DarthPenguin

Haha eventually! Though fitness is relative. In my head it is always a goal that is to be strived for as can always be 'fitter'. More likely future title is ".. log an almost FIT person"

Saturday 2nd July Weights session Kept this one quite short as had a lot on this weekend so really just wanted to get in, do main lift and get out. Added in a small amount of accessory work just to feel like i had done a bit! Deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 97.5kg x 3 112.5kg x 3 127.5kg x 5 These felt good and went up smoothly. Tried to really concentrate on pushing the ground away and it made a difference. Squats 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 supersetted with Fat Grip Db Lateral Raise 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 I sam quite liking these. Feel them quite a bit in the shoulders (which is good) but can also feel the grip work. Am building them up slowly and gradually as dont want to chance any tendonitis developing (have had issue in the past years ago when grappling a lot and adding in more forearm/grip work). Reminding myself that it is a marathon not a sprint

Friday 1st July BJJ Gi Session Lunchtime session for first time in ages. should be able to make this a regular occurrence. Relatively small class but had one brown and one purple belt taking part which was good, plus i got paired up with the brown belt for the technique work which was good. We worked a guard pass for closed guard for the majority of the class. Firstly we just worked until the guard was broken and the pass was started, working on keeping pressure all the way through. Then added in finishing the pass and some options for control from in : either mounting; reverse scarfhold. Got shown a neat choke that i had never seen before, quite like an arm triangle but subtly different. Positional sparring rounds of a min working either to pass guard if on top or sweep/submit if the guard player. Was paired up with the brown belt and purple belt for this which was good to get pointers on things i need to improve. Then a few rounds of rolling. Managed to hit my first ever de la riva sweep so i was pleased! Have only recently begun to try adding in some de la riva stuff

Thursday 30th June Weights Session kept this quite light as am planning to go to a lunchtime bjj session tomorrow for first time in ages. Don't want to chance it on the recovery front so i cut down on the accessory work Bench Press 20kg x 10 40kg x 5 50kg x 3 60kg x 3 70kg x 3 80kg x 4 60kg x 10 Barbell Row (without belt) 60kg x 9 60kg x 9 60kg x 9 60kg x 9 60kg x 9 Kg Hammer Curl (single kb) 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 Karate Kihon 100 x punches Added this as a light extra to get some more work in

Thanks, is always good to get a second opinion trying to cover as many bases as possible. From looking over my training logs i can see i am weaker when i only lift twice a week (3 times a week seems to be my sweet spot) but equally i don't want to overdo it and get an injury from other training (have done it before) so i am going to stick with things as they are

Wednesday 29th June Karate session Warm up at beginning of class Kihon Kata - continued to work on Heian Sandan as it will be for my next grading Kumite Lots of kumite in class this week. First of all we did several rounds of one step sparring just to get warmed up then moved onto free sparring. I got paired up with a 2nd dan and 1st dan and we just rotated partners for sparring. Sparring skills are slowly returning so am holding my own now. Some good comments from the 2nd dan that i am fighting back when he bltizes more now rather than just covering up and trying to weather the storm! Did automatically try for an osoto gari when being blitzed and he was close up at one point but thankfully pulled it once i had broken his balance.. Got amusing comment that while it is allowed technically it is bad form on a solid floor! Kata again We went back to kata and practiced a few more rounds. Started with Heian Shodan, then Heian Nidan then several rounds of Heian Sandan. I am comfortable now that i know the sequences and just need to get better at performing them properly! Overall a good session. I enjoyed it a lot tonight since i do enjoy sparring!

Welcome to the forum

This is a fair point tbh. You could start to add in a lot more protective equipment and restrictions to allow more contact sparring more regularly, but then would you be in essence changing the art. Kyokushin does seem to spar a lot though and spar hard, so it does seem do-able. I've never personally tried Kyokushin though so can't speak from experience on the training

Maybe it is worth doing some digging and trying to find schools where the instructor is teaching on the side and has a separate main job - then they may be teaching for less as it isn't their main source of income. I'm always amazed when i see the USA costs of training. For reference i pay £6 per session for my karate class and i pay £65 per month for my bjj class (which is with a Black Belt, so no lower price due to coloured belt coach etc.) Difference seems to be that in the USA there are a lot more people teaching martial arts as a job, so , quite understandably, they charge a lot more to meet their living expenses. to my mind you really only have a few different options : - Find a cheaper school where the instructor is teaching as a sideline, though there are likely to be less class times / flexibility of classes - Pay a more expensive school but find one that does an "unlimited training for $XXX per month" offer and just train as much as possible. That will reduce your per class cost and also let you improve faster - Bite the bullet and pay for the expensive single class fees - Take up another martial art! Best of luck finding a suitable school - hopefully you get a good one

Greetings, nice to (virtually) meet you

Saturday 25th June Weights session Had a few things come up this week which impacted training time a lot so was restricted to a session today only instead of Thursday as well. Decided to combine the planned main lifts for Thursday and Saturday and get out fast if possible Squats 20kg x 10 40kg x 5 50kg x 5 57.5kg x 5 67.5kg x 5 75kg x 9 All done for maximum depth i can achieve. Weights are lighter than would be otherwise but going up smoothly and i can see and feel the improvement Seated Overhead Press 20kg x 10 25kg x 5 32.5kg x 5 37.5kg x 5 42.5kg x 11 Doing these sitting on a flat bench with no back support. Have dropped the weight back down as was struggling to make the required weights at the higher ones. These felt good and i managed to hit target reps Bicep Cable curl / Rope triceps pushdown superset 25kg x 8 25kg x 8 25kg x 8 Have a slightly stiff plate loaded lat low pulley machine so used it for these Fat Grip Bent over rear delt raise 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 Not done these with fat gripz before. seemed like a good exercise so will keep in programme

Wednesday 22nd June Karate session First session since grading. Was a small class tonight. Just myself, one 6th Kyu, one 1st Kyu, 1st Dan and 3rd Dan training (plus my 5yr old who was mainly running about! - he is excited that his school summer holidays start tomorrow) Warm ups and stretching For this some Stationery Yoko Geri Keage practice was added in. I liked the drill and will practice it at home since i want to improve this kick a lot Kihon Usual grade Kihon Also added in some new combinations to work on shoulder turns : age Uke - Soto Uke, Gedan Beri, Uchi Uke, Gyaku Zuki. Every technique changing hand (so R/L/R etc). Was a nice drill and one i think i will benefit from practicing at home Kumite We did this earlier in the class that usual. I paired up with the 1st Dan and we worked semi free sparring for a bit with unannounced techniques and then several rounds of free sparring/ Enjoyed this and we did for 30min Kata Worked kata towards the end of the class. I had checked with the 3rd dan at the beginning of the class that i had managed to pick up the correct sequence of techniques at home for my new kata (Heian Sandan) and she said i had The instructor ran through Heian Sandan with the class for my benefit. Focused on the double blocks near the beginning a lot and the correct preparations. Worked through about half of the kata - initially to a count then doing freely. Gradually getting smoother at it and i much prefer it already to Heian Nidan!

Tuesday 21st June Weights Session (Deadlift) Decided to continue where i had left off instead with Week 1 of current 531 cycle, since due to transport strikes i won't be able to get to BJJ this week. This frees up extra lifting times during the week. Deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 5 90kg x 5 105kg x 5 120kg x 7 Happy with these, lifts went up smoothly. the final set was harder but the first few reps were smooth. Have always been weaker for higher reps in DL so no issue with that Squat (lighter weight sets) Superset with below 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 45kg x 10 These were fine. Small increase in weight from last time and every rep was down until hamstrings touched calves. Next DL session this will be 4 x 10, then 5 x 10 following session then weight increase Fat DB Lateral raises Superset with Squats 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 5kg x 10 Relatively new exercise for me but i need to strengthen shoulders and also want to improve grip so i thought i would combine these. Will keep in programme KB Hammer curls holding horns 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 20kg x 10 Exercise felt good and smooth. The thickness of the KB horns should help with grip too going forwards Lying leg raises lying on bench 4 sets of 13

Yeah it would be very different to anything we have seen before - in essence a Jedi spy. He could easily come up against Crimson Dawn etc too. I would also love an old republic era show. They wouldn't be constrained with fitting in with the current Canon and that freedom would likely help a lot

Yeah, plus the scene at the end of Episode 5 was the most powerful they have shown any force user on screen so far. I was quite excited (i'll admit) to hear them mention Quinlan Vos; he would be an awesome character to base a spin off on

Anyone else following this? If so, what do you think? Myself i have been enjoying it. A few little gripes but on the whole it has been entertaining

Would you recommend it then? The originals were classics but i wasn't sure if the new one would be worth seeing as often when a series is resurrected it drops in quality (they rely on nostalgia to get good viewing figures). If it's good though i'll need to take a watch!

considering the population differences I’d say it’s still generally true statement.And I know Europe generally controls martial arts schools and I believe helps subsidizes them as part of national sports or something, so you’d have to convince national governments to institute such changes I believe. I'd say that it is similar in the UK too for the most part. Most instructors basically charge the price for the hall rental and not much more. Only guys who really seem to do it "for a living" are bjj and mma schools, but even then there aren't too many of either. I’ve heard that in Europe martial arts in many countries martial arts are regulated by the government so there you mighthave to convince the government to approve the changes.Tbh i've never heard of any government regulation for martial arts here in the UK anyway. The most i can think of is if an art is in the Olympics then they will be subject to the UK Olympic Committee and they may report to the government (not 100% on that one). Other than that i can't think of any governmental regulation / interference

Saturday 18th June Grading sat and passed successfully so have now reached 7th kyu. Will look up some videos online tomorrow on next kata and make a start on learning it. Still full of the cold so will take it easy weights wise this weekend. Since the preceding week has been messed up a lot by feeling ill and starting a new job, and it was just week 1 of my current 531 cycle I’ll just start again from the beginning of week 1 workouts this week. Wont hurt and saves messingup the progression

I'd say that it is similar in the UK too for the most part. Most instructors basically charge the price for the hall rental and not much more. Only guys who really seem to do it "for a living" are bjj and mma schools, but even then there aren't too many of either.

Tokaido has long been a standard in Shotokan. Go with the ones made in Japan - there is indeed a difference I can see and feel in the fabric and cut despite what some people will say on the internet. Thanks! I opted for a Ki one as the price seemed quite reasonable (relatively speaking). I've not heard anything other than good things about Tokaido, and can see myself getting one, but i will likely wait a little longer until i have been back at karate for more time. I don't want to be 'that guy' who is pretty junior and turns up wearing a mega expensive gi! Nothing wrong with it. Mindset is important. If a quality uniform inspires one to train more frequently and with greater intensity, no one should find any issue with it. Besides if you use a uniform 2x a week, the cost quickly goes down per use if you take care of them. I have Tokaido I have worn 200 times and more. Fair point. In my head is more of an incentive thing too where i "earn it". same as for bjj i have a no black gi until purple belt rule in my head. No reason for it really but it helps my mentality. Am pretty sure i will likely end up with a Tokaido at some point, but i will make an agreement with myself to "earn" it Odd i know but just how my mind works sometimes

i guess for me that’s never been an issue.When I log into a forum, I scroll the unread posts until I find a title that catches my interest, then I read the first few posts, and add my 2¢ in. Yeah tbh that is my approach too, but everyone is different!

Tokaido has long been a standard in Shotokan. Go with the ones made in Japan - there is indeed a difference I can see and feel in the fabric and cut despite what some people will say on the internet. Thanks! I opted for a Ki one as the price seemed quite reasonable (relatively speaking). I've not heard anything other than good things about Tokaido, and can see myself getting one, but i will likely wait a little longer until i have been back at karate for more time. I don't want to be 'that guy' who is pretty junior and turns up wearing a mega expensive gi!

Wednesday 16th June Karate session I've been full of the cold all week so been trying to be sensible exercise wise, but since i have a grading on Saturday i wanted to get at least one more session in before the grading Class : warm up Kihon lots of Kata practice Grading kumite practice and some free sparring too lots of grading practice and the instructor pointed out a few things to work on before the grading. Thankfully they were things like an adjustment to hand position etc where the prior position was a conscious movement so i can adjust easily enough i think. He also pointed out that i wasn't doing Hikite at a particular point in kata. For some reason i had it in my head that i didn't need to do it there so was deliberately not. Should be a straightforward fix. Working quite a bit on my Yoko Geri Keage as i think it needs a lot of work. Everyone seems to show it differently though - i have had 3 different 3rd dans show me it in totally separate ways. I preferred one of them and have started doing it that way and since then have not really had any comments on issues with it that i had before so it is hopefully slightly less bad now!

One part you have missed from the promotion system here that makes it a little more complex is the lineage aspect. People don't say they are a X Belt; they say they are an X Belt under Person Y who is under Professor Z. This does lead to a divergence in standards a little but it also means people have an idea still of someones level e.g. I always used to hear people talk about Cesar Gracie being notoriously hard to grade under; Saulo Ribeiro used to make a lot of higher grades put a white belt back on unless they had trained under a Gracie directly or a student that had directly trained under them. I'm not sure if it would work with karate nowadays since there are so many people who do train/have trained and claim rank. BJJ system worked since it was a much smaller art and it grew with the system remaining in place. I can't see how you would implement it now : eg a lot of karateka train under one Instructor but have a different Grading Examiner. This is different from the usual BJJ model where the instructor awards the belts (Sometimes they check in with their own instructor for permission when awarding senior belts). You also cannot typically map a BJJ grade to a karate or other style grade as the levels and requirements are totally different. A BJJ BB doesn't really get assessed again once it has been achieved (degrees are time based) and it usually takes a skilled practitioner 10-12 years to achieve. This is closer to the time for someone to get to a 3rd dan or so in karate etc. Personally i think it would be good to see people making a bigger deal about their lineage in karate; it would hopefully help to raise standards etc but i doubt it will happen tbh lineage makes a difference in BJJ largely because competition is baked into the culture of BJJ, and it’s competition where people go 100%, so you can see an instructor’s record, you can see the records of their students, etc.In karate most competition is light contact, and verifying a record for someone who hasn’t competed in a regional or national level competition in karate is pretty difficult. I can give you my lineage, 100% honest and 99% of it is pretty impressive, but my direct instructor has nothing but a belt and time training/teaching to his name that would seem impressive. On the other hand I could give you my lineage and leave out my direct instructor and simply stop at the hombu instructors who I have worked with regularly over the years to inflate myself a little bit. Likewise the level of karate competition I did was state level, but I can’t even find records of my gold medal now, that it’s been well over a decade…and does any one outside the karate community really even care I was a point fighting champion? Probably not. Thats a fair point. Even if someone isn't an active competitor in BJJ people can still look at the record of their instructor and the other people at the gym to get an idea of the overall standard. Wouldn't be viable for karate really