TheDevilAside

Hm, since I've posted on this thread, I've dropped to 155 and grown an inch. I'm a Lot stronger than I used to be and my frame's become much larger (you know.. that buff kinda look ), so I don't understand how I could have lost so much weight since muscles is supposed to weigh more and I was skinny to begin with. Ah well, maybe I'm one of those people that think they look a lot better in the mirror than they really are

Now, in conclusion to my former conclusion (it just never ends), these techniques or mini-kata's as Delta1 put it, basically just hand you the weapons to defend yourself. But to use these weapons effectively in the "street" where your adrenaline is pumping and a 5 second fight seems like 5 hours (or 5 miliseconds, I don't know, for me it always seemed like an eternity) you have to simply get experience. That is why in American Kenpo and a lot of other styles of martial arts, we spar and have "reality scenario drills" such as where one of the instructors straps on some medi-eval armor and starts taunting, shoving and grabbing you and you have the choice of striking him to divert his attention so that you can run away, or like me, give him a serious * whoopin' ..just as long as you're safe in the end. Also, we don't practice all of those techniques that slow. Only in the beginning (or whenever you need to refine something) until you've grasped the fine details of it, then you can start practicing at medium speed and full speed, depending on who your partner is. We're not wussies in American Kenpo, y'know.

That is exactly what the practice of these techniques try to accomplish. You do them over and over again until they are ingrained into your muscle memory and they become a reflex, and believe it or not, it works. I've found myself executing many of the principles and "mini moves" by reaction when my friends just mess around with me, and at full speed, mind you. Every single strike in just about every technique in American Kenpo is interchangable with another and you're supposed to apply the principles you learned from varying techniques. In American Kenpo, you could find yourself learning up to 5 different (maybe even more, I don't know, ask Delta1 ) techniques for the same attack. Why? So that you can adapt to the variables of the attack. Each technique is a different path to the same destination, and depending on the situation, you'll find yourself taking short-cuts and switching on to different paths to get to that destination. For one attack, you could grab elements from 50 different techniques for 50 different attacks you've learned and apply them. American Kenpo is meant to be a dynamic system. Now, I bet you're wondering, how the hell can you learn so many techniques all to the point where they're all second nature? Simple, practice! And that every upper belt technique you learn has its fundamental roots in the white to purple techniques you learned. As you go up in the ranks and learn the more complicated techniques, you'll notice that it always has that same "feel" to it and the same style, it's just a slightly different approach and variation to an identical, or slightly different attack. Once you're a brown belt and testing for black, the instructors won't care as much if you can perform all of the techniques on your opponent by the book, but how well and fluently you can adapt to the attack so that ultimately your opponent will be on the ground and not you. Granted, I'm biased and I'm only an Orange belt in American Kenpo and will have trained for this art a year in August. But I figured you were getting tired of baiting the same old fish And yes, I know, I might as well have just copied and pasted everything Delta1's said in this thread and put my name at the end. I guess Kenpo minds think alike, right?

....what? Could you explain this further?

I had to take two weeks off from martial arts (grr) because of the end-of-the-year work load. Tomorrow is my last day of school! Just three more finals and I'm done for 3 months.

Anyone see the Rundown? "oooh!! You want some thunder? Ooh I know you're gonna like this.. Ooh here.. you wanna little lightning too? Huh?) That pathetic excuse of a fight scene was the funniest thing I've ever seen, and it earns a spot in my own, personal top ten.

Dr. Laura is a black belt

I'm supposed to be studying for Finals I have tomorrow But I only need a 5% to mantain a B in math.. so no worries here. Boy am I going to be screwed once I get into college and I have to actually.. actually.. actually....... STUDY?!?!?!?

Got quick access to a swimming pool? Swimming will work on your endurance, speed and strength all at the same time (to a point). Once you believe you've built a good base for yourself, you can specialize in intensive cardio, calisthenics or weight lifting, etc. If you don't have a swimming pool nearby, I suggest you start out by eating healthy foods if you don't already, jog or take a bike ride (I'd go with the bike) 3 times a week for 2-10 miles (depends on how much you can handle and whether you're riding your bike or not). Do some calisthenics (pushups, crunches, etc. I'd reccomend finding a good website or book that has a solid inventory of body weight exercises) every other day on weekdays. Then, for the weekends, give yourself a break from all intese exercise. Here's an example of what it could look like. *Inculding martial arts training* Monday/Wednesday/Friday: Jogging/Bike/Swimming Tuesday/Thursday: Calisthenics Saturday/Sunday: Rest Anyway, this is just one example, there are tons of other methods that will work just as well or better for you, so feel free to solicit everyone's advice.

Care to tell us exactly how you wish to improve? Then we could all give you a bit clearer direction.

If you're a complete beginner to fighting.. meaning, you've never gotten into a brawl with anyone before or haven't taken any type of martial art before, then I'd say it would atleast take you 2-5 years depending on how your school trains. Againt, this is such a broad statement and could be 0-100% true to you. Acquiring the skills to theoretically defend yourself would probably take you little over a year. However, the part that can take a life time is learning to succesfully apply your skills in a given situation. Uhm... I guess my point is, I can't really answer that question.

the number on the scale is pretty insignificant. What really matters is, are you fit? Do you look healthy? Do you feel good? If so, then 145 lbs at 5'1" is fine.

the degree of black belt in a martial art is a prequesite for being an MIB Agent.

I used to skateboard a lot, did it for about 6 years. It helped me a lot with my stance. I noticed at my first class that a lot of the beginners had a lot of trouble with staying in a horse stance for more than 30 seconds. However, for me it wasn't hard at all, since when you skateboard you generally have to keep your knees bent for most of the time, so I guess it conditioned the muscles in my legs. Another thing it helped me with was pain. For those of you that skateboard or used to, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you want to get better at skateboarding, you have to be stupid and do stupid things (like doing your first ollie (jump) over 8 stairs, or trying to grind in the rail next to it.. yikes), so you usually end up crashing a lot, and when you crash.. you crash hard. Eventually I just grew a certain degree of immunity to pain where I could keep skateboarding with a sprained ankle (but now I realize how stupid that was, my ankles are messed up). And my shins.. I don't even feel them anymore. Eventually you begin to "embrace the pain", and that helped me a lot with fighting in general. One thing I think that it screwed me up with, though, is my balance. Whenever you're doing a trick on a skateboard, you always shoot your hands up in the air and get into some awkward stance in order to mantain balance on the board. I had a few problems with that the first few weeks I went to my dojo. I was used to going into some weird stance that would have worked just fine if I were on a skateboard, but it wouldn't have helped much if someone was trying to push me over. But it only took me a few weeks to get used to going into a good, solid stance with equal weight distribution. And no, I'm not a sk8er boi ...anymore

In a perfect world, I would run 5km three times a week in 20-30 minutes. But I hate running, so I haven't been in that training routine for months.

Howdy, Kate. Welcome to the forums!

Wallace's strength wasn't only the speed of his kicks, but the unpredictability of them. He was infamous for setting up a front snapping kick and then switching it into a.. let's say.. half-round. Nobody could see past that deception by look at his shoulders.

Ask him if he's an arhat.

I am taking martial arts strictly for learning how to fight better, have fun, and stay fit (or atleast motivate me to stay fit). There is no doubt that martial arts helps you develop confidence, a better sense of judgement, but that is not why I am taking it, primarily. For confidence, a better sense of judgement, maybe even "inner peace" or enlightenment, I have my religion. Does anyone have a universal definition of "martial artist" that I could use? Because I'm not really sure...

Maybe you could follow my example?

I sincerely feel sorry for you. I didn't even know that was possible I've only pulled muscles in my leg, the rest of my body is like an elastic band (to give an example, what I love doing is putting my arm behind my head, then grabbing my mouth and pretend to "kidnap" myself). Ironically, though, I can't touch my toes. How can that happen just from getting into a push up position, though? Hope you get better soon, that sucks.

I'll just keep my mouth shut before this escalates into a flame war.

since when have political statements been linked to good music? Rage Against The Machine is probably one of the most political bands out there.. but their lyrics are really, really simple. His voice is AWFUL! And their guitar/bass harmonies are basic. But I love them, they're fun to listen to.. heh. Brass monkey! That funky monkey! *weird squeeking noises* Now, as much as I dislike this genre of music, I have to say Country music has the most inventive and creative lyrics. Now, as for rap music, I can't stand most of it, especially 50 Cent, I can't stand him! He may be virtuall immortal, but his music sucks... in my own opinion. Eminem and D12 are okay. Nas isn't that great. Cypress Hill is hilarious. Whee.. I have no idea where this is going. The Offspring rocks!

If you just want to be healthy.. eat some fruit, plenty o' vegetables, meat is good (veggies, please don't throw a fit), and grains. And remember to stay away from junk food, such as potato chips and anything with the McDonald's logo on it.

I do American Kenpo as well.