FitOrDie

Okay, so much quoting, cross talking... I get lost, so let's just ask. Does anyone posting still believe in the Dim Mak?

I tend to have them loose, because the only time you want to tighten your fist is right before punching. Otherwise it slows you down. However, my blocking is pretty much that of a boxer without gloves (forearms and elbows if I can), so I couldn't offer an opinion on parrying (other than it is usually ineffective in real confrontations).

If he is going for a single, you can always try to reverse it.

I'm sure a criminal or two would be interested in my Chevy Tahoe...

Being "purposely built for exercise" should hardly make a difference in a karate class. Unless there are mats on the floor, and weren't elsewhere, who would even know the difference? Dude, you just said you are anaemic and asthmatic. Start there!!!

It sounds like a flexibility issue, but you might also want to strengthen your hip flexors (one of the most overlooked, and important muscle groups). Leg lifts, sit-ups, glute-ham sit-ups (a.k.a. roman sit-ups), ab wheel rollouts, will all help with that, in that order of difficulty. Be sure to actively extend (push out) your leg (or flex your quads) to activate ALL your hip flexors. Concerning flexibility, look into "contract-relax stretching" to increase flexibility quickly. It's the only thing out there that has been proven to work quickly, I think.

You know what these Dim Mak things are? They're just like ghosts. You meet people, time and again, who knew someone's roomate's brother's whatever... every one who has heard of one or believes in them seems to know someone who can do it... but no one has ever actually seen it themselves. Every now and then, as in ghosts, you see a TV show about one, and you say "Hey! See? It's real!" Yet, still, never a shred of proof, lots of theories, and no one has actually seen one themselves... OOOoooOOOooo... BOO!

Car jackers go after crappy cars too.

Oh, here's a question for everyone. Don't you think "big guns" are just for other guys, anyway? I have found that the ladies like lean, fit looking bodies. In fact, in all my experience with the ladies, and I've been out with a few... and none of them ever cared about my biceps, or even looked that them.

Fantastic! If I might suggest pull-ups. Can't get enough of those.

Yea, that thing is hilarious. I have the full version somewhere... its a little less humorous and more in depth. It basically is really good for ideas where you say "oh yea, duh."

It may be that you reacted with a side kick because it was more fresh in your mind, having trained in kempo a day or two before. Memory often works that way. As far as that drunk is concerned, the only reason I can think to feel bad (which I wouldn't, don't get me wrong), is that he deserved a lot more punishment than he got. Good for you.

In another thread, FitOrDie, "effective" and "efficient" were brought up as terms to consider. A technique or chain of techniques may be effective, but are they efficient? From the postings referring to these terms, and your reference, above, if straightforward, nothing fancy, nothing from a movie, techniques are used, and these are done quickly so that they are efficient, and effective enough (e.g., a palmheel to the lead adversary's nose) to enable you the precious seconds you need to get out of there, you're right on the money. If you think about it, if something is not very efficient, it won't be very effective either.

You have any proof of all this? Kodenkan Ju-Jitsu, from which my humble martial arts history began, has many such points. There is another point along the stomach meridian located near the bladder that when struck will cause the attacker to begin heaving, as if vomiting, I have personally seen this one many times...it seems to be a favorite amongh black belts sparring one another...seeing who can tag the other first. Some systems still retain such anatomical point attacks, but as I said in my response to Bushido-man, most have purposely stopped teaching such techniques for fear of misuse. Good evidence can be found in any black belt of a system still retaining such knowledge, you would just have to find such a system near you. I have had some of the less dangerous ones done to me, kind of like when Polise Officers have to be tazed when they are being tazer certified, they have to know what it feels like in case they ever have to use it. They aren't fun to experience...but they are real and they do work. None of this is proof of the ability to make a heart just stop pumping blood.

I think Cross hit it on the head here. In fact, you know you have a good martial art when there is no discouraging of experimenting, but you don't need to most of the time anyway. My first experience with martial arts was at this Kung Fu place. It was ridiculous. The things we "learned" were so obscure and odd and unnatural that no one would ever actually be able to fight that way. They were strange, too, in that if I had never been in class to see the second half of a form or something, it wouldn't be kosher to show it to me. That's how uptight they were. Now, take a BJJ class, boxing/kickboxing... anyone will show anyone anything that they want. People still add to BJJ from time to time, and people experiement and develop their own personal "styles" BJJ and especially boxing/kickboxing.. but what is there is there because it works and has evolved just like a species. The strong techniques survive, the weak are forgotten. And that, to repeat my point, is why I know I go to good schools. No one is going to refuse to show me an armbar from knee-on-stomache because I missed that class/seminar. No one is going to refuse to show me how to set up a lead hook to the body. And, if I develop a strategy that works, no one is going to say "that is now how Shao-Lin [or whoever] does it." So, to repeat my original point, a good martial art has no need for such strict adherance to tradition that you can't experiment or try things differently. However, a good martial art also will often correct you when you do so because you keep losing.

Oh, no... The world has a little whole where something is missing now.

Absolutely not. The muscle tears are not necessary for muscle growth. Well, at least there is no correlation that one can see. I have seen tremendous progress from movements that never make me sore. The clean and jerk, for example. No eccentric movement never seems to make me sore (unless I'm already sore, and it makes my hamstrings more sore). Still, the explosive power in my hips has gone way up from doing this one exercise. Another example, and this is just a weird personal thing: my shoulders, except for the very anterior part, never, ever get sore. Just doesn't happen, might be all the basketball I played as a kid. Sill, the variations of shoulder presses (and other things) that I do have grown my shoulders in size as well as all types of strength tremendously. This is not to say, by the way, that one should never have eccentric movements in their repertoir. The conclusion (thus far): There is good evidence that microtears have something to do with soreness, but the correlation is certainly not absolute. Not yet, anyway. Lactic acid, meanwhile, is a byproduct of only some forms of exercise, and there is no good reason to think that it causes soreness, as it is barely even related. Bottom line: soreness sucks, we all know it, but its something you have to deal with it. Don't do anything to get yourself so sore that its debilitating, and work through it otherwise. Ha ha, now that I think about it... I really wish there were a better answer.

My thoughts exactly. Also, its easier, I think, to kick while wearing shorts. Maybe some kickboxers will disagree, I'm not a super-high-kicking-expert.

Boxing was on its way out before MMA took its place. Personally, I find most boxing matches boring, because all they do is clinch, clinch, clinch... Especially the heavy weights. ZZzzz.. ZZzzz.. zzzz...

It's possible, but not proven on any real level. It is interesting to note that the microtears (that so many- mistakenly- think is necessary for hypertrophy a.k.a. growth in size) happen during eccentric movement. This means that it happens during a "negative" movement, when you are lowering the weight, or yourself... decellerating the movement. Lowering a bar from overhead lockout to your shoulders, lowering yourself on a pull-up bar from your chin over the bar to free hang... etc. For some reason, pushing against a weight as it "wins out" causes these tears more. (One physiologist of some sort, many years ago, actually stated that only negative movements, because of the results of these tears and so forth, could grow a muscles size and therefore strength. Ridiculous, of course, just look at the olympic lifts, which have no eccentric part.) There still may be something to this and causing soreness, but there must me more to it. Go shoot baskets for an hour or do a high load of olympic lifts and drop the bar each time... your shoulders or legs or back just might still be sore. Even without all these micro tears. The mystery lives on... My working theory- it's your body's way of asking you to take it easy, through whatever mechanism.

You have any proof of all this?

So long as you are not pushing from a position where your elbows are awkwardly turned out and your hands in close (ala diamond pushups) you're good to go. Clapping pushups are fantastic, I highly recommend them.

While I don't know enough about the situation to know, I have a theory. It seems to me you are encountering a very insecure instructor. This happens a lot in martial arts, and I have found that it usually stems from a school or practitioner that is not very good. A lot of people teaching karate classes and the likes know they have no applicable skills in a real fight, and seem to fear that their students will find out. They seek to project the image of a walking weapon, like you see in the movies, but deep down they know that they are nothing. Many karate teachers in McDojos are bravado-projecting cowards. It is possible that the person you describe is one of these types, to whatever degree. I know that the instructors I have met who are actually good at fighting, usually BJJ guys and boxers/kickboxers, but not always, who have no such qualms about a student training at a different place, cross training, or whatever he or she wants to do. These people are secure in their abilities, understand their limits, and, while knowing the pathetic nature of plenty of "fake" martial arts, will limit themselves to jokes about them, rather than acting paranoid that a student will abandon them for another school. Remember, I said this is only a theory, but it is one that I developed quickly while reading your post because I see it happen so much.

No one has yet mentioned the strengthening of the body. Getting in shape is key! Other than that, it is one of those things you have to get used to. And, this sort of thing is not for everyone. An accomplished Muay Thai fighter once put it to me: taking shots either makes you straighten up (stop being lazy and fight right), or quit.

What post are you referring to here? The original one.