elbows_and_knees

technically speaking, the abs aren't divided into upper and lower - they are one sheet of muscle. When you work part of it, you work all of it. When people feel burning in the "lower abs", what they are usually feeling is the ab/adductors working.

I have a key to the school, so I can go hit the bags whenever I have the urge. I'm in class 6 days per week though, so I don't usually need to. However, I do train at home as well. this time consists mainly of calesthenics and shadowboxing. I also go to the gym and lift on my lunch breaks at work.

he wouldn't run after one - we are talking about self defense. If he is chasing the guy, then he is not defending himself. Coincidentally, I talked with a pastor last night who happened to be near the club I work security at. late at night, bums walk the street, and will harass you for money. He stated hoe important it was NOT to have fear. He quoted "All things can be done through He who gives me strength" He also stated that if he had to defend himself that he is supposed to.

They also represent grabs and breaks

Leg endurance, not leg strength... And you are NOT supposed to spar in those stances. Stances are transitional... you use them as a natural part of your footwork and transitioning into and out of techniques. ou don't have to punch from a stance in order to learn to throw full power punches...

It's technically not necessary AFAIK, but it's preferred.

that's just it - the once mastered part... that always brings us back to "how long does it take to become a great fighter with taiji. chang style was created by shuai chiao grandmaster chang tung sheng, so I know they do a lot of live drilling and throwing work.

I haven't met him, but the club I work security at is owned by his old dealer... He straightened up and now runs most of the downtown clubs.

the president

I dislike all of the above except JAMA and grappling mag. An excellent CMA mag is kung fu / qi gong magazine.

yeah, tiger balm just temporarily deadens the nerves, like icy hot. it doesn't have agents in it to help heal the bruising or to toughen the skin.

tai chi and taiji = same thing... they are just different romanizations. I dunno if you can really make that statement though. taiji is better than bagua? better than xingyi? better than baji? better than piqua? Different people are going to train in different arts for different things - I personally would prefer xingyi over taiji, unless it was chang style taiji.

I'm guessing you had them done by people who weren't great at them to begin with. I agree that they can be risky, but when timed right, they are great. you even seem more in events like k-1 and in mma now. Did you catch ufc 53? one guy threw a jumping knee AND a jumping roundhouse. He ended up winning the match off of a spinning back kick. In my last fight, I kicked my opponent in the head. In sparring this past weekend, I got kicked in the head. It's all in the timing.

depends. With bjj, any black belt will easily charge that much. We also have a guy here who is phenomenal with judo and tkd - he coached a female olympian back in the 80's he charges that much as well. For the stuff the DD is talking about, yeah, $100 is steep. Also, it depends on availability. If I can train several hours daily, it's not that bad of a price. Or, if I am training in multiple styles. That said, we aren't quite that steep.

In most cases. There is a known McSchool / cult known by various names - shaolin do, oom young doe, chung moo quan... and from what I hear (an acquaintance of mine used to train with them) the training was very intense. However, what they taught was crap. The thing with mcschools is that the public wants them. For this reason, they will never go out of business. No amount of education can change that. My question, is why do so many of you care about them? I can guarantee you that the owners of those schools aren't plotting to put all legit schools out of business. They just let us be, because they know that they will still have students. You should be the same way.

Check out golden mountain kung fu. The instructor is brian ebble. They are in naperville, if that's not too far.

what's up. I actually work in collierville and live in memphis. If you are familiar with the mid-town area, check out memphis martial arts center on highland and poplar. our website is https://www.memphisbjj.com the school is a kenpo school, but we operate out of his basement. It's like a building shared by several martial arts instructors, all of whom seem to be really good. MMAC offers kenpo and kali. There is a nacao capoeira group there that teaches capoeira, an aikido group, and then there is our group. memphis BJJ and Judo offers bjj, judo, submission wrestling and thai boxing. I am one of the thai coaches - if you want to swing by anytime, feel free. If that's too far for you to travel, let me know - there are other decent schools in the area as well.

There is one of those schools in my city. I've never been to it, but I've heard good things about them.

just punch the bag. thai boxing doesn't do any special conidtioning like chinese, japanese and okinawan styles do. toughness is just a byproduct of training for us. our conditioning comes from everyday training, nothing more. I know I hit the bag several thousand times per week. That has a cumulative effect... you will toughen over time.

nothing wrong with it. pretty much all pro fighters lift. Here is the issue you may run into though, if you compete - it's an issue that I have - you will fight people taller than you most of the time. Consequently, you will need to get on the inside of your opponents and eat them up there - like tyson did back in the day.

there have been a few kung fu guys - they all got schooled horribly. There has never been a pure TKD guy, but there have been guys who train kickboxing now, but did tkd when they were younger.

And that is probably the biggest issue. You will be hard pressed finding ma that train as hard as the avg boxer. regardless of a smaller number of techniques, this gives them a huge advantage. Also, the fact they get generally get more "live" training gives them a big advantage.

Are you familiar with circuit training?

No, it doesn't. ANY prolonged activity builds only endurance. stance training is an endurance exercise. Now, if your muscles are completely weak, it will strengthen them minimally in the very beginning. After you are used to the stress of the stance, that stops. It then becomes an endurance exercise. Muscles by nature are lazy. they will not give maximal output inless you force them to. You do this with heavy loads - this is why stance training will not increase strength. the only way it would is if you continually added weight to your body, at which point it has become a weight training exercise. This has been scientifically proven. that is why you stretch. Also, that is not what they are designed to do. If your program is designed that way,then that is what will happen. Strength training trains the neuromuscular system to contract harder - increasing power output. actually, the oldest person in the world is in okinawa... in any event, it's a combination of diet and exercise that keeps them healthy. I'm not saying internal training doesn't help them - I'm referring to things like I mentioned in my post - myths like stance training increases strength - it does not. Or, the myth that weight training makes you inflexible and slow... Your brain doesn't know what type or size of muscle it is moving. Why do you think 'their muscles' are easier to use? They are easier to maintain, but not easier to use.

they use weights more than that. google stone locks, and also look up shuai chiao training - they use the pulley and rock pole - both are weight training exercises. They use them for strength building as well as speed. EDIT: I did some searching for you. Here's an excerpt about weight training with locks. the descripion they gave is one of endurance type training, but it's weight training nontheless. from http://www.shaolin.nl/history.html" "The incredible feats of the Shaolin kungfu is the result of the incredible tempering. Just as the sharpness of a treasured sword comes from diligent whetting, the fragrance of the plum blossom is the result of undergoing the bitter winter. The kungfu monks of the Shaolin Temple are very particular about their exercise in the inclement cold of winter and the hottest day of the summer. Whatever the weather, they are seen practicing hard when the rooster crows in the morning, and they return to their bedroom when the moon is already up in the evening. They devoted all their energy to the hard training of the basic kungfu. During the snowy depth of winter, they would wear nothing on the upper part of the body while climbing the mountain. Along the 1000m long mountains path, they jump and crawl down. Under the scorching sun of mid-summer, they would be fully dressed and jump onto the pile tops, and they would lift the 50kg stone locks for countless times, until sweating allover. " this is about strength training in okinawan styles: http://uechi-ryu.com/oldsite/training_stones.htm I also have an old bookmark to an okinawan site that has pics of people back in the day doing some of these exercises - I'm trying to find it: " The ancient implement most similar to the Pangai Noon/Uechi-Ryu training stones is the "Nageri Game" or "Kan" ('gripping jars.') These are not made of stone but traditionally were earthenware jars with a pronounced lip at the neck of the jar. The lip would be grasped with thumb tucked so that the medial aspect of the thumb was touching the lip of the jar. The remaining four fingers would then grip the jar in a claw like fashion. "The jars would be used in daily training in Sanchin training and a small amount of water or sand would be added periodically for progressive resistance. The use of "Kan" remains unchallenged in its supremacy for training the "Bushiken" ('coiled thumb') which is employed frequently in Pangai Noon/Uechi-Ryu combative application; however, there is no rival to the stones for building staggering finger strength. " This site has a pic of someone using a rock pole, and also mentions the pulley: http://www.combatshuaichiao.com/training.html