BladeSmartNY

The senior student should be the right hand man. He should be able to demo any technique and keep up with the instructor. It's a challenging role to fill because everyone in the class will be looking up to you.

You have to learn techniques before any sparring. Otherwise it's the blind fighting the blind.

I think these are mostly a gimmick. If you are training karate at a dojo you will probably be barefoot anyway. Just take care of your feet. File down calluses and use moisturizers.

MMA gyms have very high rates especially in NYC where I'm located. It's popular and real estate is expensive. If you are paying top dollar for martial arts training, you better make sure your trainer is the best.

What's your goal in Martial Arts? If your goal is a compete in Karate, train Karate. It doesn't matter which are is better than which if you train for sport. But if you are training for street fighting... I'd recommend something with more real world tactics.

The key to high impact kicking is body mechanic and strength. Technique takes millions of reps to perfect. You have to work on turning your entire body from the hips up to the shoulders on each kick. To build strength heavy squatting is ideal.

A lot of people are missing the combat in shadow boxing. Shadow boxing should be done everyday to reinforce all the techniques you are learning. You are practicing combinations, movement, blocks, counters. Your shadowboxing workout should be just as intense as drills and sparing.

It takes certain qualities to be able to go through the ringer day in and day out. Obviously you have them, but the other students do not. That's why very few people take their training to the next level.

You can't really condition bones. But you can condition the muscles on your forearms and shins to kick and block. These can get really tough Over time you will get desensitized. When you fight someone that hasn't gone through this training, they won't know what the hell hit them.

30"... on my work computer.

Breaking a finger can be way more painful than you think. It doesn't matter what size the person is, they will always feel the pain. But what's more important about finger locks is that you can manipulate someone and injure to a degree. You don't always want to fatally damage someone. Applying a finger lock can allow you to control a situation for safety.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9igSoJHEdUo Realize the real dangers of a knife!

Techniques have different levels of effectiveness on different body types. You should be training with all different types of people so that you know how to apply locks, takedowns, strikes to any size opponent.

Don't back up. You have to answer their attacks by going to the inside or outside of their attacks. Ideally, you are the one giving forward pressure.

You need to build conditioning in your forearms. When you get bruised the best thing you can do is take an anti-inflammatory and rest the arms until they are healed.