ad

Hey all, I have spoken to different physicians, trainers and just general 'beef' and well toned individuals. They all give me mixed views on cutting and weightlifting at the same time. I understand that weightlifting intensly during lets say in the morning of a day followed by intense cardio in the evening does not really do justice for the body as your undergoing two different metabolic cycles in the body, - by trying to bulk on muscle AND loose fat. I understand that this is wrong, but is it so bad to actually weight lift intensly at the beginning of one week for 2-3 days, allowing a days rest for the muscles to recover, and then finish off with intense cardio in the last few days of the week. Would this particular regime still though lead to you loosing more muscle mass then you actually bargained for? Cheers

Like Reklats was saying, all martial arts have different qualities and target specific areas. Every single art is tailored explicitly in one particular thing, be it grappling, weaponary, fitness etc.. There are so many to choose from that the categories and titles which they come under are endless aswell. As a reult on particular art will focus on aspects which another wont in such detial, and because of that people like to bash the art saying thats it isnt practical are useful. Yet the only reason they are saying that is because that art doesnt specialise in what they are looking for, what they want to practice. Though another person can come and say your art is ineffective as it doesnt specialise in what I want to study. As you can see you can go on and on and on but you will never find a happy medium within the ma community.

Many people have this idea of my martial art is better than yours, mine is more effective, mine is more efficient or yours is too soft, too fake or wouldnt work in the street. Why is there such an eager to attack other martial arts and feel that one specific art is the supreme and ultimate method of self defence? This can NEVER BE TRUE, no single art can simply incorporate every single aspect of martial arts, that is purely why there are so many different styles. A fighter who has learned all of the different method of techniques which i have yet seen is known as a freestyle fighter, who incorporates all styles together and doesnt come under one category. Martial Arts should be cherished, supported and we should certianly support others of differents styles and diminish prejudice and quick judgement. If people think there art is the best, let them think that, in the end of the day who bloody cares!

trust me, its not as painful as it sounds

I currently suffer from impingment syndrome of both my shoulders though my left one is much worse. It condition consists of the humerus making slight friction contact with the acromion bone lying across the shoulder. The operation will involve the acromion being trimmed down so that no rubbing remains. I just wondered whether any of you have suffered from the same condition and know how good the recovery is and how long i will be out of sports for after the operation is done. It will be an antroscopy/key hole surgery so i would be coming home the same night.

Lol having a shower is quite the opposite, it doesnt cool me down but just wakes me up. I think the best approach for me is just to weight lift earlier

Like most of us we all have a busy routine, inolving work/college during the day and a balance of more homework or other chours in the house during the night. So its always difficult finding time to train during a normal working weekday. I always try to weight lift at least three times a week yet the only real time i can find to do this is at around 11pm between 1 -am, after the weight lifting session i will probably cool down for about on hour and then go to sleep. Here is the problem though, I TRY TO GO TO SLEEP, i have noticed that me trying to sleep within about 2 hours after weight lifting pretty much doesnt happen at all. I will likely wake up at 4/5 am, or go to sleep at that time and wake with an intense headache. Its really frustrating as sleep is very important when you do weight lift and its just so annoying when I cannot get any when I do. Is there a reason why I can sleep after I weight lift and should I think about moving my training session earlier in the day??, if so, how early should I think about doing it?. Thanks for your time Ad.

I have currently developed a problem in both my shoulders, which causes me pain ecspecially when throwing full force punches, benching, and generally and tension excercises when using my fists. The problem developed with me over using my shoulder by doing do many one handed press ups, throwing punches with weights in my hand. My shoulders generally feel weaker and more stiff and is quite a distressing problem for me. I would like to ask if any other users here have this similar problem and how they have learned to deal with it. More specifically, my physiotherapist says that there is clicking between the humerus and acromion, which is the source of the pain. Cheers Ad

what do you mean by temporariness of creatine?,

Im now contemplating on now taking supplements, and the most likely one that i can think of is Creatine Monohydrate. From my understanding Creatine phophate exists in the muscles tissues around our body, and during the first intense 10 seconds of intensive excercise it comes in to use by donating its phophate group as a source of energy without the need of respiration. That is pretty much all i know about it and if that is the case why is it so important for muscle building when it only exists as being something as a quick remedy in the beginning??. Ive heard from testimonies from other users that its puts on fat and that you get a dependency upon it, and once you stop using it, you loose the muscle mass gained. I was wondering whether any of the users hear have had experience in using creatine and could give me advice on the pros and cons of it. Thanx

i currently have a fabric machine filled bag, weighing at 30kg, which is roughly 76 pounds. ive had for about 4 years now, and it has become very soft and im now considering of refilling it. I was wandering if any of you knew what i should put in this bag in order to make it harder and more stable. Ive already tilted it upsided down and now rolling on the floor to spread the contents more evenly, but since i dont have any spare machine filling fabric, ive decided to use rags and remains of clothing to fill it, but is that a good idea and should i just get a new bag?

How important is sleep when you weight lifting, ive heard people tell me that if a person does not sleep properly after an intense body building session then you are not giving your body enough time for the torn muscle tissue to rebuild, i know that part of this is true but isnt the body constantly rebuilding muscle tissue when you are awake, or is sleep the only time when it happens, therefore is sleep as essential as perhaps eating the right supplements when you weight lift???

i just thought i might drop in to this topic and give you lot and update on my situation, hoping that i would learn form this experience for the benefit doesnt seem to be the situation at this point. These days i generally feel more afraid than i used to be, i feel less encouraged and less confident than ever. For some reason i was always get afraid or prepared and defensive whenever i see an ugly face looking to start trouble. I never used to be like this and i would always had the confidence to stand up to so many people, i mean a weak before this incdient i stupidly stood up to 12 people. But there aint no sign of that there anymore, there is no sign of me being encouraged or confident. I feel angry now at the muggers of the way theyve changed me, i kept on saying to myself that i dont care what happened and it will pass, but for some reason it like to stay there all the bloody time. Soz i sound too emotional but im surprised myself that ive let things to become so melodramatic. Ad

Totally, and i think an increase in awareness will come with an increase with experience in these types of situations, rather than resorting to a typical "stand your ground" stubborn attitude

Action without thinking that is something i really need to implement. I feel during time and experience that i will learn to follow this general rule. Thanx for everyones support, its good to know your not alone in these situations

Hey thanx Rich, ive never heard of the colour coding before, thats something i will remember. It makes heated situation like that more understandable. But as we all know, people cannot always determin human awareness to 100% and sometimes things may not run under a colour system if you know what i mean. I think the reason why i jumped from orange to black and skipped red,like you and others said, is that i dont want to hit the attacker back cuz i dont want him to go flipmode. Its like the feeling you get when somebody constantly slaps you in the face for example, you get this surge of adrenaline which throws all logic out and all you can think of is to knock him out. I did not want my attacker to be in that position, cuz if i hit him and im not able to knock him out or do sufficient damage, he will be serioulsy pissed and just show me a side which i might not be able to cope with physically.

I agree with what your saying delta and in terms of the uk laws, they are very similar to american laws. Basically you are alllowed to use reasonable force to defend yourself. I wasnt worried about the laws or the trouble i might get in. i was more concerend about a knife being drawn or getting the other stationery attacker involved. I was more than happy with him hitting me, even thought thats the wrong attitude to take, but i felt that if i hit him back, it would have only enraged him further leading to him excerting more excessive means of violence and agression towards me. - I was avoiding that outcome at all costs. Also the nature of muggers in the place where i live is that revenge seems to be one of things they focus on most. He already knew which bus i got off and which school i came from, whats to stop coming to me again after bail and perhaps stabbing me unnoticed?. You may say that im being too precautious or considering all the unlikely extremities, but when put in a pressured situation like that i guess you have to. Ad

Thanx for the support betty, and i suppose you have heard of bham b4? I havent told my instructor yet as the dojo is closed due to the xmas period. But i was keen to go training the next day. This incident i admit frigtened me a little, but it also encouraged me hugely, as some people find kinda strange. It makes me think, (without being cocky), that if i could take a beating from a person bigger than me and then not get knocked down, then it will give me the confidence to fight on with perhaps a person of lesser strength or equivalent. I admit i could have got off the bus, but i guess due to my oversized ego of wanting to be the "hardman", and considering that my bus stop was the one after the bus stopped for a lockdown to call the polcie, - i thus decided to stay on.

i think that was one of my main concerns, as you dont know what these punks may pull out, which was one of the main factors to why i didnt touch the guy

I totally agree, but will this prediction become less impossible if i become more experienced in situations like these

Hey all I had an unfortunate incident on tuesday and i just wanted to share to all of you what happened. I was leaving school and coming back on a bus. It was a double decker in which i was sitting at the top in the middle. I was with friends at the time when two roughly 20 year old men come on and sat next with another group of friends. I was watching them because how they were dressed and what they said made me think that they were muggers. I was right as one of them sat next to someone and was crouding over him and took his wallet, phone etc... My friends then got off there stop. And it was just me on the bus with them, with several others whom i didnt know aswell. One of the muggers then sat on the seat in front of me, and the other next to me. Instantly i knew that they were gonna try and mug me. The one who was sitting next to me then put his hand in my pocket and told me to give me what i have, i said no and turned my back to him and thats when things got ugly. After i turned my back on him, he backfisted twice in the face. At this point the other person turned around and i was cornered in a dangerous postion. I decided to leave so i got up and the same time so did the mugger sitting next to me. He then repeatled smacked me several times in the face, lips, chin and neck, then got me in a headlock and tried strangling me. We wrestled a little and finally i got away. I then went downstairs and told the driver to call the police, both muggers did runners but the police did catch them. I was taken to hospital but there was no serious injuries. I had to make a police statement and i have to appear in court in three weeks. Even though the person who attacked me was older and taller, i still felt i could have taken him, but i didnt. I didnt put my guard, or hit back, even though if i did i probably would have sustained less injuries. I just froze, and didnt have the confidence to hit back, i just constantly avoided to look him in the face and to get away. In the end he didnt manage to take anything from me, and it was classed as an attempted robbery. I feel ashamed of myself, as ive been training for about 3 years now, and i ask myself whats the point if im just not going to fight back and get beaten up. Ad

I appreciate the quality of responses that i am receiving on this topic, and i have thought alot about what many of you have said. Its not an easy decision, and as aefibird has just mentioned, 'if all else fails then what do i rely on to support myself with?'. Doing a business management degree seems to be whats known as a medioka 'easy' degree in the uk, so there is always that annoying question that if my martial art plan does fail, will a business degree alone find me security and happiness in life?. Also there is the fact that if i am so lucky enough to be successful in opening several martial art school, could i have spent my time more wisely and serving the public better by perhaps becoming a doctor?. There is the nagging questions for pros and cons on this topic and i just feel that with time and experience that things will become more clearer. John G, you mentioned that martial arts is a service industry, this is so true and i do not want to be focusing on profits and loose the very meaning of martial arts which i have seen in alot of places, then again if not enough attention is placed on profits then what are the chances of finding financial security within martial arts? Ad

Hey all, Im coming to the point in my martial art life where i am starting to understand what it REALLY is about, rather being blinded by the gradings and black belt respect. Its now become more of an obession and apart of my thoughts and how i act. I have to say that im enjoying learning Martial Arts more everyday, and i feel it is something that i want to be apart of for the rest of my life. Many of you may think and feel that i am too young to understand what it is about or i am being too naive in my thoughts but please feel free to voice your opinion. It is now a time in my life where i now choose which career to pursue, and choose which university i wish to go to. I would say that i am intelligent enough, considering my grades, to perhaps choosing medicene or law as a future profession, but even though those are great wonderful careers, i would still feel empty and a certain loss for Martial Arts. That is why i thought of perhaps doing a retail management degree, to have the knowledge so that i could perhaps open several martial art schools and perhaps make a living off my dream. But is this a realistic dream or pure fictional?, am i being just plain naive or can you really make a career out of martial arts? Ad

there isnt anything wrong with my instructor. but then again im sure anybody would be annoyed knowing that all this time ive been teaching this student self defense, and now he wants to compete where everything i have taught wont matter and is forgotten