kbgirl

I'd think you would want to do a lot of leg lifts to work the outside of your glutes as well as work on your splits. No amount of strength is going to get your kick to stay up there if you're not flexible enough to do it.

Yes there is. Unfortunately they are unwieldy, bulky and uncomfortable. Strange, the men's versions are a delight to wear at all times. I even wear mine to work just in case. HAHAHA! Yeah, I have one, and my club promotes them. I will wear it in a tournament or if I go in the ring, but otherwise I hate it. Feels like a diaper or something. I have taken a knee to the pubic bone and bruised it... VERY painful, but I wouldn't think as painful as a guy getting hit below the belt.

Good luck!

I've been given doctors' orders to drink more wine. My good cholesterol is low, and there are apparently only two easy ways to increase it... more exercise, or adding wine. He says I shouldn't exercise any more than I do and that more wine is the way to go for me hehehe...

I like to practice yoga for balance. Try a 90-minute Bikram class... whew!

One trick my instructor showed me, is that it's easier to stay relaxed and have your hands up if you're thinking more about your elbows. When you put your hands to your cheeks with your elbows tucked in, think about keeping the elbows close together but up. The forearm can be nice and relaxed, as can the shoulder from that position. This also leaves you in a great position (thinking of your elbows) for reacting quickly to block body blows as well as hits to the head.

Generally it's like this... Monday: Kickboxing Tuesday: Running or Elliptical Wednesday: Kickboxing Thursday: Running or Elliptical Friday: Power Hike (1 hour) Saturday: Cardio-Kickboxing class I'm thinking of starting a good lifting regimen again. I want to get stronger.

HAHAHA! Yeah, we can get a little rough. That was one of the guys training for the ring fights I was going to go for... I have postponed my fight to some time in the spring, because I didn't feel like I'd be ready with only a month to go. There are ring fights in North Vancouver on November 6th and at least 4 people from my club (2 women, 2 men) will be fighting. They're at the Squamish Nation Rec Centre at 8pm, in case you have nothing else to do with your weekend hehe.

Oh and I'll add that you don't really need to do 100 bench press... you'll get better results for bulk and strength if you lift a weight you can only lift about 6-8 times for 2 sets. You should use a spotter for this, too. I would also recommend adding triceps if you're working your biceps and forearms. You can take a dumbell, hold one end of it and lift it over your head. With your elbows tucked right up side your head (pointing upward) lower the weight down to behind your neck so that your arms are at about 90 degrees, lift back up (keeping your elbows tight to the side of your head).

If all that is new to you, you should see some results in about a month. Unless you're already lean, you won't see too much result in the abdominal area until your body fat percentage is quite low... I've heard around 7 or 8% for men to see abdominal muscles.

We use 16 oz. The kids and some of the teens (who haven't bought new gear yet) use 14 oz. I sure feel it when I take a hit with a 14 vs. a 16. There are guys at my club who have done damage to their hands sparring even with the 16oz gloves on... one connected with a guy's forehead and his knuckes are bruised believe it or not!

In Canada, look for PowerGel (from Power Bar) and Cliff Shots (they make Cliff Bars, too). I have used them for endurance running, but never for MA. If you do an endurance sport for more than about 90 minutes, you use up all your stored glycogen and need readily available glucose to keep you going longer. I agree, that there's not really a need to use them when you're going for shorter periods... you'd probably be better off with a Gatorade for a little glucose, but mostly for added hydration.

Sorry, my fault... I should have looked at your details, and would have known. So, you punch bare-knucked to the body huh? I understand kyokushin to be full contact... do you punch at full power? That must make for interesting tournaments.

In reality, I think it depends on what kind of fighting you're doing. In the ring, I would say it's punches to the head or kicks to the body that are more likely to be the knock-out blows. Trying to get your knockout by kicking to the head is going to require you to be very vulnerable to being swept or knocked down while you're kicking. That said, I would say repeated punches and hooks to the stomach and ribs will get your opponent's guard away from their head and they will probably start backing up, too. With the increased distance from them backing up, you're in a better position to kick them in the head at that point.

That's interesting... see, I would rather get them to move their defense upward so that I can take them out with a spinning back kick