stubbsmcgee

I hit 275 on my DL a couple days ago! (I'm going for 280 tonight!) That's a little over my full bodyweight :-D

Very nice!

Congrats! That's truly awesome!

This might be a bit dead, but why the hell not? I started out in martial arts at the age of 21 with borderline-high blood-pressure (spent most of high-school in front of my computer drinking pepsi as I suspect many other nerds did). When the nurse told me about the state of my health it was a wake-up call. I knew I needed to do something, but I've never been into organized sports (big surprise, I know). So I decided to look into martial arts. I ended up signing up at the first place I walked into. It was what I recognize now as a something of a McDojo. Although funny enough, I did manage to develop a pretty good grounding in physical movement and a decent understanding of how to make things work (I realized later it was what I put into the training, as I was bit more dedicated that most of my classmates). The school taught a mix of American Kenpo with some Shotokan derived forms mixed in (it really bugs the shit out of me now how I was required to know those forms to progress even though they never taught any useful applications!). My biggest gripes with the place were that the whole process was corporate, fast-food martial arts. Individuality was stamped out, real understanding was glossed over in favor of lots of techniques, and self-protection training amounted to a large array of interesting techniques with no grounding in how to really make them work (just as long as they looked "effortless"). After 7 years there (under contract of course) I left. I'd already been going to a Tae Kwon Do school with my then fiance (she wanted to learn, but I didn't want to be her teacher). I didn't much like it after about a year. They focused almost entirely on sparring with the implied understanding that it would help in fight or a self-protection situation. Somewhere in there I had also taken Kajukenbo and Tai Chi classes at the university for a semester. Once I left TKD, I decided to look into Wing Chun. I signed up for classes with the only school in the area and took classes for a month but ended up stopping because i was too busy with school/work/wedding stuff. After I got married, I started looking into WC again, my long time friend that taught at the school had quit because he was tired of the owner's BS. So I asked him if he'd teach me, he said sure and gave me a crash course in the parking lot behind his apartment for the next year and a half. Then he moved out of state. From that experience I really started look at what I wanted from my training. I wanted practicality plain and simple. Toward the end of my WC crash course, I took a couple of other classes through the university one was a more traditional form of Karate (I don't remember which) and an ITF TKD class. The Karate class was okay, the teacher had been teaching for something like 30 or 40 years, the TKD class was a joke though. The techniques the instructor assured me would work in a fight would require nothing but compliance from the other side. It was around this time that I got introduced to work by Rory Miller, Geoff Thompson, and Iain Abernethy. Miller's work in particular had a universe shifting effect on my view of making stuff work for self-protection. After my friend moved I found a Jujutsu class (funny enough in the previous location of the first school I trained at). The instructor took a very different view on the martial arts, he broke things down and analyzed them from different perspectives. How could they be used in war, how could they be used by law enforcement, etc. He was also the only instructor I ever had that actually knew what the law in the the state of Utah is regarding use of force. I didn't get much in the way of technique from him, he told me that I had all the physical knowledge he could provide. But what he could offer me was a shift in how I understood the arts and he wasn't kidding. He got me started in understanding kata application, as well he told me to start teaching. Then to get rid of any excuses on my part, he said "here's some time and here's some space, we'll worry about money later." He was also the one that really helped ground my practice in physical reality, as opposed to chalking everything up to ki/chi he broke things down in terms of anatomy and bodily systems. Here I am now, I teach a small class that I refer to as an "open lab" where essentially my students let me use them as guinea pigs. I tell them up front that I have no formalized system and that I'm not in the business of making clones. I'm learning probably 10x more than they are while I'm teaching. Stuff martial arts has taken from me? My hubris and my tendency to blame others for my problems. Stuff it's given me? A decent sense of what I'm actually capable of (physically as well as mentally) as well as a possible livelihood outside of sitting on my ass in front of a computer.

What's your level of flexibility right now in comparison to where you want it to go? What you can do to improve your flexibility is really up to what you want to improve as well as how far you want to improve it. The very basic thing is simply go through a range of motion simply trying to to push (gently!) against where it's comfortable. Simply look at the joints you want to increase motion in and then work through it's range. I'm guessing that you're looking for leg flexibility specifically though. Why don't you try starting with dynamic motion in the legs. Specifically basic kicks (front, side, back, round) work great for this especially when you're just starting a workout (NEVER static-stretch cold!). If you want you can do some basic static stretches here (toe-touches, hamstring, hurdler, splits) for 10-20 seconds on each side. I also like to stretch out my lower back here by lying on my back with one leg straight and the other pulled to my chest then pull the knee across to the other side while looking away (usually get a few lumbar pops and a occasionally an SI joint pop). Once you've warmed up your legs/hips then find a wall and try front to back swings with each leg. On each swing try to get your foot higher. After front to back swings, try side to side swings again, just try to get your foot higher with each swing. From there try stranding on one foot and bring your other knee up as high as you can then sweep it in a crescent motion from one side to the other and then back again. If your flexibility is as bad as you say it is, stop here. The preceding will leave your legs/hips feeling sore for a couple weeks while you get used to it. Follow that routine everyday for a couple weeks and see how you feel.

Wow, it's been a lot longer than I'm sure I realize that I've been in here (ALMOST 3 YEARS!?). Maybe I should re-introduce myself. My name is Brandon, I originally joined as a Monk (I've been studying martial arts for ~12 years now), although more my focus has been on strength training using free-weights. I've been going through the Starting Strength program with some good results. Although, I hurt my back a couple months ago and just barely (as in two days ago) got back to my previous squat PR (235). I learned a few things from my back injury: If a muscle injury feels better once it warms up, it's a muscle belly injury (not a tear) The best way to work through muscle belly injuries by focusing on high-rep/low-weight sets going for perfect form (high reps is 3x20) - look up the Bill Starr Method (it'll still be really painful, to follow through every day though - which I didn't do, but my 3 days a week doing it for a while definitely helped my back feel better) Use a valsalva maneuver to create a lot of intra abdominal pressure to reinforce your lower back (nice deep belly breath in at the start of the rep, don't let it out until the end of the rep) - check out the starting strength youtube channel for more information To go with the valsalva use a weight belt properly to help reinforce the abdominal pressure you're creating - put it around your waist and pull it as tight as you can With muscle injuries a chiropractor is the worst person to go see (I was almost in tears while the doc was trying to adjust me) A massage therapist on the other hand will work wonders (then go see the chiropractor to get your skeleton straightened out) I started lifting at the beginning of the year and I've managed to keep with it, yeah it was really really discouraging to injure myself but I'm back in full swing and I even managed to get my bench to keep going up while my back was hurting (My PR is 205 right now - I need to get some fractional plates!). Anyway, I'm happy to be back! I'll see everyone around the forums!

So I've restarted my blog recently, and I just published the first in a series of articles on the basics of working out and nutrition for martial artists (well more for martial artists who like Dragon Ball and are just getting started or who have tried supplementing training with further exercises and only succeeded in burning themselves out). I thought I'd pass it along. Any feedback you guys would be willing to give me would be greatly appreciated. You can find the article here: http://nerdjutsu.com/achieving-your-ultimate-form-part-1/ Thanks!

Heya Azure85, I work in Petersboro (right on the other side of the mountain) from Honeyville/Brigham/Tremonton. I've actually started teaching American Kenpo and Wing Chun Kung Fu classes on the south end of Logan if you're interested.

I took a Tai Chi class one semester, it was really interesting to watch a 150 lb 70 year old man push a 260 lb 21 year old marine around like he wasn't there. As far as it being taught as a way to exercise without breaking a sweat, I don't believe that, at least that wasn't the case in the above mentioned class either. But then again, my teacher talked about how he was taught and his teacher put his classes through the wringer (he mentioned that in one class they held a single stance for about 2 hours). In my experience though, Tai Chi and other primarily internal styles have a very steep learning curve in the beginning as so much of it is reliant on internal structure that's not very easily taught (it really has to be felt through experience). However once you have the internal understanding it tends to turn other things on their heads (such as how a punch is executed). But back to the question, should Tai Chi be considered a martial art? Well that depends on how it's taught. If it's taught with combat in mind then yes, if it's taught as a self-development tool, then probably not. It's just like Karate Do vs Karate Jutsu. The Do (as in a female deer) typically denotes an emphasis on the personal development while the Jutsu typically denotes a focus on practical application (I think that's where the distinction between Tai Chi vs Tai Chi Chuan is really important).

I would say it really depends on what the workouts will demand. I personally prefer heavy cotton gi pants like: https://www.tigerclaw.com/hayashi-heavy-weight-traditional-pants-martial-arts-pr-5628.html as they are built to hold up doing ground work (biggest problem I have with them is when they get drenched with sweat and start to slip down). I also like cotton specifically because it tends to pull sweat away as opposed to the cotton-poly blends (they just trap the sweat against the skin). Although if you want to go realistic, you'll want to find stuff that's close to what you normally wear (at least if you're actually studying for self-protection).

Anyone living close to Logan? I'm looking for some people to practice martial arts and work out with.

Dang dude! Sounds like things are heading to the up and up though! Hope things went well and that stuff has worked out for you! I've been laid off a couple times in my life, no bueno. Let alone you've got a family to take care of, I was on my own at those times. Throwing some vibes your way, even though it sounds like there's a good chance you've already go something lined up! Stubbs

Welcome! Sounds like you've already got a lot figured out Deadlift! Good luck on the runs! Stubbs

Heya Frax, No problem, let me know if you need anything. I'm happy to help. Stubbs

Good Luck Rugby Momma! I've gone from being super skinny/out of shape when I finished high school, to in shape and feeling good, to back out of shape, all in the course of about 12 years. I just turned 30 and want to get into shape again, I'm starting with martial arts forms again (I got into shape when I was earning my black belt), they're increasing my muscle tone and reducing joint pain when I do body-weight stuff. I'm actually thinking about recording some how-to videos for anyone that's interested. Best of luck! Stubbs