A1990

First of all I'd like to make it clear that I'm not asking which is the better style, nor do I have a preference.

I'm wondering how the motives and principles of a Kyokushin karate fighter differ to those of a Muay Thai fighter.

Both are striking arts, but a knockdown karate match looks a LOT different to a Muay Thai match, and it's not just because they don't punch to the head. They fight differently. Muay Thai fighters seem to move around and defend a lot more. Kyokushin fighters seem to prefer to stand and trade... in all the matches I've seen, the fighters were just standing there toe-to-toe; punching, kicking and kneeing the snot out of each other until one gave in, with very little defense (sometimes it looks like downright thuggery). They kick differently as well.

I have a lot of respect for full-contact karate as it has produced world-class strikers in K-1 and kickboxing. I don't doubt its effectiveness. But it obviously breeds a very different mentality towards fighting than Muay Thai.

What are the philosophies and fundamental principles of each art, and what causes their practitioners to fight so differently?

Mike Miller squatted 1220lbs.

Ryan Kennelly bench pressed 1075lbs

Benedikt Magnusson deadlifted 1100lbs.

Why is these only 25lbs difference between the bench press and the deadlift record?

And why is the squat record 120lbs heavier than the deadlift record? The deadlift is a much easier movement than the squat.

Most lifters (who train their whole bodies) can deadlift quite a bit more than they can squat, and a hell of a lot more than they can bench press. Why is it all so different at the elite level?

I have been training BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) for about 7 months now. It's like wrestling, to those of you who've never heard of it.

About 3 weeks into my first month of training, somebody landed on the bottom of my ribcage very hard during a roll (sparring session). 2 months down the line, I was still experiencing pain every time I inhaled deeply or moved in a certain way. It took me about 3-4 months to fully recover from it.

Then, back in October, I went for my first competition (which I lost). Woke up the morning after in a lot of pain (this time coming from my sternum), and no idea how it had happened. To this day, it hurts like hell when I sneeze (although breathing in is no longer a problem), and I can't handle any pressure at all on my sternum. When I roll, I often find myself tapping out to S-mounts and scarf holds.

At first I thought it might be bruised ribs or pulled intercostals, but my chest has been in pain for 6 months now... everyone I know who's bruised a rib/pulled an intercostal said they felt fine after a month.

Is it possible that I might have cracked or broken something without realizing?

I am considering taking a 2 month break from BJJ to train in freestyle wrestling.

Before I started BJJ I wanted to wrestle, but the nearest gym is about 25 miles away (I live in the UK... over here, wrestling gyms are few and far between). Not interested in Judo as it's way too restrictive.

My plan is to move to Manchester to train at the Wrestling Academy (the headquarters of the British Wrestling Association). I'd be training purely in freestyle wrestling for 2 months, 15 hours a week.

How would doing this affect me as a BJJ fighter... would I come back a better grappler, or would my submission defense suffer for it? How does the groundfighting in wrestling compare to that of BJJ - are there any guards?

I'm a white belt BTW - been training 7 months, averaging 6 hours a week. I'm looking to do this sometime within the next 6 months.

I feel I need wrestling anyway because I want to do MMA in the future.

Whenever someone has a question about wrestling, they post it in the martial arts category.

Nothing wrong with this (seeing as how wrestling is a martial art), but since there is a separate category for wrestling, one would expect to find these questions in the wrestling category.

Every question in this category seems to be about WWE/TNA, which has absolutely sweet f*ck all to do with wrestling.

This category is in the sports section. Professional wrestling is not a sport, unlike amateur wrestling. It's entertainment for neglected children and inbred rednecks.

It's pretty sad to see names like 'The Rock' and 'Undertaker' when people give a list of their favourite wrestlers. These guys hold no accomplishments in wrestling at all. They are not NCAA champions, they are not Olympians; they are actors.

Have any of you ever heard of Medved, Takhti or Karelin?

And do any of you know the difference between Folkstyle, Freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling?

It seems to be the general consensus in the MMA world that Muay Thai is superior to everything else out there when it comes to striking.

I hear it all the time: "Muay Thai is better than boxing because you have 8 weapons and in boxing you only have 2". In theory it makes perfect sense, but I'm not convinced.

In any fight - MMA, street, Muay Thai; the most frequently used tool is the punch. Almost all fights start with a punch, and most end with one (even in Muay Thai matches, most knockouts come from punches).

A punch can be thrown quicker and more accurately than any other strike. Kicks and knees might pack more power, but they are a lot slower to throw and require you to lift one leg off the ground (thereby compromising your balance). They are also harder to learn.

I'm starting to think boxing is better... a lot better. Yes it's limited, but it gives you a sharp and highly focused set of skills.

I went to a Muay Thai class a couple of weeks ago and found I was hitting harder than guys who had been training for more than 6 months (I've been boxing for 3 months). All of them had decent kicks, but out of the 8 or 10 people in the class, I only saw 2 who were good punchers (I spoke to them and found out they were cross-training in boxing).

I don't doubt the effectiveness of leg kicks, but just how practical are techniques like head kicks and flying knees?

And just how effective is the Thai clinch against a good wrestler (especially a Greco guy)?

One argument I hear a lot in regards to 'traditional' martial arts vs things like BJJ, boxing (western and Thai), wrestling etc. is this:

"My art is better than your art for self-defense, because it was made for war. Yours is a sport and it only works in the ring. We train to kill or seriously injure. I would just bite you/rip your balls off/gouge your eyes."

My problem with this is the parallels drawn between war and the average street fight/self-defense situation. On the battlefield, the objective is to kill. On the streets it should be to neutralize your attacker quickly and efficiently, causing as little damage as possible.

If some guy came at you in a bar, on the streets or wherever and you poked his eye out or hit him hard in the throat, you might end up in prison. Would it not be better just to KO him with a swift punch to the chin? Or maybe take him down and choke him out? Either way, it's lights out for your aggressor and it's unlikely you'll have seriously injured him.

And there is plenty of video evidence out there to show that boxing is also very effective in multiple attacker situations.

Just lost my first BJJ competition. Was outclassed from the start... I've been training for just over 3 months and my opponent had been training for over a year.

I stayed to watch some of the other white belts, and it was obvious that they all had a lot more than 3 months of training experience.

I couldn't help but wonder where all the other 3-month white belts were at... is every BJJ competition like this? Is it so out of the ordinary for somebody with 3 months' experience to enter a competition - are people really this spineless?

To anybody who trains and competes in BJJ: how long did you wait until you started competing?

Got talking to somebody at the gym a few days ago who recently lost his first amateur MMA fight (by submission). His style is primarily Muay Thai and boxing... he has little ground game.

I was surprised when he told me that headshots are banned in amateur MMA. You don't hear of this in amateur Muay Thai, kickboxing or boxing.

Doesn't striking (boxing especially) become a lot less effective when no headshots are allowed? Everybody knows a grappler will beat a striker most of the time anyway... take away the striker's ability to strike your head and what chance does he have?

If you want to become successful at the amateur level, wouldn't it be better just to focus on grappling and learn how to kick the legs?

I train in BJJ. Quite a lot of the newcomers at my class already have some sort of experience in grappling. We get wrestlers, Judoka and JJJ guys coming to check out the class.

The wrestlers and Judoka are proficient grapplers. They have better stand-up skills than most of the pure BJJ guys, and seem to pick up the techniques quickly. Most end up coming back after the first class.

The Japanese Jujutsu practitioners on the other hand, were all awful. None of them are currently training with us. Our most recent was a brown belt who had been training in JJJ for 5 years. Stocky, aggressive and young but he got dominated by everyone he rolled with. Smaller guys who had been training BJJ for less than a year were tapping him out. He even tried using pressure points, which didn't work on anybody.

People say that Jujutsu is for self-defense and BJJ and Judo are just sports. But how can JJJ be better for self-defense if its practitioners are constantly getting owned by BJJ and Judo guys who haven't put in as many hours on the mat?

With Judo, you can toss an attacker on his head and knock him out. With BJJ (and Judo) you can choke him into unconsciousness/death or crush his joints. What exactly can you do with JJJ?

When you consider that England is the birthplace of catch wrestling, why is it that wrestling gyms (and wrestlers) are so few and far between?

I have done hours of research and have not been able to find a single wrestling gym in my county (Leicestershire). The nearest place I found was about 20 miles away. There is plenty of MMA, BJJ and Muay Thai here, but no wrestling.

There is no wrestling in schools here either. Every kid in the USA gets the opportunity to wrestle... I find it absolutely embarrassing that there is no such opportunity here in the UK. If it weren't for catch wrestling, there would be no American folkstyle wrestling. The Americans have taken over our art, and seem to be better at it than we are.

When did the British start to abandon this (obviously very effective) martial art, and for what reason? What's next - are we going to phase out boxing as well?

I've just started boxing and I'm wondering which of these punches is supposed to be more powerful for a right-handed fighter using an orthodox stance.

I would imagine the right cross would be quicker because it's a linear movement (the shortest distance between two points being a straight line), but wouldn't the circular movement of the left hook allow for more torque (and therefore more power)?

Just about everybody who has ever been on his show is a lowlife. The vast majority of them are filthy, unkempt, drug/alcohol-addled and inbred-looking.

I have seen people go on that show and shamelessly tell the nation that they can't be bothered to look for work and that they actually prefer to receive benefit. Others have said outright that they have no intention of supporting their children.

Most of the episodes (that I've watched anyway) seem to be centered around some fat, disgusting slag trying to find out who the father to her child is. She starts talking about all the guys she's been sleeping with, then one or two (sometimes more) potential fathers enter the stage in their cheap tracksuits and caps, looking like they're coming down from a crack binge.

The funny thing about this show is that the guests CHOOSE to appear on it. They are WILLING to go on national TV and degrade themselves by publicizing their dirty, decadent lifestyles. They have no dignity.

My question is: to those of you who hate Jeremy Kyle and to those who refer to his show as "human bear baiting"... why? Some of the things he says are very harsh, but never undeserved. He speaks the truth.

And it's not like his guests are being forced into it - they know what they are getting themselves into.

If you're going to go on national TV and say "I can't be arsed to get a job/pay for my child" then you deserve a slating because you are a waster.

Likewise if you are a woman and you don't know who the father to your child is; you deserve all the abuse you get, because (unless you were raped) you are a dirty slag.

I mean, if you hate JK then you obviously sympathize with his guests. And how anybody can feel any sympathy for the average JK guest is beyond me.

Anyone know anything about these brands? I'm thinking of buying a few of their hoodies - what's the quality like? What type of people wear these clothes?

From what I have noticed on here:

When someone criticizes a Republican, it is assumed that they are a Democrat.

When someone criticizes a Democrat, it is assumed that they are a Republican.

Don't you have any other major parties out there? How much following does the Libertarian party get?

What I don't get is why both parties ***** about each other so much. Many Republicans label Democrats as left-wing commies, and many Democrats label Republicans as right-wing nutters.

To me, both groups seem like centrist pussyholes. Neither one of them seems to care that much about civil liberties.

If the Democrats were as left-wing/'liberal' as so many Republicans make them out to be, why are so many of them opposed to gun ownership? Why have they not legalized cannabis? Why have they not relaxed airport security? Left-wing = social permissiveness... why did the US not become a much freer country after Obama came to power?

I fail to see how the Republicans and Democrats are that much different.

All of these countries have been ravaged by war in recent times. They have all been governed by oppressive regimes, and the latter two suffered ethnic cleansing and concentration camps. They are also Muslim countries.

Bosnia and Kosovo did a pretty good job of rebuilding themselves... both countries are civilized and safe to visit. And despite being predominantly Muslim, Islamic fundamentalism and ultraconservatism are not part of mainstream society or politics in these countries.

What I don't understand is why Somalia and Iraq are still in the state they are in, and showing no signs of improvement. Why haven't things progressed the way they have in Bosnia or Kosovo?

Somalia and Iraq remain the most dangerous countries in the world. They are plagued by Islamic extremists and civil unrest. Many people believe that not much is going to change in our lifetimes. Why can't these countries sort themselves out?

R6s, GSXRs, ZXRs, CBRs etc are everywhere. Why is it that you don't see many supermotos on the road (by supermoto I mean racing supermoto bikes, not dual-sports or enduro bikes)?

Surely something like a CRF450 in supermoto trim would be better on the road than a crotch rocket?

My motocross bike is in dire need of an oil change. Butt I can't be arşed to walk to the shops.

Can't I just fill my oil tank with KY Jelly, or would this be stretching it a bit? I don't want the engine bottoming out while I am taking it up the dirt track... surely I will look an aşs.

A photo of a bike I had about 3 years ago. Got stoned one day and decided to do a bit of tinkering:

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c92/speedfreak19...