nathanjusko

I have a bit of a background in this field because I was forced to change TKD schools (my family moved), my original school taught the side kick with your knee facing down when you kick and my current school teaches with your knee to the side (more of the karate style). I would choose the karate style any day. FIRST-you don't lose sight of your target as easily SECOND-it is much faster to kick with your knee in the side chamber, THIRD-it is an ambigous chamber, i could easily go to a roundhouse, hook kick, or any combination with the same chamber and FOURTH-it is a much faster chamber and can be used as a means to get out of a close combat situation (meaning you stick your leg out not to kick but rather to push the opponent away) Hope I helped a bit. Nathan Jusko ITF TaeKwonDo 1st Dan Blackbelt

Glucosamine helps a lot, in my opinion. Over the summer I became a running freak and was running like 5 miles every day to train for my black belt test. My knees started to really hurt and I took a Glucosamine/Chondroitin supplement with MSM and calcium and about a week later the pain in my knees was gone and I was up and running again.

TaeKwonDo is very effective, the problem is that most people you see in tournaments are doing the moves improperly and they suck at kicking. TKD takes more time to train properly than any other martial art because the legs are not used to kicking head-high and since most people are impatient they decide to go with styles that favor hand techniques and are much easier to learn and use properly. However, if you are fast enough and flexible enough a TKD stylist can deck pretty much anyone (street or competition). It just takes some time.

Wait a second.....you do roundhouse kicks and make contact with the ball of your foot? Why not just go for the instep or top of the foot, it makes more sense that way. Not only for competition but also for self-defense. In a competition its not smart to kick with the ball of the foot because of the lack of padding, and generally on the street you're going to be wearing shoes if you ever get encountered and its a lot harder to pull your toes back with shoes on than it is to just hit with the top of the foot. Also if you have your toes extended it adds some more power to the centrifugal force of your kick and makes it go faster and harder.

Well then you're just not going to lose weight that quickly because you are so ready to call it quits. Use bars such as carb solutions or some other stuff and eat them slowly throughout the day (i.e tear off 1/4 of the bar and eat it just before class or something). Stop coming up with excuses as to why it won't work. The only way you're going to lose weight is this 1)Eat 5-6 small meals a day spread over even hourly intervals 2)Eat fewer amounts of sugars and saturated fats 3)Increase your amount of protein in your diet 4)Find your Basal Metabolic Rate and burn more calories than you ingest. I cannot stress eating enough protein when you are on a diet, you should never skimp on the protein. Cut out carbs and fats if you wish, but you do not want to lose muscle along with the fat and eating a higher percentage of protein is the way to retain calorie burning muslce while losing fat.

Hi, I have been taking a break from training since I received my black belt in September, 2002 and I am ready to start my training again. I know that a good dietary plan is important in order to get results and I was just curious for any of you out there, what type of nutritional guidelines do you follow (i.e high-carb, low-carb, high protein, etc.). Nobody say that they follow the USDA food guide pyramid cause I know that it is not the proper diet for any human being. Any help on this matter is greatly appreciated so thank you very much!