TheDevilAside

Sorry, this thread isn't entirely related to martial arts. Moderators, feel free to delete this thread if it's necessary.

Haha, I remember I ever started listening to classical music, such as, Johann Sebastian Bach, Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig von Beethoven, and others, just so I could talk about classical music, just incase. Now, I actually like listening to it. I'm weird.

The question is there. Are you content with yourself? Do you think you've become a better martial artist, not just better because you have a higher belt, but have you exceeded your own expectations or reached your goals? Do you feel like a better, well-rounded person than you used to be? Anything? If so, what do you believe made you change? I sound like Dr. Phil giving a motivational speech on confidence. But I'm serious. Just tell me a few things you've improved in, whater you lost 5 pounds, won a sparring tournament or quit serious drug addiction, it'll give you a chance to brag and feel better about yourself

Thank you for the replies, everyone. I figure, around half of a year ago or so, I went on a "self-imrpovement, become the perfect person" ego trip. I was tired of having average achievements and just being considered to be a "regular person". So, I started working out like nuts, I joined martial arts, and practiced my artistic skills (I would write short stories, songs, and draw constantly, just for the sake of improving my artistic skills). So, I guess, it got to my head, and I became arrogant. Anyway, yes, I realize exactly what all of my faults are... which I'm extremely grateful for, I'd rather be arrogant and enlightened to that fact, than both arrogant and ignorant. I should start trying to be "humble yet deadly", this power trip has only gotten me into trouble anyway. But, atleast, I've improved myself in other aspects. I'm more confident, a more skilled fighter, stronger, and actually quite the artist and I forced myself into an academic program called "IB" (International Becceauloreatte, man, I don't even know how to spell it) which is basically like having all of your classes slightly harder than AP/Honors. And my semester GPA was a 3.7 Compared to my usual 2.3's, that ain't too bad. And, yeah, my being "articulate" is a show.. normally I'm like, dude.. and like.. I talk all... like, cool, and stuff. Hm, the thought for another topic for a read just entered my mind, I'll go write it up. Thank you all, once again.

I second that motion. Excellent point. But, if you really want your question to be answered, the only non-painful defense that's worked against a push for me, was, to taunt. That only works if the guy is weaker and smaller than you and you know how to display an incredible amount of confidence, if you're lucky, the person will be intimidated, make an insulting comment in order to desperately grab ahold of what pride he has left, and then walk away. Anyway, side effects may include angering the person further and resulting in you getting your * kicked harder than you would have in the first place.

Thank you for your reply. As far as improvement goes, I, personally, believe I've improved drastically. I got into working out 5 months ago, and I've been doing it intensely (sp?) for the past 3 months (I've always.. 'worked out' but that was no more than maybe 10 push ups a night, heh) and since then, I've jumped up from doing 15 crunches with struggle, from breezing through 100 without effort. My arms have increased in strength, I can do 20x more reps than I used to be able to. And all in all, I've doubled in strength. I finally have a "six pack" (though, not much of one.. but hey, it's there!) and, basically, I finally look as if I'm strong, instead of just looking "average". Oh yeah, and I can actually do over 70 push ups now!I never believed that to be possible. Anyway, sorry for the bragging, I just had to. So, looks like I've improved, but I'm still not quite where I'd like to be. I just need to buy better equiptment because I think I've finally outgrown what I have. Thank you, again.

Hm.. I should start doing that. Thanks.

...defending against a push without hurting someone 'badly' is a terrible idea. All you're doing is aggrivating the person.. once you parry the first push, expect a second, harder push.. then a third push that might knock you off your feet, and if you don't fall, you're just asking for the guy to swing at you.

The most disguisting thing I've ever eaten is anything served at my school's cafeteria. I finally got a lunch pass and now I can go eat at restaurants near-by... mMm, so good.

I love bad sparring partners, because in sparring, I can take out my aggression on them But training partners, dear Lord. There's a kid who has a sickening, sweet smell of honey and vinegar poored into a cartridge of out-dated milk, he also has unpredictable hits. I don't mind being hit, but I hate it when someone taps me in the leg, slaps me in the ribs, and then sends an iron fist, backed with kame kame ha energy, against my sternum. I also have a whiner in my dojo. He is also a fruit cake... I'm sorry, I just CAN NOT STAND men that act worse than valley girls. "Like.. oh my gawd.. like.. there was this like.. really cool thing at school" *twirls hair* "geez, it was funny, but I can't remember now" *sways hips* *giggles furiously* "I just hit my head, I didn't see the wall" "heeh heeh heeh". And, last but not least, girls, that instead of practicing techniques with you, they just flirt, flirt, flirt and flirt. Ugh, I wish wasn't so bloody handsome, then I wouldn't have to put up with this.

Hey, I'm sort of a newbie to working out. I've been doing it since around August, and was wondering if what I'm is effective at all, or if I'm completely screwing up. Allright, first of all, I just turned 16, apx. 6'1" and I weigh around 175 lbs. I have a medium build, quite strong and athletic. Here is my routine... I work out every day. On monday, wednesday, friday and sunday I do light work outs, I use my 40 lbs set (divides into 20lbs on each side) and do low reps for all my muscles areas in general, I also take a jog outside for 30 minutes, and do about a 100 crunches and other abdominal exercises. And whatever else activity comes to mind, basically.. just a light work out. Then on the rest of the days (tuesday, thursday, etc.) I skip cardio vascular and just do hard weight lifting. More reps with my dumb bells set and, all in all, I just work out harder, sometimes I use the gym at my school because all I have is a set of bloody dumbbells... I do have a curl bar, just not the money to buy weights for it yet. Now, this all mixes in with an hour of martial arts 2-4 times a week and sports/other activities. Also, every month or so, or if I'm just plain stressed and exhausted, I take 5 days off from lifting weights and anything else in my work out. Now, how does that look? Any tips or flaws you'd like to point out? Just don't tell me about the whole weight-lifters diet, I'm not interested in counting my daily calories. I just eat my grains and vegetables, and rarely eat junk food. Naturally, I'm only human, so a Papa John's, The Works, without mushrooms doesn't hurt... mmm

Haha, I stand corrected. But, how can you exercise one muscle group for an hour? I'd get bored.

"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic." - Dave Barry "If you are going through hell, keep going. " - Sir Winston Churchill "The thing that impresses me the most about America is the way parents obey their children." King Edward VIII Heh, you may not agree with the last one. But, I'm from Europe, I have a right to bash on you Americans ...just kidding. I live in the US myself, and love it, especially since my parents give me everything I want now.

Oh, and, besides.. your pain-resistance level doesn't really matter that much. If you have a high adrenaline rush, you won't even notice being hit.

Do sparring competitions, where you are nervous and feel under pressure. Because, and I speak for anyone who's ever been in a serious fight, if you ever get into a fight on the street, you WILL, most likely, be very nervous and scared. This will screw up your concentration like no other, you might even lock up and just let the guy knock you out. So, the best thing is to just practice your techniques, do some sparring of course.. but do some tournaments, or anything where you feel nervous. Because trust me, no matter how much skill you have, if you are nervous and afraid and you lock up.. all that skill gets thrown out the window. Confidence works, too. If you think you can't defend yourself against X person, you won't be able to. If you have all confidence in yourself that you can, well, that doesn't mean you will... but it sure does help.

I wish him luck. If he screws up, Wing Chun practicioners better prepare for impact. ...No pressue

Well, I don't really know how to start, I suppose I'll just pose my problem to you and then give some background information. Anyone seen the movie Fight Club? Well, if you have not, there is this scene where the two main characters walk into a bus, and one of them has this dialogue of what he is thinking, and he says something along the lines of "everywhere we went, we were sizing things up." And that is exactly the problem I have. Now, I've always been like this, just it's worsened since the 5 months I've invested into American Kenpo. I have a gigantic ego, I suppose. I always try to "size things up", always with someone I perceive to be stronger and more capable, which gets me into a lot of trouble. Even though I am quite insecure about myself (obviosly, secure people don't compare themselves to others) I have this way of displaying complete confidence in everything, sometimes arrogance. I have just turned 16 years old, I'm 6' and weigh around 170 lbs (last time I checked was 8 months ago, I probably weigh more now). I don't have any "social problems" I get along with everyone just fine and I have more than enough friends. The only problem is, to put it simply, I start sh** with every tough guy I know and I either come out on top or on my knees. I don't get it, how do you guys do it? Usually there's just small things that act as catalysts that cause me to react to situation this way. But, I never understood how, whenever someone would threaten you, such as "You want me to kick your *?", how you could just... ignore that, and face the fact that they're not worth your time. So, my question really is, shouldn't training in martial arts make you more self-disciplined? Take away the urge to fight? :/ I don't know, I suppose I have pride issues (though, I'm a nice guy, don't worry ). But, I know it's just me, not my school... they don't reccomend starting fights, oh well. Just give me your opinion or some personal experiences you have had.

it's too freakin' cold in Colorado to run outside now :'( I should start jump-roping again.

Yeah, stay home. Nobody will worry about your commitment to the school. And, I don't know if you're over-doing it, as far as your martial arts training goes, 5 hours a week weight lifting and 1 hour of running. It depends on how you feel, I guess. But, I can give you a tip.. doing heavy weight lifting (emphasis on heavy) EVERYDAY for an hour is NOT a good thing to do, if you feel sore the next day, DO NOT work out, it's just going to tear your muscles apart. What I do, and it works like a miracle, is I work out everyday, but, I switch off... first day I will do heavy weight lifting, next day I will do some cardio vascular things, go do some running, jump ropes, practice your Kata's feel speed and then, the third day I will just do toning... which isn't really that important, but I like to look good Anyway, I'm not a health expert or a professional weight trainer.. I'm just a 16 year old kid, so feel free to correct me.

Heh, I've never heard that either. But, that's pretty funny, lol.

I only know about American Kenpo, and, that martial art seems to be perfect for you. But, from what I've seen, San Soo doesn't seem that bad either. So, why don't you go try out some schools, a Kenpo school and a San Soo school. No big deal, just ask the isntructor, or whoever, if you can sit in during class sometime and watch (any school that knows what's good for them will let you, if they say "NO! YOU MAY NOT WATCH DURING CLASS AND SEE IF YOU LIKE IT! SIGN UP OR LEAVE!" ..then take the ladder option, leave.) Once you've seen a little bit of San Soo and Kenpo, decide from there.

Ah, thank you everyone for the advice. I fixed it Actually, I didn't do anything, it was a friend of mine who fixed it for me. He goes to the same school as I and is in the same class and a white belt (which isn't a big difference, I'm only an advanced white). So anyway, I told him about this sucky problem and he had an ingenious idea, "dude, I'll just partner up with you everytime." And so far, it's been working. And he's as dedicated as me and I can rough him up without him throwing a fit, wooohooo! Thank God I met this guy when school started. Y'anyway, yeah physically she's attractive.. but her sissy personality sucks. And she's not too bright either.

I think I'll try and just run over to another partner before she can catch me. I don't know about talking to my instructor, I'm still pretty new and I don't want to start whining.. just yet maybe if the situation still does not clear up I could resort to that.

haha, believe me I've tried that. She goes "alright" and then stops screwing aroud for about a minute. Then the whole thing starts over again. And take into consideration that she is a wuss, she was whining and complaining when she was holding up a pad and I was kicking it, I mean c'mon, she was guarded by a foot of padding!!! If I punched her even with 30% of my strength she would probably break down. Grr, I don't mean to sound sexist, I'm well aware that there's good female martial artists out there, even at my school, but this one's just terrible.

Okay, before I blabber on (or type, actually) I want to make on thing clear, I'm not whining about a girl that I have a crush on that I will never be able to go out with. The problem is on the contrary, there's a girl that I can't get rid of! I know that sounds rude, but it's starting to become a problem. Whenever class starts and we have to team up with partner to either do techniques or some work out, this girl rushes over to me like a valley girl. The thing is, when we're doing kata's or techniques she always goofs around and resorts to hitting me.. where she shouldn't! >:| So I just start to jokingly spar with her, which is bad, because I should be showing my freakin dedication by doing the techniques!!! And if I can manage to calm her down, she's terrible at those techniques, not only countering, but attacking. I can't even remember how many times I've told her to "punch me with the right arm, not the left" "no, a hook punch.. not a.. bitch slap". I much prefer training with the dedicated students that attack me properly, and as if they meant it. Anyway, I'm 15 (incase that helps) and I was wondering if you guys could think of anyway to make this stop. I have a terrible weakness for girls (especially brunettes) so I can't just be straight forward and tell her I don't like partnering with her... heelp! Oh, and tonight I'm going to be testing for my advance white! From no-belt to advance white!! I'm so proud of myself