Originally Posted by Squirrelfighter

It all depends on time. If you want to build enough muscle in your arms, chest, core legs and back for a fight in three months, weight train. If youre talking about building significant amounts of fighting muscle over the long term repition and stances work just fine.

I have a friend who's learning Freestyle Mantis Form kung fu and his sei-fu has never once done a benchpress in his 40 odd years. He holds stances and punches and kicks over and over and the complexity of motion in kung fu helps build muscle since you have to use them in awkward positions many times.

But if you want lots of effective flashy muscle right now. Weight lifting is your only option. But the muscle won't be nearly as powerful and dense as if it came over the long term.