bushido_man96

It's easy to be pessimistic a day or so after a big loss. I don't imagine they will back slide as much as you think.

Congratulations @aurik!

Congratulation @KarateKen!

1/15/2025 TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. I joined in this class; 3rd dan did the teaching. He does a good job. Basics was all the regular basics. Forms; supervised Won Hyo hyung, gave some more technical advice for power on some hand techniques, keeping the hand and hip back in order to land with power into the strikes. For one-steps, I worked through with low orange, green, blue and brown belt. I helped the students work on lots of technique work and foot placement. After class was over, I did about 10 minutes of floor stretching and went through Choi Yong 3 times.

1/13/2025 TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. This class went ok. Felt good to get out and do some moving. Basics: for our jump front snap kick section, we added a jump round kick and a hop side kick to it. I like this variation. I supervised students doing Won Hyo and Choong Moo hyungs. For one-steps, I went through low orange belt, and did continuous attacks for white/orange belt for a high brown belt. I supervised some sparring after that. Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Helped a second dan with some stance and movement work. He's recently recovered from a knee injury. I went through my 5th dan form, Choi Yong, 4 times, once at speed.

I agree with you here, but it wouldn't be strange for a CI to feel a sense of guilt for providing such student the skills used to commit untoward actions on others.

1/8/2025 TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. I taught this class. Got through basics, and for forms went through Dan Goon, Won Hyo, Choong Moo, and Yoo Sin. Got through one-steps and then worked a sparring drill with the students. Offensive student would do a switch-foot round kick a few times and made contact with the chest protector. After each student getting reps on that, I had the defending student throw a spin side kick counter. Next time I'll parse the drill out a bit more to make it more progressive.

Some fighters that have bases in those styles have performed well, but they probably altered their training to mimic MMA training more in order to accomplish those goals. They excel in their style first, then move up to MMA style training, and that helps to give credence to the base training they had in their original style, if they had success. I don't think there are many dojo-to-cage stories that omit the MMA training aspect.

Cool, let us know how that goes.

I imagine some could tell better than others, and some had probably been burned by taking on the wrong student and learned from their mistakes. I think if you have a long enough conversation with someone, you can start to discern what their motivations are. They'll eventually reveal what their about, and that will answer the question for itself.

12/31/2024 Did some solo work on the new TKD form, Choi Yong, for about a half hour. Aikido Winter Camp Session: 3:00 - 6:00 pm. The camp had been going all week, but as I had been working afternoons and then switching to night shift, I wasn't able to make many sessions. Not feeling good most of the time doesn't help, either. But I made this session, and had a good time. There was a focus on tai-sabaki. We were doing a technique where the attacker would run to you and grab one wrist and circle around to grab the other, as if to apply a double chicken-wing from behind. We'd use the body movement and it set up a sankyo lock quite nicely, and that's the one I went to most of the time when we were doing it dynamically. We slowed it down and did it from stationary, and, worked it to a kotegashi application. This one took some work, and some feeling around to get into the right position, but it started to come together pretty well. We finished with some drills designed to get students ready for randori.

Making changes is always difficult. You really have to work at keeping the routine.

Love it, @Luther unleashed!

It's an interesting article, and the insight into the language is helpful. As has already been mentioned, people study their style for many different reasons. Some lean more martial, and some lean more art; and some have done more one way that the other based on where they were in their lives at the time of their study. Approaches to training and outlooks on aspects of life ebb and flow; I see this article as a picture of that. We all may have a different outlook on what we are doing and why 10 years from now, and 20, and 30.

This is a very interesting topic, and lots of good points have been made already. I kind of feel the same way you do about this, @Wastelander, but for TKD. I know TKD isn't as old as some Karate styles, but it has a rich history, which I feel has been mostly lost through the unification of the original kwans. Most of the styles taught in these kwans were originally styles of Karate, Chinese styles, or Judo that were picked up by the practitioners during the Japanese occupation of Korea. There are also the rumors that those that had studied (or played) Taekkyon when young in Korea also added that flavor to what they learned and taught. I've spent some time researching these kwans, and information is hard to find. It saddens me to think of what material and methods from those original kwans are no longer taught in modern dojangs. Karate is luckier than Taekwondo in a way; at least there isn't one driving force trying to unify and codify everything under one umbrella. I think the plight of rarer styles is like @sensei8 mentioned; they are born and die without much transition taking place, whether this is by hook or by crook. Those, like you, @Wastelander, that are the gatekeepers of these rare styles, I think have to decide how it is preserved and how it moves forward. Personally, I love to have written material to refer to, but not everyone is going to write a book. Perhaps people aren't as interested or simply don't have the time and resources to seek these things out. Where would I have to go meet up with you and seek out KishimotoDi? Illinois? That's quite a trip for me, and probably for most, except those who are local. Hitting up a weekend seminar would be a great option, but how much can you pour into someone over the course of 8-15 hours of training? Not enough to pass on a style. Some concepts and technical aspects would be retained, for sure. Hopefully you have a handful of good students that will be able to continue on the style, and perhaps it will grow more in time and therefore become a little more widespread and accessible to others. If people aren't seeking out those styles anymore, perhaps the answer is for them to seek out others. But I don't think that is in the nature for these rare styles to do. I could be wrong; that happens all the time. I hope this doesn't come across as a "pointing fingers" type of response; that's not my intention. I'm just trying to put forth points to generate more discussion on the matter. Something we don't see happen as much anymore is the uchi-deshi, the student who lives with a master for a length of time. That seems like it would be harder to do nowadays. I'm not sure if it would help out in this instance or not, but we just don't see that kind of commitment from those seeking to train with skilled and knowledgeable instructors.

Congratulations!

Now I'm reading Wado-Ryu Karate, The Complete Art Uncovered, by Frank Johnson.

Chiefs have locked up the #1 seed in the AFC, and will be resting key starters on week 18 against the Broncos. Carson Wentz will start at QB, and I imagine lots of WRs and RBs will rest. Chris Jones is going to rest as well. This definitely helps the Broncos, as they need to win to get into the playoffs. Not sure how I feel about that.

I enjoy this one, too. I enjoy David Harbour.

My son has played it quite a bit. I'm more into the retro Mortal Kombat games right now.

I've been seeing quite a few ads for it, but have not pulled the trigger on it. Maybe down the road.

12/26/2024 TKD: I went to the gym with the kids and spent some time in the dojang trying to learn my new hyung from a video sent to us by one of our seniors. I got about half of it down I would say. I was working it off and on, and going into the gym to help the kids with their strength training. 12/27/2024 TKD: Went back to the gym and did some more work on the new hyung. I got through it all once, and worked on sections of it, too. Feeling better about it. There's a few trick balance parts that are tripping me up. I may try some visualization work with these sections. New form is Choi Yong.

This is an interesting discovery. I haven't been able to consume caffeine or alcohol for some time now, but I don't know that it has helped my eating habits. I never really was an energy drink guy, but I did like my coffee. Not had any in some time now. Thanks for sharing this with us, @KorroddyDude.

Lots of great advice has been put forth already. As martial artists, we've all been there in that beginning phase. The truth is, it just takes time, and you have to tell yourself that you're looking years down the road, not days. It's easy for me to say, "don't be so hard on yourself," but the fact of the matter is everyone is different and this is tough for some to accept. I started Aikido back up very recently, and I get frustrated with myself in class at times because I just can't seem to make some things work. The sensei is good about telling me to not worry about trying to be as proficient at Aikido as I am with Taekwondo, so I try to take it all in stride. You need to do this for you; it's got to be your journey. You'll have lots of help on the way, but only you can put the work in. Try to take one positive thing out of every class. Just one. And focus on that. Keep a journal, and have an entry for every date that you go to class or practice something on your own. Write down little notes you remember. These could be feelings you had about a certain topic in class, or they could be tidbits you recall the instructor telling you to improve one aspect or another of a technique. Jot these things down, and you can look back on them for reference, and it's also a log of your progress. It also keeps you accountable. I've found it to be a very handy tool. Then, come back here to KarateForums and talk to us about it. Heck, start a thread that's a log of your training like several of us have done here. I've found this community to be very supportive, and coming here to discuss my thoughts on classes and testings really is a motivating factor in going back to class. I think you will find it to be true, as well. Go back to class. Believe in yourself. We do.

Congratulations to you and your daughter on your promotions!