KT Samurai

I intend to do some writing down the line concerning, among many other things, a race of people who utilize unarmed combat in their military endeavors. This will be a fantasy story, of course, as having strictly close combat units in any military is a silly idea. I'll have a myriad of things to help level the playing field. I enjoy writing action sequences but have no practical knowledge of how combat works outside my own personal (and very limited) martial arts training. What I need is a model, something to look at for inspiration. And I'd like to know what you fellas think. What are some great, stylized martial arts that can also be converted to more practical and simple means? It is also possible for me to use more than one. I'd been thinking about using a few Filipino styles as they tend to be quick and dirty, but I also need something that just looks cool. Thanks in advance for all your insight.

A lot of web sites I've been checking out have a wide array of exercises I can do when I wake up in the morning. They have different suggestions for everything I can think of and that makes it fairly confusing. The only people I know who work out are body builders of sorts, something I don't have interest in. What I need are workouts that use my body weight. I want to tone myself rather than build obscene muscle. That said, I'm looking for some ideas regarding specific workouts I can perform in the morning, shortly after I wake up and head to work. My goals are as follows: - Increase my flexibility, especially in my legs. - Increase my strength to something respectable (I'm skinny and weak). - Work my soft stomache into "washboard" abs. I don't want to change my overall appearance too much. I just want to get in shape. I wouldn't mind if my arms were a little bigger, in fact that would help out a little, but my emphasis is on getting some flexibility so that when I start up martial arts training it wouldn't be quite so difficult. Keep in mind I don't know a lot of terminology, so if you happen to have the time to explain what a certain workout with a funny name actually entails that would rule. Thanks in advace.

Awesome. Thank you.

Thanks for the awesome advice everyone! I've been researching good ways to get myself into decent shape while I wait for the next move in January. I know there is a karate school there so it will be the first place I check out. I'll give everything I can find a try before committing myself to one. Now... all this eating right and doing exercise has to work it's way into my daily routine. The struggle! XD

I take vitamin supplements, the kind that promise to balance your day and whatever so that you get everything you need. I sincerely doubt it's that bloody simple. My recent reading of Bruce Lee's sudden burst in knowledge about vitamins and minerals suggests that there's far more to it than popping a pill in the morning. As professionals and veterans, what is your stance on vitamins and minerals and their impact on your performance? What do you take? How often do you take it? Why? Does it help? Are there risks? Please share your thoughts.

This sounds logical. I'll give that a go. However, since I'm still curious, what styles come to mind when you consider my body type besides Tae Kwon Do?

Tae Kwon Do made sense to me as well. The emphasis on kicks seemed to make long legs a little more useful. I had trouble with the stances, however, and struggled to stay in them the entire time I tried it out. I would always step into the more comfortable "L stance," and that got me trouble a few times. Karate's stances seemed to fit better somehow and I'm not sure why. I've never been physically fit. but karate stances just felt more natural to me. My sensei at the time was enouraging, stating that if I wanted to get better all I had to do was keep showing up. I was deterred from it a little because I read that there was a lot of emphasis on upper body strength, something I lack. I had to move not long after taking karate up and haven't tried it since. I'm not sure what to make of it.

I have been wanting to devote myself to a martial art for a long time now. I'm lazy and I have a short attention span and I want martial arts to give me some discipline. I've already taken a few classes of both karate and tae kwon do but neither seemed to fit me terribly well. Either my classes were lacking, I was lacking, or some other factor came into play. I'm willing to retry either school. My question is, as a complete newbie to martial arts in general, which one should I pursue? Are particular arts more attuned to certain body structures? I am 6'3" and weight around 170lbs, making me tall and lean (and, according to what I've read, a bad candidate for muay thai). I would just like some advice from veterans and seasoned professionals on the matter. I'm sure it's entirely possible that there is no "right" one to choose, but I felt I should ask regardless. Thank you in advance for your responses.