Shokei Marcsui

It's not that simple. I remember in highschool i'd be down to my last 5 bucks and it would be a choice between eating and cigarettes... well you know how one that one. Cigarettes.

Is it important to work out your neck?

Well, I am an ex-smoker of 16 years now. I've quit for a total of 2 years. My sensei is 60. In TOP shape and smokes. Does it hamper him? Not really, he doesn't smoke while he practicing. Well martial arts stamina should be like boxing stamina, in spurts. Your aerobic level shoud go one round peak and then come back down, go another round peak and then come back down. As opposed to a marathon runner that is constantly at a high aerobic level. Karate is about explosive power. An explosion and then retraction. Not a constant stream of power. The best and ONLY way I found to quit was the "out of sight, out of mind" philosphy. I've tried just about everything: Gum, Patches, etc etc. nothing worked. What I found was that I could break down my smoking cravings with certain events or emotions. For instance, - I wake up in the morning, I want a cigarette - After finishing a meal, I crave a cigarette - When I start my car, I want a cigarette - I'm at a club having a drink, I need a cigarette - When I play poker, I want a cigarette Well you get the gist of that. Any situation I found myself craving a cigarette I just wouldn't do anymore. So I stopped playing poker, stopped drinking, stopped going out to clubs... sounds pretty boring aye? Well obviously I couldn't stop eating food, driving my car, or waking up so those were the hardest to overcome. BUT At least you have cut down more than HALF of your cigarette consumption JUST by avoiding other places you've associated smoking with. Now i'm not saying to stop doing that stuff forever, but you need to give yourself mental strength to be able to go to a club and not want a cigarette.

If it's anything similar to Sanchin or Tensho Kata then it's a very useful kata with many lessons to learn. Those are great morning workout katas to do right when you wake up before breakfast. AND they are my favorite kata next to taikyoku ichi

Creatine and NO2 work great when supplemented together. I stopped taking the NO2 because I bruised a lot easier due to the open blood vessels. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing but I stopped because I didn't want to look like a battered spouse or something. Anyways if you are interested on more of the effects of NO2 I would suggest you pick up "The Nitric Oxide Revolution" A very good book about NO2, the effects, and adding it into your work outs. OSU

After black belt? Refining techniques into perfection. Or NEAR Perfection and understanding your body mechanics and adapting kihon to your fighting style. Perhaps teaching as well if you are interested in that. Tournaments as well.

That's the problem with point sparring or tap sparring. It's not realistic and you don't feel the extent of a roundhouse kick to the head or a front kick to the body. I've done the point sparring thing and it is hard to break away from that mode of fighting into full contact kumite. Regardless, I suppose it's like playing cowboys and indians. "BANG BANG!" I shot you,... no I shot you! ` It's your word against his. Not saying that you should totally deck him, but understand that your kick did what it did. Tap him a couple of times pretty good. The worse that will happen is that you turn, kneel and think about the hit on his stomach and the extension through that. Then you stand up and say, "Sorry about that."

Well it sounds like your muscles are stretching, which is a good thing. You can do a couple of things to minimize your cramping. 1. Take in a lot of potassium (Banana) 2. After stretching like that, you want to shake your legs out and kick slowly. Pick your leg up, chamber, extend, retract, and then put it down. Your muscles are warm after a couple of slow kicks like that work progessively faster. Muscle cramping has nothing to do with weight, it's about your muscle condition. "No pain, No gain" Good luck

To do a pull up, i'd work on muscle endurance. Do you have access to a gym? If so, look for a machine that has the weighted dips and pull ups. That will help you with that.

I second the Adidas Adi-luxe. Buy two pairs They are pretty stylish with a pair of jeans too.

thanks for the links lovekarate

Yeah I think PETA needs to hear about this. Cruel and unusual punishment towards reptiles will not be tolerated.

I can sleep sitting up. Twas very useful in my high school days.

Some schools pass students to fill their ranks with black belts. McDojos in particular seem to do that a lot. Guaranteed to have your black belt in 1 year!

That is so realistic. I'm switching fro kyokushin to tkd now!!! Has anyone posted this in the TKD forum?

Don't forget to work your opposing muscle groups. I wish it was as simple as that. Some people are just hard gainers. It is genetics.

It's just like any karate, they don't expect you to be able to take repeated blows to the body right when you walk in the door and introduce yourself. Conditioning is the key and just like anything new you work up slowly. White belts do kumite, but the black belt's don't use them as punching bags. We probably spar 3/4 to 1/2 speed. Doing this allows them to practice - breathing - relaxation - technique so that way when it comes down to a full speed kumite they are not - holding their breath the whole fight - tensed up during punches and kicks - and their kicks and punches aren't all over the place I would say that kyokushin is 70% conditioning and 40% basics, kata (110%). Kumite is the real part of kyokushin and when the time comes you will be prepared.

No one mentioned Francisco Filho?? But yeah I agree with most of your choices minus Gary O Neil. Hajime Kazumi is good too.

Good luck with the rehab.

Dont' forget the chicken and waffles.

Thank you for the replies. How do they question your concepts of karate? How does holding a sai, tonfa, bo increase my punching power? My kicking power? Mechanics of throwing a proper sidekick, roundhouse kick, punch etc etc should be practised as such not the other way around. I can see how some of the motions could "mimic" a punch or kick but the actual performance is quite different.

OSU! Marc

I've always wondered this about weapons training, is it applicable to our daily lives? How many times will you be asked to "Give me your wallet!" while holding a Katana or even while strolling along with a bo. Does it enhance our martial arts any? I'd rather focus on ways to enhance my body a "natural weapon" rather than spending important time working on tonfa forms. I'm sure weapons form/training had a place for a okinawan farmer defending himself in old times, but is it applicable to today's martial artist? Many martial artists are doing full contact (UFC and Pride) type competitions and I was just curious to see your opinions. Thank you

Lose a friend, gain an enemy. Now why would you want to do something like that? Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

It's a great way to track your progress.