Bretty101

Do you mean to increase flexibility? They are a great way to increase flexibility but tend to put a lot of pressure on your joints? Or do you mean Isometric exercises where you push againt something that doesn't move? Bretty

So as a warning to all...what exactly were you doing to cause this to your elbows? Hyper extending? hitting hard objects? At the age of fourteen you should be able to recuperate fully from this injury? Go see a specialist! the great thing about being in the UK is all the health care is free!! Take it easy and look after yourself! Bretty

Is this the same as dynamic tension exercises where you do your techniques very tense and slowly using the antagonistic or opposing muscles to create the resistance to the motion? My cousin does Hung gar Kung Fu (sp?) and swears by dynamic tension. He claims he can develope 10 times the amount of power he could when he was doing balistic exercises!! I can imagine it is an excellent way to build power and coordination. You can develope power doing other resistance exercises but they are never in the plane of motion you do your techniques in. for example press-ups and bench presses can give you strength to punch, but don't use the same coordinnation or motion you use to punch. Bretty

Give it time fellas, when your 60 with arthritis in your joints you'll look back and wonder if it was worth it? Bretty

But boxing is 100% focussed on getting into the ring and fighting (sport). Taekwondo isn't 100% focussed on sparring!!! maybe kickboxing?! Bretty ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "ignorance is bliss"

Myth one: Stretching gets physically harder as you get older. Myth two: You can't be flexible and have big muscles. Myth three: The only thing taekwondo people can do is kick and nothing else. Myth four: ***** is THE best martial art (fill blanks as appropriate). Myth five: You can safely disarm a knife attacker. Myth six: Street attackers use straight punches. Myth seven: Street attackers do not struggle or try and hit you as you try and restrain them. Myth eight: "This self defence move is really effective if you just follow these 10 easy steps" Myth nine: Santa Claus (sorry kids), Easter bunny, tooth fairy and Chi/Qi (controversial) Myth ten: It is possible to knock someone over without touching them. Myth eleven: David Blaine can really levitate. Myth Twelve: Punching hard objects is good for your hands. Myth Thirteen: This thread/topic will really sort things out once and for all. I'll leave it there for now. Bretty

hey wolve, did you write all that yourself? Whats a skull crusher? (Tricep exercise) Cheers B

The squat thrust is a very easy exercise to do badly and I used to hate them till i did the following... Many people do them with there feet bouncing backwards and forwards. You can see their 'midsection' Bouncing and jarring which puts tremendous stress on the back,knees and stomach. The whole bouncing thing is really bad!! The best thing to do is wear martial arts shoes and slide your feet backwards and forwards so your feet hardly leave the floor. You will then concentrate more on the thrust which is a great workout on your glutes when pushing out and stomach when pulling in. Keep your midsection nice and low this should feel a lot better! Bretty btw people who break world records doing squat thrusts slide on padded feet and knees!!

??? ??? Bretty

Exactly the same as me!!! I also find it a peice of cake to put on muscle or fat and lose it. Bretty

erm.. I watched a guy break the world record for the most press ups in a minute last year (unofficially). He wasn't mexican!! I can do over 100 without stopping, couldn't do that in a minute tho. I define a pressup as: bending your arms 90 degrees at the elbows in the down position to locking your arms out in the top position. For my style, taekwondo you have to accumalate an extra 10pressups for each of the 10 gradings to blackbelt. Hence to get a blackbelt you must be able to do 100 pressups! Bretty

Doesn't the achillles tendon join the calf muscles to the underside of your heel?

Heres a question... Which way should your standing foot point? Bretty

Twist kick is what we call it. I can't do one at all, in katas/patterns i throw a poor one to waist height. Your meant to turn your foot right over till it is parrallel with the floor. As for it's effectiveness, I've seen people break bricks with that kick at head hieght!!!! Some people throw it in point sparring to just above the knot of the belt but it's not the best move. I started a thread last year asking what stretches you would do to achieve this kick but noone could tell me. I can do the side and front/back splits and still can't do this?! guess it's a hips thing. Look after your knees! Bretty

Controversial... I think there have been several reports discussing this issue. a recent one saying as long as you fatigue the muscle it will develope to become stronger. Whether you fatigue the muscle using high or low rep work had no effect?! To be fair I don't think even the scientists can agree on this subject?! However if you pay them enough they will endorse anything Bretty

I wonder if anyone can answer this for me... Tendons connect muscle to bone and Ligaments connect bones to bones. (I'm sure i'm right so far) Now you cannot stretch ligaments without damaging them for example: hyper extension or bending a joint out of it natural plane of motion. But you can 'stretch' muscles. (I know the muscle doesn't physically stretch but you effectively increase its range of motion, anyway beside the point) ...onto the question(s)... You can stretch a muscle, you can't stretch a ligament, can you stretch a tendon? When your doing stretching exercises do you stretch the tendon as well as the muscle, or just the muscle? I must have been sick the day we did tendons at school! Cheers! Bretty

Equally people who do Martial arts tend to do a million sit ups and very rarely do back exercises this is an inbalance. As is doing millions of press ups and no opposite exercises like pulling to strengthen the upper back. Then wonder why they are having trouble with there back and shoulders. I think it's as simple as.. If you want big Triceps lift heavy weights, if you want to punch fast practice punching fast and if you want to be strong do high repetition resistance work. Each aspect will always effect another! Each to there own and practice what you want to be good at. my 20 cents! Bretty

How much booze do i drink a month... Well this month xmas and new year, Quite a bit!! but Usually about a bottle of wine and a couple of pints of beer a month. When i was at university I drank about 100-150 pints of beer a month for a good 18months. At what amount do i think it becomes unhealthy?... Depends what you consider unhealthy. In terms of experiencing liver problems I think you would have to drink a lot for a long period of time. A lot of liver problems are associated with a poor diet coupled with heavy drinking. I know when i used to drink a lot my weight increased mainly due to the sort of diet drinking promotes. Obviously a dependance on any 'drug' is bad, fortunately I never had that but did enjoy a good drink. Is memery loss unhealthy? How did it effect my martial arts performance?... I've always trained 3times a week, dispite the extra weight slowing me down I never noticed a change in my fitness, I lacked some sharpness. I never drank before training but often trained the day after a heavy night of drinking. I did sweat a bit more, felt mentally tired and fought slower when I was hungover. All-in-all you will never get the best out of yourself if you drink. but it doesn't hurt in moderation. (I think here in the UK we have a very different drinking culture to the US)

Don't forget your bicep is also responsible for twisting your fist when you strike. Thats if you twist your fist when you punch. Your bicep also adds weight to your punch and helps to bring in the arc on your hook punch. It is important! Is the tricep three muscles or is it called a tricep because it is one muscle with three elements of connective tissue. Bretty

Build as in get big or as in strengthen? Without using weights it looks like pressups and pressup variations. Another good exercise: put your arms straight out in front of you. palms facing each other 2inches apart. keeping your arms straight move your arms out to the sides so you look like a scare crow. Then move you arms back to your start positions 2inches apart. Keeping your arms straight repeat this 100 times as fast as you can. Thats great for your chest and shoulders! Bretty

I got a vertical sidekick... Very few people can actually do a vertical side kick to the 'side'. Most actually lean back and throw it more behind them like a back kick. This makes sense because your standing leg will be pointing behind you while your kicking foot is parrallel to the floor. To achieve this kick you need both flexible Hamstrings and hip aDductors. If i keep my body upright I can side kick at about 160 degrees (180 being vertical). If i lean back I can kick completely vertical (180) on both legs. The stretch you want to achieve is first the front to back splits. (If you've got a picture of someone doing a vertical kick turn it on it's side and you will see they are in a front to back split position). When in the front to back splits you'll have one foot (your front foot) pointing up to the ceiling and one flat on the floor. The foot flat to the floor is in your kicking position for a sidekick. ...the next bit... You will see people who lean right back on this kick putting the stretch on the Hamstring on the standing leg. You can achieve this stretch in the front to back splits by leaning down towards your front foot (foot pointing up towards the ceiling) If you want to be more upright in the kick you have to lean (backwads)towards your other foot. So in summary to achieve the flixibility you want to be aiming for a front to back split. To achieve the strength I'd recommend... Ankle weights... Sorry no one likes ankle weights because doing fast motions hyperextends the joints So DON'T DO FAST MOVING EXCERCISES but do SLOW MOTION sidekicks with them on you will soon feel the exercise working and your legs getting stronger. Or you could just practice, practice, practice!!! Hope that helps! Give it time! Bretty

Thanks all for the help!!... I know to throw a cross i need to turn my hips, effectively turning my rear leg up onto the ball of my foot. I can do this but feel really exposed, immobile and slow. When i do this I put most of my weight onto my lead leg (as a lead leg kicker i don't like doing this, because i want to keep it between me and my opponent), I end up with my body square on to my opponent (massive target) and generally find myself rooted to the floor. As a lead leg kicker when i throw a kick I have all my weight on my rear leg, To then do a cross I've got to get that leg down to the floor transfer all my weight forward onto it and do a big twist to get my hips round. I think a cross is a very effective punch but i'm really struggling to make mine work. Keep it coming! thanks! Bretty

Hi ad, Sounds to me like you did well! It certainly 'frightens you abit' when these things happen and you never know how you will react. The effects of adrenaline can be the biggest shock. It makes you look at your training a bit closer and question just how effective a lot of it is. You just can't do any amazing combinations or get them into a controlled take down or apply an effective lock. It just doesn't happen does it! I'm glad your not 'seriously injured' and hope this doesn't effect your confidence. Brimingham Bretty

Is it my footwork? should i go onto the ball of my foot on my rear leg? Am i trying to 'over' throw it? I can't help but feel i'm sticking my chin out when i throw it??? Help!

I'm feeling like a kid with a new toy at the minute. When i'm right side forward, i'm in lead leg TKD kicking mode. very much like bill wallace my lead foot is square onto my apponent. When i'm left side forward i fight like an orthodox kick/boxer with my lead leg pointing at my opponent. I've recently got my right side forward stance switching from side-on kicking mode to pointing at my opponent blitzing mode awesomely quick. It's my new toy I love it and it's getting faster and faster all the time. So if i'm kicking it's square, if i'm punching its forwards. But thats very general because i'm very on my toes and always keep moving. Bretty