Monday, December 20, 2010

Supplements For MMA - Using Supplements Like Anadraulic State GT For MMA Fighters

MMA fighters require sports supplements like any other athlete, but they do have some different requirements that make them a special case. MMA fighters who practice jujitsu, Thai boxing and wrestling typically are concerned with endurance, since strength, while important is more about technique than pure power as in weightlifting. Endurance supplements take the center stage, along with ingredients that help curb cortisol and buffer lactic acid.

If you watch the fights you will see that "gassing out" is one of the main problems facing MMA fighters in the ring. They need to perform at peak levels for sometimes 25 minutes at a time, which is very difficult. Fighters need to make sure that they make weight, so they need to decide of creatine is right for them. Creatine is a very potent and important supplement that will help increase strength, power and endurance. It also may bloat you if it isn't taken with the right supporting nutrients. Creatine can certainly help transform your workouts and is the number one supplement needed by MMA fighters, but the bloating does raise an issue. One way to combat this bloating is use a supplement with cinnamon extract, which will allow you to shove the creatine into the muscles and not have it sit around and attract excess water.

Beta Alanine should be on the roster for a MMA fighter, since it buffers lactic acid and increases endurance. It has also been shown to improve athletic performance when mixed with creatine, which makes it a winner. You will most likely experience a weird side effect from Beta Alanine, which is to feel a "tingle" or "itch", this is completely normal and is just the Beta Alanine getting into your system and hitting your nerves. Beta Alanine is a premier ingredient that all fighters should consider using.

Essential amino acids are also important, along with higher than normal doses of L-Leucine, the body's muscle building amino acid. L-Leucine stimulates muscle growth and muscle density, which increases explosive power and muscle maturity. Essential amino acids, ensure that after a tough workout, muscle tear down doesn't happen. These may be consumed 50 minutes before or immediately after a workout for best results. Essential amino acids come in the form of hydrolyzed whey protein or free form amino acids. Hydrolyzed amino acids are not simply proteins, they are partially digested which means that they will get absorbed and utilized very quickly and without stomach distress. Make sure you get hydrolyzed amino acids prior to training to make the most of your workouts.

If you have the money, Citrulline Malate is a good ingredient that can be stacked with the above nutrients. It can help with physical endurance and give you a mental and physical boost in the gym. It is expensive, but mixed with the above ingredients, it can really make a difference in your workouts.

Finally, stimulants may help give the MMA fighter an advantage, but make sure you check with your organization to ensure that these stimulants are "legal" to use. Caffeine is certainly one that can be utilized for quick energy. Caffeine can provide the obvious mental benefit, but it also has a physical benefit, especially when mixed with things like creatine and amino acids. Other stimulants like Bitter Orange, containing synephrine can give the MMA fighter a mental boost and better intensity during tough training sessions. Geranium Oil (better known as 1,3-Dimethylamylamine) is one that is new on the market, but there are rumors it might make you test positive for certain drugs, so make sure you check with your governing body before using this stimulant! All three of these will certainly give you a mental lift while training and can push your intensity.

Of all of the supplements on the market, only Anadraulic State GT seems to have these ingredients in precise ratios. Two scoops of Anadraulic State GT prior to workouts will help push you past any hurdles. If you want to really take it to the next level, add in some Citrulline Malate to your Anadraulic State GT, to push it even further. I recommend adding in 3g of Citrulline Malate to each scoop of Anadraulic State GT, which provides the precise ratio of ingredients that you will want to give you intensity.

Anadraulic State GT can be found at:

http://www.lgsciences.com/Pre-Workout-p/anadraulic-state-gt.htm

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Martial Arts Training - Best Practices For Self Defense

If you're thinking about picking up some kind of martial arts training, it'd be good for you to know exactly what type of styles exist and which one would be the best one for you. There are literally hundreds of different arts around, and each have their own different qualities along with strengths and weaknesses, to suit different people. There isn't one best martial arts technique because the best style or technique is the one that suits you and your style. Follow below as I give a brief outline of the different types of arts training, and depending on what you need this for, you can find one that may be right for you.

MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) - has been abbreviated to MMA, and is actually a combat sport where difference people are fighting against each other. There are now many MMA gyms available to the public since MMA is so popular now, thanks mainly to the UFC. Mixed martial arts would give you a variety of skills if you ever needed to defend yourself. Among the skills are a mix of Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing, wrestling, and other fighting skills.

Kung Fu - there are so many different types of styles and traditions when it comes to kung fu, it's actually very hard to assess. Kung fu actually isn't a type of martial art at all, it is a name that is given to any type ofl art from China. If you are looking for a type of kung fu that is best for self defense, Wing Chun Kung Fu is the most popular style in the West. It was developed mainly for smaller and physically weaker fighters to be able to beat a bigger and stronger opponent.

Jiu Jitsu - Jiu Jitsu martial arts training is mostly designated for grappling and restraint techniques, as opposed to boxing, striking, and so forth. It is used by military trainers, and police in many different countries, and is ideal for security guards, and bouncers. Grappling is usually ideal when you have to defend yourself against only one person. But when faced with multiple opponents grappling simply isn't feasible and you have to bring in other techniques. If you're worried about gangs, or attacks from multiple people, this is probably not the best practice for you.

Muay Thai - this is another arts training that is more of a sport rather than a method of self defense. A decent or good class will include some self-defense applications. This is also good if you want to get a balance between self-defense and fitness.

Karate - karate is a traditional type of martial arts, and has a much greater emphasis on self-defense. Karate training is good because it gives you an idea of what it's like to be in an actual fight. This is one of the best training techniques if you are looking for something that will give you a blend of both self-discipline and confidence. If you consider yourself as kind of a wimp or lack self-confidence, karate may be a good choice for you.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Why Boxers Clinch and How Muay Thai Fighters Clinch To Win

The strategies of the clinch and the reasons for using it are different for each combat sport. Since Mixed Martial Arts combines so many combat sports, we are going to examine the differences between the clinch as it is used in boxing and the clinch used in Muay Thai fighting.

In the sport of boxing, the clinch is used for one basic reason.

The main reason boxers clinch is to break the other fighter's momentum. When a boxer is on the offensive, his opponent may cover up in an effort to avoid hitting. If the advance Boxer continues to beat his opponent, he will surely cause a fair amount of damage and defense of the fighters not being able to Counter Strike. The attacker is now in control and the fight could take a turn ugly when the fighters hit can change the momentum in his favor.

A common tactic of the boxers involved, the clinch position. Through forward and threw her arms around his opponent, the attack stops short.While in the boxing clinch, the defender leans into his opponent and lays his weight into him. It is very difficult for either fighter to throw an effective boxing punch while in the clinch and fight fans typically do not appreciate the tactic because it's not very exciting to watch.

The referee won't let fighters clinch for long, but there's really not much he can do other than break the fighters apart. Excessive clinching may earn points deductions after a few warnings, but this is a rare event.

Excessive in the later rounds of competition won joint fight when the fighters exhausted and fatigued. Tired fighters clinch and can embrace as a way to breathe and have a break.

The Thai Clinch, is used differently on the other side.

Muay Thai boxing match in a clinch is not a defensive position at all. In the Thai Muay Thai clinch is a position potentially deadly attack.

The ThaiClinch is wrapping your hands, gloves and gloves behind the skull of the opponent, how to get the skull and down his chest. In a position to clinch control of the fighters of other Thai opponent and can beat his opponent with knees to the body and knees to the head. It is also common to throw elbows, while a break from the Thai Clinch or even while still clinching.

The referee is not to break step, a Thai clinch, it is perfectly legal, while strikein the clinch and even while breaking out of the hold.

As you can imagine, the Thai Clinch is a much more useful tactic in MMA that the boxing clinch could ever be.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Learning To Speak Thai

The main problem with learning to speak Thai is that the basis of the language is not European-based. English and the other Euro languages have Latin, Greek, Viking, etc., roots; Thai does not, so you have to memorize hundreds, if not thousands, of strange and unrelated sounds. This is difficult, unless you use some sort of memory trigger.

Speak Easy Thai is a low-cost (about US$25) CD-ROM that helps solve this problem by presenting a picture and a sound file; all words are spoken by a native Thai speaker, so you hear the correct tone.

If you see a Thai word printed in a book, such as a travel guide, chances are you will not remember the word because there is nothing to hang your hat on.

But when you see a picture of something and hear it spoken properly in Thai, your brain will find it much easier to remember the word because it seems to set up more associations (hypertext links, if you will) in your brain.

It's a fact that most people learn better visually and aurally than they do by simply reading and trying to memorize. This is, in fact, how children learn. They hear the words spoken by adults and other children, and repeat them. Young children learn to speak a language well before they can read.

Thai uses its own alphabet, rather than pictograms like Chinese, which makes it much easier to learn than Chinese. You just have to get over the hump of reading the Thai characters. The alphabet contains the same letters as English, but they are drawn differently. For example, all the common consonants and vowels exist in Thai, but a Thai G (or P or M) does not look like an English G (or P or M).

But the best part of learning Thai is the grammar, believe it or not, because there is very little to learn. There are no, absolutely NO verb conjugations, which will please anyone who has ever tried to learn one of the Latin-based languages like French, Italian, and Spanish. Future tense is handled with "ja", meaning "will", or by adding an adverb of time, like "tomorrow". Past tense is handled by putting "already" at the end, or by adding an adverb of time, like "yesterday". For example, instead of saying, "I went to the market", you use the present tense ("go") but add "already" at the end, as in "I go market already". Easy peasy.

Also, adjectives do not change form, you don't have to worry about the sex of a noun because all nouns are neuter. Adjectives always follow the noun, without exception; you say "house big" rather than "big house".

General plurals are done by doubling the noun: "house house" instead of "houses". Specific plurals use the same construction we use in English for groups, as in "The farmer has three head of cattle". You can't say "I have three children" in Thai, you must say "I have child three person"; "child" is the noun, "person" is the group word, also known as a "classifier".

Adverbs are easy too, no variations. You can add emphasis by doubling the adverb: "He runs quickly quickly".

The most difficult part of learning Thai is that it is a tonal language. English uses tones on sentences. Compare these three statements:

"You're going to the party."

"You're going to the party?"

"You're going to the party!"

They all use the same English words, but the tone (flat, rising, falling, respectively) gives an entirely different meaning to each sentence.

Thai uses tones on words, but not on sentences. For example, "seu-ah" spoken with a flat (mid-range) tone means "clothing"; "seu-ah" spoken with a rising tone means "tiger". So you must be careful to learn the correct tone for each word, otherwise you might be saying "my tiger is dirty" when what you meant is "my clothing is dirty". There is no doubt that this is the hardest part of learning Thai, and the only way to learn the correct tone is to listen to a native Thai speaker saying the word.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Jump Rope For Boxing and Muay Thai

Jump Rope for boxing and Muay Thai is probably one of the most fun and important tools to developing light-feet, tricky footwork ability, increased cardio as well as working as a warm up.

There are many ways to jump rope. In any gym it is unlikely that two people will skip with the same style, intensity and rhythm. Jumping rope, or skipping rope as it is also know, is truly a personal experience. Some People find a fifteen minute skipping session to be one of the most redundant and boring parts of training. Me, I find this part of training something that I look forward to each and every training session.

One idea that I love to bring to my jump-rope session is to do more in less. What I mean by this is concentrated effort. For most combat athletes I know, many of them will skip for a time of 15 minutes. I believe that 15 minutes of skipping-rope is a good place to start. However, as our ability increases and we become more fluid in the movements I think it is important to concentrate on "quality time" and do more in less time: take the 15 minute session and squeeze it down to 8 minutes of full speed, hardcore, no playing around intensity. Quicker footwork, more rotations of the rope, variety of foot-placement as well as intense high-knees for longer durations is a good place to start when applying the "do more in less" philosophy. "More in Less" is a simple way of training intensity and getting more out of a workout with less time.

So you may be wondering what types of things you can do while jumping rope...here are a few things I like to do:

8 minute Session:

*30 seconds Swing the rope at full speed...keeping light on the toes.

**30 Seconds high knees bringing knees up to the chest

***30 seconds of "double-under's"... jump up as high as possible... allow the rope to pass under the feet 2 times before landing into the next jump!

****30 seconds of footwork: Jump in stance left&right side; jump alternating front foot forward *back foot forward; criss crossing the legs, feet wide, feet held together, alternate landing heel to toe / toe to heel....

Each of the previous methods twice will equal 8 minutes. Have fun. Mix it Up.

If jumping-rope does not add burn your muscles, increase your heart rate, and add a burn to your throat, I imagine your skipping style is one that can last for an easy 30minutes.

The better I get at skipping rope the harder and more difficult i find it to be.

Now we have all seen many different kinds of jump ropes. Here are a few that come to mind, although there a certainly more variations out there: Leather Ropes, Nylon Ropes, "Speed-Ropes", Weighted Handle Ropes, Digital/Counting Ropes, Plastic Red/Blue/White Beads Ropes, and the classic Muay Thai Jump Rope made of "hollowed" thick and heavy plastic with wooden handles. The question you may ask is...which is best?

With all the different types of jump-ropes on the circuit I find the Classic Muay Thai Jump Rope to be the most durable and challenging one that i have come across. This rope made of plastic tubing is quite heavy, has a lot of drag to it, requires much more physical effort for each turn/revolution than a "standard" jump rope found at most Sporting Goods stores and will certainly work muscle endurance throughout the entire arms and shoulders. Also, the weight is balanced throughout the rope as opposed to one with weighted handles. Although this thick plastic jump rope as seen in Thailand is harder to use than any other kind if have seen, it is certainly well worth the extra effort and if you bring intensity to the workout this rope can get moving quite fast.

Although for obvious reasons the Thai-rope is not as fast as a thin speed-rope, the weight and drag keeps the feeling of actually having to work very hard and continuous, especially when targeting speed. whichever the case, there are many kinds of jump-ropes to fit every type of person. So, if you do not have a jump rope....Get one! This is a great training tool, easy to carry, and can be done almost anywhere!

Work hard, have fun and smile!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Muay Thai As a Sport

Students of Muay Thai in the Maryland, Virginia and Washington D.C. areas are usually viewed as strong muscular men. However, anyone can learn Kickboxing and become good at, if for no other reason, your own self-protection. It was once used to train soldiers to protect their communities and themselves. It is an art form that is considered a mixed martial art.

Muay Thai is a professional sport in which most people enroll for the purpose of competing and becoming a champion. The deadly techniques that were once taught to protect the old soldiers are no longer used in kickboxing today. E 'platforms in the form of sanctioned competition and in many self defense techniques.

The elementary classes were taught in Muay Thai is not just the art of combat, but you need to know some of the culture of kickboxing. The Thai people believe in a good Muay Thai fighter, you know something has to be the organization, culture, rituals and superstitions of Kick Boxing. This isbecause Kickboxing is taught only by a qualified teacher and Thai culture, rituals and superstitions of them can not be taught.

To find out if Muay Thai is a sport that is learning there are several things that keep a few things in mind should be interested in:

• Every martial art has to fight for their unique style and is considered the best of its kind Watching a movie of Tony Jaa is the real world of Muay Thai fighting although it shows some of Kick Boxingphilosophy. It is much more than this. It is history and beliefs in the arts. In these cases, the fighting techniques cannot be separated from this philosophy.
• If you have prior martial arts training, your knowledge will benefit you in Kickboxing. However, it is still necessary to learn of the culture and beliefs of the Kickboxing. With Kickboxingand other martial arts knowledge you can mix the techniques and get an excellent self defense performance.
• If you intend to become a Grand Master of kickboxing, you should first check whether Muay Thai is the martial art for you.

Muay Thai is not just for men. In Thailand there are many fields for the lady or Nak Muay Ying Boxer. They are specially designed for women to training, especially in the art of self-organized. But some ladies kickboxing learn how to become a competitor in the sport. Thailand has a lot of lady teachers and thousands of Muay Thai boxer.

Contact with the local school kickboxing and request to sit on aclass to see if it may be something you would be interested in learning. Many of these schools have free classes you can attend to try it out before you sign any kind of contract. Take for example, Lloyd Irvin's, Mixed Martial Arts Academies, with locations in the Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC area, you have the benefit of signing up for a 30 day free trial. What better way to get started on Muay Thai Boxing than this.

Talk to the instructors and question them on the age requirements, see if there are any physical requirements and find out how to learn about the Thai culture, rituals and beliefs before joining.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Burning Fat - Does Aerobic Exercise Need to Be at a Slower Pace to Burn Fat?

There are a lot of myths surrounding fitness and health. One enduring one is that you will burn more fat if you exercise at a moderate pace. Exercise classes in the 80s actually slowed down the pace to burn more fat. Does this work or is it just nonsense?

Basically, it's just nonsense although there may be a small smidgen of truth. With weight loss, what matters is the number of calories you burn. If you exercise harder and faster you will burn more calories and hence burn more fat. If you spend 30 minutes running fast you'll burn more fat than if you spend 30 minutes jogging at a leisurely pace. Faster and harder is better as far as burning calories and hence fat.

It is however possible that you might burn more total fat if you exercise at a moderate or slow pace. The reason why should be obvious, but it often isn't. You may be able and willing to exercise longer at a slower pace and although you'll burn fat more slowly, you will burn fat longer.

For example, I can run at a fast pace for myself, 10 minutes per mile, for about 10-15 minutes. I cannot last longer and in fact after a few minutes I'm pretty uncomfortable and unhappy. However I can gladly run for an hour at a more moderate 12-14 minutes per mile pace, and burn more calories overall and therefore fat.

It's the overall calories burned that matters, not the pace. A faster pace burns calories faster, but you may not be able to keep it up long.