DokterVet

I write lots of music, but I can't sing so I rarely write full songs. Here's a clip of me playing. I wrote the arrangement, but its a popular tune that I'm sure you'll recognize. http://www.digitalsoundplanet.com/Members/000067352_000002096.mp3 Edit: Here's an acoustic song I wrote last year for a school project.http://www.digitalsoundplanet.com/Members/000067352_000001874.mp3 Both of those were recorded on a crappy clip-on computer mic that clipped at rediculously low volumes. I have some good equipment now, but haven't recorded anything substantial with it.

I play an epiphone les paul standard with Seymour Duncan 59 pickups. I got some schaller tuners for christmas, but I haven't had time to put them in yet. Damn high school. Usually the only time I get to practice is when I'm teaching lessons.

Oooh, lots of guitar fans, cool. I post at guitar.com and occasionally Guitar Clinic 101.

"Does strength training with weights take away speed?" What moves your body? Muscles. The stronger they are, the faster they can move those muscles. What would you rather have in your car, a 5.7 litre V12, or a 2.0 litre V-6? If you tense up, you will lose speed, and if you bulk up a lot you can impede your range of motion, but generally you gain speed from weight training.

I have long legs and I think I kick too much. I'm focusing lately on getting more confident with my hand strikes so I can do better in all ranges.

Wow, this sucks. I was hoping to get into full contact stuff and possibly MMA in a few years. Does anyone know if full contact kyokushin is legal?

Hooks use the whole body like any punch in boxing or most martial arts. Use your legs and your hips to throw your arm like a ball. I do karate, so we avoid them too, but I practice them on my own because they can get around a guard. I'd rather throw a slower, slightly weaker punch to the jaw than a perfect straight punch to the guard.

When you kick, keep your other (non-kicking) knee bent for ballance. Practice keeping your ballance by standing on one foot to stretch, to tie your, shoe, whenever you get the chance. Also, try to relax your upper body when you kick. Your feet and hands should be able to work independantly. Don't stiffen up. But you also need the flexibility. If you don't have that, you won't be able to get your leg up without falling over.

tommarker, Good post. There's no one especially massive around for me to spar with, although there are some tall ones. The strongest people I know are my friends with whom I fight all the time, so I think that helps me to deal with knowing I'm outmatched in terms of size or strength. young grasshopper, As long as you maintain your judgement and your skills work well for you, all the power to you in berzerk mode. Although you don't want to hurt your friends/sparring partners.

A proper fist from any bareknuckle art will keep your knuckles and hand safe when punching to most parts of the body. However, in punching directly to the skull, there is a risk of damage, especially after many punches, so open hand strikes are a good option. Also, in cold weather, your skin is more sensitive and succeptable to cracking. So punching with the knuckles to the face could result in extreme pain and breaking of your skin. So in cold weather, open hand strikes would be especially useful.

Yeah, you're probably right.

Hi, Have fun learning Wado-ryu! There's a lot to learn in the style, so you'll never 'finish.' Don't worry about being the only beginner; most clubs welcome beginners and if you are the only one, think of it as being an only child. You'll have to be everyone's favourite. It will take you a few years to become profficient in the basics, but once you do, you'll find that relaxation is a major stress in Wado-ryu. It is not a particularly hard style of karate (which may be good to know when you start to get up in your years). The creator of the style was a jujutsu Grandmaster, so there should be many oppurtunities for you to learn takedowns, joint locks and grappling, in addition to lots of kata, bunkai, kihon kumite and sparring. BTW, here's a link to my Wado club in case you are curious. Toronto Wado-kai

I don't think I make a funny face or anything! It's probably something like this. I naturally look very angry. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Lately, I've noticed a trend almost exclusively when training with women. I am a 6' tall 18 year old male, and when I step in to attack even a high ranking female, they do this for a split second. Even if they counter my technique fine, there is very often this look of total fear on their faces that I've never seen anywhere else. Their eyes literally bulge. I have yet to notice this in a man - even the younger, smaller, or less experienced males that I've trained with don't seem to do it. Are women more predisposed to have their survival instincts triggered? Is it simply because of the size and strength difference? Has anyone else noticed this phenominon? Edit: Fixed typo

Rich_2k3, If you know Pinan Sandan, the last move in the kata is a great lesson in throwing. Tamashii, Just FYO, the correct spelling is "their."

SC2 in the arcade learns as more people play it, and depends on the difficulty setting which is set when it's installed. The machine I used to play on had a ton of people playing, so it got very hard very quick. Wow, that's pretty crazy. I think the one I played on was brand new.

One of my favourite techniques is my lead leg side kick as the opponent is approaching. One problem with side kicks I find is that they require a pretty specific distance because if you are too close, you can just be pushed over or otherwise easily taken down. Also, I'm sure many of us have experienced what happens when two people go for a side kick at the same time. The lower one always wins. Rarely side kick above the waist.

Mortal Kombat is still cool! I bought the latest one about six months ago. Soul Callibur 2 looks really cool. I might pick it up for gamecube. As far as fighting games go though, I wish I had a PS2. Tekken 4, VF4, it's got all the goods. edit: The only problem with SC2 is, at least in the arcade, it's super easy in single player. I beat it on one quarter at the movie theatre my first time playing it. I had played the first a fair bit, but was no expert.

I'm seeing Rufio, Yellowcard and Lagwagon tomorrow night! Woo! Nevermind that I've seen Rufio once and Lagwagon 3 times live; my "woo" still stands.

Beware the old force = mass * acceleration bit. That's used a lot, and it's used wrong. Yes, it's a valid formula, but it doesn't give you the force on the opponent, it give the net force on the arm resulting in its movement (the unbalanced force comes from your muscles). edit: I just noticed that JerryLove already warned against this.

Started at 11; currently 18.

Lee, you are wrong in stating that wolverine can't die. He can die, it's just very difficult because you'd basically have to kill him instantly. If you crushed his heart or larynx, or managed to damage his brain beyond functioning for a few minutes, he'd die.

heheh, Both games will demonstrate the techniques of various martial arts, but not neccessarily their effectiveness or actual applications. Don't go with whatever martial art your favourite Tekken or VF fighter uses, but use them to see what various martial arts look like.

Well if I was in a hurry, Mas Oyama. That'd be over quickly. And once my ribs healed, maybe Bruce Lee. Edit: That's assuming we're allowed to name deceased people. If not, I'd probably go with Norris. Or Kazushi Sakuraba, just to see if he'd pull any cartwheels or anything on me.

I love music and play guitar. Some stuff I like is: Metal (Metallica, Iron Maiden, Iced Earth) Shred (Yngwie Malmsteen, Joe Satriani, Eric Johnson) Prog (Dream Theater, Yes, Symphony X) Hardcore (Atreyu, Poison the Well) emo (moneen, thursday, sparta) punk (NOFX, The Flatliners) melodic punk (Rufio, Strung out, the Living End) emopunk (Saves the Day, The Ataris) Acoustic/folk Rock (Jim Croce, Cat Stevens, Simon & Garfunkel) Classical (Bach, Mozart) Russian Schoolgirls(Tatu ) Video Game/movie soundtracks (Chrono Cross/Mortal Kombat) Classic Rock (The who, Led Zeppelin, Lynard Skynard) Rock (Creed, King's X, Bon Jovi) Ska (The Planet Smashers, Reel Big Fish) The main types I don't like are Jazz (I like what it tries to do, but the sound just doesn't appeal to me) and hip-hop/rap (nothing about it appeals to me.)