Meguro

Interval training.

Spirit. If it were easy, then they'd be handing out blackbelts to everyone who signed up for their first lesson.

What's significant about Ong Bak and Tony Jaa is that the stunts were performed without the benefit of wire work. How is this not authentic? Jet Li's flics are often filled with wire-dependent choreography, same with House of Flying Daggers. Not necessarily a bad thing, from an entertainment perspective, but not very impressive or authentic from a martial arts perspective. Elbows (you forgot them) and knees are devastating fighting weapons often neglected in MA films. I'm pretty sure the use of elbows in Ong Bak inspired the fight choreographer of Brangelina's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, as Brad does a good imitation of Tony Jaa breaking a vase with an elbow strike. The plot, as you say, is weak. So what. Most martial arts films, with a few exceptions suffer from poor scripts, dialogue, production values and acting. The Seven Samurai is in a different category of film. It was so well conceived that it even made sense without Kurosawa, Mifune and swords. You've heard of the old Western, The Magnificent Seven?

Are you talking about motivational approaches to martial arts instruction?The study of martial arts is pretty much a voluntary activity. There shouldn't be any need to use carrot or stick to motivate the adult student. Presumably, the adult student is paying to learn and is therefore already motivated. If you're teaching children martial arts, the promise of a new colored belt should be all the motivation they need. The belts would qualify as "carrot". If you have to resort to violence (which is really what the stick represents in your analogy) you shouldn't be allowed near children. If motivational approaches to instruction are not what you're talking about, lose the carrot and stick referrences and restate your question.

Not a dramatization but a documentary. Kyokushin still trains this way.

For IKO: 10 man kumite for 1st dan 20 man for 2nd dan 30 man for 3rd 40 for 4th. All bare knuckle.

Unless he got super-sized fries with his black belt. Then it's just as expected.

Bravo! I, for one, will be on the look out for women martial artists in three inch heels and dangling earings.

How about something with locks and joint manipulation. What's in your area?

Before you put on your dogi, run a soapy hand towel around your neck and wrists. This will help prevent rings from forming on your dogi. Afterclass, soak the dogi, use a nail brush and stain-remover to scrub the stained areas on your dogi, and wash in warm water with detergent.

Been there, done that. If you don't wrap your ribs and take some time off, your ribs won't heal properly. Usually it means taking 4-6 weeks off, no karate, no sit-ups. Not the answer you wanted to hear, but there it is. Incidently, it won't matter how many sit-ups you do. A hard round-house to your ribs will break them. If you want to protect your ribs you've got to work on your defense.

What's the pain like? Are you getting the wind knocked out of you? Is te pain in the center of your stomach, to the side, upper or lower region of your gut? Could you have bruised the muscles betweeen your ribs? Broke your ribs? Is the pain chronic or only when someone gets a good shot in? Is it a sharp pain or dull ache? Excluding any serious medical condition, it could just be a matter of getting used to the pain. When I first started sparring hard, the pain from the hits was stuning. After lots of matches and the conditioning that comes with it, your pain threshold rises. Regarding your other question, yeah, a layer of fat around your middle can provide some cushioning.

What leg or foot part you use depends on what you intend to kick and how hard you want kick it. Unless you were aiming for your opponent's groin, how could you not pull back your toes when doing a front kick?

Not enough info to go on so here's my shotgun answer: Maybe as your belly fat has disappeared, your straining partners have a better chance at seeing their target. Could it be that they're timing their shots just as you inhale? Maybe you're overtraining your abs and they're sore to begin with. Could also be that the weight loss and pain might be from something else. Time to see a Dr. perhaps?

Usually, when people say they broke their knuckle, they are referring to a fracture of the metacarpal and not the knuckle joint itself. Is this the case with you? If so, which finger was involved? The pinky? Anyway, think about strengthening your forearm, wrist and hand muscles. A stable and well formed fist can reduce the incidence of hand injuries. Consider getting hand grippers or a stress ball to squeeze. Also, work-up to doing push-ups on the two big knuckles of your fist. If you end up doing knuckle push-ups on the small knuckles of your hand, your fist is not tightly and properly formed. Bones "harden" in response to the stress of bearing a load. Weight training, knuckle-pushups and the like should toughen you up. Good luck with your recovery.

Glad the program is working for you. I just started doing deadlifts. Won't know for a while how it goes. At this stage I'm more worried about injury from bad technique. you mean like,"hey what's that behind you?", then sucker punch.

Oh man, you can't drop a name and then expect me to open my wallet to find out more?! Seriously, I checked out the site you recommended, and I was immediately turned off. Not because the routine promises the moon, but because it promises to pack on pounds of muscle. How many pounds of muscle you pack on, I don't know, but my whole point of this thread was increased strength without the bulk or adding significant poundage. I read a lot of the articles in dragondoor and I'm drawn to the workouts aimed at sprinters(deadlifts) and gymnasts(static holds). What really interesting about gymnasts is that they possess amazing power to weight ratios (135 lbs. gymnasts doing 400 lbs deadlifts). A lot of what gymnasts do, so I've read, are static type exercises. The advantage of these exercises is that they build tremendous strength without muscle hypertrophy. Now. I'm neither a sprinter nor a gymnast so I can't personally vouch for the efficacy of these workouts. I can say that when my kid was a baby I'd carry her around in one arm (static curl) or the other 5-10 minutes at a time (call it a set). I didn't think about it at the time but when I went for a workout with a buddy of mine, after not working out in a gym for years, I was doing sets of 80 lbs curls. Maybe not a big number but it's more than half my body weight. Now my kids are big enough to walk around on their own and I can't curl nearly as much.

What's the routine look like.

Yes, but when you do Savate you've got to wear their tights. Maybe I'm old school, but guys fighting in tights? BTW, do they use elbow and knee strikes in Savate? Also, if kum gek do mixes western style boxing with Muay thai kicks, isn't that Muay Thai by another name?

Thought I'd revive this thread as I recently found the answer I was looking for. The answer also seems to address the strength vs. speed question that frequently pops up in this and many other forums. While going through the articles in dragondoor, a very interesting site, I think I found the answer: deadlifts. It seems that a track coach found that by having his sprinters do heavy deadlifts of 2 reps/set, he was able to increase the strength and speed of his sprinters with very little weight gain. In the study, sprinters only gained about 2-3 pounds, in exchange for faster sprint times and heavier deadlifts. Since sprinting and ma fighting are basically anaerobic activities, I'm thinking of adding deadlifts to my training regimen. You can find the article here: http://www.dragondoor.com/articler/mode3/269/

Hey, good for you!

I think that's a perfect example of why 150 lbs black belts shouldn't pick fights with NFL linemen! Whether it's strength vs. speed or strength vs. skill, why is it often assumed that having one attribute precludes having the other? Why not work towards having it all? And if you can't have it all, at least have the sense not to get into fights.

I've found that the guys in their 40's, though fewer in number, are among the hardest hitting, scrappiest fighters in the dojo. Maybe it's because they're that much closer to the grave, and therfore more desperate to hang on tooth and nail. By the time you're in your 50's, you should be far in the front of the line, preceded only by your reputation and surrounded by an aura of invincibility. In your sixties, an army of yudansha are at your beck and call ready to dispatch your enemies. In your 70's, your steady gaze drives off your foes just as the noon-day sun dispels the morning mist. Too old? You haven't even started.

I understand that you look down on smoking and drinking because you were personally affected by abuse of these substances. Does the issue go beyond lack of discipline in other areas, eg. junk-food, cash management, time-management, temper, etc.? What's the beef, really? Smokers and drinkers, or lack of discipline in general? None of my dojomates smoke. This is amazing because lighting-up is not as demonized in Japan as it is in the US and perhaps elsewhere. Maybe, it's because the link between smoking and bad health are more direct. I condemn smoking because it's bad for the smoker and the nearby non-smoker. Alcoholism is a bad thing, however not all drinking is related to alcoholism.

Adjustable dumbells are great, especially if you lack space. The thing about the Bowflex dumbells and some of the other branded products is the outrageous price. I also wonder how robust the lock mechanism is. I'm thinking of buying a no-name, spiral-lock dumbell set. It gives-up the quick adjustability of the slick Bowflex model, but compensates by its low price and simplicity (nothing to break). Plus, it's also cheaper to go up in weight. However, if price were no object, I'd have a set of the Bowflex dumbells myself. They do look sweet.