Vader_Orlag

I would suggest using heavy compound lifts to help you gain muscle. deadlifts, squats, standing overhead press, and bench press. Compound lifts force more muscles to be used in a single movement. This will cause a larger spike in your bodies production of human growth hormone which will oxidize your fat cells and help your muscles to grow larger. I would use compound lifts as the main excersize and then use assistance lifts ( bicep curls, tricep extensions etc..) Compound lifts are always superior to isolation movements. I would also suggest compound lifts in a 5x5 format (5 sets 5 reps) and the assistance or isolation movements in a 3x8-12. If you have any questions feel free to ask. Also remember that it is hard to lost fat and gain muscle at the same time. This is best and easier to achieve when you are new to working out. Remember in order to gain weight or muscle you need to take in more calories than your body needs. The opposite is true for fat.

Do you still train in muay thai?

HAHA. It is always a bad experience to kick with your foot. Especially if it actually hits another person. I am sure it hurt him far more than it hurt you. That is the nature of muay thai, hit with the shin and your good. Hit with the foot and you're likely to break some bones in that foot! Funny enough I think basketball actually has the most injuries of any other sport. That is very good to hear of parents having their children in bjj classes. My daughter always goes to the gym with me and loves it. Of course she is two and does not participate but, if she ever decides she wants to and is old enough I will spill over the edge with joy!

I believe it certainly is a sport, and martial arts were designed to be used in a fighting manner. This does not equate to street fighting. Breaking boards and paying 200 dollars to test for a new belt are not martial arts. Those are schools that inflate a child/ persons ego to think they can handle situations they are not equipped for. you can find much worse injuries in every sport. I have trained in mixed martial arts for several years. If you look at a list of dangerous sports mixed martial arts and brazillian jiu jitsu are not even in the top ten. Brazilian Jiu jitsu is actual really common and a fantastic form of self defense for women. The reason being is that bjj teaches and proves that a smaller weaker opponent can defeat a bigger stronger opponent. The fact of the matter is any martial art is dangerous. If you take a look at bruce lee he was very insistent that the only way to get better was with full contact strikes. This was the way the martial arts world worked. Then you had a movie happen, about the time the Karate kid came out ( the original) you saw a huge surge of of what we call mcdojos. These schools played off the idea of a watered down training regiment spending time breaking boards and using your " honor" and such to defeat opponents. These schools are the typical tae kwon do schools that charge you each time your child or your self attempts to move up in a belt ranking. Often times you will see a child/adult become a black belt in a matter of 1 to 2 years. When you have a person who thinks that they are a black belt and can take on the world, you have someone who tries to defend themselves in situations that they can not handle. I read in martial arts magazines all the time about some poor kid who thought they could defend against a group of kids and ultimately ends up crippled or killed due to this "knowledge". The fact is bjj is a incredibly effective martial art for self defense. It in my opinion it is certainly a sport, as is mixed martial arts. I am sorry to have ranted about this, but it makes me very sad when I hear comments thrown at mixed martial arts practitioners. I have them thrown at me too. This lack of understanding leads to skewed ideas about the sport and the people who participate in it. What it comes down to is most of us are loving parents and the most humble human beings on the planet. We simply love a sport that most are largely unaware of and misunderstand. This goes for Miguel Torres as well, the owner of the toe in this post.

haha ok keep in mind though that you asked for it. I was really an atheist for my entire life until I turned 19. At this point I decided that I did not know what was after this life. I remained agnostic until I was in a philosophy class a couple of semesters ago. We were studying a gentleman name Thomas Aquinas. One of his teachings was that there has to be something in existence whos existence was not dependent on something else. For example a tree exists because a tree before it dropped a seed. Obviously the previous tree exists for the same reason. He said you can not regress this way infinitely. At some point there has to be an unmoved mover. This really struck a chord with me for whatever reason. I am not sure because I was perfectly content in my agnostic ideas ( or lack of). This prompted me to reconsider faith, I thought about all the religions I have studied in my life. I ultimately came to the LDS church because I figured if any church was worth spiritual investigation, it was the church that made sure to take care of those around them even if those people don't share the same faith. I contacted missionaries through the web and had some elders contact me a short time later. They were really nice missionaries and I think shocked that I did not ask them to leave at the mention of a living prophet. Like I said before I knew a lot about the church with my mind but my soul was empty. I already had a Book of Mormon from my previous studies. They asked me to read it and pray for the truth. 4 months passed of regular lessons and praying. Then one day I woke up and knew with every fiber of my being that God absolutely did exist. Two more months of lessons and I had attended church a couple of times. One of the Elders was transferred and a new one arrived. I began to have more faith in the LDS church but still was not sure. One day we were talking about the veil. I had by far the strongest feeling I have ever had in my life. It was nearly dizzying. At this point I knew it was true, no questions asked. After this I was bad about going to church for whatever reason. The Elders worked very hard to get me to church. One Sunday I was sleeping and I had a dream that I was talking to the Elders. I don't remember the whole conversation but eventually I had some how denied them. One said to the other " I suppose he is not ready yet." They turned and began to walk away. I have never felt so terrible in my life, not because I hurt their feelings. I had a very VERY empty, sorrowful feeling come over me. I immediately woke up and realized it was 9:30. I panicked to get dressed to get to church. I stepped out of my door and in front of my home sat the Elders! I was so relieved! Apparently they had been praying that I would make it to church and wanted to help me get there. I was baptized two weeks later and have never thought twice about it. The church is fantastic I could not be more blessed. I have received the aaronic priesthood and I am fortunate to be able to help the church in as many ways as possible. Sorry it was pretty long but remember that you asked for it! I hope it was worth the read.

Hello everyone! I have been lurking around this forum for a little bit now and decided it was time to participate in some of these discussions. I am a recent convert I was baptized a few months ago. Before that I was agnostic, it was a major change for me (obviously). I certainly put the poor missionaries teaching me through the ringer with the questions I had. I had a pretty good knowledge of the church before I met with missionaries as I have always found religion fascinating. I currently live in Salt Lake City and I love it here. I work and go to school full time as well as raising my two year old daughter. I am happy to be a part of this forum and look forward to many great discussions!