Vito

stupid, pointless, probably hurt yourself in the process. especially that glass and nails thing, what are you nuts?

id recommend against deadlifts- bad for the spine. even if you do them eventually, start out with just exensions, no weight, (on a 45 degree angled thingy where your upper body hangs out- keep your back arched when you do them), and the kind where you just lie flat on your stomache and pull your upper body up. (i call them kickworms to people who get the joke.)

what exactly is the bubishi?

maybe

if you hit with the right part of your hand (the first two knuckles) and avoid places like the back of a guys head, or his forhead maybe, then youll most likely be okay.

bagwork with properly padded bag gloves on is all you need.

you know what else? prodigy is a good one for any strenuous activity. change my pitch up... smack my bitch up....

crunches and leg lifts. if you can, v-ups. why not go running? lift some weights if you want more muscle.

yea i wanna see a side kick used like a jab....

well, if you narrowed it down to striking, i think one could make the argument that muay thai is the best rather easily. face off the stereotypical muay thai fighter vs any other striker in the ring, or on the street- put them in a striking match... we all know whos more likely to win.

HAVE to have mouthpiece and cup indeed. probably gloves too, and it sure wouldnt hurt to have wrist and ankle wraps. (this should go over 50 bucks total.) as for preparation- get into the best cardio shape you can for now, because youre going to need it.

my style has been around for ages. its called won hooj wang.

the thing about sparring is, you can spar like a tkd fighter like in their tournaments with little or no contact doin your flashy crap with all your rules, and youll come out with nothing learned. you can spar like a boxer or kickboxer and come out a better fighter, because though some rules were there, you were still fighting and using movies youd want to use in a real fight. the same is true in bjj- you can spar and practice moves and stop when a guy taps out, or throw a person on their back; but in real life you dont tap out you break their arm or whatever, and you dont throw on a mat you throw in the ground, maybe on their head, instead. in conclusion: if you spar in a real martial art (muay thai, boxing, wrestling, bjj, sambo, things like that) youll get better. if you spar in something like no contact kungfu, tkd, do karate tournaments, etc... youll get beat down on the street. i know they say 'we train for street fighting because we practice eye gouges etc etc,' but they dont really practice them- and when they try to use them on a boxer theyll get knocked out.

9 instructors? kick the head in a real fight? instructors are 18, 19? my honest to god advice to you, if youre concerned with real fighting, is to leave that place (certainly a mcdojo- tkd rarely has any real fight skills taught anyway) and find a muay thai gym.

wow, 7star put it really really well. me, i try and post when its late and i dont make good points like that. but to go on record- sure aikido and judo are pretty much entirely stand up grappling- bjj has plenty of stand up grappling moves, you just dont hear about them much. (go pick up any number of the books the gracies have put out, youll see plenty of techniques.) and slamming a guy to the ground is a seriously painful thing to do- potentially fight ending of he lands right, or wrong, depending how you define it.

honestly, i think the coolest move in any spar or fight is the one that demolishes your opponent.

weights and running! woo! dont start too fast though. in fact, do those exercises and run a little for another month, then youll have layed the foundation to start weight training. that will help you burn fat with the extra muscle mass taking calories... plus theres added strength benifits (and girls like muscles too you know.) running is all legs and cardio, and cardio fitness is the most important type of fitness in the long run in life. and now.

whatever crap, or ocasionally good stuff, is playing in the gym. to motivate myself i just talk to myself in my head. when lifting i dont need any inspiration, when running i just think cmon lets do this *, push through, etc etc dumb stuff like that. if i have a choice, like using the heavy bag, any hardrock radio station is good background.

you know, i debate that a lot. (that why i wanted to hear what others had to say.) because of the multiple opponent problem, i like striking because, though youre still in trouble, if you move a whole lot you could have a chance to take them down. against a single opponent i definitely prefer grappling because i have more control over the situation, and though i cant manuever as much- a good grappler can throw a guy without ever having to go to the ground himself, plus he can avoid being taken down to begin with. i guess i lean towards grappling because of the control issues, and the capability to dominate (and get back up off of) the ground aspects. plus, im more likely to have a problem with one person rather than a group- especially the ones i dont sprint from. i focus more on that grappling striking at the moment, because im better at striking. so, i dunno- ill say id rather be an expert in grappling, to answer my own question, but obviously both is best.

if youre considering self defense or street practicality the main reason for doing martial arts, you cant do better than bjj. grappling is the way to go.

just curious- for what applications will that school be useful for you?

let me dispell a myth for you. as far as weight training is concerned, mass and strength go hand in hand until you get to something approaching arnolds size in his prime. that is not to say that just because you can bench more you can hit harder than someone. but you cannot gain additional power in your muscles without gaining additional muscle mass. the number of reps you do, the weight you do, depends on YOU and YOUR BODY.

This is a subject a lot of people try to talk about and usually seem to get off on tangents, so I'll try to make this as specific as necessary. For STREET CONFRONTATIONS, if you had to choose EITHER STRIKING or GRAPPLING skills, but not both, which would you rather have, and WHY? (By choosing one or the other, I mean as if you had trained the past ten years in one or the other) I DONT MEAN that a striker is not allowed to clinch or trip someone if given the opportunity, or that a grappler cant punch someone on the ground or elbow them, etc. Real world experiences would certainly help your arguments. So lets hear it!

true about the throat thing, but thats full force, you know? its pretty hard to actually kill someone. im talkin a chop or something medium just to * with him for like a day. still though, my first choice would be breaking something- throat hits are for when theyre still awake and kickin.

you know, after some thought... i think the best thing to do would be learn a little grappling yourself. (go figure eh?) at least enough to counter and escape throws/holds so that you can attempt to stike him to death.