Greetings from an Aspergirl!

[Blue Lotus]

Hello!

I have been reading up and am very impressed with this forum!

I started MA a little over a year ago on the tip from an author about women and Autism. I am 36 and recently diagnosed. It turns out (for me at least) she was very right! The rules, discipline, and focus needed are a perfect compliment to my flavor of Autism.

MA is my current fixation, though I wouldn't say I am at all hard core. I attend Americanized Karate and MMA classes once a week for an hour at different schools and practice whenever my schedule allows (including the bathroom at work. For some reason they have floor to ceiling mirrors). I know the general consensus on the forum is not to mix disciplines starting out - the schedules just worked out that way and I'd rather train 2 days a week than just one.

If anyone has some tips on good books to read about MA I would be interested to see them. Also if you have any tips on developing balance, it would be appreciated.

Thanks for making such a nice forum!

 

[Steve]

Hello!

I have been reading up and am very impressed with this forum!

I started MA a little over a year ago on the tip from an author about women and Autism. I am 36 and recently diagnosed. It turns out (for me at least) she was very right! The rules, discipline, and focus needed are a perfect compliment to my flavor of Autism.

MA is my current fixation, though I wouldn't say I am at all hard core. I attend Americanized Karate and MMA classes once a week for an hour at different schools and practice whenever my schedule allows (including the bathroom at work. For some reason they have floor to ceiling mirrors). I know the general consensus on the forum is not to mix disciplines starting out - the schedules just worked out that way and I'd rather train 2 days a week than just one.

If anyone has some tips on good books to read about MA I would be interested to see them. Also if you have any tips on developing balance, it would be appreciated.

Thanks for making such a nice forum!

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Hello!

I have been reading up and am very impressed with this forum!

I started MA a little over a year ago on the tip from an author about women and Autism. I am 36 and recently diagnosed. It turns out (for me at least) she was very right! The rules, discipline, and focus needed are a perfect compliment to my flavor of Autism.

MA is my current fixation, though I wouldn't say I am at all hard core. I attend Americanized Karate and MMA classes once a week for an hour at different schools and practice whenever my schedule allows (including the bathroom at work. For some reason they have floor to ceiling mirrors). I know the general consensus on the forum is not to mix disciplines starting out - the schedules just worked out that way and I'd rather train 2 days a week than just one.

If anyone has some tips on good books to read about MA I would be interested to see them. Also if you have any tips on developing balance, it would be appreciated.

Thanks for making such a nice forum!

Welcome!

 

[JowGaWolf]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[Buka]

Hello!

I have been reading up and am very impressed with this forum!

I started MA a little over a year ago on the tip from an author about women and Autism. I am 36 and recently diagnosed. It turns out (for me at least) she was very right! The rules, discipline, and focus needed are a perfect compliment to my flavor of Autism.

MA is my current fixation, though I wouldn't say I am at all hard core. I attend Americanized Karate and MMA classes once a week for an hour at different schools and practice whenever my schedule allows (including the bathroom at work. For some reason they have floor to ceiling mirrors). I know the general consensus on the forum is not to mix disciplines starting out - the schedules just worked out that way and I'd rather train 2 days a week than just one.

If anyone has some tips on good books to read about MA I would be interested to see them. Also if you have any tips on developing balance, it would be appreciated.

Thanks for making such a nice forum!

Welcome to MartialTalk, Nichole. Hope you enjoy it.

About balance, do you mean balance in general? Or particular to something you're having trouble with at the dojo?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Welcome!

And don't worry too much about mixing. There are certain instances where that's true, and if you notice it's an issue, you can stop. But generally the idea is (with your situation), the advice would be spend 2 days a week at MMA or 2 days at Karate. If neither is possible, then spending a day at each is IMO better than spending 1 day at one and not going to any class the other. Particularly if you enjoy both!

 

[seasoned]

Welcome to Martial Talk.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

if you have any tips on developing balance, it would be appreciated

Few suggestion:

- Single leg hop uphill with weight.
- Front kick, side kick, back kick without dropping your foot.
- Inside crescent kick, outside crescent kick, swing foot over head, leg lift backward.
- 3 none landing kicks.
- ...

Example of leg lift posture:

Example of 3 none landing kicks.

 

[_Simon_]

Ah welcome Nicole, really great to have you here!

Feel free to jump in any discussion, would love to hear more of your experiences and training. MA is a wonderful thing indeed

 

[Xue Sheng]

@Nicole
Welcome to MT

 

[Wing Woo Gar]

Few suggestion:

- Single leg hop uphill with weight.
- Front kick, side kick, back kick without dropping your foot.
- Inside crescent kick, outside crescent kick, swing foot over head, leg lift backward.
- 3 none landing kicks.
- ...

Example of leg lift posture:

View attachment 27439

Example of 3 none landing kicks.

Those are all great exercises, we do them in every warmup!

 

[Blue Lotus]

Welcome to MartialTalk, Nichole. Hope you enjoy it.

About balance, do you mean balance in general? Or particular to something you're having trouble with at the dojo?

Sense of balance in general. I used to have trouble staying upright just walking. With training I've gotten better, but still lower than average for my level. I have enough control to perform faster kicks that are OK for my level, but I tend to fall over on slow kicks.

 

[Blue Lotus]

Few suggestion:

- Single leg hop uphill with weight.
- Front kick, side kick, back kick without dropping your foot.
- Inside crescent kick, outside crescent kick, swing foot over head, leg lift backward.
- 3 none landing kicks.
- ...

Example of leg lift posture:

View attachment 27439

Example of 3 none landing kicks.

I am not sure my balance is enough to do those correctly at this point, but I will try to work on them! Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Buka]

Sense of balance in general. I used to have trouble staying upright just walking. With training I've gotten better, but still lower than average for my level. I have enough control to perform faster kicks that are OK for my level, but I tend to fall over on slow kicks.

Nicole, go into your kitchen and stand facing the counter. Place the fingertips of both hands lightly on the counter.

Slightly raise one foot. Then lift your fingers off the counter about an inch. As you start to wobble, put the fingertips back down. Lift them again. As you’re getting used to this you can just tap your fingers on the counter for a second to correct your balance.

Spend a couple minutes doing this, then switch your feet. You’ll feel the bottom of your base foot wobbling on the floor to shift your balance. That’s a good thing, it’s what you want.

What you want to do is make this exercise habitual. If you go into the kitchen to make tea, put on the water and stay there doing the exercise until the water boils. Then stop, pour your tea and go back to the exercise while the tea steeps.

Google “proprioception” (Might as well do that in the kitchen with your fingers on the counter)

You can lift your foot by bending the knee up behind you, or raise the knee in front of you. Do it the easiest way to start, then shift to the more difficult way, or mix them up.

I think you’ll notice a big difference within a year. That may seem like a long time, but a year will go by whether you do the exercise or not. So what the hey, give it a whirl.

We utilize this exercise with pretty much everyone, but especially with martial artists, athletes, people recovering from injury, amputees, older folks, older folks trying to get back into shape etc.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I tend to fall over on slow kicks.

- The static balance is like a turtle that you don't move.
- The dynamic balance is you keep moving but don't fall.

IMO, the dynamic balance is much more important than the static balance.

For dynamic balance, I strongly suggest the foot sweep solo training.

 

[Blue Lotus]

Nicole, go into your kitchen and stand facing the counter. Place the fingertips of both hands lightly on the counter.

Slightly raise one foot. Then lift your fingers off the counter about an inch. As you start to wobble, put the fingertips back down. Lift them again. As you’re getting used to this you can just tap your fingers on the counter for a second to correct your balance.

Spend a couple minutes doing this, then switch your feet. You’ll feel the bottom of your base foot wobbling on the floor to shift your balance. That’s a good thing, it’s what you want.

What you want to do is make this exercise habitual. If you go into the kitchen to make tea, put on the water and stay there doing the exercise until the water boils. Then stop, pour your tea and go back to the exercise while the tea steeps.

Google “proprioception” (Might as well do that in the kitchen with your fingers on the counter)

You can lift your foot by bending the knee up behind you, or raise the knee in front of you. Do it the easiest way to start, then shift to the more difficult way, or mix them up.

I think you’ll notice a big difference within a year. That may seem like a long time, but a year will go by whether you do the exercise or not. So what the hey, give it a whirl.

We utilize this exercise with pretty much everyone, but especially with martial artists, athletes, people recovering from injury, amputees, older folks, older folks trying to get back into shape etc.

This sounds like a great exercise to help me, thank you very much!

 

[isshinryuronin]

I am not sure my balance is enough to do those correctly at this point, but I will try to work on them! Thanks for the suggestions!

The most basic physical reasons for this is having a too high center of gravity, or not keeping your feet under your center of balance.

For the first problem, be sure your knees stay bent all the time! Some people have a habit of straightening their supporting leg during a kick. For the second problem, keep good posture and don't lean over your stance too much.

These easy fixes go a long way to solving the most common balance issues many beginners have. As you should know by now, balance and structure are key to martial arts and are the foundation for everything else. Good luck!

 

[Oily Dragon]

if you have any tips on developing balance, it would be appreciated.

The key to balance is keeping both feet on the monkey staff while suspended weightless and all your elders are watching, without falling down. And that's assuming you've already mastered all the texts.

It's never easy, if it was, it couldn't be called kung fu.

 

[Instructor]

Welcome.

 

[SahBumNimRush]

Greetings and welcome to MT Nicole!