DokterVet

I don't understand this. If you respect your art, shouldn't you be concerned with making it as effective as possible? In fact, shouldn't it require effectiveness to be respected as a fighting style? Wouldn't challenges continually test the art in order to refine it?

I thought hero was an amazing movie all-around.

Billy Blanks = black Richard Simmons = white I believe Billy Blanks is in his sixties, and is in remarkable shape.

I haven't trained in Kyokushin, but I have a lot of respect for it and would consider training in it in the future.

How exactly do you remove someone's limb?

What kind of diet do you guys stay on. I have heard a thousand things. I just stay away from fast foods. Try not to take in high carbs or fat grams. Take it easy with the low carbs. They're a good source of energy, and they burn off easily. This is coming from my health teacher, not me. Agreed. Carbs are what you use for energy. If you are active in sport, you will want plenty of them.

10 pounds aren't useless, but you won't be able to increase your strength like you would if you could gradually increase the weight you are working with.

Have you ever been in a full mount? It's not that easy. I've heard on other message boards that the guy in the hat is a known Brazillian Jujitsu practitioner. So unless you have comparable skills on the ground to that guy, you probably would have gotten the same beating.

BJJ is more similar to Judo than JJJ. In BJJ, the focus is on practicing full-speed against a fully-resisting opponent, whereas JJJ is usually practiced against a non-resisting opponent or not at full speed.

No, it's the other way around for Ken Shamrock. He joined the WWF after a very successful career in shootfighting and MMA (UFC).

This is why I don't drink except on very rare occasions.

What about a cage that is 15 feet by 4 feet? Uneven ground? A raised platform?

Hmm...interesting article. He does use the old 'used needles/broken glass/liquid magma' argument, but I do agree with a lot of what he says. I agree that the paramaters of a NHB match favours a certain type of fighting. Do you agree with me that it would be interesting to see variations in the NHB rulesets/arenas?

Were you reading the same split as I was? He has deadlift for the spinal erectors (lower back), and of course the entire rest of the body assisting. He has pulldowns and rows for the lats. And he has plenty for the legs. Squats are going to be his big lift, and he's added some isolation movements for good measure. Sure, he could add straight legged deadlifts if he wanted, but it's a pretty complete leg workout if you ask me. What else would you add? EDIT: nfl2k2, deadlifts should give you plenty of forearm work, but I might suggest also using grip trainers. Also, I just noticed there's no direct ab work in your split. Maybe add some weighted crunches on back day.

It looks like a good split. What rep ranges are you using? Compound excersizes with free weights will build real strength (and size if you eat for it). There's no reason why that split is only appropriate for bodybuilding.

Have you ever wondered why MMA hasn't explored fighting in areas other than an open octagon or boxing ring? Clearly some techniques have proven themselve in this arena, but what about a narrow passageway with no room to round kick? What about on a bridge or near an edge where one could easily fall off if a takedown goes awry? I spar with one friend in particular usually in the area between his couch and the bottom of his basement stairs, so there is no possible side to side movement. Roundhouse kicks, except possibly TKD style to the face, are impossible. He stands side-on and throws a lot of powerful side kicks. I can't circle so as to give him a bad angle because there is no room to circle. I throw a lot of lead-leg front kicks to keep him at bay, as there's no way for him to come in around them. I think it just shows that different techniques will take precidence in different scenarios. I'd like to see MMA in various scenarios other than just the octagon and boxing ring.

I don't see why you have to use lighter weight if you are alternating excersizes. If your goal is strength, then 5-7 reps is a good range. Add the 10-15 rep sets in addition to the low rep stuff if you want full hypertrophy and endourance.

Bench pressing has never bothered my shoulders, although I found that dodgeball (yes, dodgeball) was hurting my shoulder, so I started to do rotator cuff excersizes and worked on my thowing form and the problem is gone.

In Flames - Embody the Invisible

25 reps will mostly increase endourance. It is not an effective rep range for increasing strength.

In order to gain strength, you are going to need to use progressive resistance. The best way to do this is with weights. So gain access to some weights. Buy some freeweights, a bench and a squat rack, or join a gym (Machines = no good, use freeweights). Work within the 6-8 rep range with at least two working sets for strength. You can work other rep ranges for endourance, but to get stronger, make sure you do your major lifts in this rep range. This is the range that will most effectively build strength. Don't worry, lifting weights won't make you look like a man. It's not going to happen. Other girls will tell you to do highreps or use machines. Don't listen to them. If you want strength, this is your rep range. You can do high reps AFTER you've done your big lifts with low reps. Start with a warmup for each exercise, then find a weight you can just barely move for 2 sets of 6 reps. Use that weight every workout until you can get 2 sets of 8 reps. Then increase the weight. Keep doing that weight until you can do two sets of 8. Continue. HOWEVER: Make sure to work your whole body. To do this you need a routine that includes compound lifts (the "big 3" being bench press, squat and deadlift). This will give you real practical strength, and avoid muscle imballances. Here's a sample routine: http://www.wannabebig.com/article.php?articleid=25&pageid=3 But any good full body routine will do. And remember, you will not get huge or overmuscled. It takes an extremely high ammount of dedication to become big and muscular, including changing your diet to a "bulking cycle", and having enough testosterone in your bloodstream (so you won't look like a man if you are a women and are not on drugs). If you are not on the juice, and you aren't eating well over maintenance callories, you will not get overmuscled. Building up your strength by using weights will let you reach your goal of being able to do pushups, and will also let you progress much further than you ever could by just doing pushups.

"...training to muscular failure (concentrically, eccentrically or isometrically) is NOT the necessary stimulus for growth" "failure effort may prove to be an 'unreasonable' burden on the nervous (both central and peripheral) and signaling systems (primarily the T system). Time must then be given for the recovery and supercompensation processes to take place." (source: http://www.engr.mun.ca/~butt/training/failure.html) However, this is mostly referring to failure with heavy weight lifting (with the goal of hypertrophy). Heavy weights are more taxing on the nervous system, however, so it (failure) may very well be effective for endourance. If anyone has a link to a study regarding the effects of failure on endourance, I'd be interested to see it.

I've heard that tae kwon do is out for the next olympics, and that's why they are looking at karate. But they are also, from what I hear, looking at Wushu, which is a more likely addition to the Olympics in China. I think the only rule set that would be able to avoid really sketchy subjective judging is knockdown/kyokushin. Even the scoring in Olympic boxing is often VERY arguable. I can see point karate being much worse.

To gain lean mass, increase your caloric intake until you are gaining 0.5 - 1 pound a week. You can use https://www.fitday.com to count calories. Find a good weight lifting routine. Use a lot of compound movements with free weights (like bench press, squat, deadlift). The best range for hypertrophy is going to be 6-8 reps, MAYBE pushing it to 10, but no more. Don't get suckered into "feeling the burn." That's just lactic acid which has nothing to do with strength or size increases. Try https://www.wannabebig.com for advice and forums on weightlifting, bulking, diets, etc.

"Cutting" means reducing bodyfat. Sculpting or toning muscles as most people think of it is a myth. Looking ripped/sculpted/toned is a function of having higher than normal muscle mass and lower than normal bodyfat. Doing higher reps does not "tone" or "sculpt" your muscles. To answer your question, I think the main functions of cutting for fighting purposes are to make a particular weight class and to be as strong as possible for that weight class. Also, during intense martial arts training, a lot of calories are going to be used up, so getting cut/sculpted might be a byproduct of that if you are lucky.