Bad_Vibes

When I first started taking Thai lessons I tried to hold firm with the Thai pads during kicking exercises with my partner. All it took was a few lessons with some pretty heavy kickers to realize I needed to allow myself to give a little with the kicks. It made the difference between feeling like my arms were going to break and not really feeling any pain at all. A boxer that I had an opportunity to train with for a few months many years ago tried to teach me how to take punches like that also. He could let you swing at him with all your power and was fast enough to move his head with your punch. So my point is if you have to get hit with it don't stand rigid. Let the blow move you enough to not take the full impact on your arms. If you notice in a lot of boxing matches when people get caught, it's when they are moving in on an opponent or just caught it a tight position getting hit. Try to stay loose and relaxed while keeping the hands up. Easier said than done of course. But if you train like that, it becomes routine.

From my personal experience, there are times I had to carb up before a workout, simply because if I were to run out of gas, I wouldn't get a good workout. Competitions and endurance tests are where I find carbing up to really help immensely. I agree with you 100%. I'm at a point now that I do slightly carb up a few hours before training. It's taken me a while but I have pretty much figured out about how much I need to get through a good workout but not go overboard. I can tell you this though. If I'm getting to a point where my 38" waist pants are getting tight, then my workouts are gonna suffer. Because if I don't force my self to go through the workout just burning fat, it ain't gonna go away for me. And you can really tell when your body is using fat as energy. Like you said, you hit a wall. It isn't easy to continue, but it's the only way for me to cut the fat. Once I'm back down to 34 to 36 inch waist pants, I eat enough to have solid workouts. I just go through the week trying to cut the carbs when they are not neccessary and use them when they are, instead of following some government menu telling me exactly what to eat each and every day. And beleive it or not, I eat quite a bit of fat during the day. I'm not good at starving myself. Most of the fat comes from cheese and natural peanut butter. It fills me up so it's all good. It took me a long time to convince myself to adapt this way of eating since I grew up with the low fat, high carb government backed dietary requirements being preached to me. But I'm sold now. And back to the point of the thread, I used to have a hard time taking anybody who was overweight teaching physical fitness of anykind seriously. But I've witnessed to many people like that over the years smoke others that looked much better in everything from running to sparing.

I'm leaner at 33 then I've ever been in my life. That includes my 4 years in the army during my early mid 20s. I used to beleive that some people just are meant to carry excess body fat no matter how hard they work. Ketogenics(sp?) works! Overuse of Carbohydrates is the culprit. As long as you are not forcing your body to use fat as a source of energy it's just gonna keep storing it. So as long as you carb up before and after exercise, you ain't burning the fat. Unless of course your one of those people that don't get fat no matter what.

I think many TKD schools promote people based on the amount of the potential they have achieved within themselves. Not everybody is gonna be able to achieve the same perfection, strenght, style, ect.... So if that makes it a McDojo then so be it. But that doesn't mean they won't be able to help you achieve your full potential. Coincidentally this is the reason I left TKD. The two schools I had attended had many higher level students that would obviously get their azz handed to them in a real scirmish. Being a part of that just wasn't for me. But that doesn't make it wrong or not benificial.

Bobbing may be a great tactic is straight boxing, but against a Thai boxer who likes to use his knees a lot, it's probably not such a great idea. Slips could be an issue also since your aloud to grab your oponent in thai boxing. So that punch you just slipped can then be used to grab the back of your neck for a little more control. Of course Muhamid Ali did that in boxing anyway and always seemed to get away with it. I watched the fight between him and Forman the other night again, and it's funny how Forman held his gloves up a lot like Muay Thai fighters do and Ali used a lot of illegal tactics that would be legal in a Muay Thai fight and got away with it. But I can tell you from past experience, when I tried to use my straight punches I practiced over and over again from TKD many years ago against a "decent" boxer that was working with me and some guys from my army unit, he tore me apart with hooks. I couldn't even see them coming. Those succers went right around my hands and rung my bell. I knew that if I ever got back into MA it would have to be boxing or Muay Thai. It's only taken about 8 years to get back

I thought the same thing until I started classes in the last month. Now I know why a amateur boxer once handed me my azz when I spared with him. I thought it would just be about combinations and perfecting techniques. But at least where I'm training it's a lot more than that. It's about tactics in the ring, what to do when someone is slipping your jab, how to slip theirs, tons of different combinations to use depending on the size, shape, style, ect... of your opponent. I'm starting to recognize things I see K-1 fighters do and boxers do that make sense now. But it is a lot more akward in practice than I had anticipated. I think because of it's ties to real combat in present day times as opposed to other arts that spend a lot of time doing katas and shadow boxing, it's almost more complicated.

At least in my area, there are several schools that offer a mix of Muay Thai and different grappling classes at one place. I chose one that is better skilled at Thai boxing and western boxing, but they include ground styles and from what I've seen are pretty decent. I just am not ready for that yet. Would rather take one art at a time. The Muay Thai is good also because there is a little grappling involved, it's just not on the ground. And at least where I'm at very little time is spent throwing puches in the air. Almost our entire session is spent working with a partner and pads. We are constantly working on real scenerios.

Not trying to take this to far off topic, but does it not anger anyone else that attackers are treated so well when it comes to assault situations. How did we get to this place in this world. I mean the whole scenerio exists because an attacker has decided to cause harm to someone else. It reallly pisses me off that the victim has so much responsiblity for the outcome. Being a vigilante is one thing, but our society has gone to far in protecting the rights of thugs while crapping on decent citizens. Rant off.

Damn, that's some rough stuff I've only taken a tennis racket to the head. My wife didn't like the critism I was giving her. It was a cheap racket so it gave and the impact wasn't to bad.

haha, How about "Martial Arts Technician"

I'm amazed you guys are able to effectively keep up with all the styles you study. I'm just starting thai boxing and plan on JJ or Judo down the road. That seems cut and dry to me. A stand up art and a grappling art. I took a limited amount of TKD in the past and learning the hook and to not chamber and snap my kicks has been difficult. When you actually fight (in the ring) how does your body know how to respond if you have trained in all these styles. When in the heat of battle don't instincts just take over. How do you control the style your using.

You know, that sounds more like a challenge than just an FYI! Hey, all's fair in love, and she may just want to see if you really want to be with her bad enough to "steal" her from her current guy. It's up to you to play it if you got game. If she will leave her boyfriend for you then she will leave you for someone else. Players try to act like it doesn't matter when a girl cheats on them, but it gets to them. As tempting as it is, it's good to stay away from girls that are willing to cheat. Especiallly if you are prone to jelousy.

Dang, how did you just forget? Well anyway, don't think about it anymore, just give 100% to the dojo you joined.

So don't you have to take a few hours of humanities and all the other garbage like comp I and poli sci the first couple of years. Should be more females in those classes. In any case I'll tell you the best way attract women. Already have a girlfriend and the opportunities will be everywhere. Murphy's law, it sux. Don't have a girlfriend and you can't find a girl that will even look at you. It's something about the vibe you put out. Try convincing yourself it doesn't matter and mabey you will be putting that vibe out. And forget the whole don't chase girls while in engineering thing. Even if you have to study 12 hours a day, well that still leaves half the day to train and spend time with one. Your young, you don't need much sleep. And if you are having to spend 12 hours a day studying 7 days a week, then engineering is not a natural gift our yours anyway and you should probably be doing something else. Who wants to spend the rest of their lives doing a profession that they have to work twice as hard at to be as good as the other nerds. Oh and try to take that freshmen orientation class as many times as you can. Your bound to meet a nice girl in there. Good luck.

It depends on how you are willing to live and what your future goals are. If you plan to be single and live modestly then there are numerous ways to make a stable income. A good example would be working security overnight. There is very little labor mentally or physically involved. So you would be able to devote yourself to MA fully. A bad example would be working at say UPS loading trucks. You would have little physical energy left to devote to training and the hours are usually during the times when classes are taught. Now if you plan on having a familly someday, then you better marry a girl that likes to work a lot, or plan on working you azz off like many of us and try to fit your MA somewhere in there. Oh, and whatever you do try to get a job with good health insurance. Having to pay medical bills out of pocket is just about the quickest way to finacial ruin.

I've heard the quote before " The eyes are the window to the soul", but I don't know where from. That phrase has haunted me for the last several months because when my wife's aunt died a few months ago her eyes were shut for like three days before she went. But then right when she gave up they burst open like somethig was exploding out of them. It hit me that the few people I've ever seen die opened their eyes right befoe they went. And in the movies people always open their eyes right before they die. I am really starting to beleive they are the window and the soul leaves through them when we die. There are few people I have met that I havn't been able to judge pretty quickly by looking into them. There's nothing specific to look for. It's a feeling you get while pretending to hear what they are saying. It's like their eyes are speaking louder than their voice and until I get to know them I can't turn the volume down to listen to what they are actually saying. Weird huh.

Believe it or not, I thought that was the original assumption. Maybe it's living in the midwest or something, but most fights I've seen or been an unwilling part of stayed off the ground unless the other person was knocked off their feet. Then it was just a field goal style kick fest. I have yet to see a street fight turn into a pure grappling match. And that includes one I witnessed with an associate of mine that actually trains primarilly in grappling. Who wants to end up on the nasty piss stained concrete surrounding most bars and clubs. Maybe a lot of these ground fights are the after school in the field type where it's not so nasty and dangerous to be on the ground. Maybe I'm just to old and am assuming we are talking about actual concrete when we say "street fights".

Yes Musse, let us know how it goes. I have another one tonight and after last night I was wondering if I was gonna be up to it. But I actually feel great today with only a little sorness in my feet. I guess getting the heart rate way up was a good thing.

How many of you remember your first class and how you felt after? My previous Martial Arts experience was with TKD. I only spent about a year during two different periods of time in that style so I was by no means an expert. But I had a good grasp on how training went. And both times I stopped going mostly out of my dislike of point fighting/sparing and Katas. This Muay Thai class was exactly what I was looking for. I remember spending months in TKD kicking and punching the air. This class was a couple of practice kicks then right to kicking the pads the entire time. Right now I have a lump and red blotches on the top of my foot from a few mis kicks. But what better way to learn how to kick than that. I don't mean to diss any TKD guys, I have a great deal of respect for anybody that masters any Martial Art. I just really like this no nonesense approach much better.

IMO there is a line not to cross when it comes to mass building in relation to fighting. Some good examples of guys that have gotten there and not gone over are Ken Shamrock, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, and Micheal McDonald. All these guys are slightly undersized as far as height goes and make up for it with extreme power. Being naturally big like about 6'3" and naturally weighing 220+ would be ideal but us shorter guys have to make up for that extra natural size by lifting heavy. Bob Sapp is an example of going to far. But that may be his natural genetics. Still not very effective against world class competition.

A guy I know through other friends of mine has started fighting in MMA bouts and broke his hand in his third fight. I guess those MMA gloves don't offer as much protection as a normal boxing glove. It's obviously a ligitimate issue. But on the bright side, if I remember right, he broke it in the first round and didn't KO the other fighter till the third round. So he actually was able to keep using it do to the adreline more than likely. So even if you do break it, you can probably still make it out of the situation your in. But the next weeks will suck.

The first few are a must see. They may have not contained all of the best fighters as they do now but the diversity was incredible. I remember seeing a 500 pound man fighting a 210 pound man, and the 210 pound man winning by chopping him down. It was fun to watch the completely different styles go head to head. Now it seems there are only grapplers and strikers due to the rule changes. Oh and I think it was the 2nd one where a dude is hitting a guy square in the nuts like 5 times. Ye, you gotta check out the first few to see what no holds barred really means. I would start at 1 and just get the next one every weekend till I saw all of them. There is something to learn from all of them.

HAHAHA, that's taking JKD to a new level. Instead of distracting your oponent with your hand to the face and throwing a low kick. Distract the opponent yourself while your buddy demolishes him. Bruce Lee would be proud. I'll have to make a mental note of this if I ever head down the turnpike to Bricktown and some guy starts throwing a bunch of crazy kicks at me.

Hmm, that sounds like a pretty decent plan. After the intial post it sounded pretty seedy, but your previous explanation actually sounds pretty good. Also sounds like you make a pretty good living

I notice you are from the UK. I spent 2 weeks there training with a military unit near Blackpool for a patrolling competition. The three nights we went out there were the most street fights I have ever seen in my life. Man do Brits love the head butt. I would think you have seen your fair share of altercations. I learned real quick to never get in a stare down face to face, cause that forehead would be headed straight to your nose in an instant. Good times I tell ya.