CapitalKarate

Thanks Shorin ryuu, that helped a little.

Nunchaku, escrima stick, knife, bo. Have to pick one? Escima stick.

You don't want to add mass, read the trial journal on here crossfit.com

Anchored sit-ups with hands behind your head and go down so hands touch the floor, try to bring your upper body up using your legs as if you were doing a leg extension and keep your back straight. L-sits, work up to doing a 3 minute hold. Pilates basic ab exercise, do a google on pilates exercises and I'm sure you'll find it, its where you have your legs at a 45 degree angle, head and shoulders off the ground with arm straight at your sides moving up and down. And as others said, do back extensions as well.

Hard rock, heavy metal. Anything loud with a good beat. But no intense swearing, I am a christian after all

Aodhan, in regards to your post; Lat pull downs are only for looks, not strength. The real way you want to strengthen your lats is by doing pull ups (palms facing away from you) there are bodybuilders a dime a dozen out there with massive lats, but can't do a single proper pull up, not even a chin up. About triceps and chest, triceps are very important, every muscle in your body is, but where in the world are you going to do a motion similar to a tricep pull down? The triceps get worked the way they're supposed to get worked by doing exercises such as overhead lifting and bench press. Chest.. the issue about the chest being used to bring the arms into a hugging position is debateable. Bodybuilders use chest flys to get definition and size, I used to want to be a bodybuilders and was a part of a forums called wannabebigforums.com. BBers there even said that flys don't really even do as much, that for definition and size you want to do full body dips and incline DB bench. And for chest strength do flat BB BP. And again, Bodybuilders are NOT in good shape (generally speaking of course, there are a few out there somewhere that are in decent shape). For the most part Anonymousone got it right about it. But I have to disagree witht he running part. Before a body builder goes PRO or ametuer for competitions, they will use a lot of HIIT to get rid of fat quickly without losing muscle. But they don't have any endurance, only some speed (some), and... hm.. actually thats about it, they have some speed because they do HIIT so often for their cuts. For martial arts, the most beneficial weight lifting out there are olympic/power lifting and kettlebell lifting. (if you don't count in gymnastic work and other calisthenic work)

I'd like to know what the differences between these two styles are. I know that there's quite a few sub-styles under each, but I'm talking general techniques. Also, if it's possible to tell, which is generally more applicable to street self defense? Thanks!

Shrorin-ryu, not sure which style though.

It takes years and years to be good enough to use pressure point fighting in self defense. I think the only one really used is the solar plexus.

I had surgery on my right hand and now I have limited range of motion. Compared to my other wrist, there's about an inch difference. Would this affect my palm striking?

I thought JKD was just a philosophy?

I'm with everyone else, just slow down and don't use the flashy material. It looks bad anyway, when doing a spinning jump kick, to have your partner just push you while in the air. I've seen it lol.

I too am going to be looking into Shao-lin Kempo, the instructor in my area sounded rather professional, unfortunately I think he said it cost like $100 for 2 lessons and 1 private a week.

Bout to start paying roughly $100 for 2 schools.

I guess I misunderstodd what he was asking. O well.

google is awesome for finding stuff, found every dojo there was in my new location, yahoo also works wonders. sidenote, straight blast, you a part of the straight blast gym in oregon?

How does this stengthen your hands?

Previous; soccer, baseball, basketball (no formal team), being relatively active, weight training. Presently; soccer, cross fit (best darned thing out there), olympic and power lifting.

I think it should not be allowed, imo to people under 18 unless they show great humility and respect regarding their art. Too many prideful BBs out there.

Shorin-ryu has a lot of forms yes, lot of one steps and in some schools a lot of sparring. Unfortunately though I have no idea at all what TSD is like, so unless you explain it a little, I can't really help there. Actually, if you really want to have a good comparison of TSD to Shorin-ryu PM shorinryu-sensei, he can probably help you much better than I could.

2nd degree at 12? may not be a mcdojo, but sounds like sport tkd.

What do you guys do when you practice MA at home by yourself, and how long do you practice?

Well I'm looking for a new school to go to (moving) and at my new location I've found what looks like a small chain of "american schools of Shao-lin kempo" schools, a MMA school (most likely joining it, if it's not crap), an american kenpo karate school, an american arjukenka karate school, and some other ones I've yet to contact. My reason for asking about shaolin kempo and kenpo karate is I don't want to just go to their school to check it out, I want to do some research on the schools' styles. I'd like to know how effective these two styles I mentioned in the way of practical street self defense, I'd like to know what type of concepts they teach, whether or not they're rounded enough, stuff of that nature.

Venrix nailed it, but I'm sure that no matter what your MA training is, if you're skillful enough, you'd be able to find a way to use what you've learned in a manner that would fit the police needs.

I'd go with cross-training. Find another school in your area while also practicing what you've learned in your other arts. Good luck to you!