jarrettmeyer

If the cartilage in your knees does not produce adequate fluid, then you will need injections. Your knees require fluid, just like the moving parts in your car. An injection of cortisone does not create the fluid or stop the leak, it simply reduces the nearby swelling. Although the fluid will continue to drain from your knee, you will not feel it. You will continue to overstress your knee and cause future problems. It is a quick fix, not a long-term solution. I recommend that you go to a Dr. who can help you find a long-term solution.

If you eat a steak, mashed potatos, and a big salad 10 minutes before practice, and you don't feel sick, then you're fine. You might feel ill if you eat a banana 1 hour before your class. It all depends on what your body can do. It depends on how your systems work together to supply energy. It depends on how hard you work. It depends on how long you work. It depends on how much you use your core. It just depends. Our Friday night classes have been known to go 3 hours of hard sparring. If I haven't eaten since lunch, then I can feel my muscles needing fuel. However, I get sick easily with food in my tummy + working out. Just listen to your body. It will tell you everything you need to know.

I think that there is something to be said for the difference between determination and dedication. Dedication is committing oneself to a certain task, activity, goal, or whatever. I am not a dedicated karateka. I am determined to get better, though. Some weeks I will only go once per week. I will go three times on other weeks. It all depends on my mood. I give 100% when I'm there, and I push myself hard. If I am not in the right mindset to give 100%, I don't go.

I like this answer... As long as I study karate, I will be a karateka. Beyond that, I don't like definitions. Concepts like "artist" are supposed to be abstract. I would hate to put the term "martial artist" in a box.

Despite my caffeine addiction and how much I hate to say it, caffeine is not the best for your body. It is a stimulant, with all of the internal consequences of taking such a drug. Natural green tea has no caffeine, and it contains polyphenols, which are used to eliminate free radicals in the body. Free radicals, in excess, cause damage to the body on the cellular level. Many cancers are initiated by free radical reactions with DNA. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_%28chemistry%29 http://www.drproctor.com/crcpap2.htm

Pushups work different muscles that weight lifting. They are not better or worse than weights, just different. Just like with weights, you can overstress the muscles and joints and cause damage to your arms, wrists, and shoulders. Pushups are an endurance activity; weight lifting is an anerobic activity. In an ideal situation, you need both. But, you need to train for both.

http://health.yahoo.com/centers/fitness/10002 That's a link for a body fat calculator. It uses the same equation as the one given by CagedWarrior. http://www.runnersweb.com/running/bodyfat.html Check out the above link for a standard for men and women. According to this page, ideal for men is 13% - 17%, and ideal for women is 20% - 27%. I've seen other resources that allow men to go as low as 2% and women as low as 10%, but that was from the US Navy. This particular web page has low limits of 7% and 14%, respectively. I can't find a link, though.

Where's the John Sells book when I need it???

Master of Science in Engineering. Physics, math, chemistry... all awesome topics. W00+! If ki exists (and I'm not saying it doesn't) and if ki can affect the body, mind, ability, or level of awareness (and I'm not saying it can't), then there must be some bioelectrical or biochemical effect on the human body. By either God or nature, that is the way we are designed. And, if this effect takes place, then it should be measurable.

Now this, I would agree, is a problem. There are some very simple throws, locks, and grapples. There are some very difficult throws, locks, and grapples. Putting in an excessively difficult maneuver is just as bad as putting in a backflip. I think you want to stay as simple as possible to get the job done. That may be a strike; that may be a grab.

I guess I've been taught that the "traditional" karate techniques included grabs, locks, and throws. However, because of whatever influences, many of the striking techniques have become much more predominant. I think that balance is the key. You shouldn't do so much striking that your grappling suffers. Nor should you do so much grappling that your striking suffers. This is why the kata are subject to interpretation. I've even read an interpretation that states that there are no blocks in the Pinan kata.

I'm confused... I read the original article by Martial_Artist and the subsequent posts by Killer Miller, and I think that they're both right. Your opponent is human with physical limitations: the same bones, muscles, organs, and vulnerabilities. However, with training, your opponent will function further from his physical boundary. The boundary, although it exists, can become less of an issue.

Lots of parts to the knee: From wikipedia You only need to take one out, and your opponent won't be walking for the next month.

... which technically doesn't "break" any bones, just rips apart tendons and ligaments. Nasty. "Hey, you should have an MCL there, but now you don't."

Congrats! I'm eligible for 8th in September, and I can't wait.

Sensai Isshinryu, Grading in MA, just like grading in schools, can be good or bad. A good teacher can test for "true learning", and then the promotion is also a representation of that same "true learning". If the grading doesn't grade the right knowledge, if it is superfluous to understanding, or if the quality of instruction is not there in the first place, then the grading degrades to worthlessness.

The earliest you could do it here would be 18, and that's if you received your shodan at 16 (minimum age + 2 year requirement). I don't know if there is also an age requirement for nidan.

High school (secondary school) sucks. I was a real geek. I was fat. I didn't do so well with the ladies. But I made it through. I got in two fights, that I'm really not proud of. In hindsight, they were stupid (but quite satisfying at the time). I didn't find my place until I went to university. Geeks, it turns out, do quite well at a place where intellect is favored over your sports abilities. It sucks. It's understandable why so many terrible things happen in high schools. Unfortunately, the best advice I can give you is something you don't want to hear: It will get better. Depending on your age, that may take 1 to 6 years. You are in a position to take the high road on this one. Anger is easier. Fighting is easy. (Clarification: getting into a fight is easy.) Solving your conflict without fighting is the best route. Now, if James does not let that happen, you must be prepared to meet force with equal force. Make sure that he is the instigator. I'm not saying let him throught the first punch. I don't like that opinion. I am saying that if it becomes inevitable that a punch will be thrown, let it be yours, and make it a good one. If you are enraged, then you could do serious harm, to both James and yourself (i.e. assault on your permanent record). Just be careful with this one. There are couselors out there who can help with situations like this. They will understand your locality and mentality far clearer than anyone on a martial arts forum.

Yeah, we've done a few jumping kicks. We've been taught that if you get hit by by one, then you deserve what you get. The moves are incredibly telegraphed. The power is there, but the price is too great.

It's good that you've found an outlet. You really have to watch this attitude. You get upset about society not caring, but you get anger? How is that productive? You must be a force for positive change. Rage, obviously, is not positive. Rage will accomplish nothing towards your goal of a better society. Turn into

Trust and commitment. You must trust yourself and you must commit to the trick. If you go half-way, you will hurt your back, neck, or head. And you could do a lot more than just hurt it (see Menjo's post above).

Because you say survival, I would choose Gatorade. Although I sweat profusely at a workout, I have never considered any class to be a survival situation.

Same here. Now I find myself just rambling over the same topics. Ha! I started karate. Then I started talking about karate. I've gotten a lot more serious about actually practicing in the last 2 months. Now I just chime in when I actually know something, which is a lot less than I originally though.

We have a Shuri kata called Go Pei Sho (Advanced Tearing Peacock). It's an upper level kata, so I don't know it yet. I think the Peacock is one of the Chinese animals forms.

I worry about students with so much pent up rage. I was picked on a lot in middle school and high school because of my excessive weight and my total geekiness. It sucked. To deal with it back then, I avoided them, and I ate comfort food. Avoidance doesn't always work with the confines of a school. There's always lunch times and the occassional classes. Comfort food only makes one problem worse. It was rough. Then I went to college, and I found my home. Geeks, it turns out, do quite well in college. That's where I was able to find my peace. Now, I use MA to work my body and my mind. The anger is gone. Only when I am relaxed, not tense, am I successful. Anger only makes me more tense, and slows me down even more. I would agree very wholeheartedly with parkerlineage. Working out is great for venting. Beat the stuffing out of the heavy bag, but do not take that anger to your opponent. It doesn't teach you to live without anger, you won't spar as well, and it's not safe for you or your classmates. Trust me, you do not want a modern-day sensai to see you as a liability. *Edit: fixed typos.