bushido_man96

Thank you Bob! Nogi for the most part. They do a gi class on the first Friday of the month. I missed it this month. 3/12/2026 Aikido: 8:45 - 9:45 am. Morning class. Loosening and aikitaisos, then technique work. Katatetori kaitenage omote: This felt pretty good. Stepping was smoother. Katatetori kaitenage soto: This is the more direct version, without the extra step in the beginning. This one felt good, too. Katatetori kaitenage ura: This one is getting better. I'm still trying to adjust the footwork. It didn't feel like I was muscling things around as much today. Yokomenuchi sokumen iriminage: After I stopped overthinking the footwork, this one smoothed out. I still have to focus on drawing the hand to the hip and giving a little twist for kazushi. During the first technique, the sensei and I had a little fun with looking at some transitions to some things that would be more practical for me to use at work. It was a little nerd out session, really, and it's always fun. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:15 pm. Couple of 3-minute warmup rounds during which I got some pointers with getting past half-guard. Class focus was on back control again. We started out working with the top player trying to retain the position and isolate the head or an arm. Bottom player was trying to escape or re-guard. While on bottom I found the baseball bat grip on the arm and bringing over the head helped with the escape. I also found that when I would pressure back into the top player while on bottom and worked on getting my head to the floor, that helped with getting my back to the floor and getting out. When on top and getting pressured back, we progressed to letting a hook go and repositioning the hips back under the opponent to prevent escape, or releasing the hooks and going under the legs, then lifting and sitting back up and getting the chest-to-back connection re-established. We progressed to working to a RNC or armbar for finish. Funny point: in one of the drills, I had a baseball bat grip with my thumb around the wrist, and somehow this got me into a spot where I couldn't release the grip and my own thumb was blocking me; it was a thumb lock! It led to getting me armbarred. We finished with open rolling. Coach said I'm doing some good things movement-wise, I just got to keep at it. I rolled with a new guy who had wrestled in high school, but was a few years out of high school. While we were rolling he bellied out and I eventually worked a crossface into a RNC for the tap-out! It felt pretty good.

Back from the state tournament. On day one we found out just how tough a tournament this was going to be (which it always is). The number one seed was a great big grown man...looked like he had a mortgage. He won the 6A high school state championship...in the heavyweight division...and he showed here to wrestle 215. Also in the bracket was the 3-2-1A state champ at 215. Kenneth had wrestled him once this year. He was a senior, but a more normal sized individual; I could see Kenneth growing into something like that in two years. Kid was a great kid, too. First match up, Kenneth was undersized compared to this kid. He was big; not as big as the 1 seed, but big and quick and strong. Kenneth ran with this kid all three periods, but lost 15-4. He did a great job hanging with this opponent, and the kid couldn't pin him. And as long as you don't get pinned, anything can happen. First round loss sent him to backside. In his second match up, he was again facing another opponent taller than him. He's been seeing this theme over the past two years, though, and I tell him he has to slay giants. I've seen him develop his mental approach to the point that this doesn't bother him anymore. He just expects to be smaller than the others, so he doesn't care. The first period was spent on their feet jockeying for position and ended scoreless. Kenneth chose bottom to start the second period. He did a Peterson roll to get the reversal, kept pressure on, and the opponent based his legs out. Kenneth set a suicide cradle and won with a pin to advance. Third match up was against a previous opponent. This kid lives is a senior who lives in the same town as us but goes to the public school. We've known him for years from our affiliation with the wrestling club before this new one he's in started up. Good kid, too. Kenneth was 0-2 against him this year, counting a week ago as his only loss in districts. First period did not go well; Kenneth was holding him off for most of the period but got taken down and turned at the end of the period. It looked like he going to get pinned, but he held on just long enough to get saved by the bell. He was down 11-1 to end the first period. I can't remember who had choice, but neutral was chosen. Then wrestling happened. The opponent started running at Kenneth, and Kenneth was able to use the momentum to throw him over straight to his back! After a few counts of nearfall, it was a pin. That win allowed him to make it to day 2. After the match the opponent came over and was chatting with Kenneth, and was just such a good sport about the whole thing. Day 2, first match up. I'm always super nervous for this match. Win and move on, lose and go home. We had watched the opponent, and he had a very good and very technical headlock he threw. He wasn't a great big kid, right around Kenneth's size, but definitely older. They tied up and the opponent got to double underhooks really quick. He cinched Kenneth up and tried to step in and take him over, but Kenneth countered with his own throw and took to his back for 3 points. He didn't have something quite locked in, because the opponent was able to squirm out of the nearfall. Kenneth said later he lost an arm and that was the kicker. Kenneth tried to bring his back to the mat, but he bellied out and they got to front headlock position. Kenneth defended a takedown counter and they went out of bounds. They reset and the opponent worked an escaped For period 2, Kenneth had choice and chose neutral. He tried to work to double underhooks but couldn't get them set. They jockeyed a bit more, but the headlock came, hard and fast, and that was it. A tough loss that ended the tournament for him. I was encouraged, though; he did wrestle with this opponent very well. Kenneth had a teammate that was in the finals, so we stuck around because Kenneth wanted to support him and help coach him. I got to see the finals matches for the 215 bracket. The 3-2-1A state champ won the championship against the 6A heavyweight champ in impressive fashion. He controlled his opponent throughout, fighting for a couple of very tough single-leg takedowns. It was a great match. The first opponent Kenneth lost to ended up placing 3rd, and the second opponent he lost to ended up placing 6th. I think there are some positives to take away from that. I was super proud of him. He fought his rear-end off, and didn't give up, and he never lets himself think he can't win a match anymore. The good news is going forward is that a freestyle/Greco club will be meeting for a few hours on Sunday afternoons, and he's looking to continue at least with practices, which is great. Spring wrestling makes winter champions. The freestyle/Greco state tournament is held at the same place as folkstyle, too, in May. Who knows? Maybe we'll come back and give that a go.

3/11/2026 Strength Training Clean & Press: 65x1, 75x3, 85x3, 90x3, 95x3, 100x3, 105x3. Clean & Jerk: 110x2, 115x2, 120x2, 125x2, 130x2. Deadlifts: 155x3, 205x2, 240x3, 240x3. I enjoyed getting more cleaning and more overhead work in. However, I do believe my knees will ache tomorrow. I want to use cleans as warmups for deadlifts, but I'll cut back the total reps next time. I think I'll preload the vitamin I as well.

3/10/2026 Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class, I taught. Which was probably a good thing, because my knees were really achy tonight. Got through most of basics, while still helping some of the lower ranks with a few things here and there without slowing the rest of class down too much. We had white, low/high orange, high green, and low brown belt forms and one-steps. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Started off with several rounds of sparring. One of the things I noticed and talked about was using good footwork when retreating. I have several students that are pretty aggressive moving forward, but when they feel jammed up and want to make space, they basically walk backwards. I talked about the speed advantage of someone moving forward while someone else is moving backward. After several rounds of sparring I had the students pair up in a closed stance and close enough together they could lock hands to help balance each other. I had them work on repeat kicking drills, with their partner helping them balance while providing a target for them. First I had them do repeat round kicks, 2 at a time, middle/high, middle/middle, or high/middle, depending on their ability. They did that back and forth for a bit, and then I switched them up to front kick/round kick, focusing on the pivot and hip switch to go from the front kick to the round kick. After the class time was spent, I gathered the twin high green belts and worked a floor drill with them to help them get down the circle block/#2 front kick/reverse punch section of Won Hyo. They've been struggling with putting the block together, so I broke down the block into a few segments and them had them gradually smooth it out. Hopefully it helps them out. If not, I'll try something different.

3/9/2026 Strength Training Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3. Triceps Push-downs: 50x15, 50x15, 50x15.

3/6/2026 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1, 160x5, 170x3, 190x2. Clean & Jerk: 45x5 (clean only), 65x2, 85x2, 95x2, 120x2, 120x2, 120x2.

Who you going to get? The Ravens backing out of the Crosby deal is kind of crazy. Then they turned around and signed Hendrickson, and keeping their first round draft picks along the way. It will be interesting to see what this does for Crosby's market now. Pacheco signed with the Lions. It will be interesting to see how that works out. It could be that KC underutilized him. Chiefs also lost LB Chenal to the Commanders.

3/5/2026 Aikido: 8:45 - 9:45 am. Morning class. Some loosening and aikitaisos, then we spent time focusing on kaitenage throws: Katatetori kaitenage omote: Draw and kazushi with irimi step (back fist strike to face), then raise arm while slightly pulling on it to retain tension and kazushi (initially I was not doing this; this little detail helped out), step through with inside leg then do the front stance pivot and step forward with the same leg (now the outside leg; this caused me some confusion early on as well); finish by doing a big arm circle while squatting to bring the arm around to the kaitenage throw position. Katatetori kaitenage soto: This one is more direct; irimi step and strike, then make the big circle without taking a step. Katatetori kaitenage ura: This one starts with a tenkan, then moves like the omote variation. I have to step closer to uke or I end up disconnected and pulling uke around a lot. It ends up feeling like a lot of work, a lot of muscling, and I know it shouldn't. I also need to focus on not leaning over when I step; keep shoulders above the hips. I need to think about everything I do when I move like a TKD straight punch, be it lunge or reverse. If I start keeping that mental picture, it should help clean up a lot of techniques. Aikido: 3:15 - 4:30 pm. Club class held on campus. Two aikido classes in one day is good stuff! Loosening and aikitaisos, along with some internals work. The focus was on extending up through the head. Then we did some ukemi, and I worked on panda rolling, which was going better. Then technique work. Katatekosatori kokyunage: I struggle with kokyunage, and I kept trying to do iriminage. After that, we kind of went more free-form. We worked on using our body to help direct uke and break their blance from a wrist grab. We did lots of reps here, and the grabs came from either same side or cross side. We finished up playing with a mae geri defense/takedown that finished with a leg entanglement/calf slicer. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:30 pm. Three warmup rounds, 4 minutes each. We had some different people in class tonight, which was nice (until it wasn't). I'm pretty sure the blue belt is letting me work more, especially with the early warmup rounds. There was a white belt there that I was actually able to do things with, advancing positions and getting closer to submissions. There was also a wrestler there. The class focus was on back control. We started with breaking down from what I refer to as "referee's position" (from wrestling parlance; only difference is in BJJ we can start with locked hands). The goal was to break them down onto their hips and try to hold them in that position as long as possible. Bottom player won by escaping and/or re-guarding. The game advanced to working from back control with double underhooks and a hook in with the bottom player already on their hip. Top player was to get to a seatbelt grip and try to maintain the position. I couldn't do crap from here with the wrestler. We finished working on rear naked choke technique as the submission from that position. We got both hooks in, or we went from kneeling with chest-to-back pressure. Finished with free rolling: I went with the white belt first. I was able to stay on top, advance position, and was starting to work for an Americana submission when time ran out. It was encouraging. Next was with the wrestler. Holy cow. He just killed me. Lots of good pressure, strong, athletic, could scramble. Somewhere during that match I smoked my right knee somehow, and it was really burning for a time. It got to feeling better after class. This match was not encouraging. Last I went with the blue belt. I felt like I had a good match with him, until eventually I fell into bottom side control, which always sucks. My knee was burning pretty good, and it cut this match a little short.

Kenneth wrestled in the kids wrestling district 4 championships this week, went 3-1 and got 2nd place, qualifying for the state tournament. The loss was to another local kid at the public school that he lost to earlier in the season. But, he said he knew what he did wrong and thinks he can fix that issue. I'm excited going into the state tournament; we'll see what kind of competition we run into. It's going to be a tough one this year, because the age group is high school.

The Murray story will be an interesting one to follow. Personally, I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up with the Jets. I think KOC wants another year to see what he has in McCarthy. The Chiefs traded All-Pro DB Trent McDuffie to the Rams for a load of picks, including their #29 overall pick in the first round of this year's draft. They got two more picks for this year, and one for next out of the deal. An interesting note: KC has not extended a DB since Eric Berry. Jaylen Watson is also a free agent, and if the trend continues, he'll walk and the Chiefs will likely use the #9 pick on corner. I'd much rather see that pick go for someone like Jeremiyah Love or Kenyon Sadiq. We shall see what happens though. And this just in: the Raiders have traded Maxx Crosby to the Ravens for 2026 and 2027 first round picks. This gives the Raiders the 1st and 14th overall picks in the first round of this year's draft; not bad if you're looking to rebuild. And the Ravens just get richer on defense. Crazy.

3/4/2026 Strength Training Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 150x5, 165x5. LTEs: 35x10, 35x10, 35x10. I felt the residuals of the bench press in my head briefly after the set. I got the wrist wraps, and they helped a lot with holding the weight. Doing the LTEs, with my head off the end of the bench, caused a bit of a headache during the set, and getting up needed to be done more slowly.

It sounds like your test prep is coming along nicely. It's great that you have such a good training partner to reflect with. That helps immensely.

3/2/2026 Strength Training Deadlifts: 135x5, 165x3, 185x3, 235x3, 235x3. RDLs: 140x5, 140x5, 140x5. The deadlifts build up the pressure in my head pretty fast. I may end up doing a lot of singles pretty soon. I'll continue to monitor. So far, things haven't gotten so bad that I have bad residual effects post workout. Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Weapons Class. Jo work. The senseis' had a family emergency, so the blue belt ran the class. It went well, although he was a bit curfluffeled by the impromptu teaching. Warmup with hi-4, low-4, hi-8, and hi-10 on my own. I tried to pick up speed and flow more. I went through jo kata 1 on my own a few times; I'm missing something at the end, and need to review the video. The rest of class was spent on kumi jo 1 and 2, doing both sides and switching the attacker and defender roles. My knees were hurting a bit from the deadlift session prior to class.

2/28/2026 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 10:00 - 11:00 am. Open Mat. Lots of 4 minute rounds, and there were just three of us, so round robin it was. Prior to class, coach showed me a video by Bernardo Faria of the technical breakdown of the over/under pass, then he showed me a dynamic application in a video of from a high-level competition. It helps to see both, because when things get dynamic, it rarely looks textbook. I had one early round where I spent most of the time on top. By hook or by crook, I managed. Then, I rolled some more, and that didn't happen again... Towards the end of class, coach let me work just offense so I got to move through advancing positions to submission. Stretched between rounds.

That's crazy to hear, Bob. Hopefully it isn't something bad and the doctor can deal with it easily!

2/26/2026 Aikido Video Review: Good habit to get into while eating breakfast. I reviewed video for katatetori sankyo omote and ura. I like to call them ikkyo/sankyo, as we get to the ikkyo position first and then transition to sankyo. Strength Training Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3. Clean & Jerk: 65x2, 85x2, 95x2, 115x2, 115x2, 115x2. Aikido: 3:30 - 4:30 pm. Club Class held at the campus. Very laid back class, as no other instructors were available. The club president ran the class, and after some loosening drills and aikitaisos, we did weapons work with the jo. Paired warmups with hi-4 and low-4 combined, then lots of review of jo kata 1. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:00 pm. Four warmup rounds to start. I think they were 4 minute rounds. The instructional portion of the class was spent working on isolating an arm in side control, elevating the shoulder off the mat and getting the bottom person on their side. We worked to a Kimura mounted with them on their side. We did quite a bit of work on this transition. We finished with a few rounds of free rolling, working on going from standing and posting on the hips of the seated bottom player to control the knee and then pressure in to pass to camping position, then to side control. This helped secure the leg so I didn't have to fight the knee shield so much. I did get a stretch in.

2/24/2026 Strength Training Squat: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1, 155x5, 170x3, 185x1. Left knee was really sore. Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. Taught. Prior to class I tried to do a little bag work in an attempt to warm up my left knee. It did not work. It was hurting pretty bad, and really limited my mobility. Basics: got through these, albeit it took a big chunk of the class. Lots of students today, too; 13 total. It's also the first week after testing, so we're hitting a lot of new material. Forms: We had white belt, high orange, low and high green, and a low brown belt that I had do low blue belt form. Finished with two 2nd dans doing Gae Baek. Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Started the sparring session off with 10 minutes of one-steps. Then we got into some rounds of sparring. The rounds were short and quick with little rest between. Round 1: Regular sparring. Round 2: Any kicking had to be front leg kicking. Round 3: Closed stance only. No techniques could be thrown if stances were open. Round 4: Open stance only. Round 5: Each pair of sparring partners were confined to a puzzle mat square (same square). At least the front foot had to be in the square. They could switch stances, but a foot had to be in the square really quick.

I'll suck, too. But it should be fun. We can play in the Toilet Bowl together, Bob!

Yeah, they will still be in the Kansas City metro area proper. Coach Andy Reid also quashed any rumors that Tyreek Hill might return to KC. He said "nothing's happening there" at this time. Things can always change, though. Hill would have to come in on a really cheap "prove it" deal to get back to KC.

I don't think so. I think they just have collegiate hockey and national teams. I'm not sure how financially viable a women's professional hockey league would be. My understanding is that the WNBA is barely viable.

2/22/2026 Strength Training Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x5, 145x3, 155x5. I need wrist wraps for this lift. My left wrist especially hurts on lift-off. Once it's out of the rack, it seems to be ok. I ordered a new pair as my oldest son has inherited my old pair. I'll play with my tolerance with the rep/set scheme as I move forward the next few weeks.

Regionals did not go well. Kenneth had his worst meet of the year. He had a bye first round, and then his first match up was against a very tall opponent he wrestled and lost to earlier in the year. Kenneth did well, though; he stayed tied up with him and got him to the mat a few times, but the kid was so tall he was able to leverage his way through and turn Kenneth. He ended up getting pinned in the third period. His first match on the backside was against a kid he had wrestled and beat 6 times this season. Well, the other kid won this time, in the first OT period. Kenneth had a great path on the backside ahead of him; all three opponents he had wrestled and beaten. He just didn't get it done this time, and the kid that did beat him in OT ended up qualifying for state. I've been sick to my stomach since then. It does sound like he plans on doing the Kid's season.

Last tournament was a mixed bag for Kenneth. He won his opening match, and his second round match was against a very good wrestler, who was ranked earlier in the season, and has pinned Kenneth every time they've wrestled so far. This time, Kenneth went all three periods with the kid, and lost by a score of 13-8. It was a very positive outcome, as he wrestled with him the entire match, and even got some offensive points. He's still got to improve his top game a bit. After that loss, he went backside and won his first backside match, and then faced a kid he'd wrestled several times this year and beat by pin every time. Well, this time the kid hung with Kenneth and Kenneth ended up losing the match by points. Kenneth needs to take a different approach with him if he wrestles him at regionals tomorrow. With the regional tournament looming, it's do-or-die time. Kenneth will have to place in the top 4 to get to state. This regional will be the strongest one in the state for his weight class, as well. I'll be back with results in a few days.

2/20/2026 Strength Training Deadlift: 135x5, 165x3, 185x2, 225x2. RDLs: 135x5, 135x5, 135x5. I have to be really careful with the deadlifts. That lift fills me up with a lot of pressure, and I don't want to send my head reeling. This lift will be a touchy one, and I'll really have to play with the set/rep scheme to see what I can get the most benefit out of. I may play with a rack pull to see if the shorter ROM is better for my head. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 7:45 pm. Started with several warmup rounds. The way things started out, I thought we were just going to be rolling for the night. But we spent the rest of class working on leg entanglements with the top player standing and the bottom player seated. We started simple with the first game having the top player try to pass to the side of the legs and the bottom player trying to stop it. The drills progressed to the bottom player trying to destabilize the top player and the top player defending it and trying to get one leg inside. That progressed to the bottom player starting with hooks at the ankles and working to destabilize and get one leg wrapped from inside the top player's leg around the outside and get the heel into their hip, and destabilize from there. Top player worked to get one leg inside and defend. My arms were sore from yesterday and they soon died off in class. I struggled to create the proper distance and angles to get the leg wrap. I got it a few times, but I struggled most of the night with it.

I'd be interested.