Jack

If you develope decent meditation skills, it is not enough to keep those skills simple while sitting. You need to work on your kata, and when the kata is good enough, you start meditation in movement through performing the kata. Then you can move onto performing basics and combinations in a state of "meditation", and then sparring. Sparring with such training makes you very sensitive to the other's movements and really changes your mindset to focus only on your opponent allowing you to dominate him completely.

Turn up the training heat? Oh, I definitely intend to. I have no intentions on showing him I'm afraid. Mainly because I am not afraid. Wow, if I lose a fight? Well done to him. He was "won". I have to have a week off training cos I'm a bit sore. I'll have fun poked at me for a little while. Nothing much there to be afraid of. Pizzaboy, I study TaeKwonDo, and our fighting revolves around combat from a longer range, not from there. I have heard that the side kick to knee is highly overated also. Hmm I'll try to sort things out with him so we're cool, but if he does start pushing me and trying to start a fight, I'm not going to stand there forever and take it.

All Martial Arts have their own "Doctrinal Core". For example, most Korean arts work from the doctine that the legs are more powerful and long than the arms, and with training can become faster, thus we see them using lots of kicks. This leaves out lots of other stuff. Its the same with other arts: Judo lacks the required striking. One must Crosstrain to achieve proficiency in all ranges of combat...

Kata will be a boring waste of time... if you don't focus on it and pay attention to it. All of the greats like Funakoshi and Oyama practiced Kata more than anything else. If you practice it seriously, as if every move you perform is to save your life, you will be building not only speed, balance, etc, but you will also be instilling a true martial determination and discipline.

Phantasmatic, may I suggest doing a Search on stretching in the Health and Fitness forum. You will find everything you need to know there. Thanks! I'm closing this thread.

Thanks for the reply Chris. I dont think he was feeling left out, he's just a miserable guy with a big ego, who thinks the MA are poncey. Unforunately he's quite strong and probably would be quite the challenge in a real fight. I think he has some boxing experience since I have had a "friendly" spar with him before and he used a boxing stance/movements... that time he got carried away and tried kicking me quite hard, lol. Miserably little boy.

They charge so much so that you're allowed to take their expensive cups with you. hmm, my favourite beverage? I honestly have no idea!

Its because when a lot of people say that, its because that is what their Instructors have told them with supplying a load of reasons, which are really just the art's strength. They do nothing to mention the weaknesses of their arts. Think of the physical training as a transport for mental and spiritual improvement. Learning how to win fights, but only as a result of training which aims to build you mentally through rigorous training.

Well, I was in the school premises at lunch time. It was a sunny day. So I was standing there with some mates of mine, and this other 'mate' of mine, Mike, walked up to me and demanded to borrow my sunglasses, in his typical "toughman" rude way. I asked him to say please sort of jokingly, so... He grabbed my arms and pushed me in the wall and started shouting at me not to use any of my "wussy" Martial Arts or he'd break my legs. I told him to calm down, and some guy from the year above said if anything happens here he'd stop it. So Mike went off. He said the reason he did this was because it pissed him off how I did Martial Arts and showed them off in school. I dont show them off, I just have a casual sort of spar with a friend of mine that does Boxing. Seriously - is it just me or has this guy got something wrong in his head? I also got that adrenalin thing. After it happened I felt a little shaken and nervous, but I just waited a few minutes talking to my friends before I went over to him (he was standing nearby with others) to sort things out, to which he just about ignored me. Apparently now I've heard that he's "after me" or something. Trouble is that he is awfully strong, when he grabbed my arms I hardly had any control over them. I could have knees him pretty hardly in the balls but I simply had the feeling that I did not want this to escalate into a fight. I'd just like to hear your comments on this event, if possible. Thanks

Well said Taikuda!

You're welcome Hiya. Sounds like a major cause of this could indeed be growing pains then at that age, but you should get it checked out to make sure. A physiotherapist deals with with the human body with gentle exercises and stretches, along with massages and other treatments to help to cure or ease pain in a lot of problems.

ad, don't forget throwing in the slow side kick into that.

as Sai and Ad said. Stick to the Upper Body Work and practice hand techniques. Also, take time to do my research and mental training in the arts. Something I do if I have free times to kill is work on my balance by standing on leg with eyes closed etc. Although Im not sure how "doable" that is in your state. The other one I use for hand-eye coordination is throwing a pingpong ball against the wall and catching it. Bruce Lee was out for 6 months with a back injury, and he came back better than before. Dont lose hope! Theres still plenty of mental and upper body stuff you can do. Bad luck, though. One word sums it up. Bugger.

Hmmm, after a bit of thought I would have to say I would most like to learn Jeet Kune Do, with a big Jun Fan Gung Fu cornerstone of that(as is with all official JKD) as well as Tai Chi for relaxation.

Makes perfect sence Sai Hmm - Kicker got his black belt in well under a year. Its official! Karateforums.com is a McDojo!

I found out today there's this girl I sort of know, whos friends with a friend of mine. I was told she has hardly been eating anything due to depression for the last few weeks and has lost 2 stone, is hardly eating anything. Her friends have told her about all the dangers and she could be doing. Shes not eating not entirely due to depression but because she thinks shes fat. True I know a lot about health, and also a fair amount about people - but has anybody here got any advice I could pass onto this girl, or give to her friends to pass on?

Hiya, just a little question here - how old are you? Its not uncommon to suffer from this sort of thing from growing pains accompanied by Overwork - I should know I'm suffering the same really badly at the moment. Either way I recommend you see a doctor and ask to be recommended to a physiotherapist.

I certainly would greatly enjoy acting in a Martial Arts Movie... great fun

Angus, it was great knowing you this past year or so, back from the good ole kickboxing.com days, its a shame to see you go but I'd like to wish you the very best with your life and training. Btw - Check your PMs if you're still here. Thanks.

Any sort of running will help the leg's strength, but weighttraining the Legs would be more effective. Try using the Search feature and looking up "running" "leg strength" and its likely you will find all you need to know!

Hey and thanks for your post! Its never too late to start training, we have people that start in their sixties or seventies sometimes and go on to earn black belts. Yeah, I have a definite issue with room as well. I can't practice my patterns(kata/forms) either. I also only get to formally train once a week. Don't worry about finding moves hard, everything is rather difficult to start with and its only natural to favour a side. Hmmm, if you're weak then theres an answer... strength training! If you could buy some form of free weights then you could do weighted squats to work on your legs, and more exercises for your upper body. I'm guessing you don't have enough money to start buying lots of exercise equipment though, so its down to the basics with lots of determination. Do lots of pushups, pullups (if you have something you can do them off) and abdominal exercises. If you bought some cheap ankle weights you could do some leg exercises. Give it your heart with these basic exercises and you'll still get some good results. For flexibility - Use the search option on this site and you'll find plenty of threads with advice on flexibility. Just stick with it and you're left kicks will soon balance out; Don't worry, I had the very same problem. Let me know how it goes.

W00t, I've finally found it! It definitely looks good, under Dan Inosanto's lineage with people like Marc McFann and Bob Green... I want in! btw I forget YODA, whats your name? Just so I can tell which area you teach in.

Just thought I would give this thread a little "bump" to the top.

LoL, I only have December 2001 issue. A friend bought me it. Ah well I'm sure it'll help Ad find you

He did not even need training, see? The key is to along with having the correct strategies, is having the correct mindset. Aggressiveness, no fear, and speed. With these he managed to suprise all of them and pick them apart. See how he was only fighting one of them at a time?