sindian

Yea, my school had split kid/adult classes for the advanced belts.

Yea, my school had split classes for the advanced belts.

Thanks a lot.

shazaam: that's probably a good thing. Whoa, shazaam is now the embodiment of the venerable operating system from Bell Labs? Cool.

Yea, I used to do that too. I don't have time for that anymore unfortunately.

Weights are good. Running is good. Stair climber is good. Martial arts are good. You could join an aerobics class at the gym. I used to make fun of cardio kickboxing, etc. but they're pretty good workouts. If you're trying to lose weight, your diet is probably the most important thing.

I get shaky legs after doing a bunch of slow kicks. Slow kicks suck.

Just find someones who is serious about lifting. I lift with a partner, and we have cut our breaks down to a 1 minute. We'll probably cut that down to 45 seconds. Yea, I'm pretty much dead after these workouts.

Good point, Kate.

Definitely. Muscle memory is key. It's all about repetition

Yea, he really should not have been sparring you that hard. I mean, he should have beaten you, but he should have toned it down a bit. You either intimidated him, or he just lacks control. A 2nd dan really should have control though. There's also the possibility that he's a jerk. Like everyone has been saying, don't get discouraged. Keep sparring. You'll be able to smack him around eventually if you keep training with intensity Yep, those roundhouses to the head can be tricky. I'm a fan.

I'm not even sure where all my old belts are. I think my parents have them stashed somewhere.

I take tkd for all those reasons. Sparring for sport is fun. I also want to be effective in self-defense situations. Plus, it's fun and a great way to stay in shape. I'm also interested in the spiritual aspects of martial arts. My dad originally enrolled me in tkd, because he thought I could use the discipline and confidence. I used to be a mediocre student, mainly because I couldn't concentrate at all. TKD helped me turn that around. I actually graduated at the top of my class, and I'm convinced that tkd had some part in that.

Yea, I prefer free weights too. monkeygirl: You might want to consider splitting up your workouts. Work upper one day and lower another day. You can split it further than that if you want. That way, you can fit more exercises in. Plus, it can be pretty tiring to do upper and lower body on the same day. Also, you might want to consider finding a partner. It helps to have someone to go with. You can push each other. A partner is almost necessary if you do free weights, especially if you lift heavy like I do.

How often do you guys lift a week? I generally do two upper body (push/pull split) and one lower body. I'm probably going to up that to two lower body workouts in a few weeks.

It just takes time. I just started getting back into the martial arts after a long break, and I thought I was going to die after the first few classes. Thankfully, I'm doing ok now. Your muscles just need to get used to the workout. You might want to take it easy at first. Give your muscles time to adjust. You don't want to burn out.

Btw, I agree with TangSooGuy completely.

You can still do a traditional form to music. I don't really have a problem with musical forms. I'm generally not into the flashy techniques though. I prefer traditional forms in general. I guess it's nice to be able to do the flashy stuff. Doing those insane jump kicks can be pretty fun actually. Flashy stuff in forms is one thing, but some throw the flashy stuff while sparring. That's just insane. If someone throws a cartwheel kick at me, I'm going to knock him down with a quickness. Sorry, pet peeve. I really hate kids who do that. They're just inviting a beatdown. Thankfully, it hasn't happened often. It's possible I'm just intensely envious of the kids who can do cartwheels.

I'm impressed this thread has gone on for so long.

You might want to try a larger dojo. ALternatively, you could ask to spar some upper belts.

Rock on. I've been lifting the past few years, but my endurance has gone to hell. Consequently, I've been doing a lot more cardio now. Well, I'm also lifting w/ greater intensity now. Yea, it definitely helps being young. (I'm 22 now.) Recovery's quicker. You don't have to worry about excessive body pain. I have to give those older guys at my dojo credit for pushing through the pain. I hope I'm that tough when I'm that age. It's kind of sad though. Some of those guys are in better shape than I am.

Good god, man. Wear a cup. Please. Ouch.

Yea, my school's full of diversity. My instructors are like the rainbow coalition, and the student body is pretty diverse too.

Seriously. At my dojo there were these twins who invariably went for the crotch shot nearly every time they sparred. All the other girls were cool about groin contact. It was just those two. It's possible that some guy did them wrong, and they were taking out their agressions at the dojo. Somewhat understandable, but still not cool. A few of my instructors back in the day were female. One of them was an olympic gold medalist. If I were to spar her, I'd go all out. Otherwise, I'd get mauled. She'd probably maul me anyway. That said, I've never gone all out on a girl. I'm a big guy, so I usually have to hold back a bit. I do the same when I spar guys who are smaller or less skilled. I spar with the same intensity, but I modulate the power a bit.

Anybody heard of the practice hall (http://www.thepracticehall.com/)? It's a dojo in Charlottesville, VA. They apparently do BJJ and MMA (bjj as base + muay thai, boxing, wrestling) . I just wanted to see if any of you have any opinions on it. I'll probably check it out in the next few weeks. Anything specific I should look for in a good BJJ school? Thanks