Havoc88

I do my pullups with close grip and palms faced towards my face. When I start I strech all the way down (dead hang) and release all the tension in my body. Now, when I want to pull myself up I have the full ROM and have to get all the power from my own body, whereas when you go down a bit and then quickly go upwards you use your momentum and don't have to generate all the power yourself. BM: Sohan had good idea's about doing only the eccentric movements until you can do a few repetitions with them. Also the partial reps are good for people who cant do pull ups on their own. In some gyms there is a chin-up machine where you can put in a resistance weight to make it easyer. When you can do one real pull up/chin up by your self, just start doing singles with them. Try to do a lot of repetitions in total! At this point it doesn't really matter whether you can do 10 in a row or only one. Just do a lot of repetitions so the motion gets 'printed' into your body. When for example, in one week you have completed 3x10x1 repetition (that is on 3 different day's 10 singles) My guess is that you can also do two pull ups without to much difficulty. Then you can for example start out with doing something like this: 1,2,1,1,2,1,1,2,1,1. you hardly go to failure because most of the time you do 1 pull up where you could have done 2. When you feel like your ready maby you could do 1,2,1,2,1,2,1,2,1. a bit heavyer. Like Sohan said, the only limitation is your imagination. Be creative and do not get into one routine but switch regulary. Hope it helps. Tom

Since everyone seems to be training their pushups, I thought why only push ups. The problem in my eyes is this: When you do push ups, you train the front of your body ( chest, front shoulders, tricep, abs etc). But why only the front of your body? Every time I hear people of this board talk about balancing their lives and how MA makes them a better person. Then why not balance your opperbody training? I certainly know that pull ups are hard to learn, BUT unlike pushups, pullups train the rear of your body ( upper back, behind shoulder cap (what is this called in english?), biceps etc). Directly the opposite of the push up. In my opinion, you have to balance your pushes with your pulls, The reason I write this, is because I think a lot of people are not aware of this. They hear people bragging about the amounth of pushups they can do and this an that, but not about how a really good trainee (the person training) balances the whole thing out. In my opinion, your pulls and pushes must be 50-50. This means: When you train 3 times a week on doing pushes (bench press, mill press, push ups, ALL presses together) you should also train three times a week on your pulls ( pull ups, rows, ALL pulls together). When you train three times a week on doing proper pullups, you will advance! You could start out for example with doing pull ups with a ROM (Range of motion) of about 10 cm (4,4 inches or so). Then by working on this, after a week or 2-3, you may be able to do them with half of the full ROM. And after a month or two, you may even be able to do them FULL ROM! It all comes down to practice, a thing a lot of people on this board recommend. Balance is the key to a better body. A lot of guy's and girls are working on balancing their lives and MA training, but do not start doing pull ups because they cannot YET do them. When people are interested in this tiny little collum I wrote, I can give some examples of how training in pullups could look like, and for example how I train them. In this topic I only wrote about the upper body, but in my opinion upper body and lower body should also be balanced 50-50. Could write something about that too, but would like to see how people react to this. Hope you liked it. Greets Tom

I'm in my first year of college. Before I start working I would like to have seen asia, afrika and australia. Hopefully I will get going with my karate training and become a fine Martial Artist. After college I would like to start my own business Will soo how my plans work ou. Tom

thanks monday will be the big day.. last training this evening. Tom

Relax?? I think about it all day. Practice Heian Shodan every day, just to get better and not screw up. Tom

Doesn't sound good BM. I 2nd what Lordtariel said, go see a doctor. You're still young and it would be terrible is you couldn't practice MA anymore when you are around 35 because of your knees. I think I read you lift heavy weights and all. Squats performed badly really hurt your knees. I'm not saying you perform them badly, but it is an option. just my 2 cents Tom

Thanks guy's for the explaining. You all know much more about MA than I do, but I'm learning:D Tom

I think it is a very good exercise. A good support to snatches I think! Tom

Most gyms can do it too, may be much cheaper. Tom

Have not thought about that, but you're absolutely right! Difference is that you use your other hand as leverage. Nice one Cathal! I knew Heian Shodan's hammer fist was to get loose, but didn't linked it to this particular technique. Thanks for the insight! Tom

I think I just have nothing to show right now:D Train harder. Tom

Eventhough it maby wasn't very educative, I did like it. The japanese bo apealed to me! The TKD guy was pretty good with that weapon in my opinion. I study shotokan so I do not know how weapons are taught. Do you really learn to use the japanese bo like that? This is not ment to hyjack the thread or anything. Tom

I do karate, and my sensei taught us a very simple method for getting lose. The attacker grabs your left hand with his right hand. All you have to do is grab your own left hand with your right hand and turn your hand around in a circular motion to the outer side of your arm. Tried this on a blackbelt who weights twice as much as I do. He did not have a chance. The beauty of it is that the attacker gets in a posotion where you can do absolutely anything with him. Try it, it works. Tom

Thanks gyuy's! I will do the best I can!

congrats!! You got hit, but kept going, thats the spirrit! Tom

Thanks!!

Hello everyone! 18th of december I will be doing my grading for my yellow belt, 7th kyu! It is my first grading so I'm very exited! My style is Shotokan karate and I have two fantastic sensei's, so I think I will do well enough. I started first of october, but trained hard since then to be able to grade this month. My sensei tells me I'm doing great. Compared to some of my fellow students I am doing pretty good, since they do it a month or two longer than I. I have to do: Kata: taikioku shodan Heidan Shodan Blocks: age-uke soto-uke shuto-uke uchi-uke gedan-barai punches jodan (high) chudan (middle) gedan (low) kicks mae-geri side kick Hopefully I will do alright. Greetz Tom

Nice one! Another variation I used to do with pullups was like this. 1,2,3,4,5 reps 1,2,3,4 1,2,3 1,2 1 This way, you wont reach fatique as fast as with a pyramid like this: 1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1 But you do make a lot more repetitions. Tom

Close grip/wide grip/medium grip/pronated/supinated Chin-ups/pull-ups, hand stand push ups, one arm push ups. close push ups, wide push ups, knuckle push ups, dragon flags!!, sit ups, crunches, hanging/lying leg raises!!. All these can be done at home, all you need is a little space, maby something to do dragon flags and a bar to hang. Hope it helps. Tom

Being only a beginning white belt, I have only learned two kata's. Heidan shodan en heidan nidan. I like heidan nidan a lot better, because you can tell there really is a difference between the two. Actually, heidan nidan is a yellow belt kata at out dojo, but I was lucky to be in the class where it was being teached. Tom

I think it is a good think you sparred agains an expirienced opponent. Still waiting for my first sparring session Tom

I too notice that I do better when I train with somebody better/stronger than me. But when someone in worse/weaker than me I (alway's) try to help them, what in turn makes me better too. So I do not know what develops me better. If I have to guess I would say the first. A question to you Wolfen, what was the result of that day of intense training? Did you continue to train pushups or did you do it just that one time? Tom

Looks like I was pretty wrong Tom

Yeah, I heard about it too. Let's wait for someone else to explain it better than me Tom

I do not think knuckle push ups have a positive effect on your knuckles. I do think that they have a positive effect on your wrists when you have weak wrists, because while doing knuckle pushups there is no stress on your wrists.