KickChick

Best to do the stretching afterwards, after you work up a good sweat and muscles are nice and warm. The bag workout with the kicks is really a dynamic stretching (in a way).... Try and work the height of your kicks (gradually getting each kick a bit higher on the bag. Now none of that nonsense about high kicking. Then concentrate on power! Happy Kicking to you!!

OK... so your concentration then is on just 3 kicks the front, side and back. So your routine can consist of each kick being executed X amount of time off lead leg and then off back leg and then switching lead leg. I would start off with doing reps at regular speed then doing tension kicks and at the end doing power kicks. Figure on a good number of kicks off each leg and for each rep. I usually just do to failure keeping track of the amount of kicks done and then adding on for next time. Is that what you're looking for? My routines (and I've given them out to several members here) usually consist of punches and kicks (including roundhouses)... since I teach a total bag kickbox class.

(Abs & back --core muscles) Hold a barbell or dumbbells in front of thighs, feet hip-width apart and abs pulled in. Tipping from the hips and keeping the weight close to your legs, lower the weight to mid-shin (or wherever is comfortable) while keeping the legs straight (but not locked). Lift back to starting position and make sure the abs are pulled tight throughout the movement. (Abs)Lie on the floor and place your lower legs on top of a bench. Place a dumbbell on upper abdominals. Crunch your torso up towards your thighs until abdominals are fully contracted. Then return to starting position. Do not swing your body up and down but concentrate on the abdominals and erectors to do the work. (Obliques) Stand erect with your feet about twelve to sixteen inches apart and grasp a dumbbell in your right hand. Your palm will be facing your upper thigh. Place your left hand on the left side of your head. Bend to the right as far as possible and then bend to the left as far as possible. You will perform the prescribed number of repetitions and then change the weight to the left hand and put your right hand on the right side of your head, repeating the movement. You must remember to keep your back straight and your head up or you will bend to far forward Here is a good site: (book & poster) http://www.bodytrends.com/posters/postersdb.htm

Dit Da Jow (Cantonese) or Tieh Ta Chiao (Mandarin) means "Hit and Fall Wine" (or liniment). Jow, as it is commonly referred to, can be broken down into two types: Han Dit Da Jow (cold hit medicine) and Rei Dit Da Jow (hot hit medicine). Hot Jow is actually heated for situations that require a lot of circulation, blood flow and lymphatic drainage into an area--such as with iron palm training where you are constantly challenging the skin, bone, muscles and connective tissues of the hand and arm to become tougher and stronger. One of the secrets of jow is in the rubbing. Soft tissue manipulation alone will promote many of the qualities without the jow, though the medicine speeds up the healing time and prevents improper drainage and stagnation problems. Some Di Dat Jow formulas contain very potent and toxic ingredients, and if used improperly, or ingested, can cause serious injury or illness. Your "basic" hand conditioning together with "mind over matter" should suffice for future successful board breaking. IMO .... One should be properly instructed in Iron Palm.

power punching is usually full power striking to bag with quick retraction.... focusing more on the "pull back" and "delivery" and pivoting. Sounds more like a punching isometric drill. But I could be wrong.... Many videos out there ... here is one I've seen http://www.martial-arts-fitness.com/healthlife/pp1.html

You're welcome Mr. Hee lHook! .... When I am done "fixing" my website (major changes have forced me to modify it a bit) ... I will be including stretching routines! I'll keep you posted!

From what I can ascertain from your original post, you may have "pulled" an oblique muscle from punching without prior warmup and stretching (yes, even for punching drills!) You need to stretch all the muscles that you are going to be using. A simple oblique/ab stretch is sufficient for now until the "soreness" subsides. Lying on back, knees to left and arms to the right and switch and then you can also do a lying ab stretch as pictured here.... http://www.physioroom.com/images/exercises/b8.jpg

I probabaly have the most posts here in the Health & Fitness forum.. and it would take you all week to go through each one ... I suggest just doing a search and to check out the sites listed here!

Go up to "Search" in toolbar and put in "stretch/stretching" and direct your search to the Health & Fitness forum only. You'll come up with threads that will list stretches and sites.

... I'm telling you it works.... Balance is the key ...(for everything in life!!)

As a new member (and new to martial arts) you may want to begin by getting acquainted with the Health & Fitness Forum Here you will find many threads devoted to "preparing" to start ma training, stretching, cardio/running, nutrition etc. etc. Go through all the pages... use that printer to print out tips and suggestions. Many members here have been "in your shoes" .... Develop a good cardio, stretch and nutritional program ... and train hard in your martial arts class!!! It will take time!!! Patience! Good Luck to you![/url]

Welcome BKJ .... good luck in your training.

.... and here she is!! Hey you two!! (you should have posted in Introductions!! eh, we'll overlook it this time but.... Welcome to you both!

You will find this link useful http://www.mclink.it/personal/MD4281/news.htm Dustin you may also want to check this one out also!

Here are two good articles you can read online that offer some personal viewpoints.... http://www.aibudo.com/kyohan/begin/begin.html http://www.practical-martial-arts.co.uk/practical_martial_arts/cb_fighting_blind.html You may find as the second article concludes that your lack of vision can become an asset. You will find less distraction by the visual elements of a technnique, forcing you to feel a technique, ....feeling the difference between the way balance shifts from the wrong technique to proper technique. Go for it Dustin .... wishing you the best

Yet??? ....well, I for one was having fun on Day One! Bring it on ... give us what you got ... we're strong, we've got indominable spirit... we are the SEOUL SURVIVORS!!!!

Wll its's been said that too much stretching is harmful for the reason that some ligaments and muscles are not meant to be stretched excessively. Extremely stretched ligaments could make the joint too loose increasing you risk of injury. But this happens very rarely.... As long as you are following the proper procedures and using correct form in your stretching and don't feel any "unusual" pain or soreness .... then daily stetching will bring you the maximum gain in flexibility. But one thing you must remember: You need to constantly keep it up, because once you achieve the splits you can easily lose that gain in your flexibility. You may not need to stretch twice a day but maybe only a static strtch session after a real good warmup.

Duplicate thread here: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=5461

Welcome Dave ... hope to see you posting over at the Kickboxing Forum! Good luck on those future ring fights!!!!

tkdlegend there are Ppenty of tips here in the Health forum .. do a search under that forum only and use the word split (s). Lots of threads!! Good Luck .... keep us posted on your progress!!

http://smilies.networkessence.net/s/otn/other/bulbool.gif "Kensai forgot his duckie floatation tube" Congrats to all! I personally loved that quiz!!

You can also use a knee block against the low kick. The outside knee block is done by lifting your left leg to defend against a right kick. This can also be done with the right rear leg to defend against the left kick. With the crossblock the left knee defends against the left kick and the right rear leg crossblock defends against the right kick.

Welcome ... good luck in yur TKD training!

Can someone please tell me why Tae Kwon do is always singled out as the martial art that allegedly is ineffective in self defense??? What about say.... Karate, Aikido (easy Kensai ) or Kung Fu?? Honestly, I for one believe that any traditional training should be supplemented with simple self defense training. All schools instruct differently but true "effective self defense" is widely used. Whether or not that particular school does instruct in effective self defense is the question but I don't belive it should apply only to TKD. Now.... I'll jump aboard your bandwagon if you're heading over to Billy Blanks house!