Jack

Good idea iolair, seeing as you have a good amount of experience and knowledge. However, why name it "without-blade" when you teach armed/bladed combat? Good luck!

100% All of those hippy Brain-Synchronisation CDs using Binaural beats to create new neural pathways between each side of my brain must have paid off quite well.

Spirituality and Philosophy interest me a lot. I also like to read loads of books about people and about culture. I enjoy creative writing too and play guitar occasionally. I love music. I love lying down with my eyes closed and just listening through an album and seeing where it takes me. I am starting to make my own ambience and meditation music with software on my computer and I'll be sure to post some up if you want. I enjoy working out, at the moment with Matt Furey's Royal Court exercises. I enjoy challenging the way I think. I enjoy it when I'm ever in a mood and I force myself to use thought to realise this mood is pointless and then make myself feel better. I really just enjoy studying myself and other people - mind and body. And I enjoy expression through music and writing, and reading/listening to music. I love spending time with my close friends and with my girlfriend too. I also enjoy sleeping.

BlackBeauty - don't fall for Muscle-Tech's false advertising. Cell-Tech is just creatine with lots of sugar dumped in, given a pretty logo, and sold at an extortionate price. You'd be much better off buying plain Creatine Monohydrate for a cheaper price and a superior product. 19 times better than Creatine? Laughable. Muscle-Tech always seem to say "Our product is 23,500% better than all the others!" All Muscle-Tech products are vastly overrated, overpriced, and inferior to most other products out on the market. Don't fall for the marketting gimick. Take care,

jiu-jitsu fighter, most doctors know nothing but misunderstanding and lies concerning sports supplementation - some of them also think doing chest exercises will reduce fat in the chest area. Phil, make sure you follow the guidelines and make sure you drink PLENTY OF WATER. Cycle on and off. You'll be fine.

Iolair - May I suggest you eat more protein and stop disbelieving those that may be getting the proper nutrition they need to get stronger.

'Junk' by Melvin Burgess is a very interesting read and insight into the life of a pair of teenagers who run away and become friends with two others. It goes all into how they become addicted to some serious drugs, and is about the friendship, love, the drugs and the pain. Its great. The "Art of War" by Sun Tzu is a very good read, I got confused by it when I last tried to read it over a year ago, but I will give it another shot shortly. "Living the Martial Way" is a very good book with a lot of insight into martial arts. At the moment I am reading the Kurt Cobain Journals because a friend lent me it - it's an interesting insight into the way the guy thinks. I am also going to start reading some Iain M. Banks books in the future.

They also develop lung power, the ribcabe will be pushed up, the chest will become more pronounced. Bodyweight exercises, I would recommend the Royal Court. Hindu Pushups, Hindu Squats, and the Back Bridge. Also try handstand pushups, pullups, p-bar dips, and crunches.

Actually Freestyle, deep breathing increases lung power/size and intercostal muscle size, enlarging the ribcage. This gives the effect of a larger chest.

This was me one year ago. 1) I trained very hard, but then left Taekwondo. I am getting in good physical condition for the next 4 or so months before I pick up another MA. 2) I would say I did pretty well at this one. 3) I broke up with Jen, but on good terms, and now have another girl of 4 months (4 month anniversary on new year's eve) who I'm very happy with. My resolutions this year, I will be brief with, since I wrote 2200 words on them and commit to them, and I read them every morning and night. 1) My Body - I will dedicate myself to Matt Furey's Royal Court exercises and do lots of cardio, eating a lot of clean food. I am hoping to gain in all areas of fitness, and put on some weight by the end of April in order to lose a bit of fat for June/July. 2) My Mind - I'm going to challenge a lot of my beliefs. I'm going to try to think problems through instead of trudging through them or ignoring them. I'm going to think objectively. I'm going to do lots of logic puzzles. I'm going to explore emotions and explore thoughts, and force myself to look at new ways and see how I react to things, and override basic selfish emotions to think what would result in the best for myself and others. 3) My Soul - I'm going to pick up on the meditation. I am going to learn about how Chakras work and continue strengthening my chi. I'm going to become more and more peaceful and quiet of mind, and become more open and loving. I'm going to be the observer and not the jester in this life. 4) School work - I'm going to commit myself to shrug away negative emotions about school and just get on with work. I'm tired of the stress whichis mostly caused by arguing with myself about when Im going to do work. I'll view school as a learning oppurunity and a chance to increase my logical abilities. 5) My relationships - I'm going to be there always to listen and help for all of my closest friends and family. I'll allow my relationships to grow stronger and more meaningful. Loyalty means a lot to me. I have visualised all of these and picture myself fulfilling these frequently. I know the steps to take to achieve all of these and am working on them now.

Ooh - helpful ressurection Deby, thank you.

Hello again, KickChick some of those methods do look interesting and have a theoretical reason behind them, but it is frowned upon by the Bodybuilding community to work the weaker, smaller side harder. It is much preferred to use dumbells and work both sides equally hard, and to stop working the stronger side when the weaker side gives up. Working the weaker side in different ways with more intensity or more volume is not always good, if you work the weaker pec harder it will need more recovery time than the stronger pec, and the stronger pec may continue to get srtronger because it gets the recovery time it needs while the weaker continues to lag. In my opinion - Remember that less is more, keep working your pecs the same but allow the stronger pec to wait for the smaller one to catch up, instead of pushing your weaker ones harder with a work intensity they may not be able to handle well. If you treat them the same, theres a higher chance of a completely accurate, natural balance being achieved. Thanks, PS. You'll probably go with Deby's idea, since I wrote this first thing in the morning and never make sense when I do that.

Bodybuilders to this too at competition time, to the extreme.

Perhaps you could, but I wouldn't recommend it since the pectorals are not entirely isolated from each other and share support muscles, working one with a dumbell may fatigue the other pec or support muscles a little.

I would recommend that you learn choking from a qualified instructor, and do a fair amount of research on how it should be applied. You don't want to be killing someone with a choke. Bon, I have heard it may take only 10 seconds of choking after the opponent has passed out to kill them, and 5 seconds for brain damage. You should release pretty quickly after rendering them unconscious either way.

Hey again ad, this problem is more common than you'd think. Your left side must be your dominant side and so has grown more. The classical solution when weightlifters get this problem would be to do Dumbell Bench Presses, with an equal weight dumbell for each hand. When your weaker pectoral gives up, stop working both, even if your stronger could crank out a few more reps. Doing this over a period of time allows your weaker side to catch up with your dominant side, thus creating a balanced physique. I recommend that if you are concerned with this, you buy a cheap pair of dumbells and find a bench. The dumbells should be heavy so that you can only crank out 6-12 reps with them before failure. Take care.

Fair enough ad, but with low weight and high reps (I guess we are talking 15-50 reps per set) then you will not gain much strength or power in your strikes, and next to no size at all, but your ability to maintain power in your strikes over longer periods of time will increase noticably. Good luck!

I recently turned 16 too, happy belated b-day bro. Firstly - you do not build 'tone'. You cannot do certain exercises to 'tone' or 'shapen' a muscle - weightlifting will force your muscles to become stronger and bigger (to varying ratios depending on training style) and tone is a simple combination of muscle size and low bodyfat. So by wanting to tone all you need to do is lose fat, and you could carry on with your bodyweight exercises. For Martial Arts, I would recommend a combination of Bodyweight Combat Conditioning exercises (Hindu Pushups, Hindu Squats, and Back Bridge) to work your flexibility and endurance, in combination with a Powerlifting/Pylometric style of weight training. This would involve high weight with low reps, moved at a fast speed, to increase strength and speed. You don't really need supplements to gain strength or mass, a well-structured meal plan will support your weight training perfectly. Aim to get 6 meals a day and to eat 18-22 calories per pound of bodyweight. Each meal should have one portion or carbs and one portion of protein.. here are some good sources Carb - Bread, Rice, Potatoes, Pasta, Yams, Wheats, Oats Protein - Meats (chicken and tuna are lowest in fat), Milk, cottage cheese Fat - Nuts, Peanut Butter, Milk To gain strength, you are going to have to gain some mass, but don't worry since with the correct routine and eating schedule, you will be able to achieve great strength and speed without putting on too much mass. Many of the strength increases in powerlifters are not due to increased muscle strength, but due to increased neural ability for the body to recruit more of the muscle it already has.

Here are some links I would like you to read.. https://www.awakenedmind.com https://www.centerpointe.com The basis behind these CDs is that by inputting two different frequencies into the left and right ear, the brain creates a third phantom frequency, and whatever that frequency is, the brainwaves of your mind match to - putting you in different states from light relaxation to a deep sleep while awake! As well as a variety of light and deep meditative steps. As you listen to these CDs, new neural pathways have to be made to adapt to the stimulus, much like how a runner's cardiovascular system has to adapt to running. These pathways link left and right sides of the brain, creating "whole brain functioning" allowing for both sides of the brain to be used at once, instead of alternation between the two - this can often cause increased thinking, memory, and the like. These CDs basically put you into a state of meditation and can bring about adaptations in your brain that would take decades of traditional meditation to achieve, helping to relax you and bring a whole host of benefits to body and mind! I just thought you guys would like to know about this, and read the websites above.

That is true. A walk is sometimes not enough though, so make it a brisk walk or light jog for losing fat. For the fastest adaptations in cardiovascular fitness however, running and interval-sprint training are superior, and do lead to impressive fatburn also - not during the time of exercise, but afterwards through the increase in metabolism, testosterone, and GH levels.

Hello Eye of the tiger - seems we are both in the same boat for once! For weight gain, here are some of the essential basics.. You have to eat more calories than you burn, creating a calorie excess, so excess calories can be used for building muscle. You are going to gain a little bit of fat with that muscle - but the fat can be minimised with proper training. You are going to have to get a consistent meal plan and stick to it - Start with 2800 calories a day and if you are not gaining weight up by 200 calories every week until you are. To minimise fat gain, by speeding up metabolism, eat every 2-3 hours. Drink a lot of water, you are going to need it to keep your liver healthy with the increased protein intake. Here are some foods you should get Complex carbs: Oats, Wheats, Breads(pref. wholemeal) Pasta (pref. wholemeal) rice, pasta Protein: Meats and fish (Chicken, tuna, steak, and turkey are excellent choices!) Simple carbs: best for first thing in morning or after a training session - fruits, fruit juices, candy(best to avoid candy to avoid fat gain though) Fats: Best to come from your meats, some from peanut butter is good though, and you can buy flax oil to drink - its a source of healthy fat vital to keeping the body in top shape! The basics of gaining weight are to.. Workout hard Eat big, eat clean Rest lots Stick with it and give it time Best of luck to you! I doubt you will gain as much mass with bodyweight exercises as you will with hypertrophy-specific weight training, but with the above nutrition you should gain somewhat!

I would have to say a BLT, with many rashers of juicy, sizzling, hot bacon. mmm....

Well, if you don't have time - make it! Get up earlier so you can make yourself a cup of cereal with milk, and then prepare a lunch for you to take with you to school. It may be a drag, but trust me, it pays off.

While it may be the change in diet, almost every woman of your age gets irregular periods, some girls I know going up to 3 or 4 months before getting one. It is also a normal occurance for teenage girls to get a period every 2 weeks for a while - this is normal, don't sweat it. Thats as far as my limited knowledge goes, though. Perhaps some other members can give more valueble insight.

Ven - relax. Its quite possible this other guy was more of a natural fighter than you, and with so little training under either of your belts, it really is nothing to get frustrated over. You've only been training a few weeks, relax and enjoy it. Eat properly, breathe, continue practicing and your endurance levels should get sorted out.