CapitalKarate

I'm tearing so hard right now! LMAO!!! Thanks man, i needed that!

...when when you're in a group of people with an instructor, and the instructor asks "any questions?" and you yell "NO SENSEI!" ...when while you're walking through the mall aimlessly every step you take is a front kick before you actually take the step ...when you drop something from your hands you automatically try to kick it back up to you (or is that due to soccer practice...) ...when your friends catch you trying to do the splits to see if you can do a high kick in your jeans or you don't buy a certain pair of shoes due to the fact that you can't do a proper front kick or side kick with them

What do you mean... is there any hope for hard gainers? Please elaborate so we can help.

fangshi, thats a body builders routine, not one for a martial artist. Doing stuff like leg extensions/leg curls are of no importance, where in life would you use one of those? Olympic lifts and kettlebell routines were designed around functional movements. The basic 3 exercises are bench press, squat, and deadlift, for some also the push press. Doing stuff like bicep curls and tricep push downs don't do anything for you functionally. And lat pull downs were mean't purely for looks, not use. If you want to learn about real fitness, and how to lift weights to gain pure strength to drascically increase kicking and punching power and strength for grappling, go to crossfit.com or do ANY research on pavel tsatsouline.

Faust, for info on kettlebells go to russiankettlebells.com or do any research of pavel, he's THE man when it comes to fitness, follow any video he made regarding kettlebells and you'll exceed further than you'd think possible in your ma training.

results being... size or strength? if it's size then you're on the wrong board, body building won't help worth crap for your ma training (and body builders are in THE worst shape of any fitness generalization). If it's strength without care of size, do a google search for olympic lifting, those guys are incredible, I've heard pro oly lifters are some of the fastest sprinters. Oly lifting would benefit incredibly with your ma training.

ok kid listen... i understand you want to get big and buff, i went through a stage where i was using a body building routine thinking i was going to get a lot stronger... it doesn't work that way, you get stronger sure, but without the use of drugs (not good for your body) you can gain 30 pounds in 3 weeks... and at this rate with the way you sound, you won't really be able to add on 30 pounds until your body's ready for it. my advice... If you really want to get ripped, but more importantly get into shape i'd suggest performing basic bw exercises (push ups, dips (full dips, not with your legs on the ground) pull ups [palms facing AWAY from you] anchored sit ups, overhead squats with a broomhandle or something) and look into getting gymnastics rings (with some kind of book or video instructions) or kettle bells. And if you really want to get in shape, and add some lean mass, go to this site https://www.crossfit.com go under crossfit journal and read the trial version, it's well worth the effort. That site is THE best I've ever seen when it comes to teaching people how to get into true shape. Hope this helps! Josh

Martial arts is like fitness; if you train in only one or two different kinds of fitness, you're only strong/fast or whatever in those two areas. Now say if you go out and learn as much as possible and constantly change your routine and try and perform everything then you have a much wide grasp of total fitness. Same goes for Martial arts. If you only study what YOU believe to be the only stuff worth studying then you're limiting yourself to just those techniques. If you learn gymnastic/capoiera(sp?) techniques such as flipping twisting or anything else on the sites listed earlier then if theres any chance you might need to use them in a real fight, you can. At the very least if you go up against some crazy idiot whos just looking for a fight, you can perform some crazy XMA type stuff and possibly scare him away thinking you're far beyond his ability. Basically my opinion, if you have the ability, if you can and have the time to learn it, DO SO!

...my mistake, sorry.

Um, sorry, I believe I said Muay Thai, not BJJ. My money is on a certified MT instructor when up against a certified KM instructor.

Of course, I'm not disrespecting krav maga, it's a great system, but it appears to be better for the user when the user wants to learn how to defend himself and learn quickly, whereas with MT it takes a bit longer, but the end result is much more devestating. I'd deffinately place my money on a true muay thai intstructor when fighting a krag maga instructor.

I'm with Muaythaiboxer, krav maga is good to learn quickly how to defend yourself, but it's not the best. If you don't mind learning a little slower, but overall better, I'd go with MT. If it's a real MT gym then you're sure to get a hell of a lot of physical training as well as martial arts. MT requires a lot of strength and speed (MA wise, not like benching 300 or w/e), so you will probably also get a better workout with MT than KM.

...No need to do any cross-training? Dude, that is one of the worst attitudes to have if you want to learn how to defend yourself.

Over the past few months I've been looking around for what would appear to me as the best overall fitness routine or type of routine. After doing a lot of research and experimentation, I believe I've found it. I stumbled upon this site https://www.crossfit.com and had at first no idea what it was about, after some reading on the site and reading the trial version of the CF journal I've gotten a pretty good grasp as to what it's all about. It's basically a general fitness routine, it covers all the aspects of fitness (strength, endurance, speed, stamina... etc.), it's one of those routines you follow as an addition to specific sports training. So, for martial artists what you would do is do the WOD (workout of the day, the daily routine they have on their site) 3days on 1 day off, and then do specific MA exercise training, maybe even add more weight lifting or gymnastics if you want. Either way, this routine is one of the best additions I've ever seen or experienced. You guys have to try it! Josh ww.crossfit.com

I do know quite a few drills and strikes/blocks. I saw some kata at my dojo for the nunchuku and it really was no different from what I've been practicing except for it was all put together. I seem to have a natural ability for the nunchuku thanks to my drumming skills somehow. Is it at least possible to have books or videos teach me kata for the weapon?

Is it possible to get to at least an intermediate level in using the nunchuku(SP?) with videos and books? I know how to do basic stuff from online videos.

angela, sorry hun, but i think you're the only one here who even gives a care at all to those fake ranks. he's *, i really doubt he has any true training, as sauzin said, he sounds a lot more like a businessman as opposed to a true wise (not to mention humble) martial artist.

Yes, it is possible for anyone to earn a black belt. The problem is a lot of people give up if it's too hard. Anyone can get to a 7-8th dan (or w/e rank it is in every other style), the only problem is whether you can get disciplined enough to make it that far.

look angela, no true martial artist would decieve other MAists by promoting himself or by getting fake promotions from other people ine exchange for a promotion from him. and he certainly seems to be high on himself. it looks to me like the guy doesn't care nearly as much about being as deep into the martial arts as possible as he seems to just want high ranks and say hes one of the best. and about the senior people who would love to train with him... i don't know them. they mean nothing to me. if a guy who has spent 25 years in the MA and got several "9th dans" and so many more other dan ranks is able to convince other MAists that they're legit, then i have to wonder about those MAists and about you, or perhaps this guy also knows how to hypnotise people, i dno. he's fake, i know that much.

Yeah, he's secure as long as he doesn't have to fight anyone. He's totally bogus. There no way you can get ONE authentic 9th dan promtion in 25 years of experience. Unless the art is TKD where they take under 3 years to get to black belt. I would still be cautious if the guy had several 5th dans and even more dan ranks under that from 25 years. But 2 or more 9th dans? sorry. He's crap.

The reason I want to learn modern martial arts (muay thai bjj etc.) is because if someone who comes up against me and they know those arts, i'll know what to expect and how best to counter it. plus muay thai is just great because of how tough their PT is. BJJ because I plan on becoming a cop and swat member and bjj is good to use for restraint and take downs w/o injuring whomever it is i need to take down. And lastly, because of how long it take to learn and become effective in shaolin, I want to learn some other complete system that takes quite a bit less time to learn and become effective in. J/W, the shaolin school I'm looking into going into says if you want to take 2 lessons a week, it'll cost you 100 dollars a month. Is this odd?

Totally fake. Sorry, I'm not quick to judge, but unless these are all McDojos where they have one of those "in one year, we'll get you to black belt! just give us your credit card and personalinformation..." plans then it's just fake, selfpromotion or something of the like. BTW, Shorin-ryu Sensei, awesome post! Love to see people like Mr. Moneymaker put in their places (not to be rude to him, just hate people who make MA's look like fools.)

Sounds interesting. Reminds me of some MA documentary on the same channel a year or two ago. They did some kind of count down or something, most of the schools they interviewed though looked like McDojos. But thats just my opinion.

Is Capoeira like a martial art form of gymnastics? Looks wicked cool, but not sure how it'd be in todays world against some kind of mma.

I don't really like anything but white rice...