ROB

Have a look here :- https://www.crossfit.com. Do the crossfit workouts for strength / conditioning, and get as much partner work as possible, ie pads, sparring ect. Build your anerobic capacity, and everything else becomes easy.

I train with Steve Morris. Once a month or so, he runs MMA sessions, 4 hours on a sunday afternoon, usually in Shropeshire. Myself and a small group of training partners attend. I,ve trained for over 30 years, at various times in Judo, shukokai karate, Lau Gar Kung fu, Kick boxing, Ju Jutsu, mma. I have never come across any instructor who comes close to Steve Morris, in fighting abilty , knowledge, skill & teaching ability. He is a one off, very intense, takes no bullshit, and expects 100 % effort. But thats what I want from an instructor. As for his tales of Japan, believe them, he's was & still is at 61 years of age capable of everything he says. You can always email, Steve yourself at his web site and ask if you may attend his training sessions, and sample the real thing for yourselves, personnallly I think if your serious about your training, you should.

Here's a thourght for all you british martial artist out there, instead of listing and wishing who you could and would have liked to train with, get your kit together and go along to a Steve Morris session, usually held one sunday in the month, any where between london & liverpool. This guys a live and kicking and willing to teach. If your serious about training, you really shouldn't miss the oppertunity to train with this man. He really is the business. check his web site for details of next course. https://www.morrisnoholdsbarred.com

You can't spot reduce !! try :- Squats, burpees, tuck jumps, walking lunges - hundreds of them!

Yes I suppose it was, but the aim was to get as big & strong as i could at the time, and it seemed to work, from the size point of view anyway. Although I would say I am just as strong now @ 30 lbs lighter and a lot fitter, but you live and learn don't you !

May be its just me but I always used to drink milk to put on weight ! I'd regularly drink 4 pints a day with my six meals, as milk is so high in carb's & protien I always thourght it was a natural body builder, and for me it certainly was. Got upto 250 lbs plus before I decided I was to to old to be carrying around the bulk. Cut the milk and all grain products, now i'm a svelt 220, well svelt for me !!

Don't want to put a big downer on your quest for a six pack, I understand at age 17 its a desirable thing to have along with 18" arms & 28" thighs. But if at 5 ft 8" and 150 lbs you are bearly showing a 2 pack, your going to have to drop may 10 lbs of body weight or more. And to be honest at 17 you should be building up not cutting down. Don't worry about specific ab routines, just work very very hard at your martial arts on a regular basis, eat a good clean diet most of the time, and as your body matures i'm sure your ab's will appear.

When training time and energy is limited, I find it best to make all my training sport specific in some way, so I'm working my strength, conditioning & basic skills & drills, in each and every workout, rather than have strength days, aerobic days, ect. Ross boxing web site has some excellent cross training routines, also https://www.crossfit.com, has tons of free info, you could adapt any of their short work outs to your busy life style. If you try and eat a good diet 80 % of the time, you don't need supplements. Just get plenty of greens, veggies / salads, low fat protien sources chicken / turkey,and some good fats, ie olive oil, almonds, seeds, fish . cut out the coffee & tea,milk products, alcohol,and drink plenty of water.

If your looking to get stronger for your martial art, you need to work the large muscles of the body ie legs / back / shoulder structure, the rest ie arms, will get a lot more work doing chins / dips ect, than curling & tricep extensions. I would even venture to suggest you may benifit more by combining your strength work into a circuit, rather than a bodybuilding type approach, as its strenght & power under anerobic conditions, you will require in any combat situation.

Surely the fitter you are the better you can perform, weather it be in combat or as an instructor. Personnaly I've seen many martial artists reach Black belt, and then sit back, don't work out, get fat, and expect respect for their belt, not their current abilities. I supose it depends what you are training for, real world fighting abilities, or picking up a few extra quid every week, from trusting yet gullibule individuals, who look on as Black belt as a mark of ability. You can't wear your belt on the street, so unless you are medically unable to work out, why put your self forward as an instructor of a fighting art, when, you couldn't run for a bus, let alone defend yourself and your loved ones, from a young fit physco, breaking into your house, or attacking you after too many beers on a saturday night.

Have a look at Mike Maher aggressive strength training web site he's a veggie, who's in great shape, he's diet is shown in one of his articles to a veggie web site.

Dippedappe, You are obviously a big fan of Bruce Lee, and why not, he lite all our imaginations with his films. I worshipped at the alter of Bruce when I was a youngster, sneaking in to see Big Boss, and Way of the dragon at age 13, I loved the stuff. His Jet kune do was ground breaking in mixing the martial arts, which has been carried on and refined by his former pupils and friends, no argument. But may be here's where we differ, all this doesn't make him a great fighter, physically he was very small, the majority of his fighting skills were stand up, even in the 70's, he could have travelled to thai land and fourght there, or Brasil, the Gracies have been taking on all commers since the year dot. He never actually fourght any one, it was all theory, and through his films he was able to promote him self well. Lets face 30 years after his death we are still talking about, what he may have been capable of.

Just my two cents to the previous reply, if you really want to lose some excess from around the stomache, the diet needs to be tighter, carb's have to be low glycemic, no wheat or refined rice. Use veg's and fruit as your main source of carb's, even then go for apples and pears rather than oranges and bannna's. Lots of greens. If you need rice and bread, eat Brown rice and sprouted wheat bread, ( this is'nt a contradiction sprouted wheat is quite different from your normal breads) or rye bread. Also cut out your milk products, eat fish,turkey chicken, in small amounts as protien source, with almonds & seeds and olive or flax oils, fot your fats. Lots of water. It may sound a bit over the top, but it's very healthy, and will have you ripped the bone in no time

Looking at the wokout weeks posted, just wondering why fighters, train weight programs like bodybuilders, ie splilt routines, individual body part workouts ! Are you training to look better, or perform better as a martial artist? In all your martial art work be it stand up or grappling, the body works as a complete unit, so why train it legs one day chest, back and shoulders the next ect. I understand why a body builder would do this for better muscle recovery and growth, but a fighter ? Full body workouts mixing anerobic & aerobic functions, has to be the way to go for martial artists.

There's a lot you can do with your 10lb weights and a bit of imagination. I've seen video's of Steve Morris (You've probably never heard of him, but he's a top British martial artist), working out with what look like 3 or 4 kg weights. Obviously your not going to be doing your standard lifts, but then your not a weight lifter are you ? Holding your weights, run thru a series of specific and non specific drills, ie punches, imaginary pulls, ie thai & grappling, step up's, jack knife sit up's, push up's on the dumbells, squat crouches, ground work push off's, the list is end less. Visulize an opponent at all times as your running the drills, set rep or time targets, and go from one exercise to the next with minmum rest.