Zaine

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

Spin City was fun. I used to watch that a lot, until Charlie Sheen took over for Michael J. Fox. It wasn't as good then.

It is mostly just a little swaying with your torso. There's a large focus on hikite, as well; that pulling motion into your chamber to generate power.

I haven't finished the campaign yet, and I've been reading a lit recently and have put video games on the back burner. That said, I'm having a lot of fun with it! It is pretty powerful, but I would say that it's overly powered. You can definitely play it incorrectly and die quickly lol.

Matsumura Seito is a system that focuses on hitting pressure points, and as such is a system that focuses on fast, hard strikes with the back as a way of generating power.

I have a couple of thick tbones defrosting for a nice dinner that I got on sale. I'm pretty excited.

I was finally able to get the game! I'm playing through as a Necromancer for my first playthrough. I'm trying to figure out if I want to do seasonal content. Is anyone playing Season 1?

While I didn't learn to use hips in Matsumura Seito perse, I took this kata from Shobayashi. The Matsumura Seito version of Chinto is performed on a vertical axis, as opposed to a diagonal one. The versions of Chinto that I have seen from Matsumura Seito use a lot less hip movement.

It sounds like you have it pretty covered. When I am training solo, I tend to focus on a particular kata and try to break down its parts into drills. By isolating those parts, I improve on the kata as a whole without having to do the kata the whole way through a bunch, which can get boring.

I teach for free at the moment, just to get a base and some practice. It's only to friends and their kids, and I've been clear that if they invite anyone that those people will be paying. Right now, I teach out of my home or my friend's home. I've looked at some rec centers but right now I only have 3 students so I just keep it simple.

I think that happened for a lot of people. I have a couple of friends who started to teach themselves how to cook because of Covid and now are pretty good at it.

That sucks Ashley, colds are the worst! The Summer is always hard for me. Heat messes with my mental illnesses and I live in Texas so it's been 100+ for some weeks now which stops me from biking or exercising outside, which I love. Otherwise, I'm coming off of a vacation and I feel pretty relaxed! I've managed to stay cool.

I'm a lover of water, so I don't mind it as much. I drink water all day and I'm happy. If I'm not drinking water, I'm probably drinking tea and coffee. I can't handle sparkling water. I'm not sure why, but it's just not my jam. Sports drinks are great recovery drinks, for after activity. It's not a great pre-workout drink because of the salt content, but if I've had a particularly difficult or intense workout then I'll go for a Gatorade.

Congrats!

I'm so happy to hear that. Every Friday I go to a sparring night and I always feel that twinge of anxiety, but I make myself go and the second I step through the doors and start sparring it all fades away. I just have to remind myself that this is something that I love to do and it will be okay. I love that you're taking more steps to control your mental health. It's a tough journey, as you know, and takes a lot of bravery. I proud to know you.

Egg over rice. I love eggs (I even have a tattoo on my arm of an egg to show my love) and a fried egg over rice is quick, easy, and delicious. If I want to add to it, I can make some bacon, fry the rice, add veggies, make a stir fry, the options are limitless. But on my laziest days, an egg over rice is perfect.

Thank you for sharing, Ashley. I firmly believe that the more people are open about their struggles with mental health, the more it normalizes that openness to others. The world becomes a better place when we feel okay talking about these things in public and I have spent no small part of my life talking about my own struggles with mental health in an effort to lead others into being more comfortable sharing theirs. I have been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and ADHD. It's something that I've struggled with all of my life. I don't remember a time when this wasn't an issue for me. I am on a number of medications to help control my various disorders (3, to be precise) and also have gone through CBT and therapy. I recently got TMS, which is a (very expensive) procedure that uses magnets to create new neural pathways in your brain to help the symptoms of depression. That seems to be working. I still, however, have my low days, or anxious days, or inattentive days (I'm currently supposed to be working). What I can say is that my low moments absolutely effect my relationship with martial arts in a negative way. Like you, I feel that it is a worthless endeavor. Even though doing martial arts is meditative for me and often key to getting me out of these "funks." I stopped thinking about karate altogether after my kid was born. I had too much on my plate and I was too stressed to think of extra-curriculars. I was going to school, as well. Thinking about karate made me feel bad about myself so I stopped. I even stopped visiting this forum, gave up my mod status, and disappeared for a bit because just seeing the word Karate gave me panic attacks. It was like I was losing a part of myself. It wasn't until I started up again that I felt whole, once more. Now, with the perspective that time gives, I understand that my various identity crises were connected to me selling parts of myself off to make ends meet. I am in a better place financially now, and that plays a big part in my growth back into myself. To do that, I had to answer a few questions about myself, and I now pose them to you. Feel free to answer these privately. I also posed them to my wife, because her mental health is my mental health. A family cannot function properly without all players being healthy. Sometimes, one player has to pick up for another, but the balance should be there in one way or another. Do I like who I am right now? This is a tough question to ask. The answer I came up with was no. That might not be the answer for you, but if it is, find ways to fix that. Am I doing something for my personal benefit? For me, that was things like taking time to write, do karate, and do things that I enjoyed with or without anyone else. People need time for personal development. It makes us better people and, by extension, better partners and parents. Are the people in my life the right people for me? Some where, and others weren't. I phased those that were a negative influence on me. Do I have long-term goals? I have struggled with suicide in the past. Part of that was that I had nothing to look forward to. When formulating these questions, I realized that not only did I feel better about myself when I had low days, but I had something to work towards. I got especially low after finishing my Masters degree because I felt that there was nothing else for me. Make sure that you have something that you are working towards, even something as mundane as "be ripped in 2024." Finally, is there someone I feel comfortable talking to? This could be your spouse, parent, a friend, or a therapist. I like to talk to someone who will be objective about my issues. If you have no one who can do that for you, you do now. Please feel free to reach out to me, I'm happy to be a listening board. At the end of the day, it looks like you're going through a lot right now. A lot of it is good. Being a parent is tough but wonderful and it's natural to let things like karate take up a back burner for the time being. I suggest that you continue to stick with it, like you are, in some capacity. It is a part of your identity and wanting to keep a hold of it is good. I practiced solo for years before returning to a dojo setting. I am currently dojoless and practicing myself or with random sparring nights. Continue to find those moments of self-development, even when you don't want to. Especially when you don't want to. It's what keeps us moving forward.

I track my daily steps as a result of my Galaxy Watch. I don't, however, worry too much about it as I get my cardio in different ways. My job has a program that will reward you with points that you can spend on items for working out. In that, I can convert my other workouts, like karate, into steps. It says that an hour of karate is equivalent to roughly 11,000 steps. I'm not sure how accurate that is.

My kids really love doing sparring drills. All I need to do is put on some focus mitts and they go nuts. They love warming up that way. I've seen some others that look fun. Once I saw a dojo play dodgeball to warm-up and get the energy up in the room.

I had a teacher who once insisted on finding every little bunkai application from the taikyoku kata series. He "found" a throw in the turns. He was a "bunkaist" in that he felt that every little thing had to have purpose. I disagree with that general philosophy, sometimes moves and kata are just there to bridge a gap in knowledge or technique. However, it was how he enjoyed karate and I'm certainly not one to yuck anyone's yum when it comes to their passion for martial arts. I agree with Wasteland and DarthPenguin here. This is a kata that was created to help students learn how to move. I teach it to my kids (but not my adults) to help them get used to how it feels to move around and punch at the same time.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

My experience reflects DarthPenguin's. Most people holding a gun to you aren't looking for your life, they're looking for your stuff. They can have my stuff. A person with a gun will find that I am 100% cooperative. In an active shooter situation, like at an office, my school never taught us anything different than what the general knowledge is. Run, Hide, Fight is king in the U.S. when it comes to an active shooter situation.

I hope everyone had a safe 4th and kept all of their digits!

I am the oldest, so I suppose I was the mean older brother at times. My siblings knew how to give it back, however. We all have a great relationship now.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!