Jack

Ooh, whats in the envelope? I think you may have to use an airtravel envelope with special stamps. I suggest you ask at your local post office, though, since I am not sure.

I also enjoy cooking, but I wouldn't go as far as to say I "love" cooking. I've cooked myself breakfast and lunch today, even if it was only oatmeal for breakfast and my favourite pasta-tuna-cheese sauce mix for lunch.

http://www.4kicks.com/

I'd also have to say Taekwondo and Hapkido, since Hapkido makes up for a lot of TKD's weaknesses - so whilst Taekwondo can teach you kicking and striking skills, Hapkido can be invaluable with throws and locks.

Monkeygirl, I voted green until I saw that you'd marry a guy who loved cooking... I'm now very much into the culinary arts. And keep this polite please, I also don't agree with diamondick but everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Wow, thats a lot in your life KC. 1 year of Taekwondo Official serious start to Bodybuilding 16th Birthday...

I wouldn't say you are a minority. I like the loud music when lifting weights, hitting a bag, or running, but when I normally train basics and patterns I would listen to similar music, I have a load of oriental music to practice to for that. As you said, clarity of thought is important.

What I put onto my newest Minidisc to listen to for my weight session later.. Rammstein - Engel D12 - Fight Music (I dislike rap but the attitude in that song works for me) Kennedy Soundtrack - Killing Music Kennedy Soundtrack - 24/7 Iron Maiden - Can I play with madness Iron Maiden - The evil that men do Accept - Balls to the wall ACDC - Back in Black ACDC - Highway to Hell Rocky IV - Eye of the tiger, training montage, no easy way out Soil - Unreal The Vines - Get Free Kind of an odd collection, different styles but I hope it works well. PS. You guys have some great music tastes (G95, Mike, three60 especially)

Hmm, I suggest you visit the Bodybuilding.com forums and ask questions concerning it there - plenty of people there have used it in the past and will be glad to help you.

I thought EAS was purely a supplement company? Concerning Body For Life - I've heard it is a great programme, aimed more for those who need to lose weight. Hmm and simple dishes - tuna or chicken sandwiches, salads, fruit, pre-pacackaged sliced ham and chicken, rice, pasta, bread, cereals... use your imagination.

Deby, My dad is being really dissapointed in me and it seems as if he is laying guilty trips into me even if he doesn't mean to, 'what about all the effort you've put in? It will be wasted. What about all the morale support we've given you?' I wish he would stand by me with support and pride for whatever I chose to do. Just venting.

Thank you! A search on google shows loads of BMR calculators.

Very impressive, congrats. Care to show me some Tai Chi sometime?

Ad, do I recall you saying in the first lost of posts that were lost in this thread that you worked out your Basal Metabolic Rate? If my memory isn't failing me, would you mind telling me where and how you worked it out, and if it includes daily activites such as walking, climbing up stairs, and office work? Thank you.

lol, yep. Tribute is a great song, as are many of their others. Great band.

It may not be all that important, but if this guy is going to have his hips messed up for life by the army then it's obviously important for him. http://www.trickstutorials.com/tutorials_mainflexiblity.htm If you have the time in the day, follow the heavy static flexibility routine.

Belated happy birthday.

Well, the oxford dictionary states that humble means... Nevermind that. I would define humble not as completely discrediting yourself and drastically underplaying what you've achieved, but more as being quietly happy with what you have achieved without getting caught up in your own success, but also not saying great things about yourself that are not true. Being able to take a compliment with a smile and not think you are god's gift to women/life/martial arts. A lot of it is about knowing your place, but that also applies if you are better off than someone. Say you can bench 200lbs and your friend can only bench 120lbs. You may offer him advice and guidance, but you shouldn't tease him about it and remind him constantly that you're stronger than him. 'Humbleness' is accepting that you are only one person in a world of 6 billion, and that everyone has their own problems and achievements in life and so you should not expect them to pay excessive attention to yours since they are busy with their own, and many other people's.

I'm just going to ask you here to continue this discussion peacefully. We tolerate arguments but not abusive ones where personal attacks are made or agression is used. Keep this on subject please, no flaming. Thanks.

http://www.cbass.com/Furey.htm

Yes Ad, they are. The hanging leg raise (with a straight leg) is a more difficult version of the hanging knee range.

Thank you all for the replies. Since I dislike arguing with my father verbally, I'm going to email him this. Tell me what you think an old, stubborn, unknowledgable on the subject man would think of this? Start from the simple, adamant viewpoint that I would be a quitter and will have wasted the last year if I stopped TKD. "Why I am not pleased with my TKD School (in no ways hostile towards you, or an insult to your intelligence. I am simple stating my feeling and thoughts about TKD, and my TKD school) Realistic Self Defence? No, my TKD dojang does not provide this. The way they teach is orientated around impressing the black belts at gradings to move up in rank, making pretty kicks, and sparring. The sparring is light contact with many restricting rules. There are no rules in a street fight. We are not taught effective fighting skills in all ranges (kicking, striking, clinching, trapping, grappling, weapons). TKD is learning 'about fighting' but not learning to fight. I do not feel confident defending myself with the skills I have been taught. Spiritual Developement/Mental satisfaction? Again, no. To develope one's mind, several things can be done. One is to be pushed to the physical limit. Due to the instructor's desire to make money, he does not make the classes difficult enough because he does not want to scare students that are not into that away. He also does not teach about the internal aspects of the martial arts, such as centering, deep breathing, use of breathing, or meditation. The lessons do not relax me, improve my confidence particularly, or develope myself. Motivating instructor? Not really. When a new student enters the class, he quickly brings up the topic of money and how much he wants to paid, when he wants to be paid, etc. etc. A true martial arts instructor would give several free lessons, offer advice, information, and give the prospective student complete freedom of choice before arranging fees, instead of pressuring them into paying. How this affects me is that if he is more interested in making money than teaching his students, then after I have payed him he has got what he wants, and he will not have to give me a whole lot of attention to correct what I'm doing. Other... Whenever we do train in self defence techniques, he does not particularly focus on making them work quickly, safely, and efficiently, but he does mention a lot on what you want to do to make the technique "look" better for the black belts grading you, to move up in rank. Some of what he says about real fighting is very unrealistic, and takes for granted that techniques will work and never supplies us with backups incase it doesn't. He is telling the students here that certain techniques will work 'you kick him in the knee with that and he will be down,' but - 9/10 times that just won't work and then the students who will not have been taught what to do if it fails will most likely end lying on the sidewalk and mugged. I don't want to make this school seem really terrible, it is not. It is an enjoyable class, but that is all I get out of it - a bit of enjoyment. I do not get the mental satisfaction, spiritual developement, health benefits, or importantly realistic self defence in case of a fight occuring. The instructor seems interested in money, moving students up in grade quickly, making money off of their ambition to be a blackbelt. (3 years for a black belt? It should take 5 or more, in far eastern places it can take 20 years of intense military-like training every day to receive a black belt). I am sure you will ask 'Why not find another TKD Dojang?' so here is the answer in advance. Taekwondo revolves around kicking, but has very little emphasis on other ranges. So after a kick is executed, it will probably not put him down, and then we will be in hand ranges. We'll be evenly matches, but as happens in most fights he would dive on me with a bearhug or grab of somekind. We are not trained in this, I would not know what to do. So he would hurt me pretty bad and probably land me on the floor. I have no training here either, so he would lay a world of hurt on me, steal my wallet, phone, etc. and make his way off. All TKD focuses on kicking, with some hand striking. And I do not want to solely concentrate on that or if someone were to really attack me, I would be unable to effectively defend myself. So, surely you can see why I am displeased with my Taekwondo. Please do not accuse me of being a simple 'quitter' for I fully intend to make the most of my life, and would like to seek out another form of martial art that fulfill my desires. Ideally, a simple fighting style like Kickboxing for fighting skills, Tai Chi for mental satisfaction and spiritual developement, along with weightlifting and jogging for physical conditioning would provide me with everything I need in that section of my life to be happy, fit, and able to defend myself if the need occurs." Thank you again.

Well, I will try to help you out here. If this post is longwinded, then I apoligise. Abdominal Endurance: One of the most simple ways to train, you are aiming for high repetitions, with a medium speed of movement. Although you may not be moving slowly, you should still keep your muscles tense throughout the whole exercise. Try doing.. Situps - 4 sets of 50 Twist Situps - 4 sets of 50 Reverse Crunch - 4 sets of 25 No rest between sets, and triset the movements. This means do 50 situps, instantly followed by 50 twist situps, instantly followed by 25 reverse crunches. Do this for a total of 3 or 4 times, by the end you'll be pooped. Do this twice weekly. Size: Most size increases throughout the body happen when the repetitions are between 8 and 12. This applies to the abdominals also. So you will want to perform your movements very slowly and with high tension in your abs to be able to find 8-12 repetitions tough to complete. Try this routine. 2 sets of 8-12 reverse crunches 2 sets of 8-12 twist crunches 2 sets of 8-12 crunches When you can do 12 repetitions, either find another ab exercise, or add resistance to the current one by holding a dumbell between your feet for reverse crunches, or holding a weight plate over your chest for the other two movements. Don't forget to keep movement slow, you're not aiming to simple cruise your way through the movement, but to feel every muscle working hard and struggling - this will cause you growth! Strength This is one of the section I am not so knowledgable about, but I think the size routine also builds strength pretty well. Maybe another member would be able to help us out here? Speed Again, not so knowledgable. There are several exercises on a medical ball to help build explosive strength - but I'm afraid we'll have to research those ourselves. To put it all together, I suggest doing each one of these for a one month period, working the abs twice a week. So do a month of high repetitions, then a month of slow, high tension, low rep movements, then work on strength, and finally on speed. Working on endurance and size first gives us 2 months to research about building solid strength and explosive strength in the abdominals. I hope this helped.

Pushups, pullups, abdominal exercises. If you're at the beach, try running along it at night - it's very inspiring. And practicing in water adds resistance which increases power, if you'd like to give it a go.

Pushups do not only train your chest and triceps. They make use of your back, traps, hips, and legs too!