markusan

Chi kung is an excellent practice. But I think you can achieve similar results with your Kata, breathing exercise and meditation practice. Especially do not underestimate the power of kata to unify mind and body and kiai to lift you to another level. Practices like kata are different things at different levels. When you are a blue belt kata is just practicing your technique. I think at your level it is something much more if you are open to it. Try practicing your kata by yourself on top of a mountain. When you kiai feel the mountain move. Trying different techniques, ways etc can be a distraction in the end. Obviously, going by the time you have spent and the level you are at, you have gone a substantial way on one path. Stick with it. In meditation you don't start to make progress until you become relaxed with the practice, and in a way stop trying to achieve something. When you learn to relax and just train for training's sake, progress is easier.

I am still skeptical. I have been meditating for many years. One of the first things I noticed was that when I learnt to quieten my mind I noticed things that were happening in my body more. I started to feel my pulse and my heartbeat without touching a pulse point. These days I can feel a pulse in most parts of my body at most times if I am quiet. The same goes for the tingling sensation. If you sit still long enough you can feel the energy in your body/ nerves etc. At times you can feel the pressure of loud noises in your skin. Nothing mysterious about that. It's like if you spend a long time in the bush in silence your hearing and sense of smell become much more sensitive. The noises aren't any louder and the smells aren't any stronger. And if one punch hurts you more than another it must be a harder punch. How can it be any other way? What else could it be about that punch that does more damage? If there is some other quality/force why does it need a punch to transmit it, simple contact should do the trick. I would venture to say that attributing the effectiveness of a kung fu strike to some mystical single "energy" is devaluing the training and technique of the practitioner.

Teaching really helps you break down yor ma into its most basic elements. It is much easier to see faults in someone elses technique than your own, and if you are responsible for correcting that person's faults it makes you think deeply about the technique and ideally what it should be. You are suddenly watching martial arts with different eyes. From a wider perspective, if you have a great right side kick and a poor left one, which should you practice? Maybe it's the same with teaching, you get most value out of doing the stuff you find hard.

Shadow, here in Australia there are at least two quite different styles of tkd, one as you describe, designed more for sport, and the other puts much more emphasis on the hands. I do the latter and have competed with a degree of success against karate guys at all styles tournaments, and found that our styles are very similar. And we block everything, even in no contact or light contact sparring.

I agree with Lucky. There's no doubt you have to work harder and smarter against a bigger opponent. And if thay have more muscle mass they are much harder to hurt.

I have problems with the claim that although they do full contact they have no record of injuries. He says he achieves this through muscle conditioning. But if the only no go areas are the eyes....? How do you build muscle on your nose, temples, ears, knees, sternum etc??

sounds to me like your rushing things. If you attcak a blackbelt or any belt as hard as you can, they are going to mirror your attack, At whitebelt level I would suggest working on your control and footwork rather than beating these guys, Then you might find they'll help you rather than counterattack. If a wjite belt attacks me too aggressively I give them a couple of warnings, but if they persist I'll kick back. I'm not their punching bag.

It depends how you do the pushup. If you do a deep pushup on your knuckles and explode out of it and maybe put a clap in at the end you do more than build endurance. In any sport if you want to build speed and power it's good to start with an endurance base, then train for the type of movement you want. Try doing pushups as if you are doing a double punch with the same speed and power. They're very practical too. You can drop and do 20 any time any place.

I'll go with delta1. You can strengthening all the muscles you like, unless you are mindful of your posture you will just develop strength and still slouch. In fact many strengthening exercises will shorten your muscles and damage your posture unless you also strength the corresponding antagonist muscles and stretch a lot. Do delta1's exercise, (you can also do it sitting at your desk or in seiza) and when you are walking or sitting during the day imagine you have a string tied to the crown of your head pulling you skyward, neck straight, back straight, chin a little tucked. and stay mindful of your posture as long as you can, and when your attention drifts just bring it back. It's mind as much as muscle.

Just a hint to help develop speed and power in your axe kick. Sit your heel with leg extended on a training partner's shoulder and push down as hard as you can for six or seven seconds, practice that a few times, maybe five or six times to statr with. It will strengthen the muscles involved and give you a feeling of the downward push you need to breack the boards. If you want to gain flexibility for the same kick get your partner to lift your leg slightly before you push down so you are always starting from a slightly uncomfortably stretched position. The trick to breaking is to hit it hard as you can, hit through the board and don't think!

Either consciously or subconsciously we pick up subtle body language messages from everyone we meet. Sometimes you can tell if someone is fit by the amount of fat their carrying, the spring in their step, their posture, their poise. I say sometimes because I've been surprised how fit and fast some seemingly overweight people can be. As for meeting and holding someone's gaze, that's a confidence thing and something you can practice, just like punching and pushups. No-one can turn your gaze away from theirs if you don't want to. You always have the choice. I'm sure if the person with all the chi was bashing your mom, you'd fight.

I agree with Pand P too especially the reference to injuries. Unlike some of the earlier posts I think there is a big problem with full contact sparring. You do get injured. When you're young most of the injuries heal, but not all of them, and less of them heal as you get older. I've learnt some important lessons about defense during sleepless nights laying on my back with broken ribs. It's not a learning method I'd recommend. The same goes for doing lots of breaking techniques and hand and shin conditioning. If you are making an informed decision to go full contact then fine, but make that decision knowing that you may be spending your twilight years in constant or recurring pain, and consequently shortening your martial arts career

Very mysterious indeed

Are the two comparable. When you are weilding a single sword it is not just the primary weapon, it is the only weapon. I think the same goes for the cricket, baseball and golf analogies. In all cases you are swinging a "weapon". But what do the pitchers/bowlers do ? They throw with their trailing arm. It is there to defend and attack. When I spar with my strong side forward i tend to block with a forward movement of my trailing hand to meet an approaching punch. I use my front strong hand to deflect then continue the deflection as a strike. With my weak side forward I block with the front hand and try to set up a big torquing punch with the trailing hand. Both work but they are aiming at very different ends. My motivation for developing a good strong side lead technique was more so I could kick with my stronger front leg.

I take your point WW, and I agree the teacher and the training is all important. I like the idea of sticking to one style, for a while at least till the technique becomes ingrained. I guess I'm a bit of a plodder and I feel a bit humble when I see how many styles some people have under their belts. I'm still working to improve hyungs I first learnt decades ago. And I admit I haven't done enough grappling to give an informed comment. Being small and light I'm very reluctant to get up close and personal. Maybe Sky should take that sort of thing into account when choosing a style?? Do you think different body types, attitudes suit different styles?

Listen to your body. the changes to your internal clock caused by shiftwork could be the sole problem, but it also may have depressed your immune system enough for you to catch a low level virus. Things like glandular fever come to mind. I contracted a mosquito borne virus years ago that persisted for 18 months. I was working long irregular hours at the time, studying and renovating a house. The way I got over it was to sleep when I was tired, as much as I needed or could fit in, then when I was feeling good, I'd work on my fitness. I gave up the booze and ate really well. Most viruses affect the liver so alcohol really aggravates the problem. I also took a multivitamin supplement. Just look after yourself. I found meditation helped too, but that's a personal thing, though I think stress management is critical.

we have a product here in Australia called elastoplast. It is a fabric tape with a very adhesive backing. Be careful because some people with sensitive skin are alergic to the adhesive. The only problem you'll have is getting it off., it's tough. rubbing your feet with methylated spirits helps dry them out and toughens the skin. The best way though is to spend as much time barefoot as possible obviously wher it is safe to do so. Beachcombing is great for toughening the feet and you can practice your breathing as you walk.

by definition, nothing you see in movies is real, it's flickering lights on a screen, and a lot that you see in real life is illusion or sleight of hand. If there was such a thing as what you say Governments would be spending a lot of money trying to exploit it. The world sceptics association has had a huge reward on offer for years for any proof of psychic or paranormal activity. I think ki balls and such would qualify, but no one's collected yet. It speaks for itself.

I have never seen any external emanation of ki other than what is delivered through body contact. It would take a lot to convince me that ki can be transmitted remotely. I understand ki as the power of a person to freely use all of his or her physical strength to execute a technique. From what I have experienced myself and seen through teaching, the mind has a tendency to restrict the ki because of fear and delusion. Tha hardest thing to teach a beginner is not to do more but to do less. To execute a technique in the most efficient and powerful way rather than embellish itand reduce its efficacy. I think meditation and training help clear the mind and alow the body, to co-ordinate all it's energies, muscle, nerve etc to one end, that is delivering the technique. The more co-ordinated the action, the more ki. That is why I think ki is not one thing.

inside turning kick(maybe that's another way of saying twisting kick) double jumping mid section thrusting front kick(if the first one don't get em the second one usually does)

From what I've read of traditional japanese martial arts texts, Ki seems to me to be more a description of an effect rather than a thing. In the same way that a "car" is a description of lots of parts all joined together, with a mind directing the assembly, ki is a combination of all the things that go to make a human action. When the muscles are trained, and the technique is well honed, and the mind is clear, the ki is strong. What do you think?

when in doubt bite his ear off evander hollyfield

There is a lot of wisdom in turonaga's post. What will constrain your ki or disperse it is mental distractions and wrong thinking. Less thinking, more training, thats the key/ki.

I would say if you are beginning, pick one style and stick to it till you reach a high level of skill and then diversify and build up your knowledge. I'll probably get myself into trouble here, but I think you can become an effective fighter(not an expert) in a shorter time with the hard striking styles, like karate and TKD. Most of these include some self defence anyway. Once you are proficient in one of these maybe try jujitsu. Whateevr you do do it for the joy of learning and training, not to be the toughest kid on the block.

Muhammed Ali would sack sparring partners who hurt him too much, and I'd challenge anyone to accuse him of being a wimp. The logic was that he'd save the tough stuff for the ring when the dollars were on the line. I like shin instep guards. I don't think they are to protect your opponent but to protect your instep. I agree kicking with the instep to a hard target is not a great idea. But I know on occasion my front Kick TKD style, with the foot pointed forwrd and toes pulled back to hit with the ball of the foot, has impacted with a downward moving elbow right in the middle of the instep. Needless to say each step for the next week reminded me of my error. As for sparring. I think good martial arts is about deception, a bit like chess or pool. You have to work to set up a winning technique and you need a live thinking opponent to practice with, the more skilled the better. But if that opponent is better than you, and there is always someone better, and you're going full contact......you can't practice or train when your lights are out or your ribs are broken. I think a good rule is optimise fitness, techniques skills and minimise injuries. I like light contact sparring for earlier belts, heavier but controlled for more senior belts and every strike must be blocked whether it makes contact or not.