nathanjusko

Try not having so many carbs before your workout. Carbs need more water to digest than any other molecule (4 molecules..compared to 1-2 for protein and fat) and so your water weight goes up due to the massive amount of simple sugars you have prior to your workout. And yes, when you eat directly before a workout your energy levels are going to drop drastically. Aproximately 1/5 of your daily BMR (base metabolic rate) comes from your body putting energy into your digestive process, this energy has to come from somewhere so it takes it from your muscles and other "unnecessary" systems in order to digest the food. Try having the rice, beans, and meat at dinnertime waiting 2 hours then doing your workout and having the carbs and other food afterwards. Your energy levels will be up although I don't guarantee anything nowadays, I am fairly certain that your workout will be more satisfactory than in previous times.

Confidence and aggression are two different things entirely. Being shy, timid, and unconfident is definitely a sign of weakness (and no it isn't a shame in my opinion, just another fact of life). You should never approach a fight with a strong sense of aggression ready to just tackle the other guy and beat him to death, that's pointless and a good martial artist will drop you in no time flat. However, you should approach a fight with a sense of "quiet confidence", not cocky but definitely not shy and timid. The best way to build this up during sparring is to treat the whole fight as a game, a game you want very desperately to win, but a game nonetheless. For me this works wonders, because, then I don't see it as a life and death scenario, but rather one big game. Trust me, it works wonders with your sparring and fighting abilities.

When dealing with two experts in shotokan and taekwondo, it really comes down to the location. Large, open area taekwondo has a leg up. Small, confined area and shotokan has the upper hand. This is why it is a good idea to cross-train. An excellent mix of martial arts would be taekwondo, shotokan, and hapkido. Taekwondo for kicks, shotokan for punches and blocks, and hapkido for throws and joint locks. I would be hard-pressed to fight someone with experience in each one of those fields.

I disagree with you Treebranch. Some people have the natural inclination towards being natural fighters and prospering within their art, however, nurture more than often beats nature. Natural talent does what it can, a winner does what he must. Meaning that natural talent is limited to the chance given at birth or childhood, etc. However, a true champion or master will continue to push himself past his natural god-given talents and continue to add upon those with his dedication to their particular art. A person can will himself to do anything if he shows the proper amount of dedication needed to overcome natural obstacles.

Amen to that TJS

Tell me, does it sound idiotic to judge an artist's worthiness by judging the tools that he uses at his disposal? Because, I know of some great art that has used scrap found in a junkyard, and I know of some horrendous crap made from the finest of oils and brushes. It boils down to the individual fighter's dedication to his/her art. WTF Tkd can be very effective if you know how to use it properly, Jiu-jitsu or kickboxing can also be very effective. It just happens that TKD takes much more time to develop than the popular MA's of kickboxing and grappling. Will a white belt in jiu-jitsu beat a master at TKD? Doesn't the white belt have more experience in the effective art than the TKD master? Anyone able to argue this has my full attention.

In response to thugTKD's comment: I think that anyone who has answered this post exept for one person who feels the same way) has missed something in their martial arts training...anyone who was trained with only one instructor or at only one school is missing something. You are all biased... Just a suggestion, whenever you are about to preach being open-minded to a certain subject do not begin your statement with saying "anyone who has answered this post except for one person who feels the same way has missed something in their MA training." That is basically saying anyone who feels differently than me and this one guy are wrong, just as you are about to approach a comment to being open-minded in your training.

It isn't that hard to understand, and you don't need a degree in physics to understand simple human thermodynamics. Its just that most people believe that there is a "secret workout" and a "secret diet" that will solve all their problems. So they decide not to listen to the facts and keep asking the same stupid questions over and over again until someone gives them information that they like.

You can't build muscle and lose fat at the same time. In order to build muscle your body needs more calories than it burns off for the purposes of energy so it can convert the food into muscle. In order to "cut" your body needs less calories than it expends so it begins to use fat stores to maintain energy levels (why many people feel tired while cutting). Now if you need more calories than your BMR (basal metabolic rate) in order to build muscle, and you need less calories than your BMR in order to burn fat. Does anyone see a problem with attempting to do the two at the same time? However, building strength is another thing than bulking up (as the article that you read was reffered to). Your body likes to use fat before muscle when it is losing weight, therefore you will lose fat but tend to spare muscle as long as your protein intake is high enough. Therefore, your body will become lighter with the same muscle mass as it had when it was heavy with fat. Therefore, push-ups will seem easier, sit-ups will seem easier and your athletic strength (calisthenic strength) will have appeared to increase. However, if you lift something other than your body (freeweights) for a workout, you will see that your strength has either stayed the same or decreased as a result to the losing weight. The problem with this post is that people are ignorant of the terminology involved in sports physiology. I will say it for the last time, BULKING UP IS NOT THE SAME AS BUILDING STRENGTH, AND CUTTING WHILE BULLKING GO AGAINST THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS IN YOUR BODY.

There is no 'magic' diet that everyone continues to refer to, it is all simple thermodynamics in your body (when concerning yourself with obesity as your main risk). It is this simple, you eat more calories than you expend you gain weight (muscle or fat), you expend more calories than you eat you then lose weight. The reason that eskimos eat 80-90% of their diet in fat and protein and maintain a healthy shape is that they are constantly working to survive, and even though 80-90% of their diet is protein and fat, they still do not eat that much food in total. Yes the majority of their diet comes from fat and protein, but if you eat 2000 calories of straight fat in one day (disgusting idea), and you burn 3500 calories in one day, then you will lose weight, even though 100% of your diet comes from fat. This is the simple rule of food when you are trying to lose weight.

Here are some pros of ITF training: (1)Traditional viewpoint (can be either pro or con based on your viewpoint) (2)More applicable self-defense style training (WTF emphasizes using back leg techniques, which would get you decimated in a street fight) (3)Rules of sparring depend on school (WTF has specific rules and points for each kick, punch, etc. , whilst ITF merely uses sparring as a way to practice techniques, not a sport) pros of WTF training: (1)Athletic Viewpoint (modern society rewards athletes more than martial artists and viewing it as a sport will certainly help you fit in with other peers) (2)Extremely good cardio workout (WTF sparring is very athletically demanding on the particpant, with back legs kicks and fast constant moving) (3)Olympic Hope (WTF sparring is the sparring of the Olympic games, while ITF is not the ruling olympic body, so you can always impress the ladies by claiming to train for the Olympics)

I agree with the comment above, I believe that it would be impossible to fight in one of those situations with only one style of training. One can be heavily influenced by a certain style, such as using a lot of kicking and relating that to TKD. However, no matter what style you train in, if you cage yourself in the confines of only using techniques your style allows you to throw, then you're going to be one bruised up fighter.

ITF ALL THE WAY! STICK TO YOUR ROOTS! jk jk Seriously though, I have a problem with the origin of the WTF and the reasons behind it coming into power. The ITF is the original style of TaeKwonDo, originated by Gen. Choi. WTF came around after Korea started to focus on sports and wanted Gen. Choi to allow TaeKwonDo to be under the Korean Athletic Association, he didn't allow this, thus the WTF was formed to have a style of 'sport' TaeKwonDo that would be under control of the Korean Government. Also Korea 'recommended' that Gen. Choi should leave and take his ITF styling with him, where its headquarters remains in Canada. The WTF bullied its way into existence. I have done both and equally enjoy the variations of each styling. Both of the styles have their pluses and minuses and it matters to what school you go to. However, I have a big issue with how the WTF came into power and I feel that ITF is true TaeKwonDo the way that the originator saw fit.

I believe that physical fitness should be a concern to the martial artist, but not his/her goal. The goal is to become the best fighter possible, and to achieve a level of maturity and respect that becomes associated with your level of expertise. However, in order to achieve this the average person (99% of the population) should engage in fairly rigorous physical conditioning. The type of physical conditioning varies immensely with whatever style you personally practice under. TKD should do more leg work and flexibility training than say...an aikido practicioner, it all depends. You should take the movements that are common in whatever art you practice, figure out what muscles and body systems are used, then constantly challenge those specific systems and areas. Punches require explosive arm and chest strength, do push-ups. Having to twist your body in weird shapes requires 'core' strength, i.e. the sit-up. Jumping and kicks require leg strength and flexibilty, i.e. squats, slow kicks, and partner-stretching. I also believe that the only test you should have to do physical testing on should be your black-belt exam, purely for bragging rights. Because that is a big step-up in confidence and you want your highest ranking students to leave your school with a feeling of physical and mental confidence that they will not ever be embarassed physically in society, where physical testing seems to be a bigger role.

and no bodybuilders do not bulk up and cut at the same time. They bulk up as much as possible very early before a contest and then cut while trying to maintain as much muscle as possible, that is why they go from about 8-10% bodyfat to about 2-4% in precontest training. Ask any bodybuilder and they will tell you that they bulk up then cut, in cycles, and it is damn near impossible to gauge your calorie intake to the point that you can do both at the same time.

To what Tibby said on the first page of there being such a thing as 'toning', whenever the bodybuilders feel their arms after lifting weights and they are really tight, that isn't being extremely toned that is the "pump". The pump is after you lift a large portion of your body's blood supply is sent to the areas being worked making them larger and very tight, many people confuse this with a sense of toning but it eventually goes away after about a day as the body area is done recovering and less blood is needed.

Buy a freakin gun. No martial art style is going to MAKE you deadly, there is no secret death move or lethal pressure points like so many idiots believe. Seriously, there are several ways to develop yourself into a weapon, you can choose striking styles (TKD, Karate, San Shou) etc. You can choose joint-lock styles (Hapkido, Aikido) etc. You can also choose grappling or weapon-oriented styles, each one has positives and negatives. What truly matters is how much time you spend training and how effective you make the techniques that you learn.

Put a 10-25 pound plate on your back and do push-ups that way until you get to failure. Rest for one minute then do it again, rest for one minute then do it another time.

I don't see the martial arts as being necessarily philosophical, but that's why i do TKD. I prefer to stay true to myself and tell myself that the best part of my martial art is kicking someone in the side of the head, or at least knowing i can.

That is a great idea about the kicks in the pool, that'll wear your ass out. My suggestion is to train for at least 5 weeks in advance of the tournie, with a good strength training/cardio program that involves anaerobic sprinting for however long the rounds are going to be with a one minute walk in between them. Strength train with your legs at least twice in one week (gonna suck for first week but deal with it). Also, I know this is gonna sound bad, but use supplements, Supplement with whey protein and creatine in your diet. My body felt thick when i was on creatine and i worried about too much weight, but don't worry about it, when I got into sparring (tkd) my kicks were 50% faster than before (even the guy had to stop and comment me on how much faster they were than just the week before, lol). Use slow kicks with ankle weights on the days leading up to the fight and on the day of the tournament use an eca stack and before your round, when you're "on-deck", do 5 quarter speed kicks with the weights on. YOur opponent will be a lil confused and your kicks will be so incredibly fast since your legs were used to kicks with weights on, your muscles will overcompensate on speed for aproximately 30 minutes after your slow weighted kicks so it should last you until your final rounds are up. Hope this helps and be sure to kick ass.

You can't just tell a person how many calories to eat without knowing how much they weigh and they're activity level. On average the 3000 calorie rule works, however, you need to go to a website or specialist that can calculate your specific BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) and then adjust it based on how many calories you burn throughout the day. Thermodynamically speaking, it is impossible to gain muscle while losing body fat, in order to gain muscle you must eat more calories than your BMR requires and in order to lose fat you must eat less than your BMR requires, see a problem? And don't listen to people who tell you that you need to "tone" your muscles, there is no such thing. You can either make your muscles larger or smaller, you can't just tone them with high-rep low weight workouts. My suggestion is to eat what you need in the day (i.e. when you're hungry) stop when you feel full and make sure your activity level is high. If you have those factors involved in your life then you will find it is extremely easy to stay in shape and don't need a plan or workout routine or diet in order to "cut" or "bulk up". Your body will work itself out and stay where it needs to, your body knows what it wants and needs you just have to listen to it.

You're not doing damage physically, but you are for your martial arts style. Learning those different styles all at once can damage your martial arts training very much, I know that complementing styles is the only way to grow and become the best. But, if you are a beginner in each style and you train each night learning particular techniques, which often contradict or go against what the instructor would like to see you perform, you're not at a level of respect with the instructor in order to start changing your style from the one that he or she wishes to teach you. My suggestion is this, master one style then move onto another and complement, then move onto another and add that to your arsenal.

"firestarter" and "ready steady go" from the bourne identity soundtrack both kick some serious ass.

The thing with the rope might work for strength only because you are isolating your abs more than your back in your previous sit-up workouts. Your abs have much more potential to get stronger than your lower back(much larger muscle group). Also you are probably cutting off their oxygen supply, thus forcing them to go into anaerobic respiration much more quickly than normal. Anaerobic is what makes your muscles burn if you do a lot of sit-ups or kicks or anything involving muscles, and also what causes you to feel somewhat sore the next day because you actually have acid in your muscle cells. Forcing them to go to an anaerobic state more quickly can possibly result in more muscle growth and strength gains, however, for every positive there is a negative (just how this world works) and you do a lot of damage to your muscles and the cells around them (vital organs, etc.) since your muscle cells respond with greater amounts of protein and growth this isn't a bad thing for them, however, your stomach or other cells don't respond this way and you could be damaging them very badly. I wouldn't continue doing this sort of sit-up if i were you, rather focus more on doing crunches and doing variations of them (reverse, horizontal leg twists, hanging leg raises, etc.). p.s. that article was in muscle and fitness magazine dealing with anaerobic growth involving cutting off the circulation to a certain muscle part p.s.s for the person who responded before me, it is infinite not infinant, hope not to discourage your inflated ego

The only thing that came to my mind while watching that video is that we've got to get some more effort coming out of the non-Korean TKD countries, we're a joke compared to them.