Aodhan

Why not? If it's comfortable for you, do it. It has nothing to do with whether or not you catch a cold. You catch a cold from exposure to the virus, nothing more. Doesn't matter if you are dressed like an Eskimo, or running around in a speedo. As far as the sugar, not exactly, and it's more related to stress than anything. When you are stressed, the body releases sugars into the bloodstream, originally intended to help with the fight/flight energy needs of the muscles. Sedentary stress still releases the sugars, but now they have nowhere to go. OVER TIME, (Not in the short time a cold might take), this excess sugar can lead to metabolic problems. Avoiding excess sugar is probably a good rule of thumb overall, but will have nothing to do with how fast you fight off a cold. Aodhan

The only failure is in quitting something. If you are training by yourself, then you will need an area big enough that you can do a full kata/poomse/hyung (Whatever your term is ) without having to adjust. 20 ft x 20 ft should easily be sufficient. Floor material should be similar to what you might see at a tournament. I don't recommend training on straight concrete or wood, although many styles do. Some kind of a focus target. I would recommend a heavy/kick bag such as a wavemaster or hanging bag, and either a traditional or double ended speed bag (I prefer the double ended, personally). If you are planning on doing weapons, then you will need a ceiling height that will accomodate your tallest weapon. Also, if you are training at home, a good quality television with a dvd and video player, with a remote that you can use from anywhere in the room. I'd also recommend a tripod video camera so that you can record yourself, play it back and compare it to the instructional DVD. Mirrors, definitely. some of the extras if money is no object include things like swiss balls, dumbbells, tumbling mats, etc etc. Aodhan

I've heard good things about both of them, but I've never used them myself. Check with your doc, but they are relatively benign as far as supplements go. Aodhan

Not unless you are going for runs upwards of 90 minutes. Your muscles use glycogen for fuel. When that is close to exhausted is when the brain starts kicking out hormones to cause fat to start breaking down into different parts that can be used for glycolosis. That takes a lot longer than most people are running for. Aodhan

Most calculators and electronic measurements aren't worth much at all. Most electronic ones have a +/- percentage rate of 5-8%, so if it measures you at 15%, you could be as low as 7, or as high as 23%. The BMI calculators on the web, etc. don't consider the weight of muscle vs. fat. I'm 5'11, 182 lbs, around 9% BF, and it tells me that I am a shade on the obese side. Yea, right. One of the best easily available methods is the skin caliper test, done by someone that has been trained in how to do the pinch, and use at least a seven site pinch analysis. The absolute best is underwater weighing, although some people have problems with being underwater and blowing out all the air they can. These usually cost about $30-50 US depending on where you get them done, although some larger universities may have them available for free as part of classwork for their students, etc. Aodhan

Slight misconception. You train reactions, you are born with reflexes. Basically, a reflex is a hardwired neuronal path from a sensor area to the brain, to react to a specific stimulus in a specific way. Pain reflex, etc. (The knee jerk is a reflex that is actually designed to avoid injury in overstretched tendons.) You don't have to think about them, they just work. Reactions are slower because they are brain involved. You have to recognize something (Such as a punch) and send a signal to your body to move, block, whatever. The more used you get to avoiding something, the faster your body will become because the brain becomes less involved. It does this by training the nerves and muscles to react automatically to a perceived stimulus. You can get a reaction to APPROACH the speed of a reflex, but it will never be as fast as a reflex (Even if the difference is unmeasurable without instruments). So the best way is repetition, repetition, repetition. Various dodging/striking/counterstriking drills, over and over will hone your reactions and get them faster. The good new is if you had good reactions once, you can get them again, with some allowances for the aging process. Aodhan

Zinc drops. Every time I start to get sick I suck on a few a day. Works wonders. Also the alka-seltzer type bubbly cold relief stuff works well to alleviate symptoms. Aodhan

If you eat a well balanced diet, then all multivitamins will do is give you expensive urine, since you will excrete out everything you don't need. It's when your diet is lacking that you need the multivitamins, and pretty much any one of them out there will suit you. Aodhan

Unless you exhaust the triceps and anterior (front) shoulder muscles first, presses of any kind are not the most efficient way to train the chest muscles. That distinction belongs to the fly's. Dumbbell fly, cable fly, etc. Aodhan

The 150-200 a day is probably more of a self improvement/maintenance thing. I don't know of any classes where you are doing that many of a single exercise. In response to the OP, yes, it is important to keep your head and back straight and in line. The more you contort your neck, the greater the chance of strain or injury, and the less you work the muscles you intend to. Just an FYI for everyone, pushups work the triceps just as much if not more than they work the chest. Aodhan

Basically just stretch every day. Yoga might help, but if you are inflexible to start with, you may find most of the movements difficult to do properly. Basically, either through lack of range of motion in your daily activities or injuries, your muscles have shortened up. You need to gradually work greater and greater range of motion, and add stretching to your daily routine (15-20 minutes worth). This will eventually loosen up your muscles, and then you can start doing advanced flexibility drills and exercises. Aodhan

A couple of things. McGuire, et. al. used androstenodione, which does get processed into a steroidal substance, and at the time they used it, it was quasi-legal. Creatine is a food product, and is legal under every governing body for sport. It basically enables the muscles to work longer before exhaustion, because it provides a ready source of phosphate to "recharge" ATP in the muscle. It's not going to affect a forms competition in any way, nor (in general) a weapons competition. You might get some minimal effect from it in a sparring competition, since it is basically interval type work, but it's not going to make you faster or stronger the way a steroid will. Where you will really notice the difference is in class, it will enable you to work harder for longer, which will in turn improve (theoretically) your performance when outside of class. UseofForce resurrected my creatine thread, if you have any questions just drop me an email. Aodhan

Shouldn't be a problem at all. The only time you may ever cause any damage is when you completely extend and lock out a kick/punch in the air, and even then it will be more of a muscular thing than a joint thing. Unless you dislocate or "jam" a joint, it's really hard to cause damage through normal physical activity such as exercise, stretching, etc. Unless you suffer from a malady where your joints don't produce enough fluid or you have something like arthritis, joints are designed for repetitive motion even under stress. Aodhan

I'll echo the statement. It's a great experience, it can only help you grow in MA, and then by the time you get to the upper ranks, you'll have way fewer butterflies because you know what to expect. Aodhan

PNF is an excellent stretching method, I use it a couple times a week. As far as the original post, just keep stretching. Muscles get tighter as you get older because most people's activity level drops. Keep up the activity and stretching, and you'll be fine. I'm 39 and I just learned to do 540's and back flips again. Aodhan

Actually, creatine is classified as a food product, not a drug, and is allowable by all national committees, including the International Olympic committee. If you do a search, I believe I posted an article on creatine a while back. Aodhan

Get new running shoes fitted to your running style. That pain is either existing or precursor to shin splints, and are common when you have high impact activities (such as running), especially combined with inadequate padding. Not sure, could be almost any rotational type exercise, such as forearm pronation/supination, shoulder circles (risky with dumbbells), things of that nature. Aodhan

This is because of the rules regarding what is a point. In Olympic style TKD, you need to cause what they term "trembling shock". With pads over the knuckles and the padded hogu's that they have, it is REALLY hard to do with a punch. It's very rare (Although it does happen) to score full points with hands in a WTF/Oly style match. Aodhan

Uhm, wow. There's a lot of erroneous information there. 1) The USTU was never run by the kukkiwon. The kukkiwon is only a certifying body for black belts, they don't certify athletic unions. You had to be certified by the kukkiwon as a black belt to be eligible to compete for national spots, but any instructor registered with the kukkiwon could process your app. 2) The USSSA does NOT preside over Olympic planning. The National Governing body recognized in the US by the IOC is USA Taekwondo, with the website of http://www.usa-taekwondo.us 3) The USTU was disbanded and discredited because of financial malfeasance and poor management, not because it was run by a foreign organization (See #1). Aodhan

As a kid in grade/jr high school, I used to get beat up a lot (I was small and loudmouthed). When I got to HS and fought back, I still lost, but they stopped picking on me. I've never gotten into a "regular" fight since I started taking MA (And stopped mouthing off so much, what a coincidence!), and I win most of my sparring matches, but by no means am I unbeatable. Aodhan

ATA TKD white orange yellow camoflauge green purple blue brown red red/black black Each belt has a meaning that goes with it, so before y'all flame me for the camo belt () , it's when we introduce free sparring, and the philosophy is "The sapling is hidden among the taller pines and must now fight it's way upward." Aodhan

It's the difference in perception between traditional MA and grappling. I believe that a 12 y/o can have the same skill set as an adult. The APPLICATION of that skill set may be lagging, just because they don't have the musculature yet to make it a devestating technique. It doesn't make their technique any less correct. Aodhan

Contact Jules: sensei_jules at hotmail dot com. He's got a pretty nice CQB developed. Aodhan

Smoking? No. No way, no how. It sets a bad example for students and is unhealthy. Drinking? To excess, echo the smoking statement. Occasional social drink or something like wine with dinner, no prob. There are also health benefits associated with moderate amounts of some alcohols (Most notable red wines). ANYthing done to excess is bad for you. Most things in moderation are all right. Aodhan

Echo both of those. Also, plan to replace your shoes on a regular basis (I used to change mine about every 4-500 miles, about twice during a season), because the padding will break down. Go to a good running store, they can evaluate your running style and weight factors and get you fitted properly. I personally don't like the gel insoles, because I feel like it takes away from my stability. Aodhan