granmasterchen

try grip training exercises. Finger tip push ups. There are others that involve grabbing, ripping and pulling things with the fingertips but i forget what it is called.

Take it easy and do what you can, if you over exert yourself you won't benefit you will only hurt yourself, be careful and keep your limitations in mind, after awhile you will be able to do more, but gradually work up to it.

it is best to look around and get an idea of what each has to offer, once you look around you may find one that you like, plus search the net, you can find alot.

stretching is important on many levels keep it up and slow your breathing and you will see it all happen.

pushes to the chest, tackles, and punches are the most common.....that i have dealt with

block and stay in close, if you are close then they can;'t kick effectively, they will over extend, so try this. But i think they main thing is to block, i think that is a good thing to learn.

pressure points are fun and like madfrank says if you train in them they can be effective, yet if you are fighting an idividual who is doped out on crack or coke they wont care about the pressure point, you need to do more than cause pain. Some individuals have a built up resiliance to some pressure points too, and others have a greater pain threashold. The areas that are called vital points I think are very harmful and should only be used in the most dire of situations where your life is put at risk, these are also known as dim mak points, be careful with these and never practice them unless under the trained supervision of true vital points instructor, you can seriously maim or kill someone with these techniques.

It is nice to keep the hands up one out infront of you with fist below eye level so you can see , this arm is for blocks and backfists, the other hand can be held to the side as a ready hand or up higher like the first yet not out in front so that i can get momentum off of it, sometimes i will do open hand or close hand depending on how i feel, sometimes if i feel really confident with my speed i will place my arms down to the sides of my legs in a relaxed position, but i usually keep my legs out at shoulder width with kneww slightly bent.

I have to agree with everyone that has posted so far here, it matters on the individual and how that individual perceives his/her training and how hard that person trains, if the individual knows their strengths and weaknesses and how to exploit their enemies then that gives them the ability to be good, having the skill, speed, and power makes it all happen in the end, the style can only teach you the skill, any skill is good and all skills can be found in any style if it is a true style, that is why they were all made, some have more of a focus and emphasis on certain aspects, it is up to the student to get the knowledge and learn from it, then to build the speed and power. So in the end i believe that it all matters on the individual that is pursuing the art.

my suggestion is to try them all, do what karate_woman says and check out the classes, this way you can judge the class and the instructor and see if there is anything that interests you. Pop by the classes and if you like one or so talk to the instructor and find out some more inside info on the style. But you want to be well rounded if you ever have to use your skills, this way you will be prepared for future scenarios against any type of assailant.

i tend to stay calm and wait for an opening, go for chokes and give them barrages of strikes, when they try to cover go for a grab and lock, and end it there.

i have been in situations where i have had to fight people that are so high they can feel no pain, the start of the fight is typical, and i usually realise that they feel no pain once they have a huge gash on their face and flesh is peeling off after a few nasty attacks smack into them, that is when you have to rely on moves that are not pain based, you have to start breaking bones and such so they can not just get back up and come after you, b/c let me tell you that can be very scary and intimidating when you just tore into some guy and he gets up with part of his cheek hanging off to the side or part of his forehead is dangline over one eye, scary, start breaking knees first so they cant get you as fast, if possible break wrists, elbow and dislocate shoulders, once you can get away get away, have someone call the cops and an ambulance, b/c when that guy comes down from his high he will be in some serious pain, and usually they feel bad for the crap they did once they sober up, at least from the majority of my experiences.

just relax and take it all in stride, by sparring people that are more advanced than you is how you make yourself better, learn from your mistakes, circle your opponent, keep your guard up, don't be afraid to strike, you see an opening go for it, and attack in combinations, use sweeps, try not to telegraph your attacks, and practise, once you have confidense in yourself it is a completely different fight.

all fights are different and it all depends on your attacker on what strategy i use, if i know that the guy poses no threat at all i will play with him, yet if there are many, with weapons or they appear dangerous then go with the simple techniques, flashy will get you killed, hit hard and fast and don't stop until they are done. Strikes to the face, throat, neck, groin, knees, and other weak spots are key for winning quickly.

sorry to say it but keep the carbs, if you are a martial artist and train for aerobic activities you need those carbs, they are your best friends, just stay away from snacking, eat a healthy sensible well rounded meal. When you train you need those carbs my friend, or else you will be dying out there on the floor, fish/tuna, chicken, turkey and such are nice ways of getting protein, stay away from fats and train hard!

go for the gatorade and a chicken or turkey sandwhich that way you got the carbs, proteins and everything else you need for a late night work out.

try alternating, run when you can, jog and walk when you are tired, the main thing is to keep your heart rate up, don't let it fall too low or your body will no lnger be in aerobic zone and no longer burning fats and calories, also try swimming.

check with a doc

find a nice specialist and see what they have to say, better to get it solved now than to wait and let it get worse.

trust me, do what you can, you may have a condition that limits you, yet do what you can and train what you can, there is no reason to push it off and train later, you have muscles that still work so train them, learn the skills build the speed, work hard I had a metal spike go through my foot that has me on constant medication, I went from a top athlete to a bum while going through nemerous surgeries, just to find out that my problem was nerve related and i had a rare disease that made it permanent, the docs said that i would be in a bed and paralized and die with in the next 5 years, well that has been over 3 yrs ago and i am active in martial arts once again and train alot, i am not in a hospital bed with a morphine drop and i am not paralized, why? the docs say that since i do martial arts i keep my muscles working and i take the pain, i will not just roll over and die, because i am a martial artist and i worked too hard to get where i am, as of now i am the only person with my illness not to be in a hospital bed, paralized or dead from my illness at my time range with this nerve disease, it may hurt but don't quit, push yourself and defy all that others say!

yes, that has happened to me before, yet not on the same scale. I would train with my class(those that i teach) for a year or so and have no problem smacking them around in sparring since there was no real challenge, yet when i went home to train with my instructor again and the other students i realized that my speed had dropped because i had stopped pushing myself to be better and faster, with my own students i didn't need all that speed and i never had to push myself to be better, so i had to train hard again with some old friends and keep my skill and speed up. Also if you go through some serious surgery you will lose alot too, which believe me really sucks.

ok, you may think i am silly after reading this but try it,,,,,,,, this exercise will work on building speed and endurance, take a plastic grocery bag, hold it out at arms length and then drop it, start kicking it with both legs, rotating, different techniques and never let the bag hit the floor, see how long you can do this, the point is that you have to keep kicking in different ways to make the bag go up and not stick to your foot, so as you rotate differnt techniques you are practising a lot plus you are not taking any breaks, a nice little work out for home and if you are too cheap to get a punching bag, have fun, try it.

those are the typical areas that you block with and that area has gotten used to the trauma of the impacts, thus that area is conditioned and stronger. Just like conditioning your knuckles, you can build up tougher bones all over, yet be carefull if you are trying to do this all over, you can hurt yourself. If you blocked punches and kicks with your head over all those years, your skull would be stronger today or you would be dead one or the other....hope that helps, and yes running my finger down my shin reminds me of a roller coaster.

eat large amounts of protein, fish/tuna, chicken, hamburger, tofu and such. Train hard, swim, you don't need a gym to bulk up use stuff around the house, push ups, with someone on your back, just add weight to your typical calistenics, lift jugs of water, stand in the door way and press agains the door frame,this will tense and strengthen the muscles of the arms b/c as long as you have a good door frame it is not going anywhere, there are many activities to do.

i had great results when i started to take the martial arts seriously, i was around ...a 300 lbs fat body when i started to take my training seriously, over the next 3 months i dropped over 100 lbs, i trained hard, a combination of my style and just trying to make myself better, when all my training was done for the summer break and i went back to school people couldn't recognize me, i left my sophmore year at 300 and came back at 168 at my lowest, i was one ripped and mean individual, life was a lot easier after that, people treat you different, yet there were numerous other benefits from martial arts, and the way i train is not just one style, my training is rough and very aggresive, hope that helps.