glockmeister

As was hinted before, I think there'sa big difference as far as gender goes depending on whether its fitness kickboxing or full contact kickboxing. When I was pretty much just a full contact kickboxer, I could say that most were men, there were a few exceptions Like Leah Mellinger who turned pro kickboxer and then pro womens boxer later. I sparred with her a few times but for the most part, there were only like 3 other full contwact female fighters there. Most women dont like the idea of having both men adn women inthe ring with them kicking and punching them in the face. As far as fitness kickboxing, I have noticed in my area, that its more female dominated. I don't disrespect fitness kickboxing though as if its done right, can be good as a supporting workout for thos who also take MA.

I think it depends on what u want it for. There is a big difference between a mutually combative streetfight and a typical delf defense situation like someone trying to rob you. Two people who get into an argument at a bar and say: "Let's take it outside." is one thing. (I would holp most martial artists would be more beyond that stage) And two guys wanting to knock you over for your wallet is another. In the case of something like that. Most muggers usually travel with more than one, and there is also good chance they will have a weapon. In either case, I don't think grappling would be as useful as in a streetfight where two people are trying to show off their testosterone levels.

I have 15 of them, the only ones that really hurt were my chest. inside of my right bicep and elbow. Everyone has a different level of pain tolerance. Some people can barely handle their arms getting done, for me the arms were nothing.

Cross training is a good thing in my opinion and yes I think you should take both.

We kinda do simular type training in my Krav Maga class. Although we dont close our eyes and just get hit (although the instructor may have it coming) but we will stand in the center of the room, eyes closed and the instructor will have like 3 or 4 differnt people attack from whatever angle they choose one may come up from the side and aplly a headlock and you defend, almost no sooner you have him off you, then another comes and chokes you from the front, the whole time, you keep your eyes closed so you cannot tell which angle the attack is coming from. We also have drill where we stand eyes closed and someone with a tombstone Pad will come from whichever direction and shove it into you, and you immediately turn, identify and attack the target that is presented. the attacker will either be holding the pad for a groin kick, a left/right combo, or a hammer strike, etc. The key is to resond quickly and identify a target quickly under surprise attack from your blind spots.

If you are trying to put on mass, then it would be better to work out a large muscle group. Spending a whole day on arms would be a waste since bi's and tri's are small muscle groups. You must remember that these groups already get hit pretty hard when doing back and chest work. Bench presses work your triceps at the same timeas your chest, so you could throw some tricep excersizes in at the end of your chest routine. Your biceps get hit well when doing heavy back work such as barbell rows, dumbell rows, powercleans, and bis and forearms get hit hard with deadlifts and t bar rows as well..so would be well to do some curls at the end of your back day. If, you are lifting for gaining strength, alot of the same rules apply, your strenght comes from your core mostly at least in terms of functional strength. You working your arms alone isnt going to add alot of overall strenght, if each of your three days consisted more of day 1 chest with bench being primary excersize. Day 2: back, with deadlift being primary exersize day 3 legs with Squats being primary excersize. you will gain functional strength and size both and you can throw in your isolation exersizes as you see fit, but to spend one of these three days working only arms, in my opinion would be a waste of a workout day when with the big three, you are hitting so many more muscle groups at once.

Where is your back and shoulder routine? If you do bench, it helps to have a good back because your lats act as stabilizers when you bench, also would help to do shoulder work as well. week back and shoulders will eventually cause you to risk injury when you start benching heavy. I wouldnt donate a whole day to just arms, I would throw in tricep work when I do chest and biceps on back day, you might wanna turn your arm day into a back day..Never neglect your back. I made that mistake a long time ago.

Taking a fight to the ground also means that while you are tying the bad guy up for a submission hold, you may suddenly feel 6 inches of steel going into your kidneys The LAST thing you want to do in the rela world is go to the ground. As has been mentioned before, the possibility of multiple attackers, but also if you take a guy to the ground holding a knife, it can be suicide. The idea of taking a angry, drunk relative ( or enemy) to the ground "untill he calms down" isn't realistic. Think of it this way, you get into an altercation, you take the bad guy to the ground, now, you have 3 possible things that can happen: 1: The bad guy does calm down (This however is unlikely) 2: he gives up, only to re attack you again once you let him up, only more angry and more cautious to avoid being taken down a second time 3: You take him to the ground, realize that as soon as you let him go, that u will be re-attacked, so you dislocate or break something to ensure he can't. Problem with this is, if he is already submitted, and you go ahead and damnage him, you are going to jail. There will more thna likely be witnesses that will attest to the fact that: "OH yes officer, he was down, he said he gives up and mister BJJ went ahead and snapped his arm." Choking him out or strangling him out may be better, however, if the guy would realize you are trying to chock him into unconciousness, it gives him more legal wiggle room for whittling your ribs with his pocket knife. Since choking or strangling someone has the potential to kill them, all they need to do is convince at least one juror that he was in fear for his life and he will walk. I don't know how many people here are familiar with court proceedings, lawyers, judges, jurys, etc. But I cna here it now, you being in court and the guy who stabbed you has his lawyer grilling you. "So Mr. BJJ you did attempt to put my client in a strangle hold?" "yes, I was defending myself." "but he was on the ground, yet he still was enough of a threat to justify a choke?" "um" "Choking or strangling has the potential to cause death or possible brain damage does it not" "well, yeah, but...." "Sir, if someone was literally cutting off your air supply, would you do anything possible to get this guy off of you?" You see where I am going with this I hope. Going to the ground is always a bad idea. in a ring sure it's great, on the street, bad news.

I think some of the fault lies with the instructor. A good instructor shouldn't allow screwing around and people not taking their training seriously. Maybe a different school is what's needed.

There are no known sude effects from using it as directed. yes it does help to increase strength. Although some people tend to benefit more from it then others. Some people may experience a big difference and some little or none. There are also several different brands of creatine. Some are said to work better than others. You should check out bodybuilding.com forums as they have a load of information about creatine.

I never "load" creatine. Its uneccessery basically a waste.

It may be that you were dehydrated. Creatine will do that, when you take it you should drink water like its going out of style.

I would not totally agree that mass gets in the way of flexability. Look at the Olympic lifters as big as they are, they are some very flexable people. I havemet power lifter who can do a full split. I am not sure what kinda mass we are talking about here. I don;t think the origional poster wants to look like Lou Farigneou I think he just wants to add some overall size. The by itself is not gonna hurt anyone unless of course they wanna get all steroided up and turn into hulks, but the fact is being "muscle bound" is really not something that a non-steroid user would have to worry about. As for me, I dont think my increased mass has hurt my MA training at all, in fact it has improved alot of it. I would recommend that if someone is going to lift, they should also make sure they do ALOT of stretching to keep their flexability. Alot of people who lift weights tend to neglect this, that is what gives the way for the myth that somehow mass equals loss of flexability.

I am not currently using it now but have used it in the past has helped much with my weightlifting.

Having more mass isnt going to hurt anything..in the past year and a half I have put on almost 25 lbs with a mixture of diet and weight training. It hasnt slowed me down or anything. and actually it helps compliment my fighting styles.

Yeah TSD has alot of forms in it as well..The Shorin Ryu instructor here says they do do full contact sparring..guess I will sit in on a class or two and see for myself what this particular school holds. Thanks for the help..

Does it have alot of forms? Is it all all like TSD? If so? How?

There is a school right behind me where i just moved that teaches this style. I was curious how good a style is it. I take TSD, KM, and kickboxing, was thinking maybe replace TSD with a better style. How is Shorin Ryu?

Get a power rack.then you dont have to worry about a spotter. also there are things you can buy, they look kinda like metal sawhorses, but are adjustable and they will work the same way. If not, then try finding agood lifting partner..I have found that a good and dedicated partner also helps your progress because you have someone there to give ya that extra push

as Seven star said, never lift to failure..I know alot of those crazy bodybuilder mags always preech to failure. but those are for bodybuilders and most of them are steroid freaks no matter what they say.

Ok here goes, I have been lifting for awhile and if you want to pack on mass...then you have got to eat eat eat. lower your reps. Use a weight that you can get no more than 6 but no less than 3. I always tried to keep my routine more of a powerlifting routine. I would do deadlift, squat and bench on the same day three times a week. Make sure you get plenty of sleep as well, the key is nutrition and sleep, otherwise lifting wont do you much good...So many people lift like crazy, but then don't eat near enough. You didnt give much info as to what body type you are, but if you are someone who has a heck of a time gaining. then you need to up your calorie intake..what is your average intake per day? also what do you normally eat in a day? without this, it's hard to help you. Stick to high protein foods as well, Chicken, lean beef, fish and eggs. I was eating 7 small meals a day when I was doing alot of heavy lifting. How many times a day do you normally eat..Give some feedback...

I am not sure if that is sarcasm or not, but what i mean is, I am sure there is someone at least one in that school tht would be serious minded enough to get together sometime and work with you.

Had qute a few fights growing up. Then we moved out of the city and into a smaller and "nicer" area of the suburbs, but wouldnt you know it, being rlatively small and being the only bi racial kid in the school didnt help so had my share of fights there. After high school been in a few more mainly because I have developed somewhat of a short temper and was quicker to solve problems with my fists then with my head. by the time I was about 19 or 20, I started taking boxing/kickboxing and studied some Mu Duk Kwan under a guy named Terry Nye. during this time I found kickboxing was a better outlet to let my agressions out..only had a few fights since then and none recently. MA have taught me more self control. When I began Tang Soo Do under Master John Beam, the first thing he told me I needed to change was my attitude and my temper.. It took time, but I realize now most fights can and should be avoided. Now I belive in using more your head and less fists when you encounter probs with individuals

Why not find someone in your class that is willing to get together with you outside the school and you can spar privately? I used to have a sparring partner that used to spar with me in the park back when I was boxing.

Krav Maga, Hapkida, BJJ, are good styles for LE. I work in corrections. In a prison environment, I have found that submission training works well and hapkido is good as well as BJJ although as far as going to the ground, as someone has posted earlier, You DO NOT WANT TO GO TO THE GROUND. in a realistic scenereo, you go to the ground and even if you are trained in BJJ and all that, chances are while you are getting the bad guy into a submission hold, his cell mate will be kicking your head in.