TheDevilAside

I would try to disarm her with my good looks and charm

Wow, I used to think I was pretty solid until I saw this thread. Currently, my 1 rep maximum on the bench press is 225 lbs. I don't max on squat, since I'm pretty nervous about spotters since most of them don't know how to do it properly.

I have a background in American Kenpo, but I quit after I saw the school transform into an atypical McDojo after a few management and instructor changes. Since then, I haven't taken any classes of any kind, but the passion for it never really died. So, I'm planning on re-joining the martial art community. I was particularly interested in this BJJ school in my area: http://www.bjjboulder.com/adult/index.php The place seems reputable, and I was invited to attend "orientation" this week. But I was a little irritated that I couldn't get their price rates out of them over the phone, so I'm weary. Anyway, I had a few questions: 1.) How physically intensive is Bazilian Jiu-Jitsu? I'm looking for something that's physically challenging, since it's either a gym membership or this for me. I'm a broke college student, can't afford both 2.) What's it like to learn? How difficult did you find it as a new student? And any other experiences you had as a newbie coming into the art. 3.) How practical is it? I'm, of course, familiar with the Gracies and their achievements. But I'd like to hear your personal opinion and experiences on the outside-the-mat applicability of BJJ. And of course, any other insights you may have in the art. Oh, and if you guys know anything about this school or have any impressions about this school, or the head instructor Amal Easton, I'd appreciate hearing them. Thanks a lot, I'm looking forward to becoming active around here again.

I read a study in Men's Health magazine that showed doing calisthenics will actually decrease muscle soreness and increase the rate of recovery. But keep in mind, that's just correlative data. I can see how that would work, though. Performing any light calisthenics exercise inevitably stretches your muscle, but within a natural range of movement. Emphasis on light, though, as there is a line between doing calisthenics to relieve muscle soreness, and simply overtraining. I've never actually seen any compelling studies that indicate that stretching decreases muscle soreness. A lot of them were based on the old conception that muscle soreness is caused by lactic acid build up, but we believe this to no longer be true. Muscle soreness, in all likelihood, is due to little tears on your muscle tissue. It wouldn't make sense for stretching to alleviate that. Calisthenics, on the other hand, increase blood flow to those muscles which may benefit recovery. If you do want to stretch, use controlled movement: slowly and carefully. Don't extend yourself very much. Respond to your body, you have pain receptors for a reason, so when it hurts a lot, back off Hope that helped.

I used to be a regular member here way back in the day. I think it's been at least 2 years. I did a few years of American Kenpo, but left after the school started getting watered down (typical McDojo syndrome). Subsequently, I lost interesting in martial arts almost altogether. Recently, though, I've decided to join a boxing club. And I thought of this place, and thought I should stop by, maybe contribute a bit to the community It's a bit overwhelming to see all of the new faces here, and comforting to see some old ones. Either way, I'm glad to know this forum managed to thrive, even with, what I'm sure, was a sorely missed absence.

I just play it with friends out in the middle of nowhere, team vs. team. But I haven't gone in a long time because my damn gun is leaking and I can't figure out where from. I'm just going to have to break down and take it to a shop. As for protection, it's not really necessary. They don't do any damage, they just give you welts. 'Sides, the less protection, the more incentive not to get shot, right?

Gripmasters are an okay way to start, but the exercise will become redundant and your muscles will get used to it, probably resulting on a plateau. I'd throw in some forearm curls, and other exercises like that. Weight lifting, no matter how much weight you use, will not stunt your growth. This is a myth, there is no evidence to support it but plenty to contradict it. What it can do, however, is damage your joints and mess up your ligaments. But that's only if you're over training, increasing the weight too quickly and doing one rep maxes every week. Don't 1RM, or max out, more than once a month... if I were you, I'd completely stay away from it, the only thing you'll get from it is bragging rights. Use proper form, stay away from using body motion to compensate. Use controlled movement, fast movement is fine as long as it's controlled. When starting out, begin out with low weight and increase your weight steadily for 6 months or so to avoid injury to your joints and ligaments. Also, when starting out, stay within the 8-12 rep range. Eat right. If you follow that advice, weight lifting will only be benifical. And again, it won't stunt your growth.

Lucky for you, there's a topic on the exact same situation. Check it out: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=22865 Here's the follow up on it: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=22881

The pain (and cracking) is most likely due to growth. When I was around 15 and 16 I had the same exact thing, a lot of my friends still do. What will probably help are leg exercises that will strengthen the muscles and ligaments around the joint, such as leg extensions and squats. Start out light at first (with or without weight), make sure your movements are slow and controlled. As you progress, you can increase the weight or increase the reps if you wish. Weight training and time did away with that problem for me (I'm 17 now). However, if the pain is intense already, or increases, I would consult a doctor. In fact, if you can afford it, I would consult a doctor right now just in order to be on the safe side. http://my.webmd.com/content/article/4/1680_50108.htm This might help.

I would make sure to include compound lifts into your routine, which, in case you don't know, are exercises that work more than one muscle group as opposed to an isolation exercise. For instance, bench press utilizes your pectorals, triceps and back muscles which is why it is a compound lift. Bicep curls only utilize your biceps, so it's an isolation exercise. Also, try to keep the reps on most lifts below 10 and keep the weight relatively heavy. Doing more than 10 reps is training for hypertrophy, which enlarges the muscles but the gain in strength isn't as great (this is how bodybuilders train). Whereas doing 1-8 reps (I would reccomend between 4-8 personally) focuses less on the hypertrophy of your muscles and more on training your muscles to contract efficiently, which is how athletes train. I would keep the use of machines to a minimum, try to use freeweights for most exercises. Unless you're new to weight lifting, in which case I would use machines first to avoid improper form which could result in injury. I would highly reccomend that if you're new to weight training that you get a personal trainer that can show you the basics for a few sessions; because proper form is essential. Then adding in cardio sounds like a good idea, I would also try to squeeze in some calisthenics or plyometrics. Try to avoid doing full body workouts with weights. It takes a long time; it fatigues you too quickly; and you'll actually get less results compared to a 3-5 day split. Overtraining is an issue as well.

But does that strengthen the bone significantly? I still think your hand would break if you struck a bad target with too much force.. your bones were designed to break.

Yeah, I'm starting to think it's not such a smart idea. I used to do it as well, but it only made my knuckles worse. Now if I even tap one of my knuckles on a hard surface I get an aching pain, and this is a year later. I'm an idiot.

I usually hear it being referred to as a "kip up". I think it's 70% core muscles and 30% skill, for me at least. I could never do them, probably because I was pretty tall and weighed too much, so I gave up. Then I picked up martial arts, started working out via weight training and calisthenics, then voila, a couple of months later I magically was able to do them.

I can't help you out either, sorry. You might just want to go straight to the source and ask your instructor if he has anything. Or next time you practice have a sheet of note paper with you so that you can make on yourself, depending on how complex they are I guess.

I don't understand the purpose of hand conditioning. If it's to toughen the skin, then why punch and risk injury? Instead, rub your knuckles with a rough surface. Is it to strengthen your bones? From what I understand, the best way to strengthen your bones would be your diet. I've never heard any valid arguments that conclude that punching harder objects make your bones stronger to build up on them, if they do, my guess is it would be so minimal that the difference would hardly be noticeable. Others do it to get used to the pain. Don't you think if you experience pain from striking a person, you're striking them incorrectly or in the wrong places? I wouldn't reccomend hitting anyone in the forehead or where there's a lot of bone density, worst that will do is bruise your opponent. Sorry, sort of a tangent, maybe I should start a new thread?