Piastre

He's certainly a lot better than his old man! At last we are rolling. But like a good trainer having his horse peak on exactly the right day, Steve Waugh was bringing us up slowly. Whoever we face in the finals....beware! God I hope we make the finals LOL

Lewis is a very good, but not great fighter. He has benefitted from a VERY weak era of heavyweight boxers. His only fights against a genuinely great opponent were against Holyfield. But Holyfield was also shot by that stage. He has also been knocked out cold by two fighters who could be described as journeymen at best. Lewis would have presented no problem for a younger Holyfield or Tyson. That being said, Tyson simply has hardly fought at all over the past few years, and a photo of him a couple of weeks ago showed he was FAT. He's living off his old reputation as the "baddest man on earth" presently. Bring on April 6!

I've never seen the South Africans defeated mentally like they are. They're playing like a tired, dispirited rabble. NZ on the other hand, are playing exceptionally well, and Chris Cairns is absolutely brilliant presently

I could accomodate you there Jiggy, but I'm far too well mannered for that! LOL At least the Aussie cricket team are back in winning, sledging top form!

I have the opportunity to do some classes and not pay the exhorbitant fees that people are asking for pilates at present. My girlfriend is a former gymnast and her best friend is a ballerina and has opened a studio to supplement her dancing income. Amy did her first class on Monday night and loved it. She also thought that it would be something that would benefit me.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the benefits (or otherwise) of pilates in terms of flexibility and core stability, as an addition to regular martial arts training?

A little blind faith isn't too much to ask for is it? LOL

The result of the WC is a foregone conclusion. ITALY!

While not a drill as such, skipping is a very effective way of developing balance while moving on the balls of the feet, co-ordination and remaining light on the feet. I imagine that every world class fighter uses skipping to sharpen their footwork.

One of my criticisms of martial arts in general is the linear movements. Martial artists should watch boxers and learn how to move laterally and in a circular motion.

Sai... Certainly there are different stances used etc. Just a question for you as someone who has trained in both shotokan and shi-to ryu. Did you find the transition difficult? I have only a fairly rudimentary knowledge of shotokan, but the differences are quite obvious. For example, the neko ashi dachi I've seen shotokan practitioners use bears little resemblance to our cat stance etc.

I've always found that my appetite is perfectly attuned to my motivation! In other words, when I'm fit and training hard and regularly I naturally eat well and in moderation (also exercise is a great appetite suppressor). When my motivation is low and I'm not training so hard, or I'm injured, my diet becomes woeful!

Jiggy. that is FAR from funny!

I just asked that because the other day I was flicking through a shotokan book in my local library, and the pictoral representation of the kata "heian nidan" was what we'd call "pinan shodan", obviously with the aesthetic differences of shotokan compared to shukokai/shi-to ryu.

Especially less carbs before bed. They need to be burned off, so if you have a cutoff of say 5pm, and then eat no carbohydrates after that time, they will not be stored as fat. 5 pounds in 3 weeks shouldn't be too hard, and shouldn't drain you if you do it the right way. Don't starve yourself, there is nothing worse than being weight drained (ask any boxer!).

Everyone does that same kata at our school, however the children's curriculum differs in that there may be less to learn (in terms of combinations etc) for a childrens belt than the equivalent adult rank. Just on a slightly different note, how many people learn pinan (heian) shodan AFTER pinan nidan?

We can see a bit of K1 rules and other local promotions on pay tv, which still isn't really widespread here. The same for boxing, we need to either have pay tv, and then use the PPV, which is quite expensive, or hope that the local pub is showing it on the big screen. I can usually see Kostya Tzsyu fight, and Tyson, but there doesn't seem much chance of seeing a Roy Jones or Felix Trinidad. I still haven't seen Floyd Mayweather fight!!! [ This Message was edited by: Piastre on 2002-01-15 21:46 ]

I truly don't believe we can. The more advanced we become technologically, the further we regress socially. Man is a very selfish species by nature, and it seems we're seeing the worst of that selfishness more and more lately. Of course that's not to say that there isn't a hell of a lot of good, and good people, in the world. There is. It's just unfortunate that there will always be a large element who see there own base needs are of far more importance than compassion, tolerance and kindness.

Was it a good fight, fair decision etc?

A sad aspect of human nature seems to be that no matter what you do, how you act, how you prepare yourself, there always seems to be some loathesome piece of filth willing to snuff out a life in the most cowardly way. And of course, there's never a thought for the consequences and the ruined lives. But at least his mates probably think he's tough.

Thanks for the link Kickchick Very informative.

I've always thought that the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. Sure it's not as powerful as a rear leg kick, but as Slider pointed out, it's not telegraphed at all, and I feel the much quicker time of delivery more than makes up for that. Plus I think that, well delivered, a front leg kick can be delivered with VERY good power, and I certainly am still able to kick low or to the head off the leading leg

I know very little about the history of the Korean arts, so perhaps one of the TKD afficionados could answer my query. Recently I read that after an invasion in the early part of the last century, Japanese martial arts were introduced to Korea to create a striking art (Tang Soo Do/Karate) and a grappling art (Hapkido/Aikido), and that subsequently the Korean government moved to create a blend of the two, which ultimately became Taekwondo. Another person told me that Taekwondo originated during fuedal times, and the high kicks that are associated with TKD today were designed to knock a man off horseback. Can somebody please separate that fact from the mythology for me?!?! [ This Message was edited by: Piastre on 2002-01-13 20:52 ]

It was on Saturday night, US time. It was for a 130lb world title, and I heard it was a very good fight....not that I had any chance to see it.

I've seen the bujinkan name used too, but don't really understand what the art is....perhaps someone can enlighten me?