CagedWarrior

real quick, again, yes you need to rotate your hips to get a truly hard punch. anyway, when i refer to snap punches i refer to the kind you hear about in kung fu a lot, in which they advocate pulling your hand backwards right before you strike to produce a whipping effect.

i dono it sounds to me like youve been watchig to much jet li No, that really does work. It kind of sucks, but it's better than nothing. Some of the old boxers in the bare-knuckle days used to do that as part of their strategy.

When I said just knock him out, I don't expect one blow to knock someone out every time. I was just trying to make a point. You are always in danger of getting hit when your hands move away from your face, which is why when you punch you should have your shoulders shrugged up- the shoulder itself blocks half your face if you do it right. It's like you're looking down your arm aiming a gun. That should be the only time your hands are away, blocking should be done with forarms clinched to head like a football helmet, or maybe a parry where your hand moves but arm really doesn't. (If that's what you're talking about, I misunderstood. But it seems to me you're endorsing the style of blocking that takes your hands far away from your face, which is bad. "Intercepting" punches doesn't work.) If you're too close to take a full swing, then you're in elbow or clinch range, so do that. You don't have to be more than a foot away to throw a hook. 8 inches is probably enough. Uppercuts can be thrown even closer. The point is, if you're not moving your hips with your punch, you're wasting your time (unless you're throwing a jab- which is not a snap punch, just a fast punch.) As for elbows, there is a little hip movement, but not much, if you're doing it correctly. Also, just for the record, I'm not calling WC useless or terrible. I would consider it somewhat good, but pretty limited, and some ideas WC has aren't practical.

That's impossible. A protein g has 4 or 5 calories in it alone.

...what?

Because they build up their muscles to the point that their fast twitch muscles and slow twitch muscles fight against one another. Generally (if you don't also train for speed) they've only trained their muscles for slow, steady force production.

520g of protein a day? Good lord....

Call me biased, more JJ!

Aside from this arthritis stuff, which isn't too big a risk I don't think... you're biggest risk is hitting it wrong. Now that will hurt your wrist. So don't do that.

Hahaha! That works great, actually. Still hate takin shots to the head though. Anyway, aside from just getting used to it over time, there's not much you can do. It sucks. Your strategy, I think, should be to get good at avoiding and blocking them, and get so good at fighting that it's instinct. That way, when you do take a hit, you aren't thinking but you know what to do anyway, and maybe you'll only take the one.

Goju's right. I know swimmers and joggers who love the stuff because it helps their performance. They aren't concerned with increasing muscle mass. As for Kaju.. yea, exactly. Bodybuilders are not martial artists, and couldn't be good ones with those builds. Muscles are important, specifically strength. While no one questions that a bodybuilder is strong, they train primarily for size, not strength. Not to mention how slow they become.

To be honest I really wouldn't call it effective, but it looks like it'd be a lot of fun if you're into that sort of thing (I just like the violence, what can I say) and it looks really cool. Won't really win you a fight though.

Kick with your shin, not your instep. Step through and kick through your target- only your hips are moving your leg with the low kicks, your quadricep never flexes, your leg never extends. If you want, when you're good at that, just as you land your blow you can push your shin into them (thus extending your leg) which will do two things- push you backwards probably, and "cut" into that muscle- it hurts so much more than just the impact. The downward angle isn't necessary, but like the cut, just adds that much more to it.

I like Judo (and if you read my posts, you know that I don't like much out there.) If I weren't doing BJJ I'd probably be looking for a Judo school. Some guys have come to my BJJ school from Judo already with a decent (for a white belt) knowledge of the ground game. As for the matches, since no one has yet mentioned this- you lose a match if you allow your self to get thrown onto your back, I believe. That's probably what you saw.

Pushing one leg down and sliding a knee over it, thus moving yourself to half guard is nice. You see it a lot in the UFC, so you know it works when you're brawling, not just grappling.

You know what else is great that no one has mentioned? Head butts.

Read my post I already left. What's the first defense against chokes? SHRUG YOUR SHOULDERS!

Creatine doesn't just help you get big, it helps you get strong too. You have to lift weights a certain way for size, which is actually different than for strength. (You get a little size with strength, and vice versa, but basically you specialize.)

Blocks that strike limbs are blocks that move your hands away from your face, and will get you hurt. In a brawl, which is what it is on the street, you don't deflect punches like Jet Li. It just doesn't happen. Be your opponent a boxer or a brawling untrained (yet probably experienced) thug, they probably know enough about punching to have a good chance and hitting you. Sure maybe you can do that with a wild, ugly haymaker- but why not train to fight skilled fighters? It can only make you better against unskilled fighters as well. Between a guy trained to take on skilled fighters or unskilled figthers, who would be more likely to win? As far as power is concerned, it's not just me, but every human being in a human being's body needs to throw a full swing to get maximum power. Snap punches do not work. Rabbit punches do not hurt. Backfists and chops (minus one to the throat or something) don't have as much power either. A good cross or hook or somethign with your entire body into it hits hard. You do, in fact, have to throw a "complete swing" to get a lot of power. That's just body mechanics- your legs provide the most power, next your core, then your chest and arms. Elbows are a little different, though, and are best thrown quickly without much hip movement most of the time.

Necessary? Yes and no, depending on your goals. Those guys you refer to, they can be incredibly healthy and in shape, it happened before the world even knew what a vitamin was. However, they'll never reach the level some of, say, America's top athletes achieve with their suppliments. Why do you think body builders (just an example) today are getting bigger than they have ever been? Advances in supliments is a huge part of that- creatine, NO2, protein powders, aminos... all have allowed people to "naturally" push their bodies to new limits that were, and are, simply impossible to reach without.

I meant both. I'm not gonna stand out their and try to punch his arms as he tries to hit me. But if I find myself on the inside of a punch, and he's not fast enough to get it back on guard, I'll sure as heck strike that inside of the elbow or bicep on the way into an elbow to the face. This may come off as insulting, but that isn't my intention, so.... First of all, 99% of the time, you won't have enough time to actually catch an arm extended. Second, striking a bicep on the way to his face? What a waste of time and energy! If you're hitting a guy in the face, you need to shoot that punch from your guard with your hips powering it in one motion. (For reference, watch a boxing match.) It isn't possible to get a decent amount of power if you swing your fist any which way into some guys arm, then just pop it into his face. That kind of punch is powered by your arm, not your body. If you do hit his arm, then throw a PROPER punch into his face, you've probably already lost your window. If a guy leaves his hand away from his face, just knock him out. As for trapping arms... good luck. I've seen all sorts of aikido techniques and TJJ stuff that is supposed to lock my wrist standing or somthing... you know what I do? Jerk my hand back. It's really, really easy to do so, even against "good" practicioners. You'd still be better off just knocking the guy out, or shooting in for a takedown, or clinching for some dirty boxing and/or takedown. Biggest point here is: if you can elbow his face, just do it. When you're close enough to elbow, you're close enough to take damage and so on yourself. Who cares about a bicep strike or some other nonsensical thing? It will waste your time, leave you open, and possibly make you miss it. JUST KNOCK HIM OUT!!!

Boxing has strength behind it. The fundamental problem with animal styles is that they base them on other animals... not people. People don't move like a praying mantis or a bird. Things like boxing, however, teach you to maximize the force in each strike.

What else would you use? Medium force? Light force? When you hit a guy, you want to hit him as hard as possible, right? Especially if you're smaller- every extra bit of force you can get from proper technique to bring him down. Besides, if you train in boxing, you probably know to hit a guy in the bridge of the nose, or the side of the neck, or any other dirty trick most guys just pick up (for streetfighting) here and there. As for attacking the limbs... come on. If i put my fists up and you try and hurt my arms, I'll hit you in the face. Plain and simple, it just doesn't work.

That's a question only you can answer.

Nutrition today is better than it has ever been... the information on it, that is. However, some things can't be provided even with perfect nutrition- and that includes the needs of top performance and/or "hard core" athletes. A good multi vitamin, for example, is necessary for any serious athlete because you simply can't get enough to do everything you want to do from food alone. It's impossible. A guy working out hard enough will experience nutritional gaps that will impede his progress. 100% of olympic athletes, and probably professional body builders and the likes, suppliment with one. The same goes for creatine, gluatmine and other aminos... it's all about optimizing performance. You can't get mega doses of vitamins, minerals, creatine, amino acids, etc. from food; but those mega doses are useful in training and perfecting your body.