AltairStrife

Really?? That's awesome!! I live near Trieste, on the north-oriental part of Italy. Why do you say you'd never have it? Muay Thai, eh? Pretty brutal and definitely conditioning. I believe that Muay Thai fighters are the most insensitive to pain out there 'cause of their training. No wonders Muay Thai's most present in MMA. As for kicking Tae Kwon Do's the best (always imho), as you learn to kick really fast, and that speed isn't completely generated by muscles, but mostly by the technique itself. I did TKD for 2 years now, and yeah, the kicking speed I reached while I practiced Karate was nothing compared to the ones I reached in those last two years.

I highly recommend you this one: http://www.amazon.it/Complete-Krav-Maga-Self-Defense-Techniques-ebook/dp/B003ODHOMM Also, if you want to watch some videos (which is better for a martial art, if you can't efford going to KM classes or if there are none in your town, like in my case), check out "Combat Survival/Commando Krav Maga" taught by this guy here ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2PcU7Q0kY4). IMHO Krav Maga's one of the best martial arts out there both for physical and mental prepearedness during a conflict.

Hello, mates! My name's Antonio (but I prefer being called Tony), 22, male, Italy. I'm so happy to have found NF, I guess it's the perfect place for me, as I love playing videogames (my nickname says it all lol) and watching movies made out of fantasy books such as LOTR, or comics (especially Marvel). But why am I here? Now I'll tell you. I've had quite a difficult childhood (like many others I guess), which made me knowledgethirsty about how to become strong in my early 15s. My childhood hero was Cloud Strife, from Final Fantasy VII (I've even got a Buster Sword replica in my bedroom mwahahah), and I so wanted to become strong like him, and slim too. I was chubby, really chubby (like 25%-27% BF), so I sort of hated my body and my weakness. On the other hand I was too lazy to move a muscle, so 'til I reached my 16s I lacked of self-esteem, cried on myself and hated myself, and still didn't do a thing. I joined Karate classes to become like Rock Lee from Naruto, and got serious about it, so serious that in those three years I even reached the third place at the national competition. But then it costed a lot, and my family wasn't in a good financial situation, so I decided to quit to help 'em. Even though I stopped practicing Karate, I kept on reading books about martial arts... capoeira, krav maga, taekwondo (which was my fave thanks to Hwoarang from Tekken), Boxe... then I tried to go to the gym, but I didn't like it that much 'cause it was too... "fake" (?) for me, I preferred real and useful movements. That's why, last year (when I was 21) I attended a course to become a Functional Training Coach. I fell in love with Kettlebells, Clubbells, Sandbags, and Calisthenics and finally found my way, especially after I came in contact with Assassin's Creed. I started embracing my life as an assassin: obstacles are made to be climbed over, enemies to be eliminated (metaphorically speaking lol) silently, and innocents to be protected and safeguarded. To end my story, I want to be stronger to protect and help those I love and myself in any kind of situation, and to find freedom within my body (as I came up thinking that it can't be found anywhere else) through calisthenics and parkour. This is me, thank you for reading my story