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As someone who is also not in their 20s anymore i can empathise about going against the young massively athletic kid (though remember you are always free to decline to roll with someone if don't feel safe!). Also, remember you are allowed to adapt techniques to your own body type a little and also can focus on what works for you: isn't like karate or tkd where there is a syllabus you need to work on for each grade, you can find what works for you. For me, our head coach is small and incredibly flexible - his stuff will never work for me (though he is amazingly knowledgeable etc and a great teacher) but one of the other coaches teaches a much more methodical pressure based game which suits me a lot more. Some advice i was given years ago is pick a technique or two to work on and gradually improve it: eg if you can only get the initial grip then work on getting that consistently when you want it; then work on layering on the next step and consistently getting to that point. If you lose it then who cares you have already improved and work in this manner until you can reliably pull off the technique / escape etc that you are trying then rinse and repeat for more techniques. You don't need 100000000 escapes from side control; you need a few that you can reliably execute and ability to survive etc.

Either way it is still progression!

Well…Well…Well… When you’re bad, you might as well be the best at it. Chief 31… Raiders 0 Chief 4-3… Raiders 2-5 *Smith: 10/16 Completions/Attempts, 67 Yards, 0 TD *Jeanty: 8 Carries, 21 Rushing yards, 1 Receive for 13 yards *Mahomes: 26/35 Completions for/Attemppts, 286 yards, 3 TD, 4 Rushes for 28 yards *Rice: 7 Receive for 42 yards, 2 TD *Possession: Raiders 17:52 and Chiefs 42:08 *Passing: Raiders 70 yards and Chiefs 282 yards *Rushing: Raiders 25 yards and Chiefs 152 yards All in all, Chiefs showed up while the Raiders wished that they had shown up…but they didn’t…once again. Whose head(s) will roll for the Raiders at the end of this season?!? Overpriced Stadium with an over paid Raiders staff/roster with under achieved as a whole!! Imho!! GO COWBOYS!!

One can only hope!

Still, congrats, Brian!! Good luck on your upcoming testing cycle.

If the Chiefs of recent years show up, the Raiders don’t stand a chance no matter who their recently hired/signed-up GM, coach, and players are, imho. Chiefs got this!! GO COWBOYS!!

Speaking about the Knights… Knights earn 1st home win of the season against the Bruins by final score of 6-5. Speaking about another Las Vegas team… The Las Vegas Aces have won their 3rd WNBA Final Championship in 4 years by sweeping the Phoenix Mercury. Aces Parade in downtown Las Vegas starts today at 5pm. GO KNIGHTS!!

that is likely the difference then - a national governing body for you likely covers the same kind of scope as an international body for us due to the sheer size of the USA. Always curious how things work in different locations!

Wednesday 15 October Karate Session Quite a small class tonight which was good for picking up little issues i need to work on! Good session though. Ran through the expected Kihon i will need for Shodan grading and also through katas. Several good rounds of kumite with one of the 2nd dans - we were both encouraged (strongly!) to go in pretty hard and if the opponent didn't block a strike it's their fault, they get hit then! Enjoyed it quite a bit!

Tuesday 14 October Lifting Session Back squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 75kg x 5 75kg x 5 75kg x 5 75kg x 5 Barbell Bench Press 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 69kg x 5 69kg x 5 69kg x 5 69kg x 5 Barbell sumo deadlift 75kg x 5 Biceps cable curl (tri set with one hand cable rows and triceps pushdowns) 28kg x 5 28kg x 5 28kg x 5 Triceps straight bar pushdown 26kg x 10 26kg x 10 26kg x 10 One Hand Cable Row (standing) - with "gi grip" 26kg x 5 reps (per hand) 26kg x 5 reps (per hand) 26kg x 5 reps (per hand) Got hold of some scramble grip trainers and thought i would use them to. They let me take a "gi grip" when doing the row which i definitely felt in my grip! Bulgarian Split Squats (weight is per leg) - identical done with left and right 28kg (2 x 14kg KB) x 5 28kg (2 x 14kg KB) x 5 28kg (2 x 14kg KB) x 5 Captain of Crush grippers identical work done for left and right hands. Same reps and strength for each. Trainer (60lb) x 10 Sport (80lb) x 6 0.5 (120lb) x 2 1 (140lb) x 5 1 (140lb) x 5 1 (140lb) x 4 1 (140lb) x 4 1 (140lb) x 4 Trainer (60lb) x 52

In a move that has many people angry, the Vegas Golden Knights have signed goaltender Carter Hart. Hart has been out of the league for almost two years, last playing in January 2024. Hart was one of the players accused in the 2018 Canadian Juniors Sexual Assault Scandal. Hart was found not guilty in July, but many people are still very upset that he is getting a chance to play again. Due to NHL rules, Hart will not be eligible to play for the Knights until December 1. I expect him to be a big part of the team, especially if the Knights continue to have goaltending struggles like they have had in the first few games of the season.

Maybe this will start off the Universal Monsterverse?

No matter how bad one of the other is, the Chiefs/Raiders game always seems to be a tough one. Hopefully KC does the job this week and puts them away, but it could be a close one.

This doesn't make sense to me. There's supposed to be a cap on what rookies make based on where they're drafted. Unless they extended him already?

Martial Arts Cross-Training Seminar Day 1: 9:00 - 11:30 am. Taekwondo. The school owner did started this segment off doing some of our basics but in different stances with the goal of working on power generation from these stances. For the second half of the time I taught my Choong Moo flying side kick class. It went over pretty well I thought: 1:00 - 3:30 pm. Aikido. Did lots of connection exercises, one person leading and the other following/reacting, then smoothly working techniques in. Started by strong two-handed grab, and using movements like squatting to get body position and circle to weak points. This led to the connection/leading drill, to blending more. After a break sense discussed the "do" aspect of harmonizing with others and our religious outlooks with that. We finished with transitioning from armbar to nikkyo to sankyo. 3:30 - 6:00 pm. Shorin-Ryu. We did kihon the way they would approach them in their classes. They had some nuances that I liked. We did blocking drills with partners. Then we learned the first part of Pinan Shodan and experimented with different bunkai. We finished with kaki drills, I which I had recalled doing with @sensei8 years ago. It was a great first day!

The association covers schools in multiple states. There are no regional HQs.

Ok, got to make a correction here. I'm 6th kyu, not 5th. I'm working material for the 5th kyu testing, and that confused me on the numbers. I'm actually 6th kyu, working 5th kyu material.

10/9/2025 Aikido: 8:45 - 9:45 am. Loosening movements and aikitaisos, along with front kicks and their basic strikes. My balance was off while kicking. Katatetori sankyo omote: 5th kyu technique, same side wrist grab. Taisabaki just like ikkyo, and we actually get to ikkyo to start the technique, then transition. It felt really smooth; cleaned up transition on footwork, and taking slack out of the sankyo lock. To do this, I need to start the lock low, then manipulate through the elbow. We added the cut down, to the takedown, to the pin. We finished with 5 minutes of seated breathing working on posture. Sat on some pillows to help get the proper pelvic tilt. Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. Left knee was bothering me again. During basics, while doing the punch/side kick/spin side kick combination I had to really deliberately turn, pause, then execute the spin side kick due to head swishy-ness. I had a good stretch after basics. I didn't do my form due to other students learning their new material. Did white belt one-steps, then three-steps 1-6. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Working with the white belt former karateka, I focused on my footwork and distance. Sparred the 2nd dan and did ok. I kept my distance better, and set up a side kick with some feinting punches. Someone had left their chest protector earlier in the week, and the CI talked about "buying it back;" the student who forgot it would have to do 10 pushups. Turns out it was mine. So I took my medicine, did my pushups and hopefully set an example to the kids. BJJ: 7:00 - 8:15 pm. Class start time has actually been moved up to 6:45, but I hadn't realized that, so I was a little late. Working from guard now. From inside guard, worked on posturing up, securing a wrist, and stepping up on that side. While inside guard, I tried to work on "crawling up." Top player was trying to escaped, and the bottom player was trying to sweep. When trying to escape, I could easily see the transition to the camping position. I did roll a few rounds, and did ok. It seemed like I was doing better, but I think the instructor was just letting me work. With the other instructor, I almost had an armbar, but I rushed it too much and lost it. There was also a guy there from New York who is there at the college for a class. He was really good and worked me over in drills.

You might have seen the viral video from serval weeks back when the lady at the Marlins game got in the face of a fan who gave a homerun ball to his son, thinking that she deserved the ball. The video created uproar online, the woman was outed and lost her job. The other night at the Brewers game another lady embarrassed herself by how she treated a fan, spewing racist remarks and verbal abuse. She also has been fired. It's a clown world after all.

Jake Matthews consecutive starts streak in in jeopardy after he suffered an ankle injury in Monday's game against the Bills. Matthews has started 183 games in a row, the longest streak of any active NFL player and the most by a left tackle in history. Matthews has only missed two games in his career, both due to an ankle injury in 2014. He is listed as day to day and missed practice on Wednesday. Falcons visit the 49ers on Sunday night.

True but you are also rolling with competitive wrestlers so that is going to happen! Plus i think you said you mainly train nogi - that massively benefits the younger, more athletic grappler. The gi helps a lot once older to grab on and slow them down!

Great question, Ken!! Must be nice to earn all of that money for doing nothing for it.

Pay attention to your "spidey sense", when you get the vibe things are about to go bad. Watch out for people approaching you on the street trying to distract you. (I had this with attempted pickpockets in Europe) Don't get into it with road rage. There's no way of knowing why or what you're up against. When you're stopped, leave space between the car in front of you, to be able to pull away. Remember there are cameras everywhere these days. They won't stop trouble, but they might get you IN trouble.

Think it varies tbh. For my karate club we are under one of the main karate bodies (the KUGB) and gradings are arranged to have one of the KUGB technical committee (5 8th Dan's) come and conduct the grading so the grades are awarded by the HQ itself in essence. For judo, the first few kyu are awarded by the club instructors and sent off but after a few then they are sat at central gradings which are arranged by the governing body (in my case Judo Scotland) so the grades are awarded by HQ. The relative size of the USA and Scotland / the rest of the UK may factor into it though. Is your HQ a multi state body or for your home state only?

When I first started training kata was my least favorite thing to do. We used to have M-Thursday class, and I hated it on Thursday night when the last ten minutes was kata, because I knew I wasn't going to get to train anything else until Monday. As I got older kata became my favorite thing to train. One of my instructors was talking about forms and said, "students say kata is boring, but that means you are doing it wrong." That made me rethink it.