All Activity

1/26/2026 Heavy Bag Workout: 8 rounds, 1 min/45 sec rest. Alternated orthodox/southpaw. I used this workout to get more warmed up for Aikido. Rounds 1-4, punching only. Rounds 5-8, added in round kicks. I kept the punches to straight punching. Stretch. Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Weapons Class, entire time spent on the jo. Warmed up with high-4, low-4, high-8 and low-8. The rest of the time was spent on kumi jo. We reviewed 4 and 5, then learned 3.

I just hemmed up the pants myself after a small learning curve on a new fangled sewing machine after not using one in 40 years. It looks great but I lost the extra inner reinforcement strip that adds snap and pop to kicks. No big deal for me. I just decided to leave the jacket sleeves alone. I’ve always rolled them two or three times, anyhow. Kinda looking forward to practicing a little bit again. It’ll probably be a little embarrassing since I probably look like a short, blonde, clean shaven, less douch-y version of Steven Segal in a gi! Dunno I still have the wind and stamina to make it through a class outdoors in the Philippines heat. I ain’t as good as I once was, but I’m as good once as I ever was!😜😜😜

8X Super Bowl Bill Belichick not receiving the required 40 votes out of 50 to be inducted into the NFL HOF as a first ballot entry does baffle me to the Nth degree. There have been 59 Super Bowls and Belichick has won 8 of them. Belichick knows more about football than anybody else. If Belichick doesn’t deserve to be on a HOF ballot as a Head Coach then no other Head coach should be. Imho!!

Shuriedo and Tokyodo are baggier than Hirota, but I would definitely say that Hirota has a more relaxed fit than Tokaido. And, by extension, I'll also say Shobu - not by personal experience (I've never even seen a Shobu in person), but from what I've been reading online, Shobu has an even slimmer fit than Tokaido.

I will also add a vote for Hirota here too - depending what you mean by big of course. I have a size 7 and i really like it (6'4" about 230lb in US measurements). Didn't need altered at all - just some careful warm washing / drying for fit. Price was reasonable too from Japan to UK

I believe it's to make your gi have a louder snap. If you get your gi custom made, you can actually request thicker and wider hems to make them even louder. You'll notice that judo gis don't have the same hem, as there's no need get a response from the gi. They have a simple one-line hem. I've taken gis to an alterations shops that couldn't duplicate the hem, despite their efforts. It might be because I didn't specifically ask them to, but it looked like they tried. And in one particular instance, it was two Kamikaze gis; and in the other, it was two Hirota lightweight gis. In the case of the Hirota gis, I should have paid for the hemming online but I was too lazy to do my own measurements. In both cases, perfectly good gis were ruined. It was after my experience here that I realized something: if you need anything hemmed on your gis, the only options that make sense are extremely cheap gis (ProForce, Century, etc) where you really couldn't care less about a one-line hem. That, or Japanese gis. Those mid-tier brands like Mugen and Kamikaze are strictly for people who don't need anything hemmed.

Saturday 24th January BJJ Session This session was all about retaining back control. Worked on keeping grips and hand fighting to keep the grips / open up choking opportunities. Worked some claw grip to secure the neck and also worked a little on read naked chokes. My back control is awful so it was a good session and lots to work on! Though my recovering to mount when someone is escaping back control is still not too bad - session did show up though that often i default to moving to mount rather than fighting harder to keep on the back, so it is definitely something to work on

Friday 23rd January Lifting Session Back squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 80kg x 1 99kg x 3 99kg x 3 99kg x 3 99kg x 3 Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 70kg x 1 81kg x 3 81kg x 3 81kg x 3 81kg x 3 Romanian Deadlift 72kg x 3 72kg x 3 72kg x 3 72kg x 3 Assisted pull up with 25kg band 7 reps 7 reps Standing military press 32kg x 10 32kg x 10 Was short of time so had to cut the final pull ups and standing press sets short (am doing them as a superset). Got main lifts done though which is the main point

Definitely. Is kinda like the absurd bar the Baseball HoF used to set that no one could be unanimous etc. even when it was blatantly obvious they should be. If Belichick isn't first ballot (much as i loathe him) then no other coach can be going forwards (unless they get 7 HC superbowl wins / 9 total wins maybe). Apparently it is 'punishment' for the cheating scandals but if that is the case then he should have had the punishment levied up front - defer his eligibility for a year or something

cheers!

A bombshell on Tuesday night that also has to be one of the most bonehead moves in the history American sports. Former Patriots and Browns head coach Bill Belichick was not voted into the Hall of Fame, getting less than the 40 votes needed to be selected. He will get in, probably next year, but to not make him a first ballot HOF coach is beyond asinine.

1/21/2026 Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Traditional Class. Loosening, basic strikes, aikitaisos, then quite a bit of ukemi, and I did ok with it. The meat of the class was higher kyu material, working on several "pivot throws." They were 4th kyu and up material. Some of them I didn't mind, some of them I didn't really care for at all.

I have mixed feelings on this game. At first glance, the Seahawks look like the better team, with the game looking like an old fashioned NFC blowout of the AFC team. I think it's fair to say that New England arrived ahead of schedule; they played one of the easiest schedules in recent years during the regular season. But they beat two legit defenses in the playoffs. Mike Vrabel is an incredible coach, though, and he will get them prepared. I was surprised when the Titans let Vrabel go, and I think that was an organizational misstep, much like I think the Bills letting McDermott go. Analyzing the team strengths is interesting: QB: Darnold vs Maye. Honestly, it's a pick-'em. I think Maye gets the edge in talent, but Darnold's experience might be the edge here (and he's pretty physically talented, too). RB: Stevenson vs Walker III. Walker is hands-down the better back. WR: JSN and Cooper Kupp are much better than anything New England has in the WR department. Defense: Seattle has the better defense, but I think New England has the better coaching. I think the edge goes to Seattle. I think Seattle has the better offense overall, and the better play-caller. Weather will not be a factor in the Super Bow. To me, it all looks to favor Seattle. But that's why they play the game. Anything can happen.

1/20/2026 Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. Taught this class. I tried to get the students to focus on proper walking and posture in stances. I mentioned this in basics and in forms. I had two other black belts in class for one-steps, so while they worked with students I focused on white and orange belt students doing their one-steps. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. I sparred an opening round with the 3rd dan, which kind of sucked. After that, I led few more rounds of sparring, then I had the students line up for footwork drills. A good chunk of the time was spent on moving. Finished with blocking drills to include the six-star hit and lining them back up and swinging the blocker at them. After class I had a brief stretch in The Rack.

Well if you go dark again, I'll try to pop in here and ask where you at.

Perhaps this is a gap in my knowledge, but does the hem have significant meaning outside of its use? I know enough about tailoring clothes to understand that a gi would need multiple rows using a sturdy thread due to the stress of use, but it seems to me that an experienced tailor would know how to duplicate the hem.

I live near a military base, and can confirm that not all alteration shops know how to duplicate the manufacturer's hem on a karate gi. Best thing to do is ask around the dojo for a shop that can. And the closest one to the military housing for the base I live near charges for $40 just for the pants OR sleeves. So if you have to get both hemmed, you're looking at $80 (I hope that's not considered cheap because if it is, people who live further away from miltary bases are in big trouble). That's why I recommend Shureido or Tokyodo (Tokyodo is the cheaper of the two) since they hem for free, and have baggier fit that's better for the big boys. Higher end non-Japanese gis like Mugen and Kamikaze are good deals IF you don't need anything hemmed. I'll admit I'm considering getting that Arawaza Black Diamond and having it hemmed anyway. Because by the time you spend $325 on it, what's another $80?

I think that's the WKF combo kit where you get both the red and blue trimmed tops. The single Black Diamond gi is $325 (and that's STILL alot).

Thanks! It does help with accountability too

You might be surprised. Anyway, it shouldn't be so weird that they don't know what to do. That said, if you're good to do it yourself, you will save money.

I was pretty right on the money when I doubled if the Broncos would beat the Patriots without Bo Nix quarterbacking. Oh yeah, 2 missed FG’s sealed the Broncos fate. Patriots win the AFC Championship and move to the Super Bowl. Imho, the Rams secondary are to blame for their loss as the Seahawks got 1 first down after another and another and another; couldn’t tackle if there game depended on it. Seahawks win the NFC Championship and move to the Super Bowl. I’m a man of my word. I lost my beat with my friend, Dwight, that if the Seahawks reached the SB, I’d not call his Seahawks the buzzards but I’ll address them as the Seahawks for one full year, as much as it pains me to do so. According to the ESPN Analytics the Seahawks are favored by 60.2% and the Patriots are favored by 39.8%; Seahawks VS Patriots?!? I don’t care one way or another.

Yeah. He learned it from Tetshuhiko Asai. You can see it in the first few seconds… Asai JKA

My prediction of the Rams winning it all this year has been shot down. They had chances but Seattle wins it 31-27. I don't remember what my preseason predictions were for the Seahawks and Patriots, but I know I did not have them anywhere near the Super Bowl. Now we have two weeks to hear about how the Seahawks should have given it to Marshawn Lynch on the goal line ten years ago. Oh yeah Edit: This makes nine times in ten years that the AFC Champion was either the Patriots (4) or the Chiefs (5). The one other was the Bengals in the 2021 season. Seattle is the early favorite

I've been very remiss in updating this thread. Kenneth is in his sophomore high school season. He started the season at heavyweight, and wrestled one tournament at that weight, taking first. Then he dropped to the 215 lb weight class, and has been experiencing success there. His first few meets were rough, but he's placed 3rd in 4 tournaments so far at 215. We just had a really tough tournament here in town this weekend where Kenneth went 5-4 over the two-day meet. He's edging closer to 30 wins on the season.

1/16/2026 BJJ: 6:45 - 8:15 pm. Some 2 minute warm-up rounds, then we went to work. We worked from the outrigger position into side control. After quite a bit of positional work there, we progressed to working on finishing with a gift wrap, Kimura, and armbar. I felt behind all the time while drilling and rolling, but I also felt like I was doing some good things. Bottom side control still sucks. I finished with 2 live rounds, 2 minutes each. Stretched after.