Aodhan

Well, it really sounds like you guys need to just sit down and talk. Find out what she wants to do that your other activities would cut into, and if she has anything she really wants to do (Other than pushing her into piano lessons.) I find it hard to believe that her ONLY goal in life is to be a mom. And if it is, great, you just need to work out when. Aodhan

Since you say you ran distance (Me too, I ran CC), then figure your early season training is your best bet. Middle to long distance, slow to medium pace. Work into it, especially if you haven't run in a long time, and make sure that you get good shoes. Alternatives are cycling, rollerblading and swimming. For my money, swimming is the best cardio available. It's whole body, REALLY works the cardiovascular, and is no impact. (Unless you count flip turns). Three to five times a week plus your MA workouts should be plenty. Diet is so person specific. Generally, eat 5-6 small meals a day, keep it in the general ratio of 50-60% protein, and split the rest equally between high quality carbs and fats. Eat your bigger meals as breakfast and lunch, and try not to eat much soon before you hit the hay. Go online and figure your calorie requirements out, then adjust your intake. Eating 3500 calories less than your needs in a week is a safe weight loss of about a pound a week. More than that is unhealthy unless you are really obese, in which case it will drop off fast to start. Here's my meals currently: Morning: Coffee, english muffin with cream cheese and smoked salmon, fruit. Mid morning - Fruit, nuts. Occasionally some leftover fried rice or spaghetti. Lunch - Mostly subway right now, or chef salad. (I have limited options at work, especially with no fridge available) Afternoon - Fruit, nuts (I also have M&M's mixed in for the sweet tooth). Dinner - chicken/turkey/pork, veggies, rice/pasta. I also add the occasional protein shake/MRP about 4-5 times a week. I'm not cutting, but I maintain anywhere from 177-182 (I'm 5'11"), and am at class 3-6 times per week depending on where in my tournament season I am. Aodhan

I can't view the videos at work, but in general, the bo staff is a LOT easier to make look good. The three sectional staff is very hard to get smooth and make it look "flowing". However, if you can do so, it add that difficulty level. What age are you in the 40-49 range? I just moved into that range this year, and I'm able to do some of the kicks/tricks (540, side semi, aerial), so unless you have a physical limitation, you should be able to learn them as well. Aodhan

Take her with you, and see if they have discounts for multiple family members? either get her interested in MA as well, or work out a compromise. Maybe there's a reason she says she never gets to do anything? Aodhan

As a general rule of thumb, if you do absolutely nothing at all, it takes 3 days before you start losing fitness levels, then it progresses at a 2:1 ration. (Meaning you lose ~2 days of fitness for every day you're idle after 3) So, if you take a 7 day vacation and sit around the whole time, when you get back it will take you 8 days (7 days minus 3 days grace = 4 days at 2 for 1) to get back to your original level of fitness. But, since you did workouts, you shouldn't have dropped anywhere near as dramatically, as Sohan pointed out. Aodhan

Hrm. Especially with gang members, I would think that would normally end one of three ways: 1) You getting shot 2) You getting jumped by all 5 3) You frightening your own kids Most likely a mix of all three. Aodhan

If your kicks are impeded by a chest protector, then you are probably wearing the wrong size, or need to find a different brand. I've tried about 7 different WTF style (white with the big target spots on them), and I had 3 or 4 that didn't bind my legs at all. Since I don't have to wear that style anymore I don't, my current CP is from a company called revgear, and it works excellently, and doesn't impede ANY of my movements. Aodhan

Practical as in "use it in a fight"? Probably not practical at all. Practical as in it increases the coordination of the basics in your chosen art, gives you more confidence, more mastery over your body, yes it does all of these. Is a jump spin outer crescent useful in a street fight? 360 jump reverse side kick? Also probably not. Yet we accept these as common traditional elements. As far as showing you the bunkai, then look at ATA, Kenpo, Kempo, Shotokan, many of the "traditional" TKD and Karate branches. As I keep saying, XMA itself is merely a marketing tool that codifies a system of teaching the stunts that have been used on the open competition circuit for years. Here's some of the training backgrounds of recent ISKA champions: Mike Chat - Shorei Ryu Marc Canonizado - TKD, Capoeira, & Kung Fu Steve Terada - Tang Soo Do Chris Brewster - Tang Soo Do, TKD Craig Henningsen - Shorei Ryu And, if you go through and look at the backgrounds of the people that are NASKA ranked in various levels of creative forms (Or musical forms), to a person they have a solid background in traditional martial arts. Nobody that I can find is a gymnast that learned some kicks, or anything like that. XMA, for all the uproar, is NOT a martial arts system. It is NOTHING more than a system of teaching the components needed to compete at a high level in the creative forms division. People have been doing it for years and years already. Also, if people never try anything new, then where does advancement come from? If all you do is completely copy everything that your sensei/sabunim/instructor hands down to you, then there is no advancement, there is only stagnation. Aodhan

Huh. I never had had much problem with protectors, personally. However, your arguement could be used as a case FOR wearing gear, and going with harder contact. That way if you do get into it on the street, then you feel open and easy and can really go to town. Aodhan

Breathe. Aodhan When you do them, do you look down at the floor, or towards a wall or something else? Depends. If I am doing them free standing (No wall support), then I am looking at the floor. Makes them incredibly hard. If I am leaning against the wall, then I'm looking at the floor out in front of me a ways (About 1/2 way across the room.) Aodhan

Ok, I stand corrected. However, it is still martial arts, just a subset of martial arts. Aodhan

Breathe. Aodhan

My goal is simply to increase my jumping ability. I've been wanting to learn aero kicks for a while. I'm not out of shape by any means, but I feel like lead weight sewn to the ground. I've been doing plyometric exercises since last summer. Mainly jumping rope and frog jumps (Jump as high as I can and bump my knees into my chest for as many reps as I can. I've been doing 76 frog jumps in a row, but lately my knees have started hurting. I suspect it may be a combination of overuse and building imbalanced muscles. It has helped increase my vertical jump, but only by a few inches. I want my vertical leap to increase, but not at the cost of destroying my knees. http://www.powerbasketball.com/jump_revised.html That's a review of a few of the net products. Excellent vertical ability comes from a few different things. Momentum blocking (Taking motion in one direction and redirecting it), driving up with the opposite leg, and calf muscle strength are the main components. Unless you are taking off from a squatted position, the hamstrings and quads will little effect. Plyometrics are your best bet to increase vertical jumps and power. Since frog jumps are starting to hurt your knees, I would go with seated calf raises, and get someone that can teach you how to "block", or take forward motion and turn it into vertical. I know of very few people that can just toss a 540 from a standing position, most everyone I know takes a couple steps. This produces forward motion, then you "block" and turn it into upward motion, which should give you enough height to complete the kick. Look at gymnastics, specifically the vault and parts of the floor exercise. These guys get hauling down the floor, jump off a small spring board, and then use their hands to plant, block and push up from the horse. This transfers most of their momentum into a vertical plane. (There are some videos around of gymnasts that transferred too much into vertical and came down on the horse, and a few that miss the board and slam into the end of the horse. Amusing. Painful, but amusing.) Also, you absolutely need to have the mechanics of the kick down first. For a 540, that means having an absolutely rock solid jump spin inner crescent. If you can't do that, then you probably won't be able to do a 540. Aodhan

You would get Capoeira practitioners upset by comparing the two. Thats true just like comparing it to Karate. People look at this and think its karate also but its not. It gymnastic showmanship not martial arts. Not quite, it has gymnastic components, but other than the straight back flip or the side semi, most of the moves have kicks and strikes incorporated into it. While it isn't straight traditional MA, neither is it completely gymnastics, either. Heh, I work out at a local gymnastics club so I can teach XMA stuff (Great training place, running trampolines, padded floors, foam pits and pads...), and I had an A level gymnast that could not get a 540. They didn't have the martial arts background to perform the kick, even though they had the gymnastic ability to do the jump and spin. XMA is not gymnastics, and gymnastics is not XMA. XMA is not traditional martial arts, it is an extension of kicks that we already do in martial arts. A tornado (or butterfly) kick (i.e. jump spin inner crescent) is the same thing as a 540, the only difference is which leg you land on. Aodhan

Thats what Ive always heard....just like a home run hitter..power comes from the hips first....same as a powerful punch...power comes form hips first....not saying its correct, its just what Ive been told.... And it's correct as well. The most powerful punch will start with a hip load and release, followed by torso rotation, finally bringing the punch around/through. Aodhan

They do require a LOT of shoulder and tricep strength. I was only able to do one or two when I first started. Aodhan

Ohhhh, yeah. Here's another good one. Get in pushup position, go down to where your nose is just off the floor, hold it as long as possible, then SLOWLY push up to the starting position. Repeat. Upside down pushups against the wall, great for shoulders. Aodhan

All of the above. Remember, if it is a SPRAIN, then the damage is most likely ligament in nature. (Ligaments connect bone to bone). If you remember the old click pens that had the spring, ligaments are much like that spring. If you stretch them out, you can never get them back quite tight as they were. This is why people that repeatedly dislocate their shoulder eventually have to have surgery. Ligaments also take much, much longer to heal than tendon/mucle injuries. They have less blood supply, and are under stress more often (Especially in the ankle area) than are tendons/muscles. Take the three weeks to recover, wear the brace or tape your ankle for support so the ligaments get as much chance to rest as possible. A STRAIN, on the other hand, is generally muscular/tendon in nature, and those will heal faster than will a sprain, and requires a different treatment regimen. Aodhan

That is some really good advice. Whenever any of us receives feedback from a grading we always are told that basics are the foundation of the exam and if you've failed you need to work on them. Everything else falls into place. Exactly. We had one of the highest ranks in the ATA at our school last year, and I was struggling with part of my 2nd degree form at the time, so I asked him for help. He had me "joon be", and when I did so for my form, he said "No. Joon be for Songahm 1" (Which is our white belt form). When I looked at him quizzically, he said "Everything you struggle with in later forms can be fixed by doing the lowest ranked forms", and he was exactly right. By doing my colored belt forms (We call it the Songahm Star, all of our colored belt form patterns laid on "top" of one another form an eight pointed star), I was able to fix my 2nd degree form. Aodhan

Yep. I've seen it, usually from people that just assume that they have it "in the bag" and only need to show up for the testing. When I've been on judging panels, I usually no change students that do that. It's really a shame when it comes from someone that *should* be putting out their best effort for a milestone achievement in their life. Aodhan

Yeah, I fully plan to have the entry lined with various bladed martial arts weapons, trophies, state champion doboks, etc. :D Anything I can Aodhan

Increase the speed of the punch is the easiest method. The faster it goes, the more power it will generate. Strengthen the muscles that produce the punch. Work on proper technique, paying particular attention to the hips and the rotation. Aodhan

Stand on both feet. Stick one leg straight out in front of you like you just did a front kick. Squat on the other leg as low as you can, then go back up. Switch legs, repeat. Aodhan

Google your style, ask your sensei/sifu/sabuhnim, and if you have any martial arts supply stores around the area, go there. Often they will have flyers of local tournaments coming up. Aodhan

XMA is not new. Well, ok, the NAME, XMA, that is new. The system to teach it is new. The tricks and stuff being performed is not new. It's stuff that has been used and evolved over the past 10-15 years on the open circuit. Aodhan