Havoc88

I like bullit, another equivalent of red bull. It's cheap so that will do it. BUT, I do not depend on it to give me energy or somethink like it. I drink it because I like it. Some drink cola when they are home, I drink bullit. Nothing wrong with it I think. Zapatista, the sleepyness you are referring to has to do with your bloodsugarlevels. Sohan already referred to it. This is what I think causes the sleepy feeling you get. Food like macaroni produces a constant, altough lower, increas in your blood sugar. This is because it takes longer to break down the nutritions in macaroni to tiny little molecules.

Tom, I don't know about your tolerance, but I'd skip drinking milk before a run. It could give you the trots. If your vitamin has iron in it, it could also upset your stomach. Try juice instead. It's got more carbs, which will help with that "legs like a rock" feeling. Milk doesn't have that much in the way of carbs and it milk sugar is harder to digest. With respect, Sohan I will try juice instead then. Orange juice will do fine then I think. Tom

Let's just say that you are a business man and walk in a 500 dollar suit every day. That would mean that you have the most chances to be fighting in a 500 dollar suit when you have to fight. Does this mean you have to train in a 500 dollar suit? My oppinion is, although I have only trained for about a month now, is that the gi in my karate is there for the practical use in the class. It is wide and strong and doesn't get wet. When training in your daily clothes you're just going to mess them up. But bm does have a good point though.. Tom

My legs felt like rocks this morning! Eventhough it was my first time running in the morning this early, it was harder than I thought. I think I ran 3k in about 20 minutes. I know, not a lot or very fast, but I have to start somewhere. The only thing I had before my run was a glass of milk and a vitamine pill. Tomorrow the same thing I guess, but I have to keep doing it if I want to improve myself. Thanks for the support you guy's! Tom

Thanks again Sohan, this answer really helps me! But you're really doing a good job at your running! 10k, is that 10km or 10miles? Both are really good! I guess 10km, other wise you would have to run about 35? miles an hour Tomorrow will be my first AM running day! Greetings Tom

Thanks Sohan! So you run every morning for 20 minutes, or do you do even more every morning? I guess I will go and try it and see if it helps me feeling fitter! Tom

I think a good morning routine is good for me too. Now, I get up at 6AM and take my train at 7AM to the university. Maby I can change it to getting up at 5.30AM and than go running half an hour before taking a shower and getting dessed. Do you guy's do this every day, or just about three times a week, or maby even something else? I think that when I get it into my system to wake up an hour earlyer to exercise will really do me well. Maby after a few weeks/2 months I can do something like this: 15 min running/cycling/rope jumping 15 min streching 20 minutes training kata/kihon 10 minutes streching Than take a shower, get properly dressed and eat my first real meal. One last question, what do you guy's eat before your morning workout? I do not think I can work out for an hour on an empty stomach or so. Help would be greatly apreciated! Tom

By my knowledge it is Captain of Crush, not Commander of crush. But maby you guy's are referring to an other gripper than I am. But if you aren't, than maby you wont find many hit by the name Commander of Crush. Tom

Looks like the USA is a lot more expensive than The Netherlands. I pay only €65/3 months, so that is a little less than €22 a month. I can go up to 3 times right now because I am a white belt, but once I reach orange belt I can go up to 5 times a week. And my school is really good! Shotokan Karate. Tom

Thanks BM, I will keep trying my best! Those side kicks really kill me when I want to kick them high (crappy english ). But it doesn't matter, I will just keep practicing them and eventually I will get better at them I hope. I can make a pretty nice side kick when I only kick as high as my hips, so I think I am doing just fine for now. And left is worst than my right to Just have to keep practicing I guess. Tom

How about grippers. Do not know wether you know them or not, but they prove te be very helpfull. It's just a mechanic which you have to squeeze like when you squeeze a hand when you shake hands. There tend to be some very good one's called Captain of Crush (CoC). They come with different resistances so you can work your way up with them. Type captain of crush at Google and you will find the site to buy them if you want to. Tom

Now I have followed a total of 6 classes. I totally love it! There are many boys and girls my age, the only difference is that they are all black/brown belts, so I do not spend a lot of tima with them or something. Last weekend, the Karate World Championchip took place in Finland. One guy, Renee Smaal, son of my sensei Jaap Smaal, participated. He is only 19 years old and competed in the senior -75 group. He defeated his first two opponents and was beaten in the third round by an italian fighter. I think he did an awsome job, knowing this was his first WC, and he is only 19 years old. Anyway, another sensei who trained me yesterday thought I had trained in another MA before shotokan. He thought I was doing really good. This really motivates me to train even harder! Really nice to hear those things, especially when it is your first MA. Just wanted to tell you guy's and girls! Tom

Thanks guy´s, I will just go and ask my sensei then! Tom

I just started shotokan karate, and I was just wondering if there was a website or something that could tell me what I have to know well for my first grading test. So from white belt to yellow belt, from 8th kyu to 7th kyu. Maby this is not a standard in all schools but maby you guy's can give me some guidelines. The reason why I ask is because a lot of times I train with higher graded karateka's so I do not only get teached what I have to know for my first grading. Allthough training with higher ranked members is very good in my opinion, it does get me confused on what to know. Since I really like it, I will work hard to pass the first belttest. Not that I know when it is going to be or something. So maby some of you shotokan guy's can remember their first belttest and are willing to tell me what I should be able to do. Thanks in advance! Tom

Thank you HG, I hope I do well! Yes BM, you have

Nice story! On topic, I think you should tell him the truth. Just like you said, it's like giving a soldier an empty rifle while assuring him it's loaded. He is so convinced of his own technique, that he might do stupid things during a real fight. When he is an as good martial artist as you say he is, he will pick things up rather quick, so he'll do fine. Just my two cents Tom

First of all, I want to state that you made some really good progress. So keep it up! But aside from that, you must know that change is always a really big factor in getting good results. When you train for three months with the same scheme, you will reach a plateau, like you did. When you change your schedual every 4-6 weeks, you will see much better results over time. You took a radical turn in your way of training and started to get results again. But when you will continue to train this way for te upcoming three months, you will start to notice that you will reach a plateau again, just like you did when you trained with weights. Point is, weight training is just as good as bodyweight training (if not better for continuing results). BUT, you have to make sure you change te exercises you do on a regular basis. Another thing to remember is that soreness isn't a indicator of a good training. So that you feel very sore after your bodyweighttraining and didn't felt sore after your weight training doesn't have to mean bodyweight taining is better. I can go deeper on this subject if you want, so just ask . And about the running, it all come's down to the individual. Looks like you are a mesomorph. You gain muscle quick. You're lucky to, so take as much advantidge of it as possible. Hope this helps. But still, keep up the good work!! Tom

I pay €65/3 months and I can go up to three times a week. My classes are 90 minutes long, so I can get to a total of four and a half hours of practice a week. Last week I went three times, and was my first week in ma. In the upcoming weeks, I will probably go 2 times, because I do not have time to go three times a week, school.. Tom

Thanks Wagnerk for explaining the differences to me more clearly. BM, maby it's just a coincidence, but last night I started doing Supermans! They felt good, so I will continue to practice them. My goal will be to practice superman's so I can eventually get into a straight back elbow lever, which I think is a really good training mechanism because you have to hold your entire body straight. But thanks for pointing it out to me! Tom

Thank you very much BM!! All the answers I needed. I will start streching my shoulders, wrists and so also, It makes sense. Upper body and lower body must be in harmony. I can train abs regulary ( is that a word?) during practice, so that shouldn't be to much of a problem. Lower back is tougher. Since I do not have the weights to preform proper deadlifts I must find an alternative. I do know this site though http://www.beastskills.com/. Maby someone knows it already, but if not, I think it is an amazing website. When you can preform the skills they show, like back levers and handstand and such, you have a really good controll over your body, which is needed in karate. Thanks for the site, the movie of the first kata, heian shodan, is the same as we did it during practice. So this will help me really much, expecially in the beginning. Thanks again Bushido_man96! Tom

thanks jeymac! So when executing a side thrust kick you 'walk' a step further every time you execute one. And when doing a side snap kick, you don't change place. I haven't heard from my sensei that I am a lifer, but hopefully I can come up wth the discipline every training to preform at my best. Alway's dreamd about this, like most young men, and now I have taken the first step into the ma world. Learned my first kata today, do not remember the name exactly. Screwd up a few time, made wrong turns and stuf. But I just told myself that everyone screws up the first time, so it's no big deal. Also landed wrong on my big to during the kata, hopefully it will heal fast. Sorry for all the story's, probably not very interesting, I am just very enthausiastic at the moment osu, Tom ps: does anyone have a good site with the kata's, how to preform them and stuf, so I can practice this kata further at home, so I at least make the right turns next time. Thanks in advance! Tom

thanks again all! BM, The reason I mainly strech my lower body is because my legs/hips aren't really flexible. Well, I always thought I wasn't flexible, but when executing a side kick, I can extend my legs so they are horizontal to the floor. Not to bad, but I really want to be able to kick about 20-25 cm higher than I can now. So I think streching and kicking is the way to accomplish that Up till now, I haven't found my upper body to be to stiff, but if you're willing to tell me why it is still important to strech upperbody please tell me. Wagnerk, could you explain to me the difference between those two kicks? I do not know all the names yet, and google didn't make me that much wiser. I will try to explain the kick I was practicing. You stand in a basic fighting position. left leg forwards, right leg behind. then you bent your left knee and lift it. Then you try to extend it in a linear motion. Hope this makes sense Ninjanurse, I loved their sting!

Thanks all! Am working hard already, rope jumping, streching, running. Hopefully I can get more flexible, but that takes a lot of time, I know. I will train hard! Tom

Hi all! I just had my first two classes in shotokan karate. (school is named karate do smaal in Holland, maby someone knows it.) It was great! My first MA, well I dit half a year Judo when I was 8, now 18, but I felt like I fitted in. My sensei is a 7th dan and has been teaching for over 30 years now. We did some basic punches and such. Also front kicks. I did pretty well I think, mainly because the other students all trained longer than I did and didn't preform that much better than I. (all white and yellow belts). Yesterday we did some side kicks. Mann, thats hard! being my first ma I wasn't so flexible in my hips. Really something to work on. Today I thought, lets go train my side kicks, so I just did a lot of side kicks. It didn't go to well, so I thought, why dont I practice really slow and hold still at the end, where my leg is fully streched. It worked wonderfully, although it was really hard to stay in that streched position. Bottom line: I already like training in Karate! The controle you aquire through practice is, I think, incredible. Looking forward towards my next lesson. greets, Tom

Thanks. From what I've been able to tell, the sport revolves around the deadlift, squat, and bench press, and maxing them out. I've heard a 5x5 program is best for beginners, using a single day each week for that lift and supporting muscle. From what I can gather, a routine would look something like this : Monday: Squat 5x5 Front Squat 3x8-10 Glute-Ham Raises 3x8-10 Calf Raises 3-4 sets to failure Wednesday: Barbell Bench Press 5x5 Dumbell Bench Press 2x8-10 Close Grip Bench 3x5 Tricep Push Downs 2x10 Friday: Deadlift 5x5 Barbell Rows 3x6-8 Hyperextentions 3x 10-15 Barbell Curls 5x5 How close is that to a workable beginner routine? I'm not sure, but I think the opposing muscles should be worked on the same day. I got that routine off of bodybuilding.com , but something about that doesn't seem right. Maybe it's the bodybuilding knowledge I have that's different from powerlifting. Am I the only one, or is this just nog 5x5? 5x5 by bill star is used for heavy strength training. it is noway like this. here is the link to the proper scheme: http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4497774&postcount=15 this one is for beginners. a really good one. Used is my self and made good gains. Tom