DarthPenguin

As a Mariners fan i admit to being disappointed that we got close but missed out. Now i'm hoping for a Verlander win tbh - he is (to my mind anyway) a genuine great and i would like to see him have another world series on his resume. Have a feeling it will be the Braves though - Acuna is having one of those seasons that seems almost destined to be capped off with a title

fingers crossed! I've just splashed out on a decent amount of new equipment for the house so am looking forward to getting back into it using the new gear Is there anything more motivating than buying new equipment?Yep! Am quite pleased - decided to splash out on a new power rack with a landmine attachment, a dual pulley machine with 2 x 90kg stacks, a ski erg and some more kettlebells. Plan to also get a grappling dummy and some kind of punchbag (my son wants some more mats to practice his ukemi and som epunching mitts to practice on). Looking forward to playing on it all though not to building it!

Congratulations, enjoy the shiny belt!

fingers crossed! I've just splashed out on a decent amount of new equipment for the house so am looking forward to getting back into it using the new gear

Aikido is one style i have never tried, glad to hear you are enjoying it though totally agree on the white belt though- it is very refreshing to put it back on i have found though I do always try to be fair and make it obvious i have some prior experience (if relevant) - I still remember when i was trying some judo and i went with a friend of mine from a striking style we both did. I mentioned that i had trained in bjj for several years at that point so i was fine with jumping into newaza. My friend had never grappled in his life and got smashed for a couple of weeks until they realised we trained together in something totally different!

Whilst we have UK/International Taekwon-Do affiliations, as far as I can see the Kickboxing school isn't affiliated to anyone and operates independently. But as they are a different "style" it doesn't matter as no governing body would intervene unless between two of its own members. Mad though to have two Shotokan clubs in the same room! When I was originally searching for venues for my club I was turned away from a lot as they had other activities on other nights which would have conflicted with us. A rival club on the same day is bonkers. It's not so much the venue I'm mad at, business is business though you think they'd have asked me if I wanted an extra day first... It's more this Kickboxing school has been in dialogue with me about other things, I provided a reference for my student, and then they book out my location without a heads up. The whole thing feels so underhand to me. sorry i had misunderstood, i had thought that they were another TKD school and that the governing body might have stepped in. If kickboxing then it is unlikely that there is anything you can do unfortunately. Does seem pretty underhanded of them though and not something i would expect out of a decent kickboxing school either tbh. My experience is that most decent schools are usually respectful (publicly at least) towards other styles - are they a legit kickboxing school or one where a mediocre first dan has become annoyed at not being a 6th dan and decided to branch out into his/her own school of kickboxing?

Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better and able to get back to training The weapons class sounds fun too - do you have a prior background in Aikido or are you coming at it fresh?

Thanks! Now need to get my head down and work for the next couple - the 1st kyu grading syllabus is identical to the 2nd kyu (just everything needs done better) and then will try for the shodan one by the end of next year i think. Should be able to get back to lifting shortly too - taking everything gradually to be careful!

Another update - finally feeling better and back at work though still no idea from the medical people as to what was the issue. Not been able to exercise too much but still made it along to karate. On the positive side though my instructor pushed me to grade a week ago (i was extremely reluctant to) but i decided that he would know best and i managed to get my 2nd Kyu!

Doesn't sound good - one other avenue that comes to mind is maybe approaching the governing body? I assume you are affiliated to one of the UK Taekwondo associations. If you contact them and explain the situation then they may step in - having a club potentially non accredited / unable to perform gradings etc will likely stop it in it's infancy. Sometimes venues can be funny though - eg the karate club i attend on a Wednesday night has another Shotokan club taking place in the same large sports hall on the other side of a net at the same time as us! Never had any issues with them though (they are always polite and respectful) so i doubt the venue will do much as to them it is just revenue. Another thought is that your student might have misrepresented himself to them venue though as his class being linked to yours?

We don't practice it but reading your post has made me think how useful it would be. It immediately reminds me of how you feel your opponent when grappling and how that is so important. Often, you execute techniques based on feel rather than what you see and this strikes me as the same thing. I think i need to look into it some more!

Am curious about this - from the description it sounds very like a 'question mark kick'. Is it the same kick in execution of if not i am curious how it differs - always good to learn some new techniques

Oh that's a classic! Definitely, i also find it hilarious that the answer to the "which celebrity is best at BJJ" is actually Ed O'Neill - he is a legit 3rd or 4th degree BB (can't remember which) and trained in the "gracie dojo storm" era. He is apparently really good!

I think it can vary a lot depending on area and style plus what is expected. As an example i pay a lot more for my bjj club than any other style but that is expected - usually it costs more than other styles but there is usually a lot more class availability and more often than not it is a full time instructor and people can train 7 days per week. I contrast that with my karate club which is a second activity for the instructor who does an excellent job of teaching 5 sessions a week and you pay as you go, with it being a lower headline number, though the actual per session prices are not that different to BJJ classes and BJJ can work out less if you train loads per week. Judo was the cheapest i found. Where i am you typically would expect karate/judo/taekwondo to be taught in a sports hall or church hall for per class fees of £5-£8 with BJJ being in a BJJ gym and it being monthly fees of £50-£70 depending on planned attendance, with pay as you go for something like £10. Most non-bjj or mma instructors here are teaching from passion and the costs are usually just to cover the hall rental and if any left over then they make something, but bjj and mma are more of a job/business for the coach.

Welcome, nice to (virtually) meet you

congrats - enjoy the shiny belt!

If i want to easily increase the water intake but not feeling like plain water i find that massively diluted sugar free diluting juice works well - just enough flavour to have a different taste to pure water but not a huge amount.

Myself i find that salmon is a good quick meal - can lightly spice it to preference and stick it in the over or the air fryer if really pushed for time. That plus some rice takes about 2-3min prep time max and usually tastes good too!

How you finding the necro? I had heard that they are pretty overpowered! Not had a huge amount of time to play so not finished the campaign yet with either my sorc or barb so not tried season (you need to finish campaign first)

This right here is the reason why the first thing i say to any new prospective parents is "hope you are blessed with a good sleeper" usually gets met with a slightly odd look as they wonder what possible relevance that could have...

An interesting list! I would have also added in Married with Children and Red Dwarf to the list - though i do love Frasier!

Quick update - less training sessions than usual as have not been feeling well still. Got blood tests booked in for next week which will hopefully get to the bottom of it!

Monday 24 July BJJ Session Session was working on cross facing from side control. Important details were to keep cross facing arm bent and at a 90degree angle with vertical part of forearm pushing into temple to turn head. Do this if using either collar grip or hamd slid under head. Also drilled transition from side into mount via knee on belly, using likely responses to the cross face to set up an arm triangle with the framing arm by pushing it across and trapping Did a couple of rounds of situational sparring then had to sit out as started to feel ill

Tuesday 22 July Lifting Session Trap Bar Deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 90kg x 5 102.5kg x 5 117.5kg x 8 70kg x 10 70kg x 10 70kg x 10 Close Slanted Grip bench 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 Fat DB Lateral Raise 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 Leg Raises 10 reps 10 reps 10 reps

Tuesday 18 July Lifting Session Bench Press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 47.5kg x 5 55kg x 5 62.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 37.5kg x 10 KB Offset squat (this was one KB in rack position - alternated half reps on left, half on right) 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 KB Clean 24kg x 10 24kg x 10 24kg x 10 Have been feeling not great last few weeks again so have managed less sessions. Found out why as it turns out i have hade a case of the Strep virus as have the kids (one had it manifest as Scarlet Fever which is how we found out!). All seem fine now though