baronbvp

I always wondered what martial art that was. That, and their double-fist strike like a two-handed backhand in tennis.

Maybe you swing one leg around in a circle to distract the opponent and then kick with the other leg? And maybe the brick attacked him?

I've seen quite a few older martial artists in the black belt ranks. It's those of us who are just starting a new style, and have never held a high belt, that worry about injury. Obviously I don't worry enough to stay home...

I remember a guy in early UFC who knew he was beaten, tapping on the other guy's back like a madman. You could see the other guy was determined to break his arm, and he just came down on it with all his weight. I call that battery. But of course, it was UFC. I've seen some accidents, too, though usually you can tell when you are vulnerable. I got hurt wrestling in college when my partner had my arms pinned to my sides while grappling standing. He was moving us sideways trying to make me fall and I, of course, resisted. When I finally fell on my right shoulder, I fell hard enough to damage the rotator cuff and end my season. It wasn't my fault, but I knew it was coming and couldn't prevent it. Incidentally, I can still feel that injury if I roll over in bed wrong.

I saw that one coming. One of the offices I had under me in a previous was like that.

Try also just concentrating on maintaining good posture during the day, keeping your abs tight whether standing or sitting. You'd be surprised how often we relax them. This will help keep them strong and increase your awareness of them throughout the day.

Bushido Man, you need to check out this composite motion leg machine, the CF-2355: http://www.hoistfitness.com/_brochures/GSA.pdf If I could afford one, I'd buy it today. We had one on the USS John C. Stennis that I used all the time. It is my favorite leg machine. The reticulated motion eliminates stress on the knees and hips. I put about 750 lbs on it because the motion required more weight, but it was GREAT.

Yep. It's brutal but increasingly common. It is also insidious. I can no longer do reverse grip bar curls because the outsides of my elbow joints hurt too much when I do them.

There are some great bags at my new school for just that purpose. OBTW, using the shin hurts the other person. There's a guy who trains MT at One Spirit whose kicks are so hard he could easily break an opponent's leg with his shin. Scary.

Maybe you should take up boxing, Bushido.

I could always try the James T. Kirk double-foot kick to the chest, followed by a fall to the ground.

I'll bet!

You should be specific about the kind of pain you feel. If it is joint pain, there may be inflammation in there or wear damage to the ligaments or cartilage. You are too young to have continuous pain in your legs. Protein will help you build muscle and repair tissue, but it doesn't sound to me that your pain is just from under eating and insufficient protein. You may need to take a month off to heal or your risk even longer term consequences.

Get the bag up and see if contact eases things. Have you hurt yourself during the three years off? Been typing a lot on a keyboard, per chance?

Great idea, Bushido Man! Last night my Muay Thai class was canceled for snow. I normally log my training in my training journal and my workouts in my home gym notebook. Maybe I'll start using this. My question is...is anyone reading anyone else's workouts? Very nice. My workout on Tuesday: 7 min elliptical, lvl 13/15/17 5 min stretching Decline situps with 25 lb dumbbell on chest: 25/25/15 Dumbbell bench: 35x10, 40x8, 45x6, 50x6, 35x8 Overhead pulldowns: 60x12, 80x10, 100x8, 100x6, 120x6 (reverse grip) Leg press: 80x15, 120x12, 160x10, 120x8 Leg kickbacks: 30x10x2 ea side Shoulder dumbbell press: 30x10x2 Clean and jerk: 45x25 Dinner time. I'd like to see Sohan's workouts. You and he do a lot compared to old men like me!

A month of pain and discoloration on your shin sounds excessive to me, especially if it doesn't seem to be healing much. Have you been seen by a doctor?

I feel too much pain in my hip to hold my leg up and out for that long. I get a better stretch by resting it on something and then stretching the muscles. Bushido Man's exercise sounds good, but I just can't do it. For strength, I do leg presses, leg retractions, calf extensions, and other weight lifting.

Great article. I think more arts should concentrate on today's weapons. I don't expect to be attacked by anyone carrying a rice thresher, or to use one to defend myself. Being attacked by someone with a gun or knife or skateboard is much more likely. I'll bet no one trains on disarming an opponent of a skateboard.

I hope what you learned is that discipline, respect, and character building are inside of you. The rest is just the training environment you choose to be in.

No, I use Firefox too and it works fine. Highlight the text you wish to quote and copy it. Paste it into your reply, then highlight it again and select "Quote" from above. There should be a at the end of the text and a

When I don't train, I can't stop thinking about it. I train because I can't not train.

Good article. You mentioned attempting to deescalate the situation, but I would make that its own "D" for a total of five D's. Deescalation is that important and rarely trained.

Holy cow, where did you go to school? That's a busy schedule for anyone. There are parallels to your excellent article for many of us. My military peers who are fellow martial artists get frustrated by loss of MA training time due to the moving around and deployments we do. Obviously with the wars recently, many have been in actual combat. (No offense to those who define actual combat situations as street fights, but we define it as when people are shooting at us and/or we are shooting back.) Obviously there is not much time to train of any MA that is not directly related to the mission or staying alive in combat. The key is to do what you can, where you can, when you can. Thinking about MA when working out, reading books, and light sparring against others who train MA are only some of the ways. The MA candle burns quietly until one day we can start training again. I have the time now after six years of sea duty and I am very happy as a result. Thank you for your great article, Monkey Girl. You are wise for one so young.

I agree. You can tell how well someone is trained by watching them. I have changed styles several times and started over every time. I prefer to wear pants and a t-shirt to a gi with a belt anyway. The key is to know what you know; to know what you don't know; and to learn what you want to learn.

Maybe it's "Joe's Karate." People invent hybrid styles all the time based on things they know and like.