What differentiates ki training from simply working out?

[johnboy1]

I realize we're talking about a fantastical concept to begin with, but simply from a story perspective, I feel this is a bit of a knowledge gap that the audience is simply expected to overlook. As extreme as the particulars may seem, the eight months of training Goku and Krillin undertook to prepare for the 21st tournament were spent on... cardio and weight training, along with good sleep, eating well, and stimulating their minds. In other words, the basics of any worthwhile fitness routine.

Given a stern enough constitution and enough endurance, a real person in the real world could have done the physical work that they did. Granted, such a person would be incredibly rare, needing all sorts of genetic and environmental variables in his favor, but the point is that the task isn't off in Looney Tune land like doing one-finger pushups in 500x Earth's gravity.

So... what exactly about the training made them so completely dominant over other fighters? We see some of the supposedly "normal" martial artists do stuff that would be practically superhuman in the real world already, but Goku and Krillin are still light years beyond them.

[Saiya6Cit]

Well, Goku came from an Alien race and Kulilin was a monk before training with Roshi, they were not normal humans.

Maybe a human could withstand that training. Not sure...

What I always understood as the reason why they became so strong was their immense desire to become stronger, they not only trained but they had a very clear goal to achieve and....and they were children. Their minds and hearts are pure and they learn faster (similar to how the jedi warriors are taken away from their parents when they are 2-4 years old). It is a fact that training as a child produces greater results than as adults. The brain has more plasticity and in general all habits can be learned easier. Take a look to chinese athletes and infant professional dancers, they perform in outstanding ways.

[nineko]

One has to wonder how Roshi trains someone who becomes his pupil at a later time, theh, such as Yamcha. I don't think Yamcha did the milk delivery bit and so on, so we have to assume that Roshi is capable of providing traditional training.

[DanielSSJ]

To be honest, I'm not sure I agree that their training was as mundane as you're making it out to be. Being chased by dinosaurs and sharks and plowing entire fields with your bare hands is pretty Looney Tunes if you ask me, as is doing it plus everything else while wearing 20 kilos everyday with no rest days. Even the most genetically gifted person in the world would probably have to quit from permanent injury long before the 8 months were up under that regimen (assuming the T-Rex or the shark didn't get them on day one)