sperki

For many of us the question of "why learn something we'll never use" is a bit hypocritical. The only thing I've ever struck in anger has been a heavy bag to blow off steam. Nobody's ever jumped me at a bar, I don't spend much time in the seedy part of town, I work at a botanical garden. So I learned how to throw an effective punch or kick not because I ever seriously thought I would need to use them, but because it's another form of training, it expands my world view, and makes me happy. And if it ever comes down to it, those tools are available to me.

From a self-defense perspective, the first 3 minutes can be summarized as, "Hit the attacker above the shoulders, it will cause pain, and possible disorientation." Interesting video and certainly things worth considering if you ever need to protect yourself from thugs.

Howdy.

Scorched Earth...that brings back some memories!

I think I saw Jackie Chan use a ladder as a weapon in one of his movies; it seems like that would be a tough weapon to get proficient with!

Tallgeese is right on with the time-benefit analysis; while it's awesome to kick through boards with your toe, or stand and take it like a champ when getting pummeled by a baseball bat, there are just too many other things in life to enjoy besides training your body for that type punishment. Especially since other techniques may be nearly as effective and much easier to learn.

I would have to agree with JusticeZero on this one. If your body is sore it's telling you it needs some recovery time. To just assume that one of recovery is enough isn't correct either; it depends on YOU, how hard you worked, how fit you are, how old you are, how quick you recover, etc. So again, it's based on how you feel as opposed to fixed time spans. But if you're not sore feel free to keep going like a madman! The beast might be on to something, variety is the spice of life.

Should breathing follow strikes? I suppose the question is related to kiais...if I'm throwing a strike (or a block for that matter) should I be exhaling? Or is breathing related more to footwork than anything else? This is interesting stuff; we've never talked about breathing specifically.

Welcome...so are you officially signed up and will you get to use weapons in the near future?

6ft seems pretty standard. There may have been a shorter bo or two in my dojo, but I'm pretty sure it was taller than me.

It seems like a similar story comes along every few years. Kurt Warner had a similar career path when he won the superbowl with the Rams in 1999. It's always a little refreshing to hear about folks working hard and doing well. Thanks for sharing.

Although I haven't seen a Lee movie recently I feel like he would use the cross-over to lead directly into a kick. So I suppose if you know you're going on the offensive and you want to close the distance some, it makes sense. This requires the kicking leg to travel further and spend more time off the ground, but if you move as fast as Lee that's probably not much of a problem. The folks that I've sparred with all did a slide-shuffle, and it's what I've picked up from watching them. Like DWx said, it allows people to shift their weight quicker and more subtly, so the front leg is still available for kicking.

I think the reason I really like trail running is because it's more mentally engaging. You have to watch where you step, you're stride changes constantly, it requires more effort to keep your balance. While I'm thinking about that stuff I sort of lose track of how much running uphill hurts!

I saw that on the news last night; it made me realize how much I appreciate baseball...but I gotta say soccer is still more fun to watch:)

Yep, clearly I'm on the wrong continent! I visited southern Germany last fall and can say that Munich and Stuttgart were great cities and that I enjoyed the trip more than I expected to.

First of all welcome to KF. There are other folks here better qualified to answer than me, but I'll give it a shot. I would think that every school is going to be a bit different; the dojo where I trained started teaching me bo and nun-chucks while I was still a white belt. But I bet with some schools / instructors don't move into weapons until you've got a good grasp of several empty hand katas. And some martial arts are based around weapons, so you're likely to use one very early in your training. It will depend on what styles are available in your area. Find out and talk to the instructors at those schools. Good luck!

This is a great idea; I don't teach, but I'm excited to see what ideas show up on here!

All good suggestions so far; let me add a few weird exercises. Get a gallon milk jug (or even better get two). Fill them about three quarters full to start and try this: lay on your chest on the corner of your bed with your chin and arms dangling off the bed. Hold a jug in each hand and lift it out and up with your arm mostly straight. Think of it as a controlled flap of you wings, like you're trying to fly. Really concentrate on pinching your shoulder blades together when you get to the top of the movement (which should have your arms about parallel to the floor). This will work the middle part of your traps. To hit the delts a little more stand up with the jugs in each hand hanging at your sides. Then lift up so your arms are parallel to the floor. Keep them up, move your hands so they are sticking straight out in front of you. Then lower them to your thighs. For repetition two, lift straight up (back in front of you) then move your arms out to the side, then down at your sides. Hopefully that makes sense; if not I'll try to find a video or pictures. Good luck!

Dave, 10-12 miles a day multiple days per week? That's a high mileage week! My favorite runs are on trails in the foothills that are so close to Salt Lake City. But it often seems weird to drive somewhere to run. Then I just pound pavement. I find treadmills to be miserable. My wife made me try one again recently. I'll run outside in the rain and snow and dark just to avoid the dang things! Tallgeese is right on about varying your workouts, directions on a track, etc. to help avoid overuse injuries. I've found that my workouts, except swimming, are all better in the afternoon or early evening. I heard a theory about that relating to high school sports and training my body to work hard during that time slot. But even after spending some time in the Marines and running at 5:00 in the morning I never got used to it. It just feels like my body's not awake and warmed up yet. Does anybody else experience that? Especially the LEO's who probably have crazy work schedules.

But even if I stay in control of my emotions during a confrontation, and control my breathing, if things get physical my muscles demand for more oxygen requires me to breath faster, right? In those situations, or even during sparring, do you let you breathing tempo go faster (like going from a jog to a sprint) or do you continue to keep it at whatever pace you want as an effort to control the pace of the fight?

Trek, welcome! One of the ideas behind the kiai is to control breathing, especially to have a forceful exhalation resulting in more complete muscle contraction, right? At the dojo where I practiced there was some variation to it, but it tended to be a "YAA!"

Yep, I run...Although I don't usually like it, it's a great, quick, way to get in some cardio exercise. I ran a half marathon two weeks ago, but usually I'll run 3-5 miles two weekdays and 6-10 on one weekend day. You know, I guess I do kinda like running, just not as much as I like drinking coffee and eating bagels!

Bushido, thanks for the link to the link. There's some very interesting stuff in the other thread. I've never seen / heard of the spiderman exercises, but I like them! I wasn't quite as inspired by the Hindu push-ups. Another push-up variation that really fatigues the muscle is the 1-minute push-up. Start in the down position and SLOWLY push up for 30 seconds. Then come back down for 30 seconds. The one minute pull-up is awesome too. If definitely left my arms shaking!

What is a hindu push-up?

I would assume that you only listen to music when you're working out alone, correct? Although I guess when I ran the Salt Lake half marathon with 5000 other people, over half of them had wires in their ears. That seems bizarre to me since I get (and try to give) inspiration to the folks around me. If I'm lifting I don't listen to music (except whatever is piped at the gym) the wire gets in my way. If I'm running on the road I'll listen to anything with a decent beat but I've gotten into Irish rock lately. If I run in the mountains I won't listen to music, but the Last of the Mohicans soundtrack gets me fired up on the way there.