elbows_and_knees

yes and no - fat burners tend to work one of two ways 1. they break down fats directly - they metabolize and dissolve fat. 2. they increase body heat - speed up the metabolism.

it's marketed as both. Notice the side of the bottle - "The ultimate energy rush". In smaller text, it says "fat incinerator" the drink is marketed more toward energy. the pills are the fat burners.

motivation is a powerful thing. so is peer pressure.

redline's not carbonated.

I have a high tolerance for energy drinks - they have no real effect on me. My friends tried redline and talked about how it helped them and how they were all jittery from only taking half a bottle. The first time I bought it, I drank the whole bottle and took a nap an hour later...

I don't know that you're ever too old too spar. My first judo coach is pushing 80 and he will still do ground randori with us. one of our judo and bjj coaches is 40 and he has placed in the top three in every national tournament he's been in for the past few years. out of curiousity, what are you considering old?

that's too bad. here again, I'd bring up self expression. my teacher liked to throw. I liked to punch more than kick, although I did like to kick. Neither of us were what you would call long range.

my karate teacher moved back to his hometown of kumamoto, japan. When he comes to visit, we train together. It's always interesting to see how much each of us has changed when we spar.

I don't care about kata, as I no longer do them. Sure, you can express through kata, but at the end of the day, it is pre set. everyone does the same kata, even if they emphasize different areas of it in different ways. there is no such boundary on free fighting - it's a complete self expression.

I wasn't either. But several boxers apparently were - tyson was one of them. yeah, I can understand that. typo - shin kick.

the forehead, no, it won't. that is the hardest part of the skull. The temple, yes it will. that is the intended target of many boxers' overhand right. regardless, it's there as part of the sport. I've been headbutted in judo matches intentionally, and in full contact - it happens. boxing trainer freddie roach has been quoted as saying "If a good hook misses, the elbow lands" jab to the body, front push kicks as they step in... the ush kicks work really well once you get the timing down. blocking snap kicks, I'm sure. blocking shink kick can - and has - broken arms. it doesn't always, but you should be aware that it can happen. As for absorption, sure we are talking about sport - and if you don't know how to absorb or roll with a punch, what happens? your bell gets rung. Then points don't matter, cuz you lost by KO. you are correct there. but it's not hard to shuffle back from or circle away from a kick. I do that more than I leg check, actually, unless I want to get inside. We have a tkd guy that likes to front kick. I shuffle away from him, and as his leg re-chambers, I shuffle forward and throw punches. gotcha. lol, fine, scratch the kidney. what about a shovel hook to the liver or floating rib area? no doubt they are different. I don't think there is any serious disadvantage posed against the boxer in sparring though, unless you are using a TMA point system - I was referring to full contact.

as you admittedly don't compete, how do you know? for the record, I am referring to full contact and not point though. it wasn't meant to be harsh and wasn't directed at you, per se, as I don't know how often you train. I'm just saying that "way of life" means different things to different people. Out of curiousity, why would you be touchy about it? I see what you're saying. Lack of competition wouldn't stop them from training hard at all. MMA attracts those who like to work, as it's geared toward those individuals. However, competition sparks evolution. so you are correct in saying that mma would not be where it is today if not for competition. sure, but what are the chances? in fighting there are no absolutes, and not necessarily even things you can generally plan on happening, so scenario training is difficult. gotcha.

here is where I disagree with you. There is no one answer to this, because everyone has their own definition of art. MARTIAL indicates war or battle - you can't dispute that. however, art encompases many things. I don't necessarily view hata as art, although I see how they can be seen that way. IMO, fighting is art. When you take something that was shown to you, make it your own and express your own style through fighting - that is the highest level of art, not repeating a kata that EVERYONE does in pretty much the exact same way. there is no true expression there, and thus, no art. An example I like to use is that of my friend and I. We have trained together since 1996, under all of the same instructors except for one - he went to kempo and I went into longfist - we are the same height and body type, yet we fight COMPLETELY different. This is our expression of what we learned, even though we were taught virtually the same things. THAT is art. that is a rather broad generalization. Where I train, we convey the history of the art to anyone who asks. We also show some of the traditional techniques that we were taught, although they are not a focus.

that depends on how it's done. to just practice them on air, sure. but to drill the techniques, both cooperatively and with resistance, to spar with them, to try and spar ONLY using a certain set of techniques... doesn't get boring at all. I don't think I agree with this one. Why do you think this is true? coming from a muay thai and judo background, I love infighting - you don't have to be at long range at all. IMO, the fight doesn't even begin until you are at that range.

not really. When you compete, the real training is done in your sparring. All of the solo work you can handle is not gonna help you if you haven't been drilling and sparring. when you are a fighter, EVERYTHING should be pretty much geared toward that - sparring, focus mitts, sports specific strength training, heavy bag, etc. All of these things are done in class, under the tutelage of a trainer. To not do this is fine for an MA which doesn't compete, but would be disastrous for a competitor. training to fight is indeed a way of life. MA in general is, as we know. But, to what extent is it your way of life? for many, it's nothing more than class three days per week. that's not true at all. Do you think MMA competitors would stop training if they didn't have anyone to comete against? Nah. It's also not true that the harder the student works, the harder the student drives them, at least not entirely true. A student is in a class. he is learning the same material as those around him. Now, when the training is 1 on 1, yes, it's absolutely correct. But in a class setting, if you have 20 people out of 30 that are working their tail off, the teacher can't take time pushing each of them without neglecting others. and that is the train of thought I disagree with. It's not just where he gives you tools. it's where you learn how to use them and get in fighting form to use them. repetitive drilling, bagwork and mittwork are how you refine and learn to use your tolls, in addition to sparring. you really think so? coaching, training and fighting has convinced me to think otherwise. or over commit, which is a downfall I addressed earlier. sure you should. That's not what I said. blocking in a fight for the most part is ineffectve - that was my point. you then stated that you counter attack with the block. sure you should. but if it's ineffective, then what, you block again? that will get you knocked out. How many fights, sport and otherwise, have you seen an extensive use of blocking? In case you missed what I said eaarlier, here it is again: Evasion is primary. If you can't evade, parry. if you can't parry, block. And even though you just said blocking is merely a training method, you advocated blocking in an above statement...

dunno about the chest problems, but the loading phase is unnecessary. All that is doing is making your supply run out faster and you dig into your pockets sooner. Forget the loading phase and just start the normal reccommended usage.

depends on how soon after you do them you start lifting. If you are doing pushups in the am and lifting hours later, you won't notice - or at least I don't.

here's the thing - in regards to damaging a joint, choking a guy out, etc., these things are incidental. I applied an arm bar, he fought and it snapped. We struggled and fell, he hit his head on the ground. without a witness, it's hard to say otherwise. I may not have meant for you to hurt yourself - I only wanted to keep you from hurting me. On the other hand, if I strike you, I obviously meant to do it. guilty. murder is the same way. you can intentionally kill a person and get several years to life in prison. However, if you kill them accidentally, you can be out in like 10 years or less. one of my best friends was shot and killed, but the guy who shot him was actually trying to shoot someone else. Consequently, he only got an involuntary manslaughter charge and was out of prison in 5 years.

Tradition can be one of the major downfalls of TMAs. Just because it is tradition, doesn't mean it is right. exactly. it also doesn't mean that it's the best way. for the love of tradition, you carry shuriken and a katana as weapons. I carry a desert eagle. Who's method is better in today's society?

That's part of the problem as well. Considering that the practical meaning is open to interpretation, you don't necessarily know. But you know when you've seen enough of a style to base some sort of judgement. you don't have to train for a lifetime to figure it out. Also, nobody is judging cma as a whole (at least I'm not) I judge mainly the training methods, which in some cases are questionable, and the whole thought process behind it. quite naturally, this is the very reason there is so much crap being taught now.

that's EXACTLY what the problem is. the style SHOULD dictate it. I can take any given person I coach and through regular training - without additional outside training - they will be able to get in a ring and hold their own. The training that is inherent in the style makes it that way. TMA is not like that. the training prepares you for the rigors of extended length fighting. TMA does not, because that's not what it was designed for. A student should still train on their own, but the style should prepare them regardless. The only arts I've seen that have this right are sport arts - judo, bjj, muay thai, etc. The only TMA that I've seen like this are capoeira and olympic style tkd. not really. that is your own self imposed requirement, not a requirement of TMA. If is a really big word. you have two assumptions here: 1. the if - IF you are successful with a "real" (whatever that means) block. 2. that your counter actually does some damage - it may not. Also, some of the more often used blocks, like the outside and inside blocks, leave you horribly open. I do this all the time to one of our guys who trained shotokan. I jab to his face. He does an inside block. I jab again. he blocks. I fake the jab, and he blocks - I loop my hand around and hook punch him in the jaw, as that block leaves your face wide open.

Yes , I have a gripper ( I didnt know the name ....so I called the A shape thing) Thanks , I will try that brand. My gripper is kinda girls stuff...too soft , is one I bought in walmart for 10 bucks CoC are the hardest available.

yeah, that's a muscular endurance issue. it's fixed easily enough, though. set a goal to do 100 pushups every morning. get up in the AM and start doing them. rest when you have to - start by doing sets of 20 - 25 until you reach 100. the number you are able to do per set can increase as it gets easier for you.

see, this is what I'm talking about. I bench a little over 300, I squat 450, dead 455, etc. But I am in the 40 rep range on pushups. It's the difference in the type of training that I mentioned above.

1. soreness isn't necessarily a good thing. you can't judge intensity by whether or not you are sore the next day. 2. you are doing high rep exercises that are 1.) slightly elevating heart rate, 2.) increasing your muscular endurance and 3.) burning lots of calories. THAT is why you have better endurance and more definition. 3. I guarantee you that you haven't gotten stronger, if you were on a serious lifting program. you can do more pushups now, for example, because you are increasing your muscular endurance. This is not the same as strength. You will NEVER find a guy who only does body weight squats who can out squat me. But, he will be able to do more bodyweight squats than me, because his endurance will be better than mine. 4. As long as you eat enough, you can gain weight. However, the body can only be in one state at a time - anabolic or catabolic - it can't be in both. right now, your body is in a growth phase. That doesn't mean it will stay there. With all of the endurance training and running, it may switch. like I said, you're not stronger than them - you have more muscular endurance than them. try this. Once you can do 100 pushups, have a contest with a guy who can bench press 350. you will likely beat him. Next, you try to bench 350 - it won't happen. you are training something completely different than what he is training. In any event, keep training and making progress!