The gym

under ice wrote:Someone mentioned training martial arts for self defense purposes. I''m interested to know if any of you have actually been in a situation where you had to use your martial skills to defend yourself, or do you only think that you will probably use them?

I have used my skills to defend myself before, but they were fairly minor things. More importantly, my skills have prevented other situations from erupting into violence. My mothers boyfriend has a short and violent temper, but I think he's afraid of what I might do in retaliation if he was to attack me. It's also immeasurably satisfying to be in an anatomy class and give a mini-lecture on the effects of certain techniques, if only to see the look on the lecturers face.

"Strong blunt trauma to the throat causes immediate internal swelling and can result in complete constriction of the airway. This will lead to suffocation without medical intervention. Similar effects can be achieved through targeting the solar plexus or diaphragm."

SPD's usually avoid conflict situations, but we should always be prepared.

I never thought it that way. It was mostly about self-discipline, overcoming my own fear of pain (and fear of fear) when you inevitably got hit and kicked in the ring, as well as exploring the limits of what I thought was physically possible for me. People did say to me that muay thai must be a good way for letting out frustration and aggression, which I regard as a silly assumption. Of course I'm aware that if someone attacked me now I could probably defend myself a bit, unless I couldn't run away as fast as I can.

under ice wrote:I never thought it that way. It was mostly about self-discipline, overcoming my own fear of pain (and fear of fear) when you inevitably got hit and kicked in the ring, as well as exploring the limits of what I thought was physically possible for me.

Martial arts give you confidence [genuine confidence, not fragile ego-boosting made of designer labels and shallow friendships], and that confidence is apparent to everyone when they see it. I changed from a spineless overweight loser into something stronger [physically and mentally]. Give me a few more years and I'll be better still.

Martial arts can also be a good method of letting out aggression and energy, but you can cause serious damage if you get angry. I normally go to the gym for 2 hours before training, then I'm loosened up and much more clear-headed.

femur wrote:Fellow sloth here I say find something you enjoy doing, perhaps outside the realm of conventional exercise if necessary (rock climbing? Break dancing classes?). The motivation will come if you are doing something you enjoy. If you don't feel motivated then it's not right for you. Would you consider getting involved in a team sport? Do you prefer indoors or outdoors exercise? With other people or alone? Etc. Funny you mention Aikido, someone recommended I try it years ago.

No team sports-- excercise is unpleasant enough as it is. I do not want an audience. I wear glasses and refuse to wear contacts because I hate touching my eye-- too many opportunities to introduce microbes where I don't want them and the putting contacts and taking then out is more than I am willing to do. Because I wear glasses, I avoid sports like basketball and volleyball. Without my glasses, I am legally blind. I do own a pair of prescription goggles and have access to my university's pool. I have been considering making a trip and trying some water aerobics or water running. Joint problems run in the women in my family. I don't want to do anything high impact that will accellerate joint pain when I get older.

A friend offered to teach me how to swim. This is very hard to do as an adult because whatever fear of water I had as a child is now magnified infinitely. If I take her up on the offer, we still have to coordinate our schedules which is pretty tough these days.

-- Sat Apr 13, 2013 3:38 pm --

I do like rock climbing. My school gym has a rock climbing wall, but don't you need a partner to belay you? I don't think you can climb alone in an indoor gym.

I've been a regular gym goer since the age of 14 (now 29). Being SPD for me means life is all about filling the time, so I've participated in many pursuits, but not for any long timeframe. Tameshigiri, karate, hapkido, krav maga, etc, anything that fill the void and gives me a sense of accomplishment. Once I've had my fill, I move onto the next thing. I don't partake in order to gain belts or ranks or even for physical fitness or discipline, for me it's all about passing time.

ForeverAwake wrote:I've been a regular gym goer since the age of 14 (now 29). Being SPD for me means life is all about filling the time, so I've participated in many pursuits, but not for any long timeframe. Tameshigiri, karate, hapkido, krav maga, etc, anything that fill the void and gives me a sense of accomplishment. Once I've had my fill, I move onto the next thing. I don't partake in order to gain belts or ranks or even for physical fitness or discipline, for me it's all about passing time.

I just pick the best instructor in my area. At uni that was jiujitsu, but it could have just as easily been aikido or Muay Thai and I would have attended happily.

Darwinschild wrote:What types of things do you do to motivate yourself to be active and healthy? Thanks.

Set a goal, corny yes, but honestly decide on something you want to achieve and once you complete that goal, set another for example I used to train in Taekwondo but after achieving my black belt I lost all sense of purpose and my new goal is much more difficult, the goal itself is irrelevant to the topic.
I think we all seem to lose interest eventually but having a long term goal kind of stretches that out to last longer.

This is one of the things on my mind, but I'm struggling with the low energy and motivation problem I have, as well as if I go out then it's unavoidable that I'll be around other people. Has anyone found that some of the medication available for negative SPD symptoms has helped with things like that, such that they could actually change their routine?

I did basic martial arts for a while, but after I got my second belt I stopped, then after that I tried to keep up with going swimming, but because my partner of the time didn't want to go out at all, I ended up stopping that soon too, plus I felt like my appetite ruined any gains I was making.

I think I need some routine changes so that I can reach the goal I want to, and achieve the perfect weight.

Thanks a lot Apathy and Nick. I'll be looking into Krav Maga or jiujitsu or muay thai in my area, but I'm not sure I'll find any places that offer them. I think what I didn't like about Taekwondo was the flashiness. It's not even that flashy, but I didn't see the use of lots of the stuff I was taught (I guess that's more just the instructor's fault though). I'm going to stay away from sport or competition type martial arts. I liked the idea of judo but whenever I look at it I always think "but nobody wears clothes like that! Not all collars are sturdy enough to throw someone by". I'm going to start off with just whatever's cheap and convenient to build up some muscle, and then I'll look into something more specific like Krav maga or jiujitsu.
Nick: I live in canada Not as good a selection as where you live, I imagine. I want to ask if you know anything about brazilian jiujitsu. There's a place that offers it, and I'm wondering if it's very different from regular old jiujitsu (which is what I think I want to start doing if I can)
And I totally don't mind being used as a punching bag. I can tolerate a good deal of pain. One of the things that annoyed me when I was doing TKD was that I couldn't ever actually have a good match with anybody because nobody wants to hit a girl I get it, and I mean, obviously I don't encourage people to go around beating women up, but come on this is a sparring match and I'm wearing protective gear. Come at me, bro.

Someone mentioned training martial arts for self defense purposes. I''m interested to know if any of you have actually been in a situation where you had to use your martial skills to defend yourself, or do you only think that you will probably use them?

I don't have any skills but I've definitely used the super basic and easy stuff like how to get someone to let go of your wrist or your hair. Very helpful, I recommend a basic self-defense class.
I don't have any fighting skills, but somehow I seem to sometimes get caught in the crossfire of other people's fights. Last year I somehow ended up stuck between a guy with a knife and another guy with a plank of wood with nails in it (they were fighting each other, I was just a bystander who happened to get backed into the same corner as the guy with the plank, with the knife guy closing in on plank guy). I asked the knife guy to walk away, because my friend and I would get hurt if they were to continue their fight in this area that we couldn't escape, and knife guy eventually left. I think that was pretty lucky though, knife guy seemed high. I realize that martial skills would not exactly help me in that situation, but that was the second time in 3 weeks that I got caught in the crosshairs other people's fights. I'd probably just feel safer with some skills.

Vreedzame wrote:I don't mind physical activity, I even played Basketball and Tennis until I tore my ligaments in my ankle. Maybe when it's fully healed I'll get back to it but I'm probably never going to be a gym advocate. Everything is far too public, it seems more like a way for people to boast about themselves than a dedicated training facility.

For 90% of people, its not.

If you're a dude grunting while you bench 400 lbs, or a chick wearing 3 inch shorts and something that shows your stomach, yeah.

If you wear a tshirt and regular shorts, you're fairly anonymous.