marie curie

Good thought- also if you have friends, family, or other relationships outside of MA, that may be something to take into consideration!

Ok, for kids: 1. Hold your right fist by your right hip 2. Step forward with your right foot, and turn your body to your left so that the other guy is beside your right side 3. When you are stepping punch strait toward the other guy 4. When your foot lands from that step, make sure that it's at the same time as your body turns and your fist hits the other guy sorry if its not great- I haven't taught kids in a few years

I don't have insurance, so no. The only dr I talked to was the one I saw after my MRI who read me the results... so I didn't exactly know what questions to ask

I like to cook, take pictures, I play world of warcraft with my fiance, and I like to ride my bike. Very soon, I'm going to begin hiking and very possibly white water rafting- Yay!

In the past year I have torn both of my meniscuses which is ok, but I have arthritis in my knees and where the tears are, they irritate where I already have inflamation. Neither of these are something that can be fixed, but I've given it some time and the tears seem to be to a point that they don't tear more whenever I do stuff (which was a quite annoying few months). Anyway, I want to get back to training regularly (I've been going lightly ever since), and I need to build up some muscle/loose some weight to do so. My big problem is consistancy. When my joints swell, the torn stuff gets caught on other tissue and it does feel at times like its tearing more, so I can't do much when the weather changes.... not a big problem except that I live in Pittsburgh where the weather changes a lot... so I'd say that I'm good for training on average half of the time. Any suggestions?

I actually think that there is a great deal of integrity, respect, and sportsmanship shown in MMA, specifically the UFC. Maybe the difference is that I'm comparing this to other sports instead of martial arts, but it is a rare occation (yes, it's happend, but it's so rare that when it does happend a big deal has been made) that the players disrespect the officiants by challanging and complaining about the refereeing. This, of course, is a very common practice- not only for sportsman but for coaches as well- in most other sports. I can't remember one time that a fighter's coach has come out yelling at the ref, but if it's happened, it's definately not common. Recently I saw two opposing fighters, after the fight either talking very closely or praying together. No animosity. They played the game. They respected each other. ... I'll edit this when I can think of their names. Yes there is some trash talking, but generally it's just for the clips right before the fights and that is the time that the fighters are trying to get into a mental space that they want to beat the crap out of one another, so it's understandable. The real trash-talking that is done mostly cira Tito is also understandable. In any sport or competition, there are bound to be a few people who just don't play well with others. T. Owens comes to mind, and the media picks on him for it, and people judge him and the handful of others who trash talk- not the entire sport. Ultimate Fighter, however, is a different story. These are not world champions, these are kids (mostly 20-something bacchelors) who have proven themselves to a point, were chosen based on skill as well as personality, and placed in a compeditive environment on a reality show. If you judge this show compared to other reality shows, I think that it won't come up to be so rediculous. Anyway, I just see a lot of good sportsmanship between the athelets who obviously respect each other. I see respect for the officals, and defiantly respect for the trainers/coaches/teachers. Just my 2 cents ****Edit*** I believe that it's Diaz v Freitas

Generally, I do a yoko tsuki when stepping toward the opponent into a cover stance (a sideways horse stance). It's most beneficial when there is some distance between you and him and you want to maintain that. Also, if you are fighting two opponents, this strike/stance allows you to attack one while retaining vision and access to a second if he moves in. Anyway, steps from a natural, forward facing stance with arms hanging naturally: 1. Chamber striking fist at same side hip 2. Slide same side foot forward to opposite side cover stance (leg on side of striking arm is closesest to opponent) At the same time, be extending striking arm either a) vertically the entire time b) beginning vertically, and rotating to a horizontal position upon inpact 3. As leading foot reaches position, hips rotate to face sideways and fist impacts target. Non-blocking arm is in a defensive position accross the body, ready to defend an attack from the opponent I may be forgetting something, but I think thats it- comments anyone? Oh, and by the way, I think that this is a great idea and we should have more threads like this, just discussing the execution of a particular move- kudos.

Personally, I'd be happy if it took 10 years.

I have a light and middle weight gi, and my fiance has a heavyweight. During the summer, we work out in a room that probably gets to be about 95 degrees, so lightweight is better for then- I know I know the material is supposed to be better on the mid weight, but it doesn't matter, the lightweight is the coolest (note: I also wear a rashguard under, so that may make the diff.) During the rest of the year (which is most of it, here in Pittsburgh, PA, USA) I use my midweight, because we do some light grappling and those lightweights do tear pretty easily. As for color: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/05/0518_050518_redsports.html

That sounds like a plan... also you may find that your body can handle it just fine as long as you take one particular day, for example if your Tuesdays and Wednesdays are usually pretty serious, you may find that taking Thursday off lets you work out better the rest of the week. Just a thought.

Welcome!

Yeh, it's an old model (a couple years ago- cks1862), but this one seems to be the new version- though I don't see anything about the soft to loud alarm, so I'd check around to be sure first. http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html?ie=UTF8&frombrowse=1&asin=B0000UL306 http://www.amazon.com/Emerson-Research-Dual-Alarm-Automatic-CKS3029/dp/B0002DG130

Walmart

T;hat depends on your age- if you are a teenager (and, for instance, in track) it wouldn't be out of the realm of health to be as low as 4 or 5.

I like a good snapping side kick. I think that I would prefer low roundhouses if I didn't have such pansy shins.

I have the rocking-est alarm clock in the world that I wake up to on weekdays! It has two alarms and the way that they wake you up is, initially, a very soft and quiet beeping that I can barely hear when I'm awake, then it gradually gets louder. I keep it right by my bed, so it wakes me up before my fiance, and really cuts down on the tiredness, since our bodies are designed to wake up more gradually. People feel better rested if the have the same number of hours of sleep, but sleep later, I think, because the light and outside noises bring you slowly to a little awake before that blasted alarm goes off I usually wake up about an hour later on weekends, but that is because I don't use an alarm.

Hehe, yeh, but on the special he said that he liked the workouts, but if his training ever required him to eat food (healthier) that he didn't like instead of what he's always eaten, he'd find a new job.

Yeh, in my experience it causes enough pain:) Very true, most of my friends have been doing MA for quite a while, and have seen this at least one or two times. Also, if you fist punch to anywhere on the face the hard vs hard causes your knuckles to be cut open and often the opponent bleeds, and on the street I don't really want my attackers sharing their germs.

I like to take a step in and absorb the glancing knee while I make some strikes to the head and body. For particularly low kicks I rotate my leg and block with- well I guess the outside of my lower leg, like 90 degrees from my calf.

I just watched a Spike special on him- I can't believe he is only 25... makes me feel like a slacker

Yes. I recommend going to a local gym- they often offer a trainer for an additional 10 dollars a month or something who can help you make decisions about specific exercises. The nice thing about gym equipment is that it usually has guiding pieces and movement is a long a track, so you shouldn't be popping out of joint all over the place.... but if you do squats or lunges you don't have any guiding support, and some force in a wrong direction could cause more injury than the exercise is worth.

I had to quit kajukenbo and bjj because I tore my meniscus, which irritated my knee arthritis. I didn't leave at first, and it just got worse. Once I finally did, it got much better. My knee are both still too crappy for bjj, but I'm back at Kajukenbo for about 75% of classes. Taking time off was the best thing I could have done.

I wouldn't say afraid- definitely not. I used to not mind the idea at all- not because I was suicidal or anything, but I was curious as to what happens after, if anything. Now I realize that I have people who count on me, so I'll have to leave that adventure for another day

One of my instructors had a very good rule on this- Soft weapons for hard targets (eg the face) Hard weapons for soft targets (eg the solar plexus)

I've had a couple of injuries and it seems that the worst thing I ever did was decide not to go to the dr. right away. I suggest you talk to your sensei immediately and to you dr. as soon as you can, and see if between the three of you, you can come up with a plan for a low-impact version of some of the forms (stances that aren't so deep, slower, tension moves instead of quick ones).