpart Piccolo always wearing a weighted turban and shoulderpads. A character deciding to take their weights off meant [[LetsGetDangerous things were getting serious]], and next to "I'm not fighting at full power", [[IAmNotLefthanded discarding what are revealed to be weighted clothes]] was one of the most common mid-fight reveals. Weights would appear again while Goku was in Other World (as shown in the page image), with their colossal weights accomplished through magic.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Akira accepts the task of TrainingThePeacefulVillagers to turn the slum gang he’s supporting alongside Sheryl into a Hunter Gang, after a brutal attempted robbery of the relic shop at their headquarters served as a MisfitMobilizationMoment for them. He gives them AugmentedReality goggles, with his VirtualSidekick Alpha using them to simulate the gun shots and provide tutorials, bullet trajectories, etc to the trainees. In order to balance Akira’s mock battles against the whole group alone, he fights with the power settings for his PoweredArmor set lower than normal, and his EverythingSensor limited to simulate enemy jamming.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': In "[[Recap/SamuraiJackS2E1JackLearnsToJumpGood Jack Learns to Jump Good]]", a monkey tribe teach Jack to "[[HulkSpeak jump good]]" by tying heavy rocks to his wrists and ankles, and a boulder to his back.

* Martial Arts training, at a certain level, will typically include training with handicaps (e.g. "practice this blindfolded" or "practice this form while we try to pull you off balance by your arms"). The intent is to acclimate one to real fighting, where unexpected things and dirty techniques come into play. It also is intended to perfect technique (one should not need to see where their limbs are in order to strike correctly). Naturally, the intensity of this must be attuned to a trainees levels of skill and strength. Not to mention, technique training is traditionally done after physical training. And as with several other examples here, one can add weights on the wrists and ankles for some extra resistance when training speedy strikes.

** Starting with the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' stories, weighted clothing would be switched out with higher gravity. Goku first encountered this when visiting Kaio's world, which has 10x the gravity of Earth (and as Kaio points out, Goku's opponents came from a world with the same, so he had a lot of catching up to do). For the journey to Namek Goku had Bulma's father allow his spaceship to apply 100x gravity, which paired well with the [[CameBackStrong "Zenkai" boost]], and Vegeta would later demand the same. Higher gravity is also present in the Room of Spirit and Time past the central living area.

[[quoteright:320:[[Anime/DragonBallZ https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gokuweighttraining.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:320:How do you think Goku got that powerful anyways?]]

->'''Tien''': Goku this thing weighs a ton! Have you been wearing it for the entire tournament?\\
'''Goku''': Yup! Kami told me to. It was part of my training. It's not much different than Master Roshi's style. He wore a big turtle shell to gain strength. It's pretty much the same principle here.
-->-- '''Goku''' explains his weighted clothes, ''Manga/DragonBall''

* In one of the most iconic episodes of ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'', Ryo trains himself to defeat his rival Jin by practicing while a harness that uses heavy springs to make it difficult to move. He ends up bleeding and screaming in pain from the springs cutting into his body but he doesn't give up. When he later fights Jin, part way through the fight it is revealed that [[IAmNotLeftHanded he is still wearing the harness under his clothes and is able to overpower Jin once he takes it off]]. The increased strength also allows him to unleash a flurry of punches powerful enough to defeat a MonsterOfTheWeek that previously was too durable for the Dairangers to damage.

* In of the most iconic episodes of ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'', Ryo trains himself to defeat his rival Jin by practicing while a harness that uses heavy springs to make it difficult to move. He ends up bleeding and screaming in pain from the springs cutting into his body but he doesn't give up. When he later fights Jin, part way through the fight it is revealed that [[IAmNotLeftHanded he is still wearing the harness under his clothes and is able to overpower Jin once he takes it off]]. The increased strength also allows him to unleash a flurry of punches powerful enough to defeat a MonsterOfTheWeek that previously was too durable for the Dairangers to damage.

* In of the most iconic episodes of ''Series/GoseiSentaiDairanger'', Ryo trains himself to defeat his rival Jin by practicing while a harness that uses heavy springs to make it difficult to move. He ends up bleeding and screaming in pain from the springs cutting into his body but he doesn't give up. When he later fights Jin, part way through the fight it is revealed that [[IAmNotLeftHanded he is still wearing the harness under his clothes and is able to overpower Jin once he takes it off]]. The increased strength also allows him to unleash a flurry of punches powerful enough to defeat a MonsterOfTheWeak that previously was too durable for the Dairangers to damage.

* ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': Lintilla has a pseudofracture (all the pain, discomfort, and swelling of a broken arm without the trouble of it actually being broken) and a 'crisis inducer' which place her under extreme pressure and thus push her to work harder/faster.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* During Season 3 of Webcomic/TowerOfGod, Baam is forbidden from using the Thorn or the power of the Black March while training under Evankhell in order to hone his basic abilities.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'': Rabbit unintentionally tricks Tigger into doing this in the episode "[[Recap/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePoohS1E20bTiggersShoes Tigger's Shoes]]." Sick of being bounced on by Tigger, Rabbit decides to prank him by telling him a lie about a relative who could bounce up a huge cliff in his sleep and then giving him a pair of weighted shoes that he claims will help him bounce like his relative. His intent was to wreck Tigger's confidence in his bouncing abilities by making it impossible for Tigger to bounce up the cliff, but Tigger stubbornly keeps practicing with the shoes and ends up actually jumping over the cliff in his sleep when he isn't wearing the shoes, leading him to think that this trope was Rabbit's intent all along.

** In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventurePhantomBlood'', Jonathan's first real fight after learning Hamon is against UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, who has been turned into a zombie by Dio. His Hamon mentor, William Zeppeli, imposes a restriction on him to prove the results of his training: he must defeat Jack while holding a glass of wine, and without spilling a single drop. The wine ends up actually giving him an advantage, as he can use it to find Jack's location in the dark by channeling Hamon through it.
** In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency'', Lisa Lisa forces Joseph to wear a special Hamon breathing mask during his TrainingFromHell. This mask only allows him to breathe if he performs the Hamon breath technique. By wearing it nearly 24/7 for a month, only taking it off when eating and brushing his teeth, Hamon breathing becomes second nature to him.

* In ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Goh trained his Magikarp for a jumping competition, and during the final round, it was revealed he was always wearing weights so heavy, two Machamp could not lift them. With the weights off, it leads to the Magikarp jumping so high, he goes out into space. [[GoneHorriblyRight Because Magikarp was not able to complete his jump, his jump is not counted and he loses]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewAdventuresOfWinnieThePooh'': Rabbit accidently tricks Tigger into doing this in the episode "Tigger's Shoes." Sick of being bounced on by Tigger, Rabbit decides to prank him by telling him a lie about a relative who could bounce up a huge cliff in his sleep and then giving him a pair of weighted shoes that he claims will help him bounce like his relative. His intent was to wreck Tigger's confidence in his bouncing abilities by making it impossible for Tigger to bounce up the cliff, but Tigger stubbornly keeps practicing with the shoes and he ends up actually jumping over the cliff in his sleep when he isn't wearing the shoes, leading him to think that this trope was Rabbit's intent all along.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': In "[[Recap/SamuraiJackS2E1JackLearnsToJumpGood Jack Learns to Jump Good]]", a monkey tribe teach Jack to "[[HulkSpeak jump good]]" by tying heavy rocks to his wrists and ankles, and a [[UpToEleven boulder]] to his back.

** In ''Manga/PhantomBlood'', Jonathan's first real fight after learning Hamon is against UsefulNotes/JackTheRipper, who has been turned into a zombie by Dio. His Hamon mentor, William Zeppeli, imposes a restriction on him to prove the results of his training: he must defeat Jack while holding a glass of wine, and without spilling a single drop. The wine ends up actually giving him an advantage, as he can use it to find Jack's location in the dark by channeling Hamon through it.
** In ''Manga/BattleTendency'', Lisa Lisa forces Joseph to wear a special Hamon breathing mask during his TrainingFromHell. This mask only allows him to breathe if he performs the Hamon breath technique. By wearing it nearly 24/7 for a month, only taking it off when eating and brushing his teeth, Hamon breathing becomes second nature to him.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Rock Lee wears ludicrously heavy training weights on his legs most of the time, which make a pair of craters when he drops them. This makes him extremely fast once they are removed.

* ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'': Dick takes [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]] for training that involves riding train tops around Bludhaven while blindfolded and doing various balancing exercises. Tim is not amused when they get ambushed while doing so.

'''Goku''': Kami told me to. It was part of my training. It's not much different than Master Roshi's style. He wore a big turtle shell to gain strength. It's pretty much the same principle here.

->'''Goku''': Kami-sama said it was part of my training. Back when I trained with the old timer I carried around a giant turtle shell. It's the same idea.
->'''Tien''': You've been fighting me... wearing over 200 pounds in weights...

When such handicaps are used for fun/glory instead of training, it's a SelfImposedChallenge. If done in a particularly dangerous fashion, this overlaps with TrainingFromHell. See CharlesAtlasSuperpower for the eventual result. When they reveal this sort of thing in the middle of "the real deal", like a combat situation, that's IAmNotLeftHanded. Also related is BoxingLessonsForSuperman, inasmuch as it's a similar means of expanding a character's repertoire by bolstering their superpowered abilities with beneficial skills that are mundane by comparison.

* In the ''Homer Price'' stories, Grandpa Hercules trained to make a big leap while wearing additional weights on his clothes. If the muscles are used to moving with the added weight, they'll let him jump large distances once the weight is gone. This works.

* Martial Arts training, at a certain level, will typically include training with handicaps (e.g. "practice this blindfolded" or "practice this form while we try to pull you off balance by your arms"). The intent is to acclimate one to real fighting, where unexpected things and dirty techniques come into play. It also is intended to perfect technique (one should not need to see where their limbs are in order to strike correctly). Naturally, the intensity of this must be attuned to a trainees levels of skill and strength. Not to mention, technique training is traditionally done after physical training.

* In ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'', members of the court who disapproved of opening knight training to women paid the armsmaster to add hidden weights to Keladry's practice lance for jousting. When she realized what had happened, she kept using the equipment, partly to avoid looking like a complainer and partly because she hoped that practicing with extra weight would help develop her strength and endurance. As a result, jousting became one of her specialties and she proved her worth to several experienced knights who challenged her.

* ''Franchise/DragonBall'': one of the most common methods of training is making one's body heavier, which increases both their strength and speed. They came in two styles: weighted clothing and higher gravity. While Goku and co. attain various [[SuperMode transformations]] that increase their power enormously, they often choose to train under these circumstances because the forms multiply their base power, which is easier to put under more effort.
** The earliest example dates right back to the very first training Goku undertook, where he and Krillin wear weighted turtle shells while performing manual labour, which pushes their abilities beyond human (this is what Goku refers to in the page quote). Those training with Kami also wear a weighted shirt, boots and armbands, with Kami's evil counterpart Piccolo always wearing a weighted turban and shoulderpads. A character deciding to take their weights off meant [[LetsGetDangerous things were getting serious]], and next to "I'm not fighting at full power", [[IAmNotLefthanded discarding what are revealed to be weighted clothes]] was one of the most common mid-fight reveals. Weights would appear again while Goku was in Other World (as shown in the page image), with their colossal weights accomplished through magic.
** Starting with the ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' stories, weighted clothing would be switched out with higher gravity. Goku first encountered this when visiting Kaio's world, which has 10x the gravity of Earth (and as Kaio points out, Goku's opponents came from a world with the same, so he had a lot of catching up to do). For the journey to Namek Goku had Bulma's father allow his spaceship to apply 100x gravity, which paired well with the [[CameBackStrong "Zenkai" boost]], and Vegeta would later demand the same. Higher gravity is also present in the Room of Spirit and Time past the central living area.

* ''ComicBook/{{Nightwing}}'': Dick takes [[ComicBook/RobinSeries Tim]] for training that involves riding train tops around Bludhaven while blindfolded and doing various balancing exercises. Tim is not amused when they get ambushed while doing so.

* ''Film/{{Redbelt}}'': The main character drills his students in self-defense techniques with randomly assigned handicaps, such as binding one hand behind their back. This inspires some promotors to take this practice into UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts bouts, something that [[ArtisticLicenseSports could never happen in real life]].

* In the Homer Price stories Grandpa Hercules trained to make a big leap while wearing additional weights on his clothes. If the muscles are used to moving with the added weight, they'll let him jump large distances once the weight is gone. This works.
* ''Literature/TheBridgeOfClay'': Clay's a sprinter and his training routine is running up the stairs of an apartment block. With his younger brother Tommy on his back. And with his older brother Henry shouting abuse at him.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': After [[spoiler: gaining the Winter Mantle]], Harry wears a weighted vest weighing several hundred pounds during his daily jogs just to make them worthwhile.
* In ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'' students learning [[SympatheticMagic Sympathy]] at [[WizardingSchool the University]] often practice using less than ideal links, such as trying to set a hair on fire by burning a straw.

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'', weapon skills level up based on the number of times you hit an enemy, not the power of the weapon[[note]]In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' the base damage of the weapon does count, but any smithing, skill or enchantment bonuses don't [[/note]], so it is advisable to use the weakest weapon possible if you want to grind effectively.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MaoMaoHeroesOfPureHeart'' episode "All By Mao Self" Mao Mao decides that he's not facing challenges befitting a legendary hero so he gives himself leg weights to making fighting more challenging. When he still thinks it's too easy he also blindfolds himself and holds scorpions in his hands to increase the handicap.

->''"Yup! Kami told me to. It was part of my training. It's not much different than Master Roshi's style. You wear a big turtle shell to gain strength. It's pretty much the same principle here."''
-->-- '''Goku''' (explaining to Tien Shinhan his weighted clothes), ''Anime/DragonBallZ''

When such handicaps are used for fun/glory instead of training, it's a SelfImposedChallenge. If done in a particularly dangerous fashion, this overlaps with TrainingFromHell. See CharlesAtlasSuperpower for the eventual result. When they reveal this sort of thing in the middle of "the real deal", like a combat situation, that's IAmNotLeftHanded. Also related is BoxingLessonsForSuperman, inasmuch as it's a similar means of expanding a character's repertoire.

* ''Anime/DragonBallZ''. First used by Goku during his training with Roshi and Kami (see page quote), weighted clothing quickly becomes a staple of the series and is used by Piccolo in particular. Once the power levels ascend too high for that to be effective any more, ArtificialGravity takes over as the means to make the body heavier. Later in the series, Goku and others attain several [[SuperMode transformations]] that increase their power enormously, but often choose to train in their base forms, which is implied to be more effective due to involving greater relative effort.