Aodhan

What kind of chest protector are you using, and do you have a choice? If you have to use the Olympic stile (White with reversible target dots), then there are a few by Kwon and Adidas that are cut differently, and much easier to move in than the "puffball" ones that you traditionally see. Your other option is to roll it into a ball, cover it in a pillow case, and get a friend with a large truck to run over it a bunch of times. That helps break down the padding, and makes it easier to move in. Or, if you can get any protector you want (Such as is allowed in the ATA), then I really prefer the ones by revgear. Dipped foam, cut out over the shoulders (Almost resembles the top of a tank top), and very easy to move in. It is a little hot because it doesn't breathe really well under a heavyweight dobok, but most of the ones I've tried have that problem. Aodhan

Yeah, you can do a #2 as what you call a stepping also. The #1 - #4 just tells you what leg kicks and if there is a step involved. #1 and #3 are front leg, #2 and #4 are back leg. 1 and 2, no step involved, 3 and 4 step involved. Aodhan

If you have not warmed up, dynamic (moving) stretches are good. These include increasing height front kicks, leg swings, arm swings, etc. Anything that moves/slightly stretches the muscle fibers at the same time. Static stretches (What most people think of when they stretch) should only be done when you are warmed up/after a workout. Stetch all the muscle groups equally, paying particular attention to anything you worked particularly hard in the workout. When you work a muscle hard, it tends to shorten. Stretch quads, hamstrings, shoulders, chest, calves, abs, lower back, groin, neck, triceps. Also, once you get into a routine of stretching every day, look into a stretching technique called PNF stretching, and start using this once or twice a week. It's an advanced stretching technique, so give your self a couple months of stretching to work up to it. You might also consider having the mods move this into the Training/Fitness section. Edited to add: Nobody can give you a cookie cutter approach, stretching is highly individualistic. You'll need to experiment and find what approach works best for you. Aodhan

Excellent point. When you only eat one or two meals a day, you tend to eat more than you should at a sitting, and your body gets used to "hoarding" calories to sustain through the deprivation period. Eat more, smaller meals, with the majority of your calories coming around midday to early afternoon, and very few later at night when you have less chance of exercising, and then the calories just sit there. Make sure you have a decent breakfast to counter the 8-12 hr fast your body just went through (Sleeping). Also, IIRC, your body can only process about 1000 calories at any one time (Sohan probably knows off the top of his head ), anything more than that tends to get converted to storage (which equals fat gain). Aodhan

Refers to leg and motion of the kick. Take your average joe standing in a front stance. #1 front kick - No movement, kick performed with front leg. #2 front kick - No step, kick performed with back leg, which is then put down in the back again. #3 front kick - Rear leg steps to front leg, perform front kick with what was the front leg, step out with the kicking leg into a front stance (Essentially you move forward one stance) #4 front kick - Front leg slides to back leg, kick performed with what was back leg, then step backwards with kicking leg (Essentially moving backwards one stance). So, you can do a #1, #2, #3, and #4 in order and end up back in the same spot. Aodhan

Don't let the price thing scare you away. Many business savvy schools won't give out prices, as 99% of people that ask a price won't come in if theirs isn't the lowest, and price shopping alone is a terrible way to pick a dojangh/dojo/whatever your term is. Visit a ton of schools, different styles, different philosophies, and find out which one you like the best. Then find a school in that style that you can afford or that will work with you. Some instructors will let you work in the school to help pay your tuition, etc. Aodhan

Both Century and AWMA carry middle weight uniforms. My personal favorite for a middle weight is the 8 oz Pro Force at AWMA. I haven't bought one in a few years though, I usually go with the 50/50 heavyweights, as I instruct and they look/wear much better. Aodhan

Ok, differentiate between traditional situps (bending at the waist), and crunches. Bending at the waist will have minimal work on the abs. Crunches should be done for both upper and lower abs. The side crunches will help work the obliques. Pushups work the triceps primarily, the chest secondary. the closer the hands to each other, the more you will work the chest as you mimic the "hugging" motion that the pecs are designed to actually do, rather than the "pushing" motion that everyone traditionally uses (flat bench press, push up). Tri dips are good, as are the squats. you need to balance out your workout. You have a lot of tricep exercises, but none for the biceps. You have some pec work, but nothing for the lats. You have no shoulder work, no calf work, and squats only works half your leg muscles primarily. You also have no exercises for the lower back, which with intensive ab work can lead to an imbalance that will cause lower back pain down the road. If you work one muscle group, you should work the opposing group as well. Not sure what you mean by the "V" shape. Usually that refers to the wide shoulder/narrow waist type shape. Aodhan

Use the search function. This has been discussed ad nauseum. Aodhan

Mine would have to be testing for my instructor's certification in the ATA. 2 8 hour days of forms review, exercises, sparring, technique discussion, one step and sparring combinations for all colored belts, all colored belt forms and all teaching knowledge (Class structure, class planning, etc). Final exam was 2 forms of your choice, 2 randomly chosen forms, 2 sets of random one steps or sparring combos, and teach a 5 minute class using segmented class planning and hitting at least 7 of 10 instructor skills (Refer to students by name, set a positive mood and tone for class, etc.) I got mixed up on one of the forms and ended up combining two forms together, so I had to retest on the forms a week later for the Senior Master in the region (Sr. Master is 7th degree in the ATA system.) Passed the forms on that testing with flying colors. Aodhan

We had our testing for the Ultimate Black Belt program that some of us in the school have been doing for the past year. Our instructor created it as part of the requirements for her Master's level induction. For the final, we got to design our own testing, as long as it was personally challenging, so I did my traditional form as a warmup, then basically a breaking demo. Breaks (All done with 1" ponderosa pine boards) #1 - Ridge Hand (2 boards) Knife hand (2 boards) back elbow (3 boards) combination break. Broke one of the ridge hands (bad prep on my part), both knife hand, and all the back elbow, then came back and finished the ridge hand. #2 - 360 jump reverse side kick, 3 boards, successful #3 - 360 spin heel kick, 3 boards. Supposed to be a speed break, missed both times I tried, basically I kicked the boards out of the holders hands. #4 - 3 concrete edging blocks, about 2" thick. If you go to a home depot or similar, it;s the ones with scalloped edges that they use for garden borders. Broke all blocks first attempt #5 - 3 board shin break. I was worried about this one, but it went smooooth, like buttah. All in all, I was pretty pleased. I now know that I could do more boards on several of the techniques, but since this was my first multiple boards attempt, I didn't have a measure. Also, I taped the boards together at the ends so that the grains didn't get mixed, I've been told now that makes it harder. All in all, it was very cool! I have a video, if I can ever figure out how to get it into a web format, I'll post a link. Aodhan

Well, if you encompass everything that the holodeck is supposed to be, then yes, I believe it could be an effective sensei and produce a legitimate black belt. Don't forget that the holodeck can not only create appropriate level opponents, but the AI of the computer is advanced enough that it can learn and adapt, and force the student to learn and improve. I don't think it would be adaptible enough to produce an advanced rank black belt, but a competent 1st degree, sure. Aodhan

And of course, this "highly skilled kicking specialist" presented his credentials, right? Especially on the internet, there are many people who will try to tear others down to make themselves appear bigger, moreso when it is something they themselves can't do. I wouldn't worry too much about it unless Chuck Norris or similar appears at your door and says "Hey, dude, that kick won't work in real life". Aodhan

I voted ATA (Current style), but I took ITF for 2 years and WTF for almost 3. Aodhan

Yes sir! I can't wait to get to the 3rd degree form in a few months. IMHO, you cannot beat a well done Chung San form until you get to the 5th or 6th degree form. The balance requirements are so intense, if you nail them, it's just beautiful. Aodhan

Most likely because the most visible aspect is the Olympics, where you can't punch to the head and they fight with their arms down. They immediately portray the sport aspect as typical of the entire art. Plus, there seems to be a trend that if an art doesn't include groundfighting, it's automatically suspect. Get all the training you can, and trust in your abilities, and let the rest fall where it wants. Aodhan

If you go, you gotta check out Shogun's on Sunday night. An absolute blast!! Drop me a PM sometime. Aodhan

Well, the travel portions were absolutely horrible for the trip to Little Rock and back for our Worlds tournament last week. However, the tournament and the ceremonies absolutely rocked!!! First, one of my school owners tested for his 7th degree BB, and I was part of his board holding team. He did his form and sparring rounds excellently, and missed one baord the first time through, broke it the second. Our other school owner went through the induction ceremony for her Master's title, and it was a very excellent ceremony. It renewed my goal of becoming a master someday in the future. The tournament was an absolute blast. Saturday night was my first event, top 10 weapons. The way it works is you take your best 5 regionals, your best nationals and your worlds score from the previous year, total them up. If you are ranked in the top 10 point totals, you compete for the World title. I did a good form, but not my best, and I ended up getting 4th or 5th out of 9 that showed up (There were 12 people including ties that qualified.) Since it was my first Worlds, I didn't feel too bad about it. Sunday was the BB tournament, first points for the new tournament year. I REALLY messed up my weapons form, and did one entire section completely backwards. Impressed the judges that I did it, but still bad scores because of it. Scoring in the sparring was not the best, IMHO. We had a judge that decided 3 or 4 matches on very ticky tack penalties. I benefitted once, and got jobbed once. Forms, I went second and did one of the best forms I've done all year, scoring a 9.8, 9.8, 9.7. It was nervous watching the next 14 people in the ring take their shots, but I ended up taking first on the forms category for my age/rank. WAHOO!!! Got to tour our international HQ, meet our Grandmaster and some of the very senior ranks at the high rank testing, and I spent about 45 minutes talking with Mike Chat (XMA creator), about how to teach it, etc. and also listening to him talk about different aspects of marketing, etc. to another instructor. Very cool time. All in all, the trip was a success, but I must say that I have severe irritation with Delta Airlines over cancelled tickets, broken planes, 15 hours wait time, and various other travel woes. BUT, I have a huge jump on the field towards next year's Worlds in forms, and I get my new 3rd degree form and weapon in September! (Hopefully!) It's going to be a rocking tournament season!!! Aodhan

I'd love to see the ATA forms accepted but according to the 2006 handbook, the only recognized/allowable forms are ITF, WTF and TSD/MDK. (Officials handbook, pages 43-45, off of the aautaekwondo.com site.) Aodhan

As I explained in my post, potassium is a body electrolyte that plays a very key role in muscle cell contraction. This includes all muscle cells, including the heart. Potassium deficiency can lead to increased risk of cramps, heart arrythmias, etc. Shotokan, it's difficult to know what is causing the "uncomfortable" feeling without knowing more, such as what is your basic diet, when/how much you eat, recent changes in diet/training, etc. There are innumerable reasons you could be feeling "uncomfortable". Aodhan

It's a known risk factor for heart disease (Causes hypertension through fluid retention), and people with impaired kidney functions cannot excrete enough salt. (Young infants/children and the elderly, mostly). It's been theorized but not proven that it is a contributing factor in osteoporosis, asthma and a few other common maladies, but nothing has been substantiated yet. Aodhan

It makes sense, but it's counterproductive to what you are trying to do with the weightlifting. When you lift, you stress the muscles, and create microtears in the fibers. The repair and growth from this repair is what causes muscle hypertrophy (growth). Now, instead of letting your body start to recover/repair, you're stressing it even further. It's best to split cardio and weights if at all possible. Aodhan

I'm assuming he's talking about the more advanced kicks such as the 540, 720, side semi, etc. Most of the "traditional" aero kicks such as the butterfly are taught in the regular classes for advanced colored belts. Aodhan

You can also vary the WAY you do the katas. If you do it with each move being a slow, 5 second tension move, you can really get a good workout from it. Also, you can do them fast, do them with a ton of force in each move (Picture breaking a board with every move), things of that nature. There are 100 different ways to do kata that will give you an awesome workout and a great change of pace. Aodhan

If your physical trainer told you that flies are just for looks, then you need to find another trainer. To gain size and strength, you need to stress the muscle with heavy weights, low reps and plenty of recovery between sets. 3 sets of 6-8 is more of a toning/maintenance type workout. Go read a good bodybuilding site, and then a good powerlifting site, compare the differences, and figure out what you want to emphasize. If it's powerlifting, drop Sohan a PM, he competed in it and is a very knowledgable personal trainer. Aodhan