kbgirl

Just keep doing it... I'm a runner too - not as much as you, but I have run a half marathon now - and the running KILLS my flexibility if I don't keep up the martial arts stretching after running. Running stretches are different... more of a front/back kinda thing... martial arts stretches including splits are TOTALLY different. Try stretching your hip flexors a lot, also your IT bands and psoas muscle. It will help I think - it seems to for me. Oh, and 8-10" from the ground is no where near as bad as I've seen. Keep it up!

SevenStar, I have battled a little with this myself... it is a 'style' created by the owner of my club and his brother. They have built the "SKF" Sport Kickboxing Federation. There are two schools here in Vancouver... some may suggest McDojo on this one. We have our own tournaments and invite other styles to participate. I believe rules are the same as American Kickboxing... at the upper levels our fighters fight under ISKA sanctioning I think, and other organizations - my instructor just won a World Champion title a few months ago and fought in Vegas as one of the intro fights in the K1 show. I never paid much attention to this stuff because mainly I got into it for fitness and fun... now I'm looking into fighting, so I'm getting more interested, but I can't give all the details, cuz I don't know them all. I don't really care, as long as I enjoy what I'm doing. RICK - yes, I am trained by Sensei Blake Lirette. And I used to train with Lori all the time! She quit not long ago... wanted to devote more time & $ to raising her daughter... pretty noble decision - it would KILL me. She still lives nearby I think - I see her once in a while.

Well... right now this is my schedule: Monday: Kickboxing class (1 hr) + bag work (6x3-min rounds with 1 min break) + boxing with weights (3 mins each jab/punch, left/right hooks, uppercuts) + targets (3-6 3-min rounds depending on who will hold for me). 100 each pushups, situps, squats (no weights) Tuesday: Running 8-10km + bag work (6x3-min rounds with 1 min break) + boxing with weights (3 mins each jab/punch, left/right hooks, uppercuts) + targets (3-6 3-min rounds depending on who will hold for me). 100 each pushups, situps, squats (no weights). Wednesday: Same as Monday Thursday: Same as Tuesday Friday: 45-minute technical class only Saturday: 60 minutes conditioning/running + 1 hour sparring + abs & pushups & body conditioning etc. Sunday: Rest day

I train exclusively in kickboxing and we have a belt structure. White Yellow Yellow with black stripe Orange Orange/black stripe Green Green/black stripe Blue Blue/black stripe Brown Brown/black stripe Black with white stripe (low black, my rank) Black And then various degrees... whatever - way beyond me at this point. I hope to be testing for my black belt next summer and am currently training 6 days a week... I may go for my first ring fight in November if I can hack this crazy training schedule. It doesn't feel like too much physically, but mentally my brain is taking a beating.

I just found an awesome song - Eminem & Shaggy - a version of Eye of the Tiger... awesome for when I'm running or doing bag work.

I'm about 3 inches from the floor (on my best day - after training) for the side splits. Front splits are getting there, but are definitely closer with my right leg in front than my left. My left hip flexor is a little gimpy.

I was referring to a high roundhouse kick... certainly with a lower kick, it is important to bend the standing leg to add power.

haha! That should have read black with blue trim... oops.

I would say that picking up your heel will allow you to pivot easier and to gain just a little extension with your kick. If your instructor's standing leg is significantly bent when he's kicking, it is possible that he has a slight lack of flexibility in his hip, requiring him to alter the angle of his body to get his kick head height. Just a thought...

I will be testing for my black belt next summer some time, provided I train hard and don't get injured... I am planning to have a custom gi made in black with trim in medium weight fabric.

Firstly, a big THANK YOU to whomever suggested this book... I picked it up yesterday and it it absolutely GRIPPING reading for someone like me - with all the scientific explanations about various nutrients and how they affect our bodies. Is anyone else here following this program/lifestyle? As I haven't read it all, I am not entirely sure what's involved, but I do like what I've seen so far. Just thought I'd open it up for discussion... TIA for your responses.

Thanks! Learned something new today

Wow! I can't believe you have had to train with your less dominant side back... that sounds strange to me. That said, I think if you feel comfortable fighting that way, you could keep it up... my suggestion would be to learn MT in your most comfortable stance. Once you're comfortable with the techniques, change it up and become proficient using both sides! I'm right handed and I HATE fighting lefties... it takes a whole different mindset and set of techniques to be effective against a south paw, and if you haven't trained that way, the south-paw will have the advantage (as most of the people you'd spar with would be right handed). The thing is, you'll be used to it, but many of your opponents won't be, unless their training partner is a lefty. If you can get good at both sides, you'd have it made... just MHO.

I once had the privilege of making up a class in the black belt class (I'm not quite there yet) and I was training with this amazing black belt woman whom I really look up to. I was really working as hard as I could, and worked up a great sweat... we were doing crunches where one partner throws a medicine ball on to your stomach as you're crunching up... well I was doing the crunch, and she threw the ball at my stomach, and my timing was off and I hadn't really flexed properly yet... SNOT flew out of my nose, all over the place, on the ball... OMG! I was so embarassed!

Well, it is a good idea to at least warm up your body a little before stretching. Warming up your cardiovascular system means doing a few jumping jacks, skipping rope, running in place or around the block or whatever. This gets the blood circulating to all the capillaries within your muscle fibers. This increased blood flow is what allows you to move your muscles with more ease than you can cold. Having said that, splits use many other connective tissues that may not be fully warmed up after a couple of minutes. I like to do some running in place or jumping jacks or skipping (whatever) for about 5 minutes. Then I do a bunch of light front kicks and then stretch my lower back and hamstrings. Then I'll do a few light round kicks (I mean really light) and then stretch out my inner thighs and hip flexors.... I'll keep alternating a few techniques with a few stretches and usually will get into my first split (not that I'm all the way down yet) after about 15 minutes of warming up and light stretching. My best splits happen at the end of a class, though, so I definitely think there's something to be said for being fully warmed up before practicing them and really pushing to go lower. I am not a professional... this is just MHO.

I'm 5'7" (female) and weigh 158 lbs... I'm about 20% body fat and a dress size 10 or so. My legs and arms are cut, but my waist line could stand to lose a few. If I could drop 10 lbs from just my waist, I'd say my body would be awesome! I do feel that my size makes me slower than leaner girls... moving all my weight around is just generally harder than it would be if I weighed 130. However, having come from 218 lbs, I can say without a doubt, that being overweight definitely makes training much harder.

That sounds a lot like my school's kickboxing tournament. We put one on and invite schools from all over... there are varying levels of difficulty: you can choose no-face, face contact, or full contact, or you can choose ground fighting or forms divisions... you basically compete in whatever you're comfortable doing. I have yet to compete in a face contact division (meaning punches to the face... kicks to the head are always allowed) but hope to do so in the next one in February.

I train in kickboxing and generally in my experience, our style allows low kicks and sweeps (as well as kicks above the waist, obviously) but we don't use knees & elbows. That's in the ring. In tournaments, low kicks are usually not permitted unless you're in the 'full contact' categories.

I pay $144 Canadian/month on a one year contract. When I started 4 years ago, it was $109/month. That includes 3 technical classes per week plus sparring, cardio classes and access to the facilities whenever they're open in order to open train. Honesly, I'm hooked, so I'd probably still pay it if it were $500/mo

Well, my classes are 45 minutes each, and generally beginning students are expected to attend 2 classes per week. Warm-up is completed before the class starts, so that class time maximizes learning. At higher levels, students are expected to attend their 2 technical classes each week, plus train on their own a couple of times a week... possibly adding in cross-training to maintain conditioning.