todome

But if you fully rotate the fist before impact, you lose the rifling effect of the fist rotation and the trauma caused by it, as the fist penetrated your opponents body. Tbh, I vary rarely use a twisting punch in application, but the principle is there. Chitsu To tell you the truth my punch is powerful enough to not have to worry about scoring a noogy at the same time.

Yeah. Even though my feet are probably cleaner than most of the shoes in the place from a group perspective the hygiene thing wins the day.

I'm surprised my VO2Max is still progressing even though I've cut back from 5 to 2 sessions on the bike per week. Granted each sesssion is considerably longer than the old average but I suspect the leg exercises in the weight room are carrying over to the bike somewhat and it's not like the other stuff I do doesn't have a cardio component to it. I swapped the squats with the power cleans since the second short workout is always just before class. I'm finding the power clean prepares me for class better than the squats and are easier to recover quickly from. Also decided to start squeezing in a med ball 200 after class on Saturdays. If I skip shaving I still get home at the same time. Chin-ups (kind of a pet project) are getting better but I've cut back the number of sets by stepping up the reps (2-4) and burning out on them faster. I'm thinking of maybe checking out the assisted pull-up machine to get my reps up a couple times a week but only if I can get it to hurt in the right places. Hey. It's better than doing bicep curls. Workout 1 Bench Press 3x15 Deadlift 3x15 Military Press 3x15 Inclined Abs 4x12 Chin-Ups 3xF Workout 2A Squats 3x15 Inverted Rowing 3xF Workout 2B Power Clean 3x15 Chin-Ups 3xF or Assisted Chin-ups 3x15 My schedule for the week... Sunday REST, hang out in the kitchen and enjoy the smugness of being Canadian watching Crosby score the overtime winner over and over again. Monday AM VO2Max Test Workout 1 Tuesday AM Karate - 25 min Kata/Kihon Self Training Workout 2A Tuesday PM Cardio - 30 min - Intervals to 90% Maximum Heart Rate Workout 2B Karate - 1 hour Basics Class Wednesay AM Karate - 30 min Kata/Kihon Self Training MedBall 400 @ 12lbs Thursday AM Workout 1 Thursday PM Cardio - 45 min - Constant @ 83% Maximum Heart Rate (ie 77.5% Heart Rate Reserve) Friday AM Karate - 25 min Kata/Kihon Self Training Workout 2A Saturday AM Workout 2B Karate - 1 hr Black Belt Class Karate - 1 1/2 hr Yellow and Up MedBall 200 @ 12 lbs

hey thanks for the reference. I'll keep an eye out for it. I can tell you that for me personally with and without shoes is like night and day but of course I'm more accustomed to working with bare feet than most people. It's a pity the club can't accomodate me but so be it. I'm there 8 times a week I probably get my money's worth in shower water alone.

It seems to me it's not that hard for me to slap my ribs with the thumb of my withdrawing hand by holding off the rotation only slightly so "when" for me is something in the order of the length of a fist from the target.

First of all, it's my understanding that forearm rotation is concommitant with a reversal of shoulder rotation as the elbow goes from pointing down to pointing out. I say reversal because the shoulder must rotate laterally slightly throughout prior to the forearm rotation in order to accomodate some subtle geometry involving distances from the pivot and is therefore rotating slightly throughout (kind of like a differential on a car only less obvious). I'd even go so far as to say forearm rotation is useless if its not being driven by the shoulder rotation. That said, forearm rotation should begin at the exact point which allows maximum power to be applied to the technique such that the rotation completes at total body kime. Poor timing results in the dissipation of force over time and therefore a less powerful technique.

Rethinking saturated fat: It’s not your heart’s enemy I'm well within current guidelines and my blood tests just fine so in my case like I already said, there's no need to quit.

There's no need to quit steak. The guideline is that 10% of a healthy caloric intake can be in saturated fats and, depending*, as much as 30% SHOULD be in fats in general. I manage to maintain my current body weight with around 2600 kcals/day so I can consume around 2600*10%/9 = 29 grams of saturated fats per day. The general guideline for cholesterol is less than 300 mg daily. Monday to Friday I eat the same damn thing every day for my first 4 meals. In terms of fat and cholesterol sources, I have two of my three dairy servings a day by drinking 1%, a serving of meat alternatives (black walnuts in my morning whole milk yogurt), a can of sardines and a half a cup of a lentils cheese and rice concoction that takes the edge off my morning workout. After that its all oatmeal, tossed salad and fruit salad so other than a nip of salad dressing I haven't accounted for yet that makes for a total of about 14.5 grams of saturated fat and 155 mgs of cholesterol for the day. What that mis is that with basically one or two servings of meat to chow down and one big meal and a snack to go,o n an average day I've got plenty of room for error. *even when trying to lose weight as much as 20% is still recommended.

Yeah. I picked up a pair of Chuck Taylors yesterday. They're ok, but its definitely not as good as barefeet. I'm still not sold on the whole hygiene argument. I don't see what's so challenging about expecting people to stay off the floor with skanky feet. There's minimum standards for footwear anyways

Yeah. The more I think about it the more hygiene angle makes sense. I have to stop assuming everyone in the club has the same habits as the average karateka and picture some hobbit fresh from the fields with with yellow toenails no less standing at the squat rack doing curls. Found some spiffy Chuck Taylor's on sale so I'm good to go but damn, my tote bag is getting big.

Well that's the thing. Having no particular orthotic concerns, I'd rather train to bare feet while I still can. I don't need the shoes and am sure wearing them will just get me used to it and will totally shortcut carry-over to the karate floor. I'm three emails in with the director of operations and finally got to asking him why their requiring "proper athletic shoes" means bare feet are improper. Bit of a lag. Maybe he's on lunch. ON EDIT: yup. safety and hygiene. oh well. no point arguing with him.

I prefer to do most of my weight training barefoot. I'm convinced it makes for better form. fwiw, I do wear sandals while I'm making my way around. I had one of the health club's consultants giving me a hassle about my doing squats barefoot yesterday (I was tempted to call him "Son"). He told me it was against the rules because being barefoot was as safety issue. I told him dropping weights on my foot doesn't get any easier to take just by wearing sneakers. Then he told me it was hygiene. I told him my foot was a hell of a lot cleaner than the barbells (learned that one raising toddlers). Frankly, I think he was making the whole thing up since the "rule" isn't written down anywhere but that's nothing a quick call to the office won't clear up. Anyone know of any REAL benefits to wearing something on your feet while weight training? Traction, maybe, but I don't do that sort of work in the weight room. Anyone?

I don't hesitate to use mae or mawashi so much during jyu kumite as I hate doing it during ippon and the like when my opponents know its coming. Some of them get all panicky and start swinging their blocks out blindy. That's when I'm more likely to take one on the toes. And some of them panicky types are kinda big, too. I been trying to take some consolation in the size of bruise I can inflict on their forearms. (give them a few of those and they start paying more attention to where and how they're making contact)

Reducing the number of cardio sessions from 5 to 3 per week has gone OK so far. It's a little early to tell for sure but VO2Max seems to be holding. Have decided to drop back to 2 longer duration sessions per week. This will allow me time to start in to a 5 week strength training cycle leaving plenty of time to do either power work or more kumite and kata self training in the last month before the nidan test. I've decided on the following general strength workouts... Workout 1 Bench Press 3x15 Deadlift 3x15 Military Press 3x15 Inclined Abs 4x12 Chin-Ups 5xF (right now after the first set they're basically sets of 1 ) Workout 2A Power Clean 3x15 Inverted Rowing 3xF Workout 2B Squats 3x15 Chin-Ups 5xF I've worked my way up to training weight on all the weighted exercises over the last couple weeks and boy are my arms tired So... My schedule for next week... Sunday REST and TRY TO MOOCH A BEER OFF MY FATHER-IN-LAW Monday AM VO2Max Test Workout 1 Tuesday AM Karate - 25 min Kata/Kihon Self Training Workout 2A Tuesday PM Cardio - 30 min - Intervals to 90% Maximum Heart Rate Workout 2B Karate - 1 hour Basics Class Wednesay AM Karate - 30 min Kata/Kihon Self Training MedBall 400 @ 12lbs Thursday AM Workout 1 Thursday PM Cardio - 45 min - Constant @ 80% Maximum Heart Rate Friday AM Karate - 25 min Kata/Kihon Self Training Workout 2A Saturday AM Workout 2B Karate - 1 hr Black Belt Class Karate - 1 1/2 hr Yellow and Up Thursday Night is a new time slot for me. Negotiating with my wife for the free time should go smoothly enough but it looks like I'll have to cough up Chuck. I THINK that's on Thursday nights but it's not that I've been watching it.

Humility improves judgement. Confidence fosters courage. Humility and confidence are not mutually exclusive. I dread getting cranked on the toes doing mea geri. Hurts like stink. Last time it happened it took me three months before completing the first move in Empi didn't make me see stars.

Are they? Gary In my part of the world (ITKF Shotokan) they are, anyways. On the floor kyus address all dan grades as "senpai" and on and off the floor refer to them as "senpai " (if they know what's good for them which reminds me I've got a 6th kyu in serious need of the gears - for the good of the dojo of course ) When addressing the class our Sensei always refers to ANY black belt of our dojo as "senpai " although when addressing us directly calls us anything he damn well pleases. Within any dojo, any and all black belts who are not the sensei can be properly thought of and referred to as part of "the senpai", even third dans who are addressed as "sensei" even theough they're not THE sensei. (eg, the "senpai ni rei" when class bows in and out) All of this gets rather dodgy and tough to keep track of between dojos, which has given rise to the tradition of never speaking of another dojo's black belts unless it's behind their entire dojo's back.

Oh yeah right. The Kick. I find getting the feel for the knee's role in creating the thrusting action is important. The extra movement down may be slight but makes a world of difference in how the forces manifest themselves along the chain. The force required to effect that slight downward action is probably more than one may initially expect.

oh wait a minute. Of course he refered to him as senpai. That doesn't mean he's the only senpai in the school or on the floor. When I'm speaking to a kyu gradei about a black black belt I always call the black belt senpai even if he's my junior. You might want to ask.

Yeah. Different system. but never make assumptions about getting bopped. sometimes it's good for you.

All black belts are senpai. you're lucky he hasn't quietly bopped you one for insubordination.

I think it's really good. There's lots of movement which I find make a good compliment to how the core is used in karate. It seems to cover the full spectrum of muscles involved in core movement and control. The circuit seems very well arranged so you're more or less supersetting so no one muscle group burns out before the other. At the same time it does so without losing focus so the core and the muscles around it get their share of focus so nothing is underworked either. I think its a good balanced workout. There's a nice 'tired all over' feeling waiting at the end of the circuit. I'm just discovering it recently but I like medicine ball work. I'm using it for ballistic power work as well, doing slams and jumps and stuff you can't do with ordinary weights because throwing dumbells doesn't make you popular. In fact if by strength you mean power (maximum strength in minimum time) and asked me to choose between weights and a med ball I'd have to say that these days I'd pick the medicine ball.

Completed the 400 rep version of the Tar Heels med ball routine for the first time using the 10 pounder. Took a little less than 25 minutes. Time's a factor so I'll probably alternate it with doing 200 reps with the 12 pounder. Scaling back the cardio to three times a week targeting 1000 calories per week. That's a little more than half my current cardio schedule so I'm thinking this will probably maintain my VO2Max at 54.0 ml/kg/min This will allow me to concentrate a bit more on kihon and kata in the mornings since the test is only three months away and makes for a logical season peak this year. The two hours a week of cardio for 4 months was definitely worth it, though. I can finally do Kanku Dai full out without worrying about sucking wind or finishing on jelly legs for a change. After the nidan test I'll probably move on to about five months of strength training with cardio and self-training in maintenance mode, if I self train much at all. I find that by the summer I'm ready to put the gi away much of the time so these weary old bones have a chance to mend at the kinks. In the meantime I've got a half hour 4 exercise x3 sets power routine I'm trying to do twice a week on the days I don't do the Tar Heels workout. Between that, class, less cardio and more self training I don't think less time on the bike is going to show up on the waistline. Much.

What I won't agree to is allowing the exception to denegrate the rule, particularly when an important part of that rule is that there will be exceptions and includes the corollary is that individual field testing is by far more accurate when done properly. The various formulas for theoretical maximums have their practical value and serve the majority well when it comes to defining target training intensities and designing regimes to meet goals.

You're not going to able to go 100% of your real max for 18 minutes. It just doesn't work that way because your body can demand more oxygen than the heart muscle can deliver. The way a stress test works (if the med tech doesn't spot trouble in the heart readout and call the whole thing off - which is what I meant by good enough shape) is the intensity keeps on getting increased until they get the same heart rate two and maybe three times in a row. Then they make a serious point of ending the whole thing gracefully before your body seizes up like an engine that's dropped its oil pan. You're probably well over your real redline (90% of max), and doing very well at that, but you're not hitting your real max for the full 10-12. Hitting your limit and then adding even more effort will ferret out your real max. Remember the formulas are only estimates. When you fall over and haven't even got the strength to take your pulse you'll know you've hit your real max.

Can't resist logging that I completed the Med Ball 200 routine with the 10 pounder for the first time today. Kind of by accident, really. Grabbed the 10 instead of the 8 and was too lazy to walk back to rack. I was going to try upping it some time next week anyways. Shaving's been tougher but it was a bit of work lifiting my arms. No turning back, I guess. Next week I expect to burn 2,000 calories on the stationary bike. I might have this week but calculating it isn't an exact science. VO2 max is measuring real close to this season's goal, which is good since I'm going to have to scale back on the cardio soon to get ready for my test.