Mr Pockets

Acually, generally speaking if you have a weapon in a bag it is not illegal, concealment ON YOUR PERSON is. Swords aren't terribly important to most people, so walk around with one if you need to, but don't carry one around like you're a samurai. You'll look stupid.

In boxing and kickboxing this happens all the time. What you need to do is quickly maneuver in so that you are in the optimal range for your punches and kicks and a little too close for him. You are likely to take some hits, so be ready to cover up and block (like you should be anyway.) Usually you will want to move in diagonally, and the more you can get him on the defensive the more control you will have, so when the time comes, let those hands go. Feet too if you need an opener (or closer).

What's so wrong with the "BJJ bandwagon?"

Muay Thai is an excellent striking art, in my opinion (and most everyone's in the know) the best. If your BJJ does stand up (as in clinch, throws, take-downs), and they pretty much all do, you're good to go.

I believe i saw that show on the Discovery Channel. Most of it was pretty bogus, I think. If it's the one I'm thinking of, it had some ninja guys, and these people who do "Combat Ki." I bet any trained MMA fighter would demolish them in seconds. Anyway, I digress from the original post.... If you wish to crosstrain, I'd do something unrelated. Since you are doing striking now, do grappling elsewhere.

Not at all. The forarm is like hitting someone with your calf. Muscle isnt what you want to hit someone with. The elbow i refer to is the bone that sticks out, ideally that little tip on the bottom part. There is no comparing to getting smacked with one of those.

Don't lift with a muscle when its sore. Work chest and triceps on the same day if you're having that problem. And just in case this is what you're doing: never lift something like triceps before chest, same for bis before back, shoulders before (whatever), etc.

Go to a dermatologist if you want real results. Get a colonoscopy if you want, it will clear toxins out of your body.

Consuming necessary fats such as flaxeed oil and things like that will help your body produce higher testosterone levels. Also, high weight exercises such as squats or legpresses and deadlifts (be careful!) cause the body to release certain hormones that aid in muscle growth throughout the body. It's kind of a funny thing to hear, but they say if you want to make your chest grow, lift heavy legs!

It doesn't hurt that bad to punch someone unless you hit them in the forhead, back of the head, or top of the head. Sure breaking your hands is always a risk, but if you know how to punch and have been doing it for a while, it's not a great one.

At the age of 14 lifting weights is fine. However, don't go pushing it to extremes- you're young! Better to start lifting by building a good muscular base on which you would later build serious muscle. Wait a while until you've been lifting and seeing good results to really start going super heavy.

My opinion would be that you need to to lift weights if you want more power. That and train hard in striking or grappling or wherever you want that power.

The three inch punch is just the last tenth of the punching motion. Doesn't have a lot to do with an actual fight.

I'd suggest boxing, or if you want to go all out, kickboxing. Grappling such as Judo or BJJ also good.

I find uppercuts to be the most unnatural, but (good) practice makes perfect.

No, they don't strike with the forarm, they strike with the elbow. Much better. They even, in fact, train headbutts sometimes. With all this said, and with me agreeing that MT is the dominant striking art, there is, sometimes, one weakness in it. That is the hands. Boxers often have better hands than thai boxers, and in the ring that may not matter much, in a more NHB style (or street) fight, the advantage may swing to a boxer with grappling skills rather than a thai boxer with equal grappling skills. Or maybe not, hard to say.

I have to say that JJJ has a lot of techniques that aren't very practical, I'm much more impressed with Judo. I don't believe they have much if anything in the way of anklelocks and all that. Go look at BJJ, you won't be dissapointed.

"MMA" is itself basically crosstraining. Youll almost certainly learn a mix of either boxing or muay thai, and BJJ. My advice would be, if you want to be a complete and well rounded fighter, do MMA (assuming its a good school and all that) and forget about the shotokan.

Randy Couture, Chuck Liddel, Bruce Lee (not so possible anymore), Gene Lavel, any of the Gracies, Ali (not possible either), De la Hoya, Master Toddy, basically any of the top guns in boxing, kickboxing, jiujitsu, wrestling, or nhb fighting.