WorldWarCheese

Great thread, I've always been interested in meditation and would love to learn about it in a more academic sense when I get the time/opportunity to learn from someone I can trust. At the moment my meditation is breathing centered and based off of a study by a Massachusetts General Hospital Psychiatrist where you breath in the nose, out the mouth and repeat a calming word (I like to actually use the world "calm"). Do this for 5 minutes. I tend to do this anytime I start biting my nails real bad as that is a sign of either boredom or that I'm stressed and a good bit of meditation should help both. I've found it to be helpful when I can get myself to last the whole 5 (or more sometimes!). Another practice I enjoy, which I'm not sure is exactly mediation, is sitting somewhere quiet or nice and either smoking, or just focus on my breathing and listening to things or smelling things or sensing things without moving. Then, when I've felt a bit in tuned with things I tend to think about my day, week, month, year and life (no order or anything though obviously thoughts of the day are most frequent) until I feel content I've thought about them enough. Then I let my mind wander a bit to random things like this or that or that or this until I get bored. Then I might go back to sensory feeds or something. Sometimes I'll try and blank the mind because I know that's good or focus on my breathing and blank the mind that way, but not always. Anyways I can sit doing that for almost an hour and so long as my butt doesn't begin to hurt I usually feel pretty serene afterwards. I call that "Pooh Pondering" and if someone can tell me if that's a certain type of meditation or something then I'd like to hear (in fact after I finish this post I'm gunna go do this for a bit). ^ I call it "Pooh Pondering" clearly after Winnie the Pooh but I developed both my love of those books and that technique after I read the "Tao of Pooh" which had (and has) a significant impact on how I view and interact with the world (am I a Taoist? I'm technically an Athiest, and never fully read the Tao te Ching so I'm not wholly sure).

Congrats on the program! I know how worrying doing the wrong thing can be but trust me when I say that it looks like you have done exactly what you need to do. You've found a professionally crafted body weight workout and you are spacing your workouts and mixing in cardio. You're changing your diet, you're doing EVERYTHING RIGHT. Don't worry about over doing it as you've found a good plan, and you seem pretty organized. What I would stress more is to stay focused 2 years is a LONG time and there may even be setbacks you hadn't planned on or could have dreamed of, those things happen. What matters is everyday you wake up WANTING to improve yourself BADLY ENOUGH that you go and do it. Good luck, May the Force be with you, we're in this together.

I'm currently cutting weight during my boxing program and while I make sure to still eat plenty of vegetables and eggs I am worried that I might not be getting all the nutrients/vitamins I need. The diet is very strict so there's not much I can change about that so I was thinking about adding supplements to my menu to make sure I keep from falling apart at the seems. Are there any recommended tablets, literature or general advice I can get?

How much should I start taking at the beginning? I am interested in the benefits and am looking at various supplement options at the moment and fish oil seems to be generally highly recommended. However, I do not want to go overboard and want to know if I should gradually introduce myself to this kind of thing?

Not really a training HL but motivational none the less

Don't make me beg.

Thanks for the reply Whiteraven, I especially loved the Bruce Lee video. Good luck in your training.

Hi all! I live in Surat Thani, Thailand and was wondering if anyone else on the boards was from the area. Would be very interested in a meetup. PM me for my Thai cell and email or just post to say "Hi!" so I know I'm not alone down here.

I f*cked my knee up. From the looks of things pretty badly, too. It's been almost two months and while pain while walking and going up and down stairs is pretty much gone I am still completely unable to jog/run/sprint/do road-work of any kind and as a boxer this is sort of a big deal and being laid up this long has really put me off my game. Now, normally if I was in America I would hop on over to the local sports therapist or doctor, but I live and work in Thailand now with no real chance of going back anytime within the next year or two and in Surat Thani (where I am) there aren't any sports therapists and a doctor I can communicate with to the extent I need (more than: You, no have syphilis) are very, very rare. Now, I might *MIGHT* be able to swing a trip to Bangkok where they have some class A doctors and the like, but it would be expensive, both for the trip and the health care, not to mention the time I'd have to take off from work (at least a day even if I went on the weekend) so I'm hoping to avoid that. I've tried the local option which is a masseuse trained in deep-sports massages + a bit extra (maybe some Trad. Chinese Medicine or something) but it didn't seem to help all that much. I get a jarring, sharp pain in the back of my knee near the tendon and it locks my leg up pretty bad, making movement damn near impossible. I'm able to put weight and I still have full range of motion when I'm not running (I can still do almost as many pistols on it as with my left and it was always my weaker leg) but the impact from running (which is a pain, I either run barefoot or with Vibrams and have been for years with decent form) really kills me. What I'm asking for I guess is tips and tricks for soothing joints/tendons of the knee and for advice from anyone else who's had an injury of this nature before as I'm unsure where my next step should be. Any and all help is appreciated. Thanks, guys and girls.

I'm not paleo, but here's some of the weird food I eat on a daily or weekly basis. Duck eggs that have been put in vats of sea water for a long time (called "kaikhem or "salty eggs"). BBQ Chicken Hearts/Livers. Various curries. Horseshoe crab salad. Catfish on a stick. Bird's eggs (little ones, songbirds I think) fried with soy sauce. Durian and a lot of other fruits. I live in a land of very interesting and absolutely delicious foods.

I would definitely go check out most of the MMA gyms in your area. I can't tell you what they'd be like as I've never trained in MMA before, and every gym is going to be at least slightly different but you'll never get an accurate picture of the school without a visit. Almost all martial arts schools have free trial classes and MMA shouldn't be any different. Then again, my favorite phrase for anyone looking for a new art in general is "DO JUDO" because Judo just rocks (and is generally inexpensive)

Nice post, and fantastic idea. A comprehensive catalog of the arts studied by nerds would great. I do have some questions about your article, though. Considering not everyone reading will have studied Wing Chun, Kung Fu or may, in fact, have not studied any art at all could you go into a little more description of what exactly chi sau and sticky hands is? Are there any ranks beyond Technician and what does being a Technician imply in terms of skillset and years training; are they allowed to teach and open their own schools? Could you give a bit more information about the general nature of Wing Chun, as in you mention your school, are there others? What do you mean by "efficiency" when describing the art? These questions aren't perfectly worded, nor are they all vitally necessary but Wing Chun is, as far as I'm aware, a very popular and available art in many areas and I'm sure the un-initiated would like to learn as much about it as possible. I plan on doing a similar post on Muay Thai when I get some free time myself. This is a good project for every monk.

Whenever I didn't want to run or get hit in the face I would watch "Hajime no Ippo" then I would run AND get hit in the face and ask for more.

I would definitely check out a book called "Capoeira Conditioning" it's filled with a lot of good and fun exercises specifically for the aspiring capoeiristor-thingy. Also, you'll be doing a lot of hand-standy stuff even in some of the lower levels so get started on learning to cartwheel and hold an handstand, those will pay real dividends later on. Also, stretch, look up the nerdfitness article on proper stretching and get started, you'll need to be flexible. Don't worry about the pudge, or being weak or out of breath all the time. I was a fat sack of sh*t when I first started and while I still am one, I was able to do fine, have fun and learn a lot in capoeira because I didn't let my embarrassment over my get get into my head and ruin the rest for me.

For me it's two things: cardio and aggression. Granted, the skills listed in the first post are necessary components for all fighters to posses in any quantity. Also, I recognize "aggression" could be seen as "mental toughness" as stated in the second post, though I would point out some differences between the two. I'll start with cardio, though, since I don't see it yet mentioned. In a world of fighters, everyone is trained in a way to produce things like timing and coordination and in a world where they have to use these skill often they also might develop a sense of "reading" the other fight through the rigors of combat. This is the world of Muay Thai anyways, as far as I can tell. All fighters are trained to develop most of the skills listed by the OP. "Well, doesn't that prove his point? Since everyone trains for these skills, they're clearly some of the most important ones!" True, you can't deny their importance. However, since everyplace DOES train this way, and all the fighters will eventually gain these skills to one degree or another these skills tend to be balanced out. Some fighters may develop fast hands, or some really quick feet, or even become almost Jedi's in their readings of the opponent based on their genetics and specific flavor of gym, but I've seen it doesn't always translate immediately into victory in the ring since someone else will have another one of these basic skills and they effectively cancel each other out. What seems to be the real make or break a fighter, at least one of the two things anyways, is their endurance (called here "cardio"). Each fighter has their strengths and weaknesses in the basic skill group of timing, step-in-speed, etc but it is the one who can apply their strengths the most often and overwhelm opponent's own skills who usually takes home the win. A fighter with good endurance will not only be able to carry the fight into "latter rounds" without worry, but will able to produce a higher work rate than the opponent during each consecutive round. Thus, let's say we have two fighters, both each others' match in all the things the OP said, it is the fighter who can apply these skills most often and with the greatest amount of strength during the duration of their fight. I've seen countless fighters with better timing, stronger skills (and max strength as well), crisper technique and other things all loose badly in the ring because they gassed and became a very talented, very skilled punching bag. Were they "better fighters"? Maybe for one or two rounds, but in the end it was the guy who did his roadwork with his hands in the air at the end of the fight. Now, on to "aggression". I admit, it and mental toughness are almost identical and to have either is to have at least a bit of the other. I agree with kishi's definition or description of mental toughness and agree it is a very important thing for a fighter to posses. However, I think the differences between the two are enough to talk about aggression separately and make a case for its own importance (and in my opinion, necessity) for any fighter. Aggression, as different from mental toughness, is the desire to advance, attack and take the fight to the other guy. It is the willingness to strike first, and often. Where mental toughness is the will to take a hit or get back up, aggression is what makes you want to hit the other guy and put him down. It is often seen as being exemplified by the fighter who rushes in and attacks the enemy mercilessly, and viciously and yes, these fighters certainly exhibit a lot of aggression (maybe even too much, because there is such a thing as too much of a good thing). In the ring, I see aggression most perfectly exemplified by the fighters who, yes, strike first most often and are usually the one's pushing the other into the ropes (instead of the other way around), but it can also be shown as the fighter who is not afraid to "pull the trigger" on openings and who, once sees weakness is will to open up, risking themselves, to finish a fight. It's true that in boxing (or at least Muay Thai) aggression is one of the things judges look for in determining the winner of a round and the fight and the fighter moving forwards and hitting the most (see also "cardio") will get those points, but even outside of that specific arena aggression and the willingness to "beat a motherfucker up" or something if the call arises will produce the more confident, more active and probably more successful fighter. I am not saying 'roid heads who go out and charge madly are the thing, though, as I said before there can be too much of a good thing and aggression in the proper quantities in a fight between two otherwise equal opponents will be the decider in a fight. Sorry this is so long winded, it's a slow day at the office. Oh! And I'm no expert, haven't even had my first muay thai fight yet (though I've done so in various Judo tournaments with varying levels of success) so umm.. yeah. tl;dr = What makes a good fighter? The willingness to hit someone, and the ability to do it a lot and for a long time.

Running and other aerobic exercises will help if your general fitness is pretty low, but in terms of direct application they won't really affect your performance in capoeira because of the different muscle groups you're using and that capoeira is anaerobic. Doing things like burpees, bodyweight circuit training, and sprints will be the best training for the fitness side (especially exercises with a big balance or stabilizing element to them) On the cartwheels the videos provided are give you pretty much everything you need for instruction, the only thing I can say is that you said you didn't have a lot of room when you train on your own, do you think this might have an unconscious effect on your performance. A cartwheel is basically flinging your body, upside down and you can't really stop once you've started. Trying something like this in a small room or confined space can be a bit iffy and make you nervous and question yourself so you never really commit to the movement. Try training outside in a grassy field where the only thing to "hit" is the ground and a nice soft landing at that. Then just go for it. Fling those feet as hard as you can and I bet you'll do better than before. On handstands... just give it time. Relax and keep your core strong (good back alignment). You'll figure it out eventually. Good luck, have fun and keep us updated on the progress Oh, and I did capoeira for a while, it's madddddd fun and energizing!

Second on the Kyokushin. I've idolized it since I started Goju, but there weren't any options in my area to speak of. :/ I still would love to try it and enter a Knockdown Karate competition.

What are your interests? You've had a few recommendations, but what do you see yourself in your mind's eye doing? Any art, properly trained, will give you better fitness and body control, but to stick with it you need to do something that interests and excites you; something you will be motivated to go to even when you feel like a bag of shit and completely exhausted. There's plenty of threads on this and other sites expounding the virtues of various art forms and the methods in which they're trained that can help inform you of the basics of that style, but until you go to a class (most places have free trials) and get a feel for that instructor and school you won't really know what you'll enjoy doing (and even then you might get caught up in the moment only to realize months or years later this style wasn't for you, it happens). Can you give us a little more on your core interests, and motivations for learning a martial art? What research you've already done? And also where you live, maybe some members know of a good school in your area already.

Interesting read. I'm not a Bruce Lee expert, nor even a crazy fan, but I respect his work and the body he made. I recognize a lot of the material from different books written on Bruce Lee's fitness and martial arts training notably "Power of the Dragon" by Justin Frost and Ted Wong as well as his "Fighting Method" by himself and Uyehara (though these books mostly deal with technique and philosophy there are big segments on speed training). I know most of us are familiar with his achievements and philosophy, but let me just recap a bit. Bruce Lee, in both the martial arts and in physical fitness was a pioneer. He saw the limitations imposed on his growth by traditional Chinese martial arts (here, read Wing Chun) and decided to expand his horizons with previously (for Chinese) taboo arts like Boxing, Wrestling, Judo and Fencing. He took what worked for him and let the excess (the fat) fall off such as dropping forms for practices like shadow-boxing. In terms of physical fitness Bruce was subscribed to every fitness and bodybuilding magazine in the country. He read, and scientifically tested every form of exercise known to the Asian and Western man at the time. He took judicious notes on his workout programs and progress, effectively finding what worked and what didn't (yay, science!) and he was not above trying any and everything he could get his hands on. Now, to the meat: Most of what's put here is fairly accurate. While the specific exercises weren't exactly used by Bruce in his own workouts (I never read anywhere that he did yoga, though I could be wrong) he did do body-weight exercises, was a huge proponent of using isometrics in the beginning (after warmup) of every workout and had an intensive cardio program. However, this article isn't completely accurate in saying Bruce never used expensive equipment. While much of his workouts were done without them, true, he WAS a proponent of weights. He had a complete barbell routine and used heavy weights at least 3 times a week. He also spent 45 minutes on a cycle machine or bicycle every day after his morning run. He bought and used many different machines at the time, even just as an experiments. But just like the article says, getting the type of fitness Bruce achieved is NOT about doing the same workouts he did (in fact, with the advent of new forms of exercise and new philosophies Bruce would probably have an entirely different workout now that he would back then) but about his approach to exercise. And, as the article says it is a whole-body, total fitness approach that anyone take pickup and do with an assortment (or without any) equipment or facilities.

I gained a nidan in Goju Ryu back when I was in High School but eventually discovered Judo and then moved to Thailand and started doing Muay Thai. I have to say, while I discovered I crazed the more physical action in Judo and Muay Thai it was Karate that got the ball rolling for me as a kid (that and I know different schools and instructors will have different contact levels). And I've always dreamed on entering a Knockdown Karate Tournament.

Do what you find fun, as your goals are mainly fitness it's not such a big deal what style you do. You should, however, not allow yourself to be fooled by where ever you are going. Some will claim ancient traditions that are... made up, some may claim "street" effectiveness, some may even claim to imbue their students with a mystical power that can make them fly or shoot energy balls or something. All these and more are common in many places to train and not restricted to a certain style either. Whatever you do be careful, do your homework, don't take the teacher's word as God's Absolute Truth and don't get a blown ego as can happen a lot. Also: Your wrestling experience is probably some of the best martial arts training you could have done (I've lost to so many wrestlers who shifted to Judo after HS....) so use that to compare it to what you end up learning. Oh, and if you liked wrestling DO JUDO, it's everywhere, it's cheap (usually VERY) and your skills will transfer well and you'll learn a whole new way to move and do things in the same situations. Judo, since it has decent governing bodies to ensure the quality of their schools and competes often to prove it, is one of the bullshit-free-est of the martial arts as a style.

To get banned, it's simple. Read the rules and FAQ. Break the first few rules in your first few points. You don't even need to be overly mean, just dumb sounding enough to make the admins feel like you're a waste of space (sympathy = bad). Illegal making two accounts? Make three and post-whore the same thread (have all three post nearly the same thing in a thread to keep it bumped) Can't make threads in a certain board in the forum? Do it. twice. Three times. As many as it takes. DO NOT tell them your goals, spite will make them keep you on the site no matter what kind of a douche you are. Forget being a good guy. Find people you really, really don't agree with/hate and use it. Are you a Liberal? Post nasty shit on a Conservative site. Don't like the military? Go all Westbrook Crazy Church or something. You have no soul on the internet, no conscious. You are a troll, an ugly hideous disgusting being who's personality is distasteful and who should have no friends. Make people cry. If someone stands up to you with reason call them homosexual slurs and use "your mother" jokes. Don't be a baby about it if you really want to win. Also, shut up and use the forum to get fit. You're clearly choosing sites you kinda want to learn from anyways, so stop being dumb (you're a crap troll anyways) and just make better use of your time.

a) Please, please, please learn to break up posts into easier to read chunks. Pretty much what you said is true, Thai's are very relaxed. For my own muay thai in the frame of "over thinking" when I spar or bagwork or shadowbox and I feel that I'm slowing down and getting too-thinky-y then I just up the aggression. I get a little meaner, a little rougher. I become more fluid, hit harder/faster. AND it's waaaaaaay more fun throwing just a bit more "caution" and "thought" to the wind and just "going for it". Probably my favorite part so far in muay thai is the aggression. It's something that was lacking in JJJ and Karate and when I did Judo I was never able to combine with proper technique when it got down to it (aka I sucked a Judo).

Well, once you get a basic level of stretching down, especially for your kicks then repeatedly doing the moves (so long as you remember how to do them right and aren't forming too many bad-habits training on your own), each time leveling them up should make you more flexible. This and I find that shadowboxing is one of the best forms of cardio I've come across (and definitely the most fun). In muay thai we'll do 5 minute rounds for up to as many as 5 rounds (about 25 minutes + breaks) though I've only done up to 3 myself. However, since you're not training for the ring if you can do a prolonged, 20+ minute session that would put you in phenomenal shape, granted you pushed it. Things to remember in shadowboxing are to keep moving. You're literally fighting the invisible man and need to move your body like you're in a fight, stay on your toes. That and at my gym at the 4:30 mark we do 30 sec of "speed", kinda just punch 1-2-1-2-1-2,etc as fast and hard as you can until the timer stops. We do those with punches and knees and especially on the knees you'll feel awful by the end. This means even in you feel like it's too easy you have these "sprints" to get you pumping and keep you honest. As Centurion said, the static stretches are most often left to the end because of the initial tightness. By doing a quick warmup then shadowboxing, always keeping your kicks as high as you can (with good form) you can gradually increase your flexibility though I really wish I had time and energy to try out yoga myself (it just seems like the most relaxing thing in the world to me). Either way, good luck and keep us posted on what you decide to do and how it works out.

Hello! สวัสดีครับ I live in Surat Thani. It's good to have another Thai here. Sorry, my Thai is poor, I am still learning ผมอยู่ที่ สุราษฎร์ธานีดีตอนนี้มี๒คนประเทศไทยที่นี่ขอโทษผมเขียนไทยไม่ได้ผมเรียน I hope you have fun here and learn a lot, I know I did.