DarthPenguin

As a non American (so i wasn't exposed to the mythos around certain sports growing up) i have always found some of the rules in the baseball hall of fame to be a little funny. Personally, since pretty much everyone accepts that Rose never bet against himself or his team (And there were no allegations - that i am aware of - that he tried to get opponents to underperform) i don't see why he can't be allowed in now. I have always found the outcry against the 'steroid players' to be a little silly based on some of the players who are in. I have always thought it should be either all proven cheaters out or look at eras etc : there are several players in the hall that openly admitted to corking their bats; taking 'greenies' (how is this not performance enhancing since it let them play better); greasing the balls etc. so i don't see how that is fundamentally different to some players taking steroids (since players on both sides of the ball did so an argument could be made that they may 'net off'). From the little i know about the Black Sox scandal several of the players should be in as they didn't cheat and actually had an excellent series!

would be interesting to see the actual amount that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were getting paid at their peaks. There are rumours that Messi was actually on £100m a year (the Barcelona books were apparently very very messy). Mbappe did get offered a billion pound contract to play in Saudi though a few years ago and turned it down

I totally agree but only slight different take i would have would be on the 'finished what they started' point as it would depend how they set their goals! Easiest example i can give is my 8yr old son: he trains both karate and judo and is massively massively keen on his judo. He set himself a goal (a year or two ago) of being olympic champion (he aims high lol) and works really hard - i have heard him supping broccoli soup and telling himself he needs to have it if he wants to win the olympics. A while ago he got his 8th Kai (it's the under 8 'black belt' which i had never actually seen in person before so i must admit i was really proud of him). He then got invited to join his judo club (it has 10+ locations) competition squad and his response was "thats me finished that part, first step out of the way to the olympics" (he isn't lacking in self belief either!). So i could see a situation where someone has set stepped goals: 1) get black belt 2) get 3rd dan within X years of this 3) get instructors qualification etc etc and so in that sense they could be finished Though i do agree that in most instances it is likely that they are looking at it exactly the way that you thought!

yeah that seems a little bit 'off' to me. Without having read the research myself it has a whiff of someone only reading the abstract or misinterpreting the study. My partner has a masters in Sports Psychology (with a focus on improving human performance) - though she doesn't use it! and my brother in law was an international sports person for more than a decade and is now a professional s&s coach for pro teams (plus several other people i know who have competed nationally / internationally) and none of them hold to such a rule! Pretty sure one of them would have mentioned it. I have a feeling the research mentions a break every 30min or so (which also meshes with study approaches i have covered at work) which neatly fits with a water break and then you get back to it. I could definitely see people skipping the 'bad bits' and becoming less well rounded as a result

Thinking about it it also reminds me of a drill we used to do in the past: we would put a mat on the floor (usual gym mat size) and you and opponent would both step on it at either end. Then you would spar. Stepping off meant a loss (and pushups!); being knocked off meant a loss etc. Was quite a good drill to get used to fighting in an enclosed space i found. Sounds quite similar - though without the initial connection!

I just read through your prior 2019 post @Wastelander and it was really interesting! I can totally see how that would be an excellent training activity. Only question i would have would be on how applicable it would be to competition. I think it would work fine from the purposes of people competing, and allowing for development of skills. Not sure how it would translate to a competition that may be spectated (and not sure if that is something you would be aiming for anyway - though if trying to grow the art maybe you would be?). It strikes me that it may end up somewhat similar to watching a bjj competition which unless you are really into bjj can often be very dull as you just see two people hugging a lot and don't pick up the technical intricacies (obviously there is the odd exception but i am sure you get the point). What just came into my head though was how it might be really really well suited to building interest via seminars etc. I am thinking of stuff like Ian Abernethy's work where he travels a lot and teaches his techniques and is pretty well known. I could see a place for something similar with Noah Legel's kakedameshi courses!

should be an interesting game but can't see past the Chiefs. I keep thinking (this season especially) that the NFL playoffs reminded me a lot of Tennis with the 3 teams i thought would have the best shot of winning all being in the one conference (Ravens, Bills and Chiefs). The Bills reminded me of Andy Murray a bit, where he could manage to beat one of the other big 4 in a grandslam but struggled to beat 2 in a row. Once the Bills beat the Ravens i wondered if the same would happen with the Chiefs where it would be a bridge too far. If someone else had taken down the Ravens or Chiefs so the Bills only had to play one i think they would have won it all! Was pleased though this season to see how much better the running game was with Cook. They are so so close to getting over the hump now - hopefully they don't backslide!

Yeah sounds like he is developing really well - he will be an absolute monster when he is high school senior age himself! Out of curiosity, what to 3-2-1A and 4A mean in this context?

Thanks both Yeah everyone is fine: i'm trying to take the positive spin that this lets me sort out a new and improved home gym 2.0 lol. Could have been a lot worse though - i managed to get into it mid storm and turned off the consumer unit to prevent the possibility of an electrical fire and the roof could have landed somewhere much worse than my neighbours garden. Insurers are being very efficient so far too - hopefully it is the same when it come to resolving the claim!

Sounds like your daughter has got exactly the right attitude to belts! MY son said something similar recently and i must admit i was really proud of him: he recently got awarded his 8th kai in judo (under 8's 'black belt' : white with black stripe through it) and was understandably proud as neither of us had ever seen anyone with it! What i was please at though was he said " i want to go to the bigger kids class now. I know i will probably lose a lot as the kids are bigger than me and i will take a while to get next belts but i will get better faster and then i will be much better than i am now". He was totally focused on the skill improvement rather than the belt which was (i thought) a very mature take for a little kid. For me belts are a funny thing and i think peoples attitudes to them change the more they train / the longer they train for. After a while it does just (to me anyway) become a nice piece of material that tells me how hard i can safely go with someone when i spar them. I think bjj has helped with that a lot tbh as over time you get used to seeing really talented/skilled/athletic lower belts sometimes beating higher belts and it doesn't become as much of a big deal - no one (in my club anyway) questions someones belt level because someone 20 years younger, stronger fitter and faster beat them in a roll

update : we had a big storm at the weekend (hurricane force winds) and it ripped the roof off my otuside cabin that i use for a gym. Managed to bring some stuff inside (ski machine, weight plates etc) but can't shift the rack nor cable machine due to size and weight of them so they are unfortunately unsuable until insurance claim sorted. Have been managing to keep up my daily usage of ski erg though and will try to get some kettlebell workouts in until i can get back to 'proper' weights

Thursday 23 January Judo Session Class started with warm ups, lots of running round the mats, then rolls etc. As always reminded how much more intensive it is that BJJ warm up! Started by practicing forward break fall. Plenty of reps in for that then practcised rear break fall. Then moved onto some newaza drills. Starting from mune gatame pin, move to yoko shiho gatame, back to mune gatame, then to kuzure kesa gatame, then kesa, then kata gatame (arm triangle position as a hold), then to north south (can't remember the judo name for this one!). Worked plenty of reps of flowing from one to the next one. Then started on throws required for upcoming grading with the first one being a uki-goshi throw onto a crash mat. Worked this for a while then added in landing into a pin, kuzure kesa gatame. Then we worked reps of de ashi barai where the opponent is going for osoto otoshi and you counter with stepping back and sweeping their foot. Drilled this for a while also landing in a pin (mune gatame this time). After this we had several rounds of newaza - judo legal techniques but closer to bjj ruleset: no winning on pin time etc, standard rolling for submission. All in all a good session - lots of fun!

Tuesday 21 January Lifting Session Trap Bar deadlift 70kg x 5 80kg x 3 90kg x 5 100kg x 5 105kg x 10 105kg x 10 105kg x 12 Seated overhead press 20kg x 5 30kg x 5 40kg x 3 47.5kg x 3 52.5kg x 3 60kg x 4 Cable chest flye (weight is per hand) 25kg x 14 25kg x 14 25kg x 14 Cable neck extension 5kg x 12 5kg x 12 5kg x 12 cable neck flexion 5kg x 12 5kg x 12 5kg x 12 cable neck side bend (total reps = l + r) 5kg x 24 5kg x 24 5kg x 24

Monday 20 January Karate session Warm ups as per usual. Then worked through grade required kihon. Rest of the class was kata: every kata from kihon kata to Bassai DAi (did Tekki Shodan too for a change!)

Saturday 11 Jan Lifting Session Squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 50kg x 3 67.5kg x 10 67.5kg x 10 67.5kg x 10 67.5kg x 10 67.5kg x 12 Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 5 60kg x 5 67.5kg x 5 77.5kg x 6 CAble face pulls 15kg x 16 15kg x 16 15kg x 16 Cable lateral raise (reps = total of l + r) 10kg x 24 10kg x 24 10kg x 24 Seted cable row 80kg x 10 80kg x 10 80kg x 10 80kg x 10 80kg x 10 cable neck extension 5kg x 11 5kg x 11 5kg x 11 cable nexk flexion 5kg x 11 5kg x 11 5kg x 11 cable neck side bend (reps = total of l + r) 5kg x 22 5kg x 22 5kg x 22 upper trunk curl 14 reps 14reps leg raise 15 reps 15 reps single leg raises 35 reps 35 reps lateral leg raise 15 reps 15 reps

Yeah i have come across places like that (trained in one that was close to it to). It reminds me of a grading panel when i was grading in a particularly strict style the GM who was examining asked me my views on loyalty and respect in martial arts (was meant to be informed by materials he produced) and i responded that to me loyalty meant (in this context) that whether or not i liked or had respect for the instructor as a person or individual was irrelevant and when they were instructing they should be treated with the respect that their position was due, as it was respect for the position even if not the individual. The other examiner (who i am friends with) was having to struggle to keep a straight face as it was pretty obvious that i meant the GM but i had been circumspect enough that he couldn't complain. (by way of some context the GM hated people cross training in other styles of martial arts, even if material he didn't cover such as grappling, and i had recently started to grapple. He was fishing to see how i would respond and gradually over time he got worth with his issues about me cross training and i ended up leaving!)

Congratulations Aurik

Sounds like an excellent reason to me!

Thats a fair point - though they do often keep aspects of their prior training: Gika Chikadze and his toes into the liver kick come to mind!

As a Bills fan i am daring to dream this year! Is such a shame that the Chiefs, Bills and Ravens are all in the same conference as i think both Jackson and Allen deserve at least one superbowl each! It kinda reminds me of tennis where Andy Murray could often beat one other of the big 4 in a grand slam etc but usually the second one was bridge to far for the final. Hoping that isn't the case for the Bills this year - saw off Jackson but can they get past Mahomes and the Chiefs?

Thats actually a good question! Am unsure if i am honest - though this is likely the bjj influence in me speaking (we often have people in mismatching gi tops and bottoms) so it doesn't especially bother me personally. For me i want someone to come in clean gear that is fit for purpose, with themselves clean etc. and ready to train. If the older part of their gi was ripped / torn etc then that is different as it could cause an issue, but just older etc then i likely wouldn't mind - though i would be more careful about checking it's cleanliness. My personal views on that type of stuff have changed a lot, and mainly from when i started grappling if i am honest. I went from training under a far eastern asian master who would not let you train if you had any stubble etc. and who even being 1min late meant a LOT of pushups and sitting in the corner of the dojo to a bjj class where the instructor actually shouted at me once when i was late and realised it as i got to the door so i turned back as i had been conditioned to do. He noticed me, came out and shouted at me for turning back telling me that as far as he was concerned the most important thing was the effort put forth in training and in his mind a half session is better than no session etc. Over time i have very much come round to that view: as long as someone is not disruptive / doesn't impact the rest of the class i would rather they were there and trained. Your gi jacket is clean but you spilled something on the trousers? Put on some shorts / tracksuit bottoms and come train. etc. etc. For a new student i would generally never recommend anything other than a basic starter gi until they have been going for a minimum of a year and are confident they will stay So i don't think the question would come up

Yeah i agree with you here. For me i expect you to turn up in a clean gi, nals cut etc. and showered (especially for grappling) - and minus any illnesses you can pass on to me. What you choose to do with your gi in your own time is between you and your washing machine!

Surely a scabbard of some sort would be more 'karate' than a holster? Could use it for Kobudo! This will likely sounds silly but for the keys / wallet point couldn't you just bring a training bag? I always bring a training bag with water, gloves, gumshield etc in it and just put my wallet in that! Granted the weather here is often miserable too so i usually have a jacket with my keys in the pocket for that. During most sessions i would assume people will not need access to pockets. Only times i can see it needed are: students needing mouthguards or possibly a tissue and for the insturctor / coach they may have some kind of lesson plan they wish to examine. Can't think of much else that would need to be on someone during a class tbh

i think some traditional arts have done a reasonable job of being proven to work in modern combat sports (kyokushin has done well, shotokan too plus judo, with some people not realising the gojo ryu and uechi stylists) but i would generally agree. Unfortunately nowadays people want to see something in action before committing. So when it comes to martial arts if they have seen something on tv etc then they instantly assign legitimacy to that style. Some of the nonsense you see online from some traditional styles doesn't help either: some of the nonsense demos you see from Seagal and others come straight to mind! Is a difficult problem to solve tbh. Something traditional that doesn't mesh well with combat sports but which is effective is hard to demonstrate to people in a such a way that they will take it up. Krav Maga comes to mind here: it is used by soldiers in a military who regularly see combat (the Israeli military) so it must be effective but when you see a lot of the demos from it it looks laughable (i have done some sparring in the past with some krav people who really didn't impress me). Really not sure what the best solution is!

definitely. They filmed seasons two and three back to back also so it shouldn't be too long for it to come out. Will be interesting to see what they do to finish the story