Aodhan

It's also a great low impact, full body movement. I swam competitively for a lot of years. One thing to be aware of, especially in typical gym pools. They are kept very warm, and you will sweat, and not get much cooling from it. You have to really be careful of hydration in those bathtubs....excuse me, gym pools. (I used to train in 75 degree pools....85 degrees really does feel like a bathtub to me!) Aodhan

Also, to get big and bulky requires a different style of lifting than what most women do. Typically, women do a lot of light weight, high repetition movements. This will lean more towards involving the cardio side of things, and produces toned muscles with more endurance. Bodybuilding is a mix of middle to heavy weights with middle to low repetitions. Powerlifting is as heavy as is feasible with few repetitions. (In a broad sense.) So, if you do hit the weights, just keep it on the lighter side with higher repetitions, and you won't be in too much danger of looking like an iron junkie. Aodhan

True, but say the doc tells him that squats don't work (Knowing the weakness in the leg won't respond well to squats), he goes out and completely trashes his knee because someone told him "Screw the doc, do light weights anyway." If you don't believe the doc, get a second and/or third opinion. Just running out and doing what you think might work is just asking for trouble. Aodhan

If he were a 4th dan in ONE art, I would have no problem with it. Like you say, it's all the other ones piled on top of it at his age that gives me a little warning flash. Aodhan

That's another pretty good point! At that level, if you haven't studied your potential opponents, you are already starting at a pretty severe disadvantage. Aodhan

For me, on the ground it would be a toss up between a reverse mule kick (Uses the glutes as the main muscle, most powerful muscle in the body), or a spinning outer crescent kick. I get a lot of speed and torque in my spin kicks. Aerial, would have to be the running jump side kick. Aodhan

You're absolutely right. And, I don't think the original poster meant that we should be out looking for fights, but if you found yourself IN that situation, if it would be effective. I don't look for fights, nor do I "advertise" my prowess in MA, but if I was in a situation where I was forced to it, I would feel completely confident in my TKD preparation. Aodhan

XMA is not a style. XMA is a way of presentation. You can take it and apply it to ANY art. All it is, is a codification of presentation techniques that have been found to garner attention at national competitions over the last decade or so. Aodhan

(sigh), I keep wondering when I will move to my next belt in keyboarding. Seems like I've been at orange forever. Aodhan

HHAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Oh, that's a good one!! :D I receieved no hand to hand/unarmed type training. I entered the Air Force as a medic in 1993. I made their pararescue (Air rescue group) in basic, and was disqualified by the Navy dive school for my eyesight. (For which they started issuing waivers 1 month later...me bitter? nah...). Other than the pararescue training, I left basic in worse shape than when I went in. Unless you get into one of the SF groups (Special Forces), I don't think you will see much other than very basic hand to hand. AFAIK, it just doesn't happen much anymore for the basic grunt type unit. Aodhan

I'm going to go visit a local studio that teaches bujinkan tomorrow, I'll let you know my first impressions of it. Aodhan

I would seriously check out his credentials and bona fides. Something doesn't seem right. However, many arts will recognize belts in similar arts. So, if you have a WTF Kukkiwon 2nd degree, a karate school might recognize him as a 1st degree and just let him catch up the early material at his leisure, this would give him a jump on things. Still seems a bit fishy though. Aodhan

Uhm...at 5'8" and 150, he is hardly needing to drop any weight at all. If anything, he might need to exchange fat for muscle (Which will actually increase weight). I am 3" taller and 30 lbs heavier, and I only have about 12% fat. I would agree with you on the part that he hasn't come anywhere near his full muscle development though. Aodhan

Tuck jumps - Jump as high as you can, bring your knees up to your chest (Tuck) and then back down before you land. Walking lunges - Take a normal step forward with one foot, then before you take another step, squat down until your back knee touches the floor, then back up. Take another step, repeat. Burpees - There are different exercises that go by this name, our version is stand with feet together, squat down quickly, put your hands on the floor and thrust your legs out to a pushup type position. Bring your legs back up, and stand up. Lather, rinse, repeat. If you want to add challenge to it, you can add the pushup in the middle. Aodhan

While XMA itself is a relatively new phenomena, the techniques aren't really new. Mike Chatarantabut and others were using the 560's and 720's and other show kicks for years. Mike Chat just codified it into a single entity for marketing purposes. I'd have to say wushu is the "showiest" straight martial art, followed closely by capoeira. TKD does have some nice aerial kicks, but not a lot of gymnastic or advanced aerial kicks. Aodhan

Yeah, they're pretty good. They have a website, and are based out of Canada (Toronto IIRC). I remember they use the term XMA, with no mention of Mike Chat, wonder if copyright extends across borders? Aodhan

You need to balance out your body, so if you just do the pushups (I'm having a hard time visualizing it, but it sounds like it works pecs and the front part of the shoulder, and the triceps), then you will end up with imbalances. Just because your sensei did it, doesn't mean that it will work or is even right for you. Slavishly copying your sensei in everything he did may or may not necessarily make you good. You need to find a workout regimen (Other than class and the stretches, those are good.) that produces a well rounded, balanced body, and gets you closer to your goals. Find your weaknesses and work on them. (My current weakness is speed, so I'm doing a lot of foot/hand speed drills anymore.) Aodhan

"Old style" situps are not that useful for building abs. If your torso isn't curling into a ball, you aren't really hitting the upper abdominals at all. Old style situps will minorly work the lower abs, but they mostly work the upper quads, since bending at the hip is a function of the quadriceps. I like to either lay on a swiss ball and curl up, or lay on my back with my legs on a chair and curl up. (If you bend your hips and knees, you cannot use your quads. They cross both joints, so if you bend at both joints, they can't function except for some stabilization.) Basically anything that curls your upper body into a ball and/or rotates your torso side to side will work the abs and obliques (Side of the waist, makes those cool diagonal muscles) Aodhan

As far as a V cut, the biggest visual for that is well developed shoulders and lats, with a small waist. Even if the lats aren't that great, if you have good shoulders and a small waist, it will still visually make a "V". Just make sure you do the large muscle groups in both the upper and lower body, otherwise you get an imbalance. Aodhan

I hardly ever wear them. Going barefoot will give you better balance and form, and you will eventually build up calluses at friction points anyway. Aodhan

So, say it takes 4 months per belt, and 2 months per tab, that is 52 months to get to 1st dan, and then another 100 months for 6th dan. That is 12 years, 8 months. If he is 13, he started when he was 4 months old. Even if you drop it to 2 months per belt, and 1 month per tab, that is 76 months or 6 years 4 months. So two years to get to 1st dan, and a dan ranking at an average of less than a year per. It's either a total mcdojo system, or they use some weird variation that I haven't heard of for dan rankings. What art is it? (Style that is, I know you said jiu jitsu, but which variant?) Aodhan

Lion- Thanks! I hadn't heard that about the 3/4 1/4 ratio, guess I've fallen a bit behind on my readings. I read Men's health every month, although I usually take the supplement articles, etc. with a grain of salt. It is a Weider publication, and many times I've found they advocate the "fad of the moment" since they get so much advertising from supplement manufacturers. The forums might be better since that is presumably regular people advocating different things. Aodhan

Standardisation is a good thing. ATA does this, and requires specific forms and outlines how they are to be done. You still get differences from instructor to instructor, but the basic form is the same, and as a judge, we are instructed to allow for "regional differences". This doesn't mean that they can switch a palm heel to a spear hand, but that we don't downgrade if there are minor differences from the "approved" form. One of the nice things about it is, I can walk into any ATA school in the country, and be assured that the forms will be the same. Aodhan

Low fat beef and chicken breasts cooked make easy to pack snacks if you have a way to refrigerate or keep them. Otherwise, look into the many different protein powders for after workouts. A lot of bodybuilders that I've worked with swear by whey protein. For best effects, take within 30 minutes after the workout. Aodhan

The achilles tendon starts from the bottom middle of the foot, and blends into the calf muscles to anchor them. If you have pain, even after icing for a week, definitely get it checked out. You could have tendonitis (Inflammation of the sheath covering the tendon), a possible tear/small rupture, bruise, any number of things from mild to serious. When you go in for the appointment, try and remember everything you did right before it started hurting. The more history you have, the better diagnosis/treatment regimen the doc can make. Aodhan