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This topic is NOT about passing judgement about how a MA school approaches Testing Cycles, a.k.a., belt tests. How does your MA school approach belt tests?? There’s no wrong answer because of either phrase “you say tomato, I say tomato” and/or “You say potato, I say potato”, which illustrates differing perspectives. Here’s how we prep upcoming Testing Cycles…WE DON’T!! We let the chips fall where they may. Prepping for a belt test puts the importance on rank and nowhere else!! An unannounced belt test is preferred because either one is ready to defend themselves or one is not!! Not both!! You want to prep for a belt test?!? Fine!! Make sure you attend regular classes and practice as though your life depends on it!! CI should be focusing on fundamentals, improving physical and mental conditioning at every class and not be concerned with any testing cycle without ignoring, for example, the three K’s: Kihon, Kata, and Kumite. Every passed Testing Cycle is a measured advancement of ones maturity in techniques. Regular class and practice…that’s the prep; focus on class and practice which is the focus on the fundamentals. You outwitted my chancellor and you bested my swordsman whenever the floor is in play. The floor should always be a serious place and not a place where rank is first and foremost. I’ve witnessed schools of the MA that concentrate on the next testing cycle and not on the fundamentals. Making sure that the students are ready for the test by concentrating on the next test requirements and nothing else. Whereas, and because of that, those students are not ready for the streets. Imho!!

Excellent!! It’s what we call… ”Study your opponent, study yourself, make a plan, and carry it out.” looks like you guys had a great Testing Cycle. Congrats to everyone!!

Testing went from 6:00 – 7:15 pm. Low orange belts (forms): We had two testing, one young kid and one a teenager. Their technique is coming along nicely and they had pretty good power. Some minor things need cleaned up, but at this point, they are progressing well. I noted on stances that they need to make sure the back stance is an L with the front foot pointed forward, and not too stretched out. I see too many back stances that are as long as some front stances, and that makes it difficult to pick the front leg up without shifting bodyweight, thus telegraphing. On the front stance, I keyed on shoulder width. I see a tendency to step out too wide when stepping forward, instead of stepping more forward and keeping the stance width about shoulder width. It draws power away from a stepping forward strike or block but cutting off the finish. High orange belt (form): Just one here, another young teenager. He’s already a really tall kid, and athletic. He’s one of 5 from this family in class. His technique was good and he had great power. He got in a bit of a hurry moving through the form and didn’t finish a few stances. He’s at that point where he needs to try to be fast, but not be in a hurry. Low green belt (form): One young student here. Stances, stance, stances. This kid took off like a rocket when he started, but he has regressed, and gotten lazy with his stances. Stances aren’t just part of the technique, they are there own techniques as well. When he was stepping to the 45 degree angles in the form, his second one was too flat, but that’s a pretty easy fix and more of a concentration thing. Master North had our adult 2nd dan come out on the floor and had the low green belt “teach” the form to him. He did a pretty good job, really. Not bad on some of the techniques, but not so good on the stances. I see this happen quite a bit, too: students get so worried about keeping the hands coordinated that they forget what the feet are doing. This student will definitely have to zero in on the stances before he tests again. I plan to speak with the other instructors about this as well. Low orange belt (one-steps): Something I tend to see at this young phase as well; they were just kind of going through the motions. They want to get the memorized so they can test, and aren’t at the point where they are putting more behind the techniques. I told them they need “emotional content” in their techniques (and none of these kids know that reference anymore…). One of the one-steps has a takedown in it, and the students tend to step and stop, making sure they are setup right, instead of stepping through more fluidly to finish the takedown. High orange belt (one-steps): Again, this kid had good power and flow. A few of the kicks he was using his instep as the striking implement, though. For one-steps, we emphasize proper striking tool, like ball of the foot for front and round kicks, heel for side kicks. Low green belt (one-steps): He did these better than he did his form. Good height on kicks, good power. He still needed some more energy, though. Testing Sparring: There were no kihaps! I made sure to point this out. I talked a bit about the importance of a well placed kihap, but not to necessarily kihap on every technique. The low green belt had some good angles. High orange belt needed some more combinations put together. After all the physical stuff was done, we had out closing thoughts and belt presentation. The school owner made some interesting points: “Information + Information = Information.” “Information + Application = Transformation.” The other school owner also had a good one: “How do you eat an elephant? One piece at a time.” I really liked this one, taking one thing to work on and fix at a time, and then moving to the next one. I spoke a bit on the importance of working on little things in basics, because if they are cleaned up there, they will transfer to the forms and other material. Overall, another good, albeit small, testing.

2/10/2026 Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. I taught this class. Prior to class I was able to run through Choi Yong three times. My balance was bad on the repeat kicks. I was extremely short of breath and had kind of a cold sweat going on. For class, I got through basics (went at a better clip), then went through white belt, low orange belt, low and high green belt, and middle brown belt forms. One-steps were done testing style, with an attacker doing down blocks continuously so the students testing could get through them all. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Padded drills, switching sides and switching roles as they went. 1. Closed stance, attacker does front leg round kick (#1 or 3), defender blocks and does a front leg round kick counter as quick as they can. 2. Closed stance, attacker does front leg round kick, defender blocks and spin side kick counter, or just did the spin side kick counter upon recognition of the attack. 3. Open stance, attacker does front leg side kick, defender blocks and side steps the back leg to a 45 degree angle forward and counters with punches and kicks. I call this the "Crossing the T" drill. After the drills we had time for one round of free sparring. I encouraged the students to try to work the drilled components above. Stretched afterwards.

By "turn-around roundhouse kick," do you mean like a round kick that comes from a spin side type of turn, or the 360 degree spinning round kick? 2/5/2026 BJJ: 6:45 - 8:00 pm. Warmup: 2 rounds, 4 minutes, light rolling. The focus of the class tonight was getting to position to work leg locks. We started out with one seated and the other kneeling, and working to get a leg over on the knee from outside the opponent's leg. This advanced to trying to keep the leg in the 50/50 position and establishing a good knee line. We worked a little on setting a heel hook and an ankle lock. Then we did some scrambles from the 50/50 position. For free rolling, I did 2 rounds of 4 minutes each. Then stretched.

Hopefully with all of these hirings and such that teams will somehow get better on both sides of the ball. That’s what a fan would like to see each season. GO COWBOYS!!

Yes, you did show me that version when we trained together. That’s the curse, no matter Shindokan’s methodology and ideology, that Shindokan is quite absent of high kicks. Because of the high kick arsenal of TKD is why I took 1 year of TKD. That sinister turn-around roundhouse kick was the bane of my JBB tournament days; I can’t begin to tell you how many times I walked into that kick.

For some reason that isn’t quite clear, it seems like there is much less organized curriculum requirements in Okinawan dojos. Perhaps it has to do with the fact that the number of belts/grades was very small before Sho Dan. White, blue, green, then brown. Everyone was expected to learn the Naihanchi and Pinan within the first year and every one trained those according to their level of understanding of the bunkai/application. From Sho Dan onwards in no specific order each person learned Passai Sho/dai, Kusanku Sho/dai, Chinto, Seisan, Gojushiho and Teisho

Monday 16th February Karate Session Usual warm ups then kihon. Spent quite a bit of time working on my Shodan kihon for grading. I have been doing quite a bit of extra stretching (dynamic twice a day) and extra leg lifts etc to strengthen outside hip muscles and i can see that they are helping with kicks - i am getting much better "thrust with slight hold" for yoko geri kekomi than i was previously. Ran through the Heian katas mainly this session and no time for kumite.

Friday 13th February Lifting Session Back squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 88kg x 5 88kg x 5 88kg x 5 88kg x 5 88kg x 5 Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 72kg x 5 72kg x 5 72kg x 5 72kg x 5 72kg x 5 Barbell Overhead Press 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 35kg x 5 Was really pushed for time so an abbreviated session. Got main lifts in then left

Monday 9th February Karate Session Usual class warm ups then onto Kihon. Worked some more advanced kihon, there is a dan grading coming up in March (i will be sitting Shodan and some others Nidan) and we worked on the Nidan combinations etc. Kata wise ran through all the Heians and Bassai Dai as will be grading requirement. couple of Rounds of Jiyu Ippon kumite added in too.

Sunday 8th February Lifting Session Back squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 88kg x 5 88kg x 5 88kg x 5 88kg x 5 Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 72kg x 5 72kg x 5 72kg x 5 72kg x 5 Pullups (assisted) -25kg x 7 -25kg x 7 -25kg x 7 Triceps Pushdown (straight bar) 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 Cable hip flexor lift (weight is same per leg : reps here are reps per leg and did same for each leg) 4.5kg x 15 4.5kg x 15 4.5kg x 15

Friday 6th February Lifting Session Back squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 83kg x 5 83kg x 5 83kg x 5 83kg x 5 83kg x 5 Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 68kg x 5 68kg x 5 68kg x 5 68kg x 5 68kg x 5 Cable hip flexor lift (weight is same per leg : reps here are reps per leg and did same for each leg) 4.5kg x 10 4.5kg x 10 4.5kg x 10 Cable Seated Shoulder Press (weight is total weight split in half per hand) 9kg x 10 18kg x 10 27kg x 10 32kg x 10 32kg x 10

2/3/2026 Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. Basics and forms. Helped white belts and high green belts. For white belts, I focused on stances. For the high green belts, I focused on the circular scooping block section of Won Hyo hyung. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. White belts did combinations then did one-technique, two-techniques, and three-techniques drills. The other students worked the following drills: Closed stance, attacker does #3 round kick, defender slide back/block and reverse side kick counter. Open stance, attacker does #2 round kick, defender blocks/reverse side kick, or if more advanced, just reverse side kick counter. We finished with several short rounds of sparring. I encouraged the students to work on set-ups and the counters we drilled.

Yes they are. Shortly thereafter, Chris Jones sent a message on social media, tagging Hill and basically stating it's time for him to come home. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that, especially coming off this recent injury. No doubt Hill is a unique talent, and Reid has always been good in dealing with players that tend to be troubled off the field and keeping them in line. Maybe it would be good to have him back, if he is healthy and affordable.

The Lost Forms of Oh Do Kwan Taekwondo, Volume 1: Taegeuk 1-3 Hyeong, by Orjan Nilsen. The author shows these three forms that were a part of early TKD curriculum in several kwans that had roots in Japanese Karate. The translations are taken from Choi's early TKD textbook. It has photos of how the form was done in the Oh Do Kwan, and also descriptions of differences from other Kwans. It also has some nice bits of kwan history, which I really enjoyed.

I like a reverse side kick/spin back kick, but I like to do more of a switch-foot version of it than a jumping version, as it is quicker, and I stay closer to the floor and thus have less of a telegraph. That, and I'm also older and my knees hate me, so I don't jump as much as I used to. I think I probably showed you that switching version I do when we trained together. 2/2/2026 Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Weapons Class. Jo warmups: high-4, low-4, high-8, low-8, and high-10; about 5 total minutes of continuous partner work here. The rest of the class was spent on kumi jo 2 and 1. After that, we did some "free" kumi jo practice using some practice sticks (soft) to finish out the class. It was "one-to-one" striking/blocking. It helped to see some attacks and to block and counter. I did get a little frustrated with practice tonight, trying to memorize and just overall make things work and flow.

Everyone Loses by Danny Funt. It is a 2026 release about the epidemic of sports gambling.

The Miami Dolphins have decided to clean house, releasing several players Monday morning including Tyreek Hill and Bradly Chubb. Tua Tagovailoa is also on the trade block with the Dolphins reportedly willing to eat a bunch of his salary to get rid of him. The new HC and GM in Miami are shaking things up quick.

From time to time but not as often as I should.

The jump spinning back kick has been my most favorite TKD kick because I can generate a lot of power, Btw, I also feel in love with the turning-around roundhouse kick, as well. I was most fortunate to have learned them both from GM Suh, and adding them to my arsenal was a turning point because they’re definitely NOT Shindokan in any shape, way, or form.

2/1/2026 Aikido Video Review: I reviewed 5th kyu material form our Aikido dojo's Youtube channel. Shomenuchi kotegashi: Open stance, irimi step (back foot steps forward and at an outside angle, an "entry" I guess), then tenkan, then the zengo(?) turn (I think it's called zengo). At any rate, tenkan and then shift the hips to a front stance while applying the lock. Finish with the standing kotegashi pin. Shomenuchi ikkyo omote: Open stance, blend, lead hand to wrist, other above elbow near the triceps/armpit, front foot forward/outside angle side step, then "V-step" to kneeling ikkyo pin. Shomenuchi ikkyo ura: Open stance, irimi step (like above), then tenkan and apply pressure to takedown. Kneeling ikkyo pin. Munetski kotegashi: Closed stance, irimi step, tenkan, switch hips to front stance (zengo?), standing kotegashi pin.

Well, I'm waiting for the UFL to get started now. Anyone else watch any of those games?

1/29/2026 BJJ: 6:45 - 8:20 pm. Started with three warm-up rounds, then worked from the armbar position. We started by trying to hold the position with just our legs, and the games progressed from there. We progressed to working the S-mount position to an actual armbar. At one point we were working an S-mount with the legs across the body and applying pressure down towards the bottom person's hips; this was very awkward, especially on the smaller/thinner guys, as I felt like I was high-centered. We finished with three rounds of free rolling, then I stretched. A new guy with previous experience that was there helped me with fighting out of his half-guard.

It's nice that you can get so much focused test prep. That'll help out tons and tons, for sure.