glingglo

yeah... i just checked out the site and didn't get the best feeling from it. anyone who withholds knowledge from their students is not being a good teacher. however, i still think that there are always going to be those students who need to be put in their place before they hurt someone. when this is done by a good instructor who's not doing it for the wrong reasons, i think it's alright.

however, i do think hoarding knowledge is not in the spirit of teaching... while i agree with how josh chose to handle this particular student, i think it's wrong to with withhold what you know from your students. showing them what you know about other styles would make them better martial artists. that should be your utmost concern as a teacher.

it doesn't sound to me like a question of ego. i've taught before (not MA, but academically) and you sometimes get students who want to challenge your authority for no good reason. if you don't deal with them, they can become big problems. i think josh was just looking for a good way to remind this kid of his place in the order of things. i'm sure we've all encountered those big burly types who come into an MA class and just want to overpower everyone in their way. those people can be dangerous to thier classmates and themselves. i've seen instructors in their 40s and 50s use similar techniques to handle these types, so i don't think josh's decision to do so was an age thing OR an ego thing.

unfortunately, the only way to reduce cellulite is to reduce your body fat altogether. there's no way to target it directly. it's caused by these little bands of connective tissue that run perpendicular to the surface of the skin, and it's basically the same effect as in a quilted down comforter - you get little puffy pockets of fat instead of one smooth sheet. you can reduce the appearance of cellulite by building the muscle underneath it and by getting rid of the fat itself. i've heard of some massage techniques that actually break up those little bands, but it looks painful and leaves extensive bruising for quite a while. they say 90% of women have cellulite, so at least we're in good company!

i think contracts are important for all the reasons everyone else has stated. however, a year is a long time. i'd make sure that you're provided with a way out in case you NEED one - like if you sustain an injury that will keep you from training, or if you get transferred to another job out of town and have to move. big stuff like that, not just "i don't feel like going anymore." you don't want to be stuck paying for lessons you CAN'T take.

i think bag training is a big help to people who are shy about sparring. once they get to like the feeling, moving on to a human partner is easier. personally, i love to spar, but i think i was so eager to learn because i had been practicing on a bag for several months first. i got to a point where i was itching to fight someone and there was no room left for being intimidated.

boxerscott - no one here is saying women's abdominal muscles are different. but getting a six pack has more to do with removing the fat surrounding the abs than the abs themselves. and THAT is not just as easy for women. in fact, it can be downright unhealthy.

note that the quote says that at around 15%, most womens abs will BEGIN to show through. i'm at about 15% myself, and yes, i have some nice definition now. but i don't have a six pack. and on the advice of my doctor, i'm not going to go any lower with my body fat. men DO develop six packs more easily - they don't have the same restrictions on dropping body fat that women do. and boxerscott - you're the one who has a tendency to generalize. you said earlier that it's just as easy for women to develop six packs as men. it's not. YES some women can get them without a lot of trouble. but they're not very common. so that's a pretty strong statement to have made, and then accuse another poster of generalization. weren't you generalizing women as if everyone were the exact same?

i didn't think i'd get into this discussion... ...but i just saw some people from my school attempt to break for the first time, and i have to say it was interesting. there were students who were very powerful and that were fairly high in rank, and it took them SEVERAL attempts to perform their breaks. so, while i can see both sides to this argument, i'm convinced that there has to be SOMETHING breaking can teach you, because otherwise these students should have all performed their breaks succesfully. they've drilled on the heavy bags, they're great at sparring, they have good technique in general - and yet being asked to hit a very narrow target with speed and power was still hard for them.

i think it's harder for women to get the six pack because no matter how much we build those muscles, we have to get rid of the fat in order to see them. and most women are going to have a layer of fat there. men can bring their body fat percentage lower than women can. there's a risk of screwing up our mentsrual cycles if we don't have enough body fat. a good friend of mine is a cross country runner and a gymnast and she has the lowest body fat percentage of any woman i've ever known. she has a six-pack, but she also has no boobs and no periods!

still avoiding the doctor... but i'll try stretching, and i've discovered that wearing high heels makes it feel terrible. i'm going to wear flats to work for a while and see if that takes care of it. i can't believe it would be THAT serious since there's never been any swelling or anything. it's just weird that it's lasted so long.

about 2 months ago i was practicing spinning heel kicks and noticed that my foot hurt a little the next day. it was a strange feeling - only very specific movement would trigger it. if i push in on the outside of my heel and try to resist, i get the pain. it's kind of between my ankle and my heel. it doesn't really bother me, but the fact that i can still feel it when i try to bothers me. could i have injured myself and not realized it?

i know what you mean. i did fitness kickboxing for a while and had been going to a gym for years, but it just seemed like i was missing something. i was conditioning my body, but i wasn't really learning anything. i've been much happier since i started TKD. good luck!

grrr... between this and the shin splints, i don't know what i'm going to do! thanks for the advice though! i'll TRY to make myself rest a little.

oh boy... here's a link to abcnews: http://abcnews.go.com/sections/nightline/US/globalshow_030425.html the first line of the article is pretty telling: "To build its case for war with Iraq, the Bush administration argued that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, but some officials now privately acknowledge the White House had another reason for war — a global show of American power and democracy." i wonder how the families of the soldiers killed in this war feel about their loved ones having been used just to make a point.

oh come on... who here really thinks that we went over there to "liberate" the iraqis? the only reason the government had to make up that story was because they couldn't support any of their other reasons. remember - we first went over to combat terrorism. but then the world pointed out that there was no link between 9/11 and iraq, and that war on iraq would actaully help recruit new terrosists. THEN we said we were going because of weapons of mass destruction. but there was no evidence of that, then OR now. so that's when we played the "yay! free the iraqi people!" card. pity the poor souls who live under horrible dictators in countries where there ISN'T oil. we're not paying ANY attention to them! and must we be reminded of who helped put sadaam in power? who turned a blind eye when he used chemical weapons on the iranians? who put the taliban in power? this country installs and supports horrible regimes all over the world. you just don't get to hear about it on FoxNews.

first off, i'm very much pro-legalization. the problem with the "war" on drugs is that is makes the drug trade more lucrative for the participants. simple economics 101: supply and demand. for every shipment the government seizes, the value of the stuff they CAN'T get to increases. all of the crime associated with marijuana is because of the black market atmosphere. the MONEY is what drives the drug trade. you're going to have a hard time convincing a kid that it's better to flip burgers and not make a living wage, than it is to deal drugs. it's tragic, but that's how it works. if the government legalized marijuana and regulated it like alcohol and tobacco, we'd see much better results. And the tax $ that would generate could be used for social services programs or other things that would impact society in a positive way. also, hemp and pot are NOT the same thing. the way you grow them is TOTALLY different. hemp in fields grows thick and bushy. THC-producing plants need lots of space and light. no one trying to grow good pot for smoking would ever "hide" their plants in a hemp field - the growing conditions are different AND the hemp plants would cross-polinate with the THC-producers and weaken the strain. fun fact: one of the devastating california wildfires last season was started by a "war on drugs" team trying to destroy a handful of cannaibs plants.

i have a problem with my hips/groin area and i'm wondering if glucosamine could be the solution. anytime i do ab exercises where i keep my legs straight and move them to work my lower abs, i have this grinding/popping in my groin. same when i do too many crescent kicks. it's mostly right where my inner thighs meet my pelvic region. it's not outright pain - but it feels strange and uncomfortable, and it's NOT muscle pain. it's grindy, like cartilage would be. has anyone else experienced anything like this? do you think glucosamine would help? thanks!

for stretching, i think you're fine. but if you're lifting weights or doing squats, i'd stick with the 90 degree rule. you don't want to strain your joints when you really mean to be working your muscles.

the second amendment was primarily meant to ensure that the people of this country could have an armed militia separate from the government-sponsored military, in order to ensure that the government could never get TOO much power over its citizens. this is the amendment, for those who aren't familiar with the wording: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. " i don't see anything in here that says EVERYONE who wants to have a gun should be allowed to. there's plenty of room for effective, constitutional gun control laws. guns were designed for a single purpose - to kill. not for target practice, not to scare people, but to KILL. period. that's what they do. they're the most efficient way to kill - people, animals, whatever. all these other examples about doctors and fertilizer and cars and other things that kill more people than guns - the logic is faulty. those things have other purposes, other reasons to exist. guns don't. if guns could also perform life-saving surgeries, keep my garden healthy or get me to work and back everyday, then your metaphors might work better. i hate lousy metaphors. and ALL statistics can be skewed for use by either side. liberals throw numbers at conservatives that support their cause, then conservatives throw numbers at the liberals. whatever. numbers are meaningless without proper context, but most people forget that. the thing is, this country has a BIG problem with crime. and we're not going to solve it by adding more guns to the mix. there are other countries out there with MUCH higher standards of living than the US - less crime, better health care, higher literacy rates, better employment benefits (the average amount of vacation time for US workers is frighteningly low compared to other industrialized nations), cleaner air - you name it. we'd be wise to look to them for examples.

hmmm... i like everything, as long as it's good. my favorite right now is stuff that's come out of iceland - sugarcubes, bjork, mum, sigur ros, etc... i like trip-hop too - massive attack, portishead, other mellow stuff like that. good for late nights... and i listen to a lot of classic rock and oldies - usually best when i'm driving! i love david bowie (but who doesn't?) i used to be very much into industrial music and i still like to get out those albums every once in a while, when i'm feeling nostalgic. blues, jazz... folk music... that's all good too. i have a lot of musician friends and have been lucky enough to be exposed to a lot of great stuff. i love music. of course, i've also been know to allow myself the guilty pleasure of stealing my little sister's pop CD's - a little christina aguilera now and then won't kill me, right?

haha - feel better now that you got to finish Aamorn? nothing worse than when people leave you hanging and you can't get to your punchline! hmmmm... i'd contribute to this thread myself, but i can't think of any clean jokes! oh wait... here's one: a skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.

ok Aamorn, I'm a science dork so I'll bite. is there an electron joke?

i've noticed a dull ache in both of my legs, along the inside of my shin bones. it extends from a couple of inches below my knee to a couple of inches above my ankle, and it seems to be coming from deep inside my legs. it started after a night of excessive jumping (flying kicks and lots of calisthentics), and it's gotten progressively worse. i now feel it even when i walk, but the pain is intense when i run or jump or do anything where i'm up on the balls of my feet. has anyone had a similar problem? i don't think it's shin splints because i've been told that those are a sharp pain along the bone, and this is more like an ache deeper within the leg. i'm very worried that this will force me to stop training and i want to get the problem under control as soon as i can.

push-ups take a while... i've gone from being able to do 5 to being able to do about 30 in six months, but now i'm at a plateau. it's probably going to take me a lot longer to work my way up from here. and i've found that i CAN do more push-ups if i wimp out on my form, but i'd rather do 30 good ones than 50 half-a**ed ones! just make sure whatever exercise you do, you're doing it with good form. go slow. and try more than one kind of push-up. do some full push-ups, do some lower ones where you just pulse, do some where you just try to hold the position for a certain length of time. try them with your arms wider apart or closer together. have fun with them!