Jack

I like Ti-Kwon-Leap's idea of a doctrine/strategy/tactic forum. Practitioners of many different martial arts could go there to exchange sparring, randori, grapply tactics there with other practitioners of their own and other arts, thus broadening the individual's knowledge of strategy that they can implement to their own fighting. I like that idea a lot.

Hi everyone, I was just thinking perhaps we can all share our stories on some of our toughest lessons we've endured. I'll go first. My toughest lesson, I was alone on a large field and I had come here to train. The sun was out and it was feeling pretty hot. So I go through some basic warm up techniques, then go for a short jog then stretch out. I decide I am going to go through my syllabus for my next grading and finish it off with some conditioning work. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? I started by drilling groin blocks/lower section inner block, whatever you want to call it. (I do Taekwondo, by the way) I go the length of the field drilling groin block, thats about half a kilometer of coming forward doing groin blocks. I jog the distance back and go the length doing chest block. Jog/run back then head block, then outer chest block, then knifehand head block, X block, etc. Every move taking at least 10 minutes each. So after an hour of this I've finished the first of seven sections. Seeing how I would like to sleep tonight, I push myself faster to finish the distance with each move and I finish the bocks in back stance quickly, even though it seemed like an eternity. For some reason after I finish this some little voice inside my head says 'sprint to the end and back', so, I sprint as much as I can of a kilometer, I end up running, then jogging, then sort of staggering back. After collapsing on the floor for a few seconds, I dragged myself up and started my hand striking techniques, front, reverse, knifehands, etc. After this I go into horseriding stance and drill 300 punches as fast as possible, my arms felt like complete jelly after this. Which was handy since my next section was kicks. So off I go down the field again with my front kicks, roundhouse, side, hook, axe, crescent, turn hook, turn side, slipstep hook, slipstep side. As I do my last few slipstep side kicks I feel rain trickle onto my nose and look up at the sky to see that the pretty sun has been replaced by a large, blanketing black cloud. I drilled my patterns several times and then get my combinations over and done with as my lungs burn in heat despite the freezing air and grass. Finally, its over. Wait no, I promised myself I was going to do conditioning today and I don't like to let myself down. So I try to run 2 miles but I simply cannot, I have to break every other minutes. After an emotional 30-40 minutes I finally finish the 2 miles. I get down to do pushups but I am so exhausted I collapse after my first fifteen. I literally collapsed and lied down in the rain for five minutes before pulling myself up to cool down, stretch, and limp home. The most strange thing about this is that afterwards it felt as if a great weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, it's difficult to explain but I looked into this and found that what I had done is referred to by Japanese warriors as the act of Shibumi, which I'll explain later. This post wasn't at all ment to brag or anything, I'm sure we have all done something similar to this before at some time or another. I just wanted to share my experience with you, and I would like to hear about some of yours so that we may all enjoy what we have in common. So, post away my friends.

I'm envious. So how long did you end up spending in Japan? It has been quite a while since I last saw you posting here. And how it must have felt to train under someone who himself was trained by Funakoshi, how did you feel about that?

I concentrate more of Calisthenics and Pylometrics now, but when I did weight train at first I did a full body workout on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This workout would consist of the important compound movements, such as bench press, military press, squat, and deadlift. After a few months of this I switched to swapping between upper and lower body workouts, which allowed more volume in each workout for each bodypart, and more rest in between. On week 1, it would be as following: Monday Upper Body Wednesday Lower Body Friday Upper Body then on week 2: Monday Lower Body Wednesday Upper Body Friday Lower Body after my body had adapted to that I started to use a split, which went as following: Monday Chest, Triceps Wednesday Back, Biceps Friday Legs, Shoulders I hope this is of some use. If you would like to do some research into weightlifting and routines, here are some webpages you can check out: http://www.cyberpump.com http://www.bodybuilding.com http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Field/4992/weights.html Of course these webpages are more geered to bodybuilding, but by lowering the number of reps to 4-6, and sets to 4-5, you will create more of a strength routine, and if you use reps of 15+, more of an endurance routine. I hope this helped, any questions feel free to ask.

I cannot tell you what to take, but I will say that I would chose Wing Chun, providing I've looked at both schools and the Bujinkan Budo school is not vastly superior. I would chose Wing Chun because Ninjas trained to be assassins, using all sorts of trickery and weapons, and on the street you're not going to have nunchuka and the like. Wing Chun was designed to be an effective fighting art, and was not geared towards assassination. Also the chances of finding a truely authentic Ninjutsu school is slim, so it's quite possible it is a mock school of sorts. Just my opinion.

Plus there are differences in name between schools and organizations. Very confusing.

Well done, just be careful of losing too much. I think a fair amount of the weight lost is water however - if one has 0% bodyfat, water is still very capable of making the individual look fat and bloated. Still good job, just hope the loss of weight slows a little so you're losing fat and not too much muscle.

Welcome back! I'm glad you had a good time living and training in Japan, I'll be sure to read your stories of your time there.

4x7 does not = 35... I think you want 5 points for a correct answer.

Welcome.

Welcome.

They're like so totally sweet you completely kicked your mum in the face? cool!

Bretty no, that is a different block - very interesting read though! The Double Knifehand Block is the one in which both of your hands are in a Knifehand shape (hence the name), and the rear hand is covering your solar plexus whilst the front hand is infront like a middle section block, but with the hand flipped over in a knife shape not a fist. Hope that makes enough sense for you to understand which move is meant.

Sky Sports - either 1 or 2. It'll be on tonight (Thursday) so keep an eye on the papers and a finger on the recorder.

I meant what Deby just explained although I am no expert on this myself at all. Also, there's a certain advantage in leverage. Take a 4 foot person and a 6 foot person, both of great strength. Make them each squat 300lbs, and the 4 foot person would do it easier because he has to move the weight over less distance. Also compare Bodybuilders to Powerlifters - the Powerlifters are smaller but also stronger due to the way they train. Oh yes, and Bruce Lee is a great example.

Welcome.

pizzaboy, are you referring to working a muscle group only once per week with intensity, or to what I said about how taking a week off occasionally can be beneficial? _________________ Jack Waspe 4th Kyu Taekwondo Karateforums.com Sensei 'What the mind can believe, the body can achieve.' [ This Message was edited by: Jack on 2002-06-27 15:56 ]

A week off from intense training can actually be beneficial and allow the body to fully heal. Strength will not be lost. That however is a completely different topic. You are right that protein is essential, and excessive protein spells bad trouble for your liver. If you keep protein intake 0.8-1.2g per lb of bodyweight (amount of protein per pound of weight, yet another different topic.) per day you should see optimun results, but keep water intake high!

I've replied to your PM, Eye of the Tiger.

It's okay, but I think it is overused. I definitely dislike the flying. Using proper martial arts skills with a little help from computers looks good, but when it is overdone I don't enjoy it so much.

LOL, not I Sai. Welcome to KF g-c0de!

Welcome.

Neither is more effective, they are only different. The body adapts to the stimulus you place upon it, so by performing very slow movements with little weight but a lot of tension, your body will adapt to become more proficient at doing just that. However the downpoint for martial artists in this is that the body will also see it only needs to move slowly and so speed will be lost. Mix the two up, and include pylometrics, and you would be making good gains with muscle endurance.

The amount of protein needed is a widely discussed subject, with people recommending between 0.6 - 1.5 or even 2g per lb of bodyweight. You will have to experiment yourself and see what works well for you. Good posts everybody.

Great post, Ti-Kwon-Leap!