Tibby

I think you are confused. Your delts are your shoulders, and they do a bit of everything. Your shoulder don't move one way like your elbows or knees, they move in all directions, and they deltoid controlls all of that.

Ah, yes. It is called Isometric contractions. When you hold your muscles in one place to work it, they are isometric. While this form of muscle contraction isn’t as effective as weight lifting (Isotonic, moving contractions), it is useful and it will work your muscles. It would be the same thing if you where to hold weights in one place. Now, Tricking you mind, that is another thing. You’d be surprised what you can do when your mind thinks you can. Make you mind think you ARE holding weights when you do this exercise, and you might be surprised at who worked your muscles will feel.

yes Seisan and sanchin are different. What do you mean, condition the bicep muscles? In lifting weight, the general consensus is that you breath when you lift the weight, Breath in as you lower it. Is that what you mean?

Yeah, I had an advantage. I like the prez and the art, haha. I wonder how many people picked "Grasshopper" Mantis was the only one that fit, but I didn't know it the history about it. It was interesting. I always thought it was a Shaolin art! lol

“Congratulations! You've won 100 total points out of a possible 100.” I didn’t miss a single one! The only one I didn’t know was the one about who founded Aikido, and I still got it right! lol, take the quiz, it's a great ego booster.

Good stuff white Tiger. I just want to tack on a few more Ideas to the end: -Tires. Running tires are great. -Sprints are great. -Weighted hands and feet when kicking and punch, at a slow rate. -Cardio machines (such as bikes) on high resistance -Speaching of which, bikes. -Speed bag work Keep in mind some people are naturally faster then others. SOme people are strong hulking brutes, others are pencil neck speed deamons, while others are right in the middle. You still need to work on your speed, but keep in mind if you are not fast, but you have other advatanges, don't sweat the speed to much. Use what you have, work on what you don't.

The Leg press takes away from your flexibility? Are you sure yo uare stretch properly before and after the work out? That could very well be your problem. Well, sence you play rugby, you are going to have to have strong leg, which is also a plus for karate. Start squats and deadlifts. Both these exercises are great for the power need in the line, in the scrum, I think it is called, right? It's a line in American Football, but the muscles used are the same. They will also increase you jumping height and power. Bench press is also a good one, as are biceps curls. There is so much. You will need to get some close grip rows and flies in, for gripping the ball. You will need lots of sit-ups, to dovelp a strong core, you will need that core so you don't break in half when the big guys tackle you. Do lots of struggs and other neck exercises, so you head doesn't knock around while you run, lol. I's also suggst you find a way to get on an exersice bike or elipical machine. With these machine, you have increase the resitance against your leg, so you are not only doing cardio, you are also working your legs, hips, ever your back and abs. What is days do you have free to train? What kind of gear to yo uahve to train with?

Yes. Boxers use it for a lot of reasons. It is one of the best cardio exersices. You get beter cooradination out of it. It makes your feet a lot faster. It can also be good for the forearms if done right, with a weighted rope. But mostly for foot speed. There isn't always time for place for a tract or teadmill. I think if you added 20 minutes of jumproping, and increased it, you would soon find it helps you. With your arobic fintess, as well as your foot speed. And as you get better, you can go for longer time, try different combos and tricks, and maybe go to a boxing store and invest in a weigthed rope.

Define "Short time" for me. yes, it is possable to lose wieght in those 8 week programs, but it is highly unhealthy, and you don't keep it off. The longer it takes to lose it, the longer you will keep it. Your body will adapt to being skinny. If you just start working out, you will make amazing gains in fat and muscle at first, but after that, unless you "cheat" it takes time.

Azn, do you mean a popping out for a short amount of time, or for an extended peroid? A lot of it is part of genetics. Some people have big, juicey veins, others don't. Body fat and muscle both have something to do with it, as does body heat, like Looney said. If you want them for the short term, Go for a brist run till you really break a sweat, then start pumping up the muscles with body weight or iron. Just get your muscles pumps, get them full of blod, and they will push the veins out. Plus, the increase in body temp from exercise. Nakedpage- I disagree that you rarely see veiws out of the weight lifting world. Check out some of those track stars in the olympics. Some of them lift, some don't, but they all have veins. Large muscles pushing your veins up is only one way to do it, decreasing fat is a whole other way.

Yes, Neil, you don't have time to think "Block this punch" in a fight. That isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about keeping a cool head, and stay in controll. You need to stay calm. THen I said think, I didnt' mean consiously fight, I mean not to let your mind turn off, as it often does then the Fight or flight Reflex kicks in. Fghts happen fast, there is a place for reflex AND a place for thinking, but when it comes right down to it, you need to be in controll of your mind. That can be the diffence between restaning a person and breaking there arm, between making some black out and killing them. Karatekid7- that is just for boosting energy at the last minute. It isn't what they do the hour before the game that makes them good, what makes them good is what they did a day, a week, a month, and a year before the game. There is no easy way around it. You must work out. You are going to have to train hard! If you if used Steroids to boost your hormones, you are still going to have to work out to make it matter. Run drills, get plyo's in, lift weights, start more cardio.

What force do you think slows you down when you Punch? Gravity. Still, would not suggest punches a bag with weights in hand. Bag work, weight training, and a little resitance punching.

Most instructors would be like that. College students don’t have the cash to the club. Unless you can talk your school into paying to make it a class, it is doubtful any instructor would do this.

Yes. most if not all Body Builders can do the splits. Maybe use it in free-posing. A lot of them also take Ballet, too. A Fad started by Arnold and Franco.

Yeah they are good, but NO, Calisthenics are not an effective substitute to weights.