DarthPenguin

Additionally, surely (assuming the grading is assessed by an independent individual with appropriate standards) never failing a grading is a good thing? That shows that the candidate was always presented when ready and performed well. That is a good thing in my book! Lots of students failing a lot is a bad thing in my book - shouldn't be putting lots of people forward for things that they aren't ready for.

Congratulations!

To me it raises serious red flags about the integrity of this individuals testing criteria. In essence he is saying that passing a grading can be determined by criteria outwith the individual being tested's martial performance. It's not a massive leap therefore to say that someone could PASS without performing suitably either.

I have always found two things that work : Set out a target/plan of what you want to get to lifting wise and then chart performance against it. I have a spreadsheet that calculates nominal 1rm etc for every lift in every session and then i chart it so i can see trends which is positive. Best motivator i used to find though involved a partner. You both agree some lifting goals/targets and a timescale to achieve them. You then set penalties for failing and they need to be moderately steep but not insane (eg i used to set a lifting target and if it wasn't met i owed my partner £50 etc). Set some parameters as to what is an acceptable fail - eg if injured then can't be held to same timescale and i found that this works brilliantly. Best one i found for PR setting needs a lifting partner that you really really know well and trust. You have THEM set the weight on the bar for you and not tell you! First time i tried that was years ago when i was less weak! I was DL about 120kg at the time for reps and my partner racked a bar. I did my set and he pointed out he had put 160kg on it - he thought i could do it and he was right. Ended up getting a decent amount more than that which i never would have got to myself.

Monday 16th January BJJ Session This was another open guard focused session, mainly focused on de la riva. Started out with a couple of drills on hip escaping. First one was focusing on coming all the way through with the lower leg, keeping it off the ground and coming through enough that shoulders and head are tilter slightly downwards. Second drill was similar but the bottom leg stayed on the ground, linked to elbow, with a slight internal rotation of hips to the lower foot it pointing up (so it could push on a hip etc) Then moved to some drills for moving side to side in de la riva and entering it from open guard with foot on hips. Similar drills to Thursday session. Started practicing tripod sweep from de la riva with details being to pull with the hand grabbing heel and with the gripping hand (sleeve or collar) and push with foot on hip. Works best when opponent is shifting their weight backwards ti take a stronger base. Started to drill then working different sweeps from de la riva based on the direction opponent moved their weight. Instructor ran through the principles of how the sweeps work, based on creating a level using the leg with the trapped foot being the pivoting point. Worked some positional sparring from this position. Initial drill being person on bottom had to keep feet on opponent, person on top had to strip them. Progressed to 'standard' drill of opponent trying to pass, person on bottom sweeping. Only a win when person has clear dominant top position. At one point i escaped to turtle when on bottom and were told to keep fighting from there. Successfully came up into a double leg from there and passed guard using a smash pass variant which i was pleased with. Did leave my head out too much so had to fight out of a guillotine on way round so that is something to work on. Few rounds rolling which went well - managed to pull off an armbar that i spotted by going for it quicker than usual so i was pleased with that. Managed several guard passes too which is always good! Main thing that went well was i had a semi epiphany on Sunday that i was being too passive in my grips. I have extremely long arms so i realised i had been taking a collar grip and just letting my opponent posture up and being content to hold their collar. This is obviously a bit silly and doing nothing so i went into the session actively planning to grip harder and pull my opponent down. Worked really well and managed several sweeps simply from my opponent being so imbalanced from standing by my pulling them down and forwards. Will need to work on this being my standard gripping and not slip back into bad habits! Takeaways : positives : - more active gripping is the way forward (obvious i know but doesn't hurt to remind myself) - was happy with my double under passes negatives / things to work on - work on a stronger grip with my non collar hand - conditioning work is always needed : try to add in more - need to improve flexibility (this is something i had already identified for karate anyway!) - work on core strength more as it will help with certain techniques Overall though was pleased!

Saturday 14th January Lifting Session Slight amendment to ordering of sessions here. I had ended up with the 'heavy' sessions (squat/deadlift) shifting to be midweek due to xmas workout schedules. This doesn't work well with the midweek martial arts training so adjusted. Decided to do the squat session today instead and superset with some shoulder work skipping the shoulder press session allocated for this week. Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 72.5kg x 5 82.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 62.5kg x 5 single arm kb press (reps are total L + R) 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 16kg x 10 Weighted hold 2 x 24kg kb x 1min Thought i would start adding these back in for grip strength and overall structural strength. my 24kg kb's have a fat grip so they are good for this i think. Will try to work up to more time and more sets gradually

Thanks! Plan is to try to fit in a couple of lunchtime sessions a week and see how it goes

Seems quite like the BJJ method of promotion to me which i have always liked (though it does rely a lot on instructor integrity and the importance of lineage)

The deadlift one sounds odd since you seem to be following all of the accepted queues. Only one i haven't heard you mention is the "wedge" one for setup, and pulling back rather than up (though am sure you do both of them already). Only other thing i could think of would be has your foot position in relation to the bar changed at all? Maybe your ankle dorsiflexion has improved and even though your shins are still touching the bar at the start your feet are slightly further away leading to some drift? Only other option i can think of is if you know of a good personal trainer/coach that you would trust, book in a session and get them to look at it and comment. Might even be worth trying one of the online coaching specialists and seeing if they would critique from video? Otherwise good luck. Numbers are still looking good though in spite of the drifting!

Thursday 12th January BJJ Session Trains were sorted so was able to make it to my first lunchtime session of 2023!! Session was focused on de la riva guard which is something i have wanted to practice more for a long time as i often end up in that position in open guard anyway and haven't drilled it much Started by drilling moving from open guard with feet on hips to standing opponent into de la riva Next drill was working on unbalancing the opponent using the de la riva grips/hooks Next drill was working on keeping some kind of open guard on opponent while they attempted to strip grips. was a useful drill Then worked on the balloon sweep from de la riva. Details being to get opponents weight forward and onto your hips. transition the sleeve grip to the opposite sleeve (the non de la riva hook side) and can do from there but is easier if you take collar grip on the same side. Worked left and right sides. Manage ok on both sides but on my left side is better, sweep is more powerful and more overhead, on right side it goes slightly more to the side, though both sweep over. Moved onto some rolling next. Was pleased with it and came out with some things to work on : positives : - pulled off several sweeps including the balloon from de la riva and also the reverse scissor sweep a couple of times - managed to pass guard smoothly a few times and keep top control decently negatives : - need to work on my grappling conditioning A LOT - found that the power in my sweeps etc was dropping massively - need to work on finishing some sweeps better, though this was linked to the conditioning. near the end of the session i landed several sweeps and lacked the energy to push through and finish it so we ended up in a scramble, when earlier i was coming up into side control or mount - need to brush up on my submissions from side control! Was scratching my head trying to think of submissions to go for! - need to go for submissions faster when identified. Had a good armbar opportunity that i lost by being overly laborious with getting into position to finish it. by time i was ready to sit back he was gripping tight and i had to try to finish another way. On the whole though was pleased. Was a good session and some clear things for me to work on going forwards. Will try to do the lunchtime sessions on a Monday and Thursday going forwards (work and transport dependent)

Wednesday 11th January Karate Session Warm ups Usual warm ups done Kihon All the usual kihon techniques though we have been doing them slightly differently recently. Rather than doing 3 x Age-Uke etc we have been chaining together the grade required kihons as a sequence and doing that multiple times : eg age-uke, gyaku-zuki, gedan barai, soto-uke, empi-uchi, uraken, gyaku-zuki etc. I've been quite liking that tbh got some useful points on ushiro geri that i was able to implement quite quickly. Was told i am still doing it more like a prior style i trained in, where you rotate most of the way round then do the kick (so more like a spinning side kick) and should have my rear facing the target more when kicking kata several run throughs of grading kata, seemed to go smoothly, am now working on rhythm mainly Kumite Multiple rounds of required grading kumite for next grade. Then added in some jiyu ippon kumite which will be required at future grades. combinations / kihon At end of class we worked on some more combinations that will be required for future gradings then got called out in pairs to perform them in front of class as if at a grading. Was useful practice

Was just wondering : are you mainly restricting the lifting workouts to 2-3 lifts per day or is there stuff you are not recording? Was just curious as if the former maybe a couple more lighter accessory exercises might help with some of the stability things etc? I know that they can help for me quite a bit - indeed you had pointed out to me that i wasn't doing enough single leg work really ages ago and i have been trying to add some in and it seems to help regardless, they are solid sessions. Is a good solid block of training

Tuesday 10th January Took a couple of days off due to the ankle issue i mentioned in another post but it was fine now so back to it. Also, my other half has realised it is easier for her to put both the kids to bed together rather than us doing one each and staggering it! She said she would prefer me to exercise at that time which suits me fine as it might let me get back to judo also in next few months Lifting Session Trap Bar Deadlift 70kg x 5 75kg x 5 85kg x 5 97.5kg x 5 110kg x 5 85kg x 5 85kg x 5 85kg x 5 85kg x 5 85kg x 5 Tried to do these more as a touch and go which felt a little harder. Usually i do a quick reset after every rep so felt good to do a little differently. E-Z Bar curl 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 These are light and easy but that is the point. am using them for some gentle volume. once i have done a few run throughs of this krypteia template i will likely add in a heavier exercise to accompany the deadlifts but erring on the side of caution for now Triceps straight bar pushdowns 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 Standing one arm kb press (reps are total reps L + R) 16kg x 16 16kg x 16 16kg x 16 16kg x 16 Grippers T x 11 T x 11 T x 11 Total poundage lifted : 7736.5lg time : 44min density : 175.83kg/min

Art, how we do art, is our art. But, does it demonstrate our enlightenment, or does the act of creating art enlighten us further? Perhaps both can be true? And the second sentence seems pretty straightforward: creating art liberates us. It helps us grow, and become more free in the process. Free from restraint, free from all the rules at times, I guess? Personally i would probably say a little of both. Creating art (in this context performing martial arts) can lead to enlightenment in the sense of "ah wait a minute i could do X now or ahhh i can see why we do Y now" equally it could lead to demonstrating it by other people seeing that you have picked up X or learned how to make Y useful. I'm picturing one of those 'lightbulb moments' that people have intermittently. Also, i should say that i have never read the book! Maybe i should!

Definitely. I had a former instructor (he was a police officer who worked in some shady areas here), who taught some interesting stuff too for self defence. He used to teach a lot of improvised weapons stuff - some of which was quite interesting and would never have thought of (eg the 'correct' way to hold an ash tray if hitting someone with it so it breaks into their face rather than your hand). He had a view that when it came down to it it is much better to be in a police station having defenced yourself too roughly than in a hospital bed recovering from a stab wound! Personally i think it is a lot more nuanced than that but i didn't disagree with the base sentiment of self defence being about defending yourself first. He did have some odd things that were required as part of the training, which if i am honest were quite effective but won't go into detail here! He was also totally mental so i stopped training with him after a few years! your point above is also one reason why i am not a fan of generic 'self defence' courses either. People practice a few techniques in a controlled environment for one or a few weeks and then believe that they can safely defend themselves. Takes a lot longer than that to build the muscle memory and that is ignoring the mental aspects of the situation

Thanks, i'll give it a try. Issue seems to be solely the ankle flexing that way - it is fine in the forward / backward plane (the same way as for a calf raise). I have flexible toes (can pick up a tennis ball with them!) so i might try this and see if it helps. I can see how the toe cue could add stability to the structure.

Thanks, this makes sense. I'll try the position again gradually and see if my heel is not forward enough, that might be something to do with it. If not it is a good thing to be able to rule out!

Yeah that makes sense. In previous styles i have always been allowed the freedom to choose. Some instructors preferred either way but ultimately it was down to me and they were more concerned with it being either a correctly executed kick with the heel or the blade rather than picking one or the other. Up til now on my working back through the karate grades it hasn't even been mentioned so i thought there was no issue at all, but my instructor mentioned it the other day as something our grading examiner is particularly keen on being bladed, hence the trying to do it!

Thanks, that makes sense and is something to try. I was thinking on it and wondering why it was only my right ankle since i did the same amount with both legs and mu left one was fine, so maybe it is something i should get looked at. I have a dim memory of wearing an ankle support on that leg years ago when training (am talking 10+ years ago), so maybe there is a small issue that i just haven't tweaked again that needs fixed!

Just saw this thread and it looks intriguing, i will need to go catch up on the others. I'd take the interpretation that bushido_man has for this one too, no use thinking about something irrelevant. i'd also say it is relevant to competition etc as you shouldn't be thinking about your upcoming (or already occurred) kata performance before fighting/sparring etc. I'd also think it encompasses not getting too far ahead in your thinking. For example someone thinking : i will parry that strike, then step in with an elbow, then a footsweep, then a punch, then an armbar etc etc. Be clear in your thought and focus on the now. So in this example, protect yourself from the strike, then redirect all focus to the next part based on the current situation etc. So don't waste mental energy on something that might not come to pass

Hi All, Quick question. I have always personally preferred to land a side kick using my heel but i have been told by my karate instructor that the correct form at my class is to use bladed foot (not going to get into the debate with him or here as to which is superior!). I was practicing the position myself at home the other day for with both feet: started with just raising foot and taking bladed position with foot then progressed to chambering a kick and slowly extending it with foot in bladed position. The next day i found i could barely walk on my right ankle, with it taking a couple of days to abate! As it was lessening i could feel it was mainly pain in exactly where i was turning my foot to blade it. Obviously i don't want this to recur so i thought i would ask on here for suggestions. I can see two possibilities: 1) my form was incorrect and i was shaping my foot using the wrong muscles / in the wrong way and this is what led to the pain 2) the muscles in that part of my ankle are just week and need strengthened (could be bit of both) If anyone has any advice/thoughts they could post on those it would be much appreciated. I'm going to ask my instructor about the form part but i think if was doing it the way he said, so tbh not too hopeful that it will lead to an epiphany!

That is usually my response. I trained under someone really good in the past who would show those things but when you got to know him a bit better he would admit it was due to organisational grading requirements etc. and if it was up to him there would be less focus on them. Otherwise he was really good, large focus on sparring etc and on things being 'practical' What always worries me is the people who do this stuff and then believe they genuinely can 'fight'. I've always thought that they were at risk of being hurt as instead of sensibly giving in (or running away) they stand longer than needed in a risky situation because they falsely believe they can fight their way out of it.

Thanks, that's definitely a first for me! Is an interesting topic i think i think and one which comes up moderately often in grappling styles (and i would imagine full contact striking ones too). Using BJJ as an example people regularly talk about being able to perform a technique versus apply it against a resisting opponent (ie to Execute it). Leads into other interesting conversations and hypotheticals such as the worth of a senior grade who can demonstrate a technique with apparent technical perfection against a compliant opponent, spot flaws in others execution and clearly articulate the details when teaching but who cannot apply the technique in sparring for whatever reason (could simply be too slow, not strong or flexible enough etc). From a personal standpoint i am reminded of a former instructor who used to teach intricate self defense combinations that might involve catching a punch in a certain manner, with a precise grip on a specific point, to then transition into a wristlock etc. then keep going. I always was quite sceptical about how applicable that is to reality as you need a phenomenal amount of skill and speed to perform that against a live punch (there will be people who are good enough to do so, but i find no shame in saying i am not one of them!). I contrast that to performing a block/parry/redirection and then another appropriate technique which seems much more reasonable. The former 'precise grab' technique can be 'performed' for demos etc. but i doubt it would be possible to execute it in practice for most people.

Thursday 5th January Lifting session My right knee was feeling a bit funny all day when i went up and down any stairs so i decided to amend the session and replace the lower body work with gorilla rows. Didn't want to chance a knee injury and more rows are always good! Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 47.5kg x 5 52.5kg x 5 60kg x 5 47.5kg x 5 47.5kg x 5 47.5kg x 5 47.5kg x 5 47.5kg x 5 Gorilla Row 24kg x 10 24kg x 10 24kg x 10 24kg x 10 24kg x 10 Biceps cable curls 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 triceps straight bar pushdowns 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 20kg x 12 Grippers T x 10 T x 10 T x 10 total poundage lifted : 5327.5 time : 34min density : 156.7 kg/min

For me, personally, the difference is in terms of effectiveness and purpose. I can 'perform' a kick, and to my mind it just means carrying out the kick, eg i might perform a jumping side kick. The important parts here being that i carry out the correct technique and that it 'looks good', whilst when i execute something i think of it being effective and having a purpose: so i wouldn't be just doing a flying side kick, i would be executing a flying side kick to break suspended board A etc. For the same reason i always think of anything grappling related in terms of execution and never think of it as performed. I don't think i would ever say i performed an osoto gari or i performed a triangle choke etc. But i could see myself saying i executed an osoto gari or a triangle choke. To my mind the difference is similar to that between speed and velocity, where speed is solely a magnitude with velocity adding a directional component. so to use my analogy of an osoto gari: i could see carrying out some uchikomi in the air as performing an osoto gari but then once you carry it out on an opponent and throw them then you have executed it. Have a feeling it is one of those things that will mean something different to everyone and there is likely no 'right' answer, but an interesting question