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I have to agree with tallgeese. Although you must prepare properly regarding to the specific martial art, a good conditioning program will definitly give you advantage over someone who does not have the conditioning.

Apart from the actual martial arts themselves, what do you think is the best way to prepare for any type of martial arts competition. Is the traditional weights and running still up there as some of the best ways to get ready or has a new genertion of bodyweight circuit training become more effective. I have wrote an article about this and am wondering what peoples opinions on it are.

Many Karate Ka believe in this concept by training single hard blows against the Makiwara and by performing pre arranged sparing with single technqiue counters with strong Kiai's. Do you think it is possible to always rely on this for a self defence situation. (I know it is possible to hit in the right places and cause serious damage, but who actually wants to hurt or kill people and get thrown in jail.)

Regarding defending strikes there are many variations including blocking, parrying, bob and weaving, taking the blow, stop hitting etc. Although one variation is not necessarily better than the other, and each can be used depending on the situation, everyone has there preferences when defending. Ask Mike Tyson and he will probably say he prefers slipping over parrying for example. What is your preference and why.

The first technqiue to learn in Mauy Thai is to condition your body. start running and lifting weights if not before, which your diet. Cut the junk food and sweets. Drink lots of water. Do this for about two months so as to make your body ready then go join a Thai gym. Regularly attending a Thai gym and learning from a qualified instructor is the only way you shall learn Mauy Thai.

A lot of guys claim to be MMA fighters. They train at striking schools and grappling schools which is definitly needed. Training one and leaving out the other will leave you finished in the cage/ring. However how many actually spar mixing the two.Sparring striking at your Thai, Karate etc and grappling at your Jiu Jitsu, Judo gyms is one thing, but how many actually spar mixing it all up. A lot of people DO spar mixing it but ive noticed thats lots also dont. They spar striking and grappling seperatly and think they shall be able to cope in an MMA match. However this is not the case. By mixing it up it makes striking and grappling a little different as strikers have to be weary of possible takedowns and grapplers need to be weary of striking on the ground. Without expereince of all of this is it fair to call yourselves true MMA fighters?

When you spar with your teacher/coach/sensei, im sure there will come a time or have had experienced a time, when you get the better off him/her, weather its gaining a submission, beating them with strikes etc. Is it wise to take these opportunities to win or is it better to show respect for your teacher, hold back and dont take advantage of winning opportunities.

(Please dont take this as a dig as i mean no disrespect). By the way you put your question it seems you have not trained very long in the martial arts. For that reason i think it would be wise you just concentrated on just 1 art for a few years or so. When you grasp the basics and learn that any type of reaction to any type of technqiue is never the wrong reaction, then you will be ready to cross train. The reason i say this is becuase i used to think the same. I did Karate and Judo when i first started, got all confused as you are know and did not progress. After concentrating on just one and coming back to the other after a few years it definitly did me good.

It depends on the level of quality at the karate school. There are plenty of awfull karate schools now compared to years back. Having said that there are a lot of karate schools that train very much like a kickboxing class so there may be no difference at all. When it opens go and check it out and I think you will see straight away if its worth attending.

Although it is non contact and if you did not try and defend it would not matter becuase of this, i still would never take any chances. Always do your best to defend every attack. Using the forearm to block blows is better than an open hand as you could get your fingers caught and easily damadged.

I wrote an article on my site about how Judo's ground fighting is not what it was and how it should be brought back to its original state. Id like to hear other peoples views. Is it boring to see? Does Judo need to start allowing more time when on the ground? Should fighters be penalized for stalling on the ground? etc etc.

I think your right. I think Chuck needs to go back to the drawing board, realise that he has so many other weapons which he can use apart from his right hand and come back a better and wiser fighter.

Chuck Liddells guard I think has left a lot to be desired recently. Suffering Knockouts to Rampage and now Evans should hopefully make him think about his guard a bit more. Do you think this is all he needs to get back to the top or does he need to work on other aspects of his game?

The strange things is, I have just come back from two weeks holiday where i eaten nothing but junk. After training for the last three days, although i expected to be sluggish and poor I have had more energy than normal. Sometimes binging for a short period really helps by throwing in some nutriants and extra calories that your body may need.

Yesterday I was at the gym after two weeks off. It was Chest, Legs and Biceps 4 sets pyramiding system for each excerise. CHEST Inline parbell press flat bench dumbell flyes low cable crossovers. LEGS leg extention hack squat lug curls (sitting machine) BICEPS EZ bar curl sitting concentration curl 20 mins cardio to finish (cross trainer) cool down