bushido_man96

Testing went from 6:00 – 7:15 pm. Low orange belts (forms): We had two testing, one young kid and one a teenager. Their technique is coming along nicely and they had pretty good power. Some minor things need cleaned up, but at this point, they are progressing well. I noted on stances that they need to make sure the back stance is an L with the front foot pointed forward, and not too stretched out. I see too many back stances that are as long as some front stances, and that makes it difficult to pick the front leg up without shifting bodyweight, thus telegraphing. On the front stance, I keyed on shoulder width. I see a tendency to step out too wide when stepping forward, instead of stepping more forward and keeping the stance width about shoulder width. It draws power away from a stepping forward strike or block but cutting off the finish. High orange belt (form): Just one here, another young teenager. He’s already a really tall kid, and athletic. He’s one of 5 from this family in class. His technique was good and he had great power. He got in a bit of a hurry moving through the form and didn’t finish a few stances. He’s at that point where he needs to try to be fast, but not be in a hurry. Low green belt (form): One young student here. Stances, stance, stances. This kid took off like a rocket when he started, but he has regressed, and gotten lazy with his stances. Stances aren’t just part of the technique, they are there own techniques as well. When he was stepping to the 45 degree angles in the form, his second one was too flat, but that’s a pretty easy fix and more of a concentration thing. Master North had our adult 2nd dan come out on the floor and had the low green belt “teach” the form to him. He did a pretty good job, really. Not bad on some of the techniques, but not so good on the stances. I see this happen quite a bit, too: students get so worried about keeping the hands coordinated that they forget what the feet are doing. This student will definitely have to zero in on the stances before he tests again. I plan to speak with the other instructors about this as well. Low orange belt (one-steps): Something I tend to see at this young phase as well; they were just kind of going through the motions. They want to get the memorized so they can test, and aren’t at the point where they are putting more behind the techniques. I told them they need “emotional content” in their techniques (and none of these kids know that reference anymore…). One of the one-steps has a takedown in it, and the students tend to step and stop, making sure they are setup right, instead of stepping through more fluidly to finish the takedown. High orange belt (one-steps): Again, this kid had good power and flow. A few of the kicks he was using his instep as the striking implement, though. For one-steps, we emphasize proper striking tool, like ball of the foot for front and round kicks, heel for side kicks. Low green belt (one-steps): He did these better than he did his form. Good height on kicks, good power. He still needed some more energy, though. Testing Sparring: There were no kihaps! I made sure to point this out. I talked a bit about the importance of a well placed kihap, but not to necessarily kihap on every technique. The low green belt had some good angles. High orange belt needed some more combinations put together. After all the physical stuff was done, we had out closing thoughts and belt presentation. The school owner made some interesting points: “Information + Information = Information.” “Information + Application = Transformation.” The other school owner also had a good one: “How do you eat an elephant? One piece at a time.” I really liked this one, taking one thing to work on and fix at a time, and then moving to the next one. I spoke a bit on the importance of working on little things in basics, because if they are cleaned up there, they will transfer to the forms and other material. Overall, another good, albeit small, testing.

2/10/2026 Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. I taught this class. Prior to class I was able to run through Choi Yong three times. My balance was bad on the repeat kicks. I was extremely short of breath and had kind of a cold sweat going on. For class, I got through basics (went at a better clip), then went through white belt, low orange belt, low and high green belt, and middle brown belt forms. One-steps were done testing style, with an attacker doing down blocks continuously so the students testing could get through them all. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Padded drills, switching sides and switching roles as they went. 1. Closed stance, attacker does front leg round kick (#1 or 3), defender blocks and does a front leg round kick counter as quick as they can. 2. Closed stance, attacker does front leg round kick, defender blocks and spin side kick counter, or just did the spin side kick counter upon recognition of the attack. 3. Open stance, attacker does front leg side kick, defender blocks and side steps the back leg to a 45 degree angle forward and counters with punches and kicks. I call this the "Crossing the T" drill. After the drills we had time for one round of free sparring. I encouraged the students to try to work the drilled components above. Stretched afterwards.

By "turn-around roundhouse kick," do you mean like a round kick that comes from a spin side type of turn, or the 360 degree spinning round kick? 2/5/2026 BJJ: 6:45 - 8:00 pm. Warmup: 2 rounds, 4 minutes, light rolling. The focus of the class tonight was getting to position to work leg locks. We started out with one seated and the other kneeling, and working to get a leg over on the knee from outside the opponent's leg. This advanced to trying to keep the leg in the 50/50 position and establishing a good knee line. We worked a little on setting a heel hook and an ankle lock. Then we did some scrambles from the 50/50 position. For free rolling, I did 2 rounds of 4 minutes each. Then stretched.

2/3/2026 Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. Basics and forms. Helped white belts and high green belts. For white belts, I focused on stances. For the high green belts, I focused on the circular scooping block section of Won Hyo hyung. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. White belts did combinations then did one-technique, two-techniques, and three-techniques drills. The other students worked the following drills: Closed stance, attacker does #3 round kick, defender slide back/block and reverse side kick counter. Open stance, attacker does #2 round kick, defender blocks/reverse side kick, or if more advanced, just reverse side kick counter. We finished with several short rounds of sparring. I encouraged the students to work on set-ups and the counters we drilled.

Yes they are. Shortly thereafter, Chris Jones sent a message on social media, tagging Hill and basically stating it's time for him to come home. I'm not sure how I'd feel about that, especially coming off this recent injury. No doubt Hill is a unique talent, and Reid has always been good in dealing with players that tend to be troubled off the field and keeping them in line. Maybe it would be good to have him back, if he is healthy and affordable.

The Lost Forms of Oh Do Kwan Taekwondo, Volume 1: Taegeuk 1-3 Hyeong, by Orjan Nilsen. The author shows these three forms that were a part of early TKD curriculum in several kwans that had roots in Japanese Karate. The translations are taken from Choi's early TKD textbook. It has photos of how the form was done in the Oh Do Kwan, and also descriptions of differences from other Kwans. It also has some nice bits of kwan history, which I really enjoyed.

I like a reverse side kick/spin back kick, but I like to do more of a switch-foot version of it than a jumping version, as it is quicker, and I stay closer to the floor and thus have less of a telegraph. That, and I'm also older and my knees hate me, so I don't jump as much as I used to. I think I probably showed you that switching version I do when we trained together. 2/2/2026 Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Weapons Class. Jo warmups: high-4, low-4, high-8, low-8, and high-10; about 5 total minutes of continuous partner work here. The rest of the class was spent on kumi jo 2 and 1. After that, we did some "free" kumi jo practice using some practice sticks (soft) to finish out the class. It was "one-to-one" striking/blocking. It helped to see some attacks and to block and counter. I did get a little frustrated with practice tonight, trying to memorize and just overall make things work and flow.

2/1/2026 Aikido Video Review: I reviewed 5th kyu material form our Aikido dojo's Youtube channel. Shomenuchi kotegashi: Open stance, irimi step (back foot steps forward and at an outside angle, an "entry" I guess), then tenkan, then the zengo(?) turn (I think it's called zengo). At any rate, tenkan and then shift the hips to a front stance while applying the lock. Finish with the standing kotegashi pin. Shomenuchi ikkyo omote: Open stance, blend, lead hand to wrist, other above elbow near the triceps/armpit, front foot forward/outside angle side step, then "V-step" to kneeling ikkyo pin. Shomenuchi ikkyo ura: Open stance, irimi step (like above), then tenkan and apply pressure to takedown. Kneeling ikkyo pin. Munetski kotegashi: Closed stance, irimi step, tenkan, switch hips to front stance (zengo?), standing kotegashi pin.

Well, I'm waiting for the UFL to get started now. Anyone else watch any of those games?

1/29/2026 BJJ: 6:45 - 8:20 pm. Started with three warm-up rounds, then worked from the armbar position. We started by trying to hold the position with just our legs, and the games progressed from there. We progressed to working the S-mount position to an actual armbar. At one point we were working an S-mount with the legs across the body and applying pressure down towards the bottom person's hips; this was very awkward, especially on the smaller/thinner guys, as I felt like I was high-centered. We finished with three rounds of free rolling, then I stretched. A new guy with previous experience that was there helped me with fighting out of his half-guard.

It's nice that you can get so much focused test prep. That'll help out tons and tons, for sure.

I do like the way you explain that approach. I think it's definitely easier to explain some tactics based on concepts as opposed to teaching with the "if this, then do this technique" approach. Some time ago at a multiple style martial arts seminar I was teaching a section on self-defense, working off the basis of some of our system's one-steps. I talked about being on the "inside" or the "outside" of the technique (I guess "attack" would be a better term), and finding the options from getting to those positions.

Drake Maye got a taste of what Mahomes got from his two Super Bowl losses; poor offensive line performances and running for his life. I thought Darnold threw some questionable passes early on, but they didn't get picked so it didn't matter. But he made plays when he needed to, and KW3 played a great game. That Seattle defense showed up and showed out like they had all season.

Your martial knowledge and passing in down to other students.

Right now they are pretty regional, and are scheduled by the school, as it's the high school season. The Kid's Wrestling, or better put, USA Wrestling, is more wide open. If we wanted to, we could probably find tournaments year-round for USA Wrestling. With it being the high school season, the tournaments only cost us travel expenses right now.

1/28/2026 Heavy Bag Workout: Done just before Aikido class to warm up. Same workout I did on 1/26. Stretch in The Rack afterwards. Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Traditional Class. After loosening up and doing aikitaisos and some ukemi, we worked lots of 2nd kyu variations of kotegashi. We had a hip throw we worked on last.

Congrats, @KarateKen!

I heard a voter on a podcast talk about the situation, and it sounds like one of the reasons is because there are people in front of Belichick that could end up being left out of the HOF if they would have voted Bill in instead this go around. It sounds like there is quite a bit of nuance to it. What it sounds like might be to blame is the restrictions that have been put on the HOF nomination and election system, aside from how some individual voters may have felt about Belichick personally.

I do hope you are able to preserve what you've learned, Bob, so that it can continue to trickle down to some select students and still stay alive.

Congrats on your promotion, and condolences for the loss of your friend. Thoughts and prayers for the family.

Thanks, @sensei8! I have worked them in in the past, but lately I've focused the work a little more. When I do work them back in, they probably won't be as true jumping kicks, but more like a switching kick that stays low to the ground and drives out fast. I like to use that as a counter when sparring, especially when someone is trying to jam me up. 1/27/2026 Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. I taught this class again. I'm teaching them more and more often, which I really am enjoying, even though I don't get the same level of workout in myself. I did do most of the basics along with the class, even working alongside some of the white belts to help them out. White, low/high orange, low/high green, and middle brown belt forms were done tonight. One-steps for same. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. After padding up, I started everyone on the six-star hit drill, then moved to some sparring drills: From a closed stance, attacker threw a front leg (#1) round kick and the defender blocked with the rear hand. Then I changed it up so the attacker would throw a repeat round kick with the front leg, and the defender would double block. The attacker got to pick where the kicks went (body or head), so the defender had to react accordingly. We finished with two rounds of sparring. I sparred the 3rd dan, and then one of the low orange belt kids. Stretched in The Rack.

Ok, still doing a bad job. A week ago Kenneth competed in the league tournament, and the league is a very strong wrestling league. He had a good run. He won his first match in the third period with a pin. His second match was a loss that put him on the backside of the bracket. His third match was a win with a pin in the 2nd period, and that one gave him 30 wins on the season, which was a great milestone. Winning that match put him in the medal round, and he went the distance in that match, winning 7-4 and earning a third place finish.

RIP.

1/26/2026 Heavy Bag Workout: 8 rounds, 1 min/45 sec rest. Alternated orthodox/southpaw. I used this workout to get more warmed up for Aikido. Rounds 1-4, punching only. Rounds 5-8, added in round kicks. I kept the punches to straight punching. Stretch. Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Weapons Class, entire time spent on the jo. Warmed up with high-4, low-4, high-8 and low-8. The rest of the time was spent on kumi jo. We reviewed 4 and 5, then learned 3.

1/21/2026 Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Traditional Class. Loosening, basic strikes, aikitaisos, then quite a bit of ukemi, and I did ok with it. The meat of the class was higher kyu material, working on several "pivot throws." They were 4th kyu and up material. Some of them I didn't mind, some of them I didn't really care for at all.