bushido_man96

5/24/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x3, 220x5, 220x5, 220x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 145x5, 145x5, 145x5. Power Cleans: 75x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3. LTE: 50x10, 50x10, 50x10. Barbell Curls: 70x10, 70x10, 70x10.

In our system, the stripe through the belt is the "low" rank, and a solid is a "high" rank; so we have a low orange belt rank that comes before hi orange belt rank. Check with your instructor about how the rank system works, to be sure.

5/22/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 170x3, 215x5, 215x5, 215x5. Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 80x3, 105x5, 105x5, 105x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 205x1, 255x5. Barbell Rows: 115x10, 120x10, 120x10. Loaded the wrong weight on the rows for the first set, but oh well. Its just accessory work, anyways. I really felt like I was hitting the rebound out of the hole on the squats, and I haven't added the belt yet. Belt, chalk, and a hook grip on the deadlift work set felt good; focused on "chest up," and that helped get the back locked into place.

5/21/2019 MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Pre-class: went through Do-Kang 2 and Yoo Sin with some students. Basics: regular basics; again focusing on stepping back in back stances, and also tried to focus on using the hips to generate power, especially in the knife hand strikes; I found I was having balance issues kicking today, which was frustrating. Stretch: mainly split stretching, seated and not seated, working the middle and to the sides. Forms: Choong Jang; probably for the first time, it felt really good. I'm starting to find where I can string techniques together. One-steps: white belt, going through them several times, breaking things down more and more as testing draws closer. Then did three-step sparring, #1-3. Starting to get the hang of them, and not thinking about them so much. Sparring: no pads, so like a testing setting. One round of combinations with white belt, then testing sparring with an orange belt, and then with a third dan. I still focused on my lead-leg sparring strategy, doubling up kicks where possible, and using a lead leg side kick like a boxing jab. Also sat out and observed some of the kids sparring, and talked them through some strategies. While sparring the orange belt, I slowed things down and worked through strategies and tactics with him. He's a tall, big man, so I worked on things that can help him out as he develops. Post-class: did some more stretching, and worked on Yoo Sin with the third dan.

That is super helpful. If I ever find enough interest in making it worth your while, I will let you know!

5/14/2019 MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Basics: really focusing on moving backwards in back stances, as there are segments of my form that do that, and I feel like I haven't been sticking the landing into the back stances when stepping backwards. Stretch. Forms: Choong Jang. One-steps: white belt and the last of the high orange belt one-steps, and then the black belts worked on the first two of our three-step sparring. Sparring: some combinations, and then a few rounds of sparring, continuing to work on my front-leg side-on approach to sparring. Doubling up kicks is tough in spots, but its getting better. 5/15/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 170x3, 210x5, 210x5, 210x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x3, 140x5, 140x5, 140x5. Power Clean: 65x3, 110x3, 110x3, 110x3, 110x3, 110x3. LTE: 47x10, 47x10, 47x10. Barbell Curls: 67x10, 67x10, 67x10. Racking the clean is being a pain in the butt. Working on that. The bench press is coming along nicely, though, and I look forward to moving more weight, and hopefully pushing my press up along with it. MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Basics: seemed to move faster today, which wore me out a little, but that's ok. Again concentrated on stepping backwards into back stances, to help with my form. Stretch: pretty quick stretch, as class was smaller tonight, with less time spent doing forms. Forms: Choong Jang, working on the stepping backwards into back stances, also my stomps, and the spin-around I have to do after a front snap kick into a controlled front stance facing the other way. One-steps: white belt, and then worked 1-4 of our three-step sparring. Sparring: combinations only tonight, as one-steps went longer. Post-class: stretched out some more.

That would be fun, if I could figure out anyone that would be interested in it. The Aikido club here does some paired weapons practice with jo, bo, and bokken, so some of them might be into it. Our TKD school does no weapons work, so everything I've done on my own has just been dabbling in things I've read. How would a seminar work? I have no swords of my own that are suitable for any kind of practice.

Thanks for sharing the videos, Noah. The third one wouldn't play for me, but the first two were very informative. I could see very many places where I envisioned my son shooting a takedown or working some other wrestling maneuver. I think something like this can be very helpful in training.

Other than the advise already given, all I can suggest is to listen to your instructor, and work very hard to implement the methods he is trying to impart in you. Its tough to do, but try to leave your Karate-kicking style outside when you come in the door, and really focus on the MT components of kicking. Lots more follow-through, I'm guessing, and with the round kicks, you really turn your hips into them. The key here, is to really learn the MT way of kicking, and when you get proficient at it, you'll be able to see ways to work both ways of kicking into your sparring. Its all a matter of time. I will say this: its never a waste of time to learn something new.

Happy Mother's Day!

I've got some of the reproduced fechtbuchs. Love them. Absolutely love them. If I had a place to train around here, I'd do it. Well, if you ever get down to Wichita, look up a guy named Robert Trudeau. He is a former training partner of mine. Also look up a guy named Chris Holzman, probably the best military saber guy I have ever known. I am unaware of any HEMA specific groups in Hays, but also look in to your local SCA group. At the very least you will find sparring partners there. No HEMA in Hays, and we used to have and SCA group, and we sparred often, but it all folded up, and the nearest group that actually met to do things was abuut an hour and a half drive away. I haven't checked the ARMA website lately, but I need to, to see if there are any new books they are recommending.

YouTube Red no longer exists, in a sense. It has been renamed YouTube Premium. If subscription YouTube folds, no matter what it’s called, I’d be willing to bet the series gets sold to someone like Netflix. I’m pretty sure the series was pitched to several companies with some interest, but I don’t think they foresaw the viewership numbers it actually drew. I’m quite certain someone else would want it, and with a company like Netflix backing it, I’m sure the budget would be far bigger. I have YouTubeTV, and that's how I watch it. I wonder if they are trying to push YouTube Premium subscribers to YouTube TV?

5/8/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 165x3, 200x5, 200x5, 200x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5. Power Clean: 105x3, 105x3, 105x3, 105x3, 105x3. LTE: 45x10, 45x10, 45x10. Barbell Curls: 65x10, 65x10, 65x10. 5/13/2019 Strength Trainng Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 165x3, 205x5, 205x5, 205x5. Press: 45x5x2, 70x5, 102x5, 102x5, 102x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 250x5. Barbell Rows: 115x10, 115x10, 115x10. Chalk and belt this time on deadlifts, and switched to a hook grip, too.

Same, sorry to here about that. But its great that you've got interviews lined up, and hopefully you won't be out of the game for too long.Congrats to your son on his tournament experience. They are a great time. My experiences with our tournaments have been opposite than yours here. The TKD tournaments our school has bee attending don't allow the kids to do head kicks anymore, not until they are 14 or something I think. Personally, I don't like it. It narrows the scoring area too much, and doesn't allow for the skill and strategy that head kicking allows. But at the same time, control needs to of paramount importance. I remember a time when both could be done.

I like what you've laid out here, and I think it is definitely something that should be observed for any style working with a foundation in forms/kata. The way you described it in the first paragraph, the image I got in my head was of the tournament fighting scenes in Enter The Dragon, where they lined up with contact wrist-to-wrist, and then fought from there. I'm not sure if this is right or not, but this is where my mind went in your initial description. When Bob and I trained together, Bob showed me some drilling work with this kind of focus, and I think it is very valuable, and like you said, once the gist of it is picked up, it can easily be modified to incorporate variations. I do hope you are able to post some examples of this on your channel; being able to put pictures to the words will really open things up. Thanks for sharing this, and I look forward to the continued discussion!

Congratulations on hitting this milestone, Alex! You've been such an important part of this community for so long, and the community is so much the better with you being a part of it. You have always been helpful and insightful, and the community benefits greatly from this. Here's to the next 10 years!

5/6/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 165x3, 195x5, 195x5, 195x5. Press: 45x5x2, 70x5, 100x5, 100x5, 100x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 245x5. Barbell Rows: 110x10, 110x10, 110x10. Chalk helped with the deadlifts. A lot. 5/7/2019 MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Basics: some more modified basics again today, doing back leg push kicks, different combinations, and axe kicks. Stretch: quick stretch, as there were quite a few high ranks in class, and forms went quick. One-steps: white belt and low orange belt. Sparring: several rounds, but all with kids, so I spent more time working with them on various techniques and strategies. Post-class: finished stretching.

Well, the power vs. speed urban legend would be the one that states the two are independent of each other, when in fact, they are not. Power is the first derivative of strength, and is the ability to express strength quickly. Quickly referring to speed. They are both fundamental fitness attributes, and both are important.

Congrats, Fat Cobra!

5/3/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 190x5, 190x5, 190x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 130x5, 130x5, 130x5. Power Cleans: 95x3x2, 100x3, 100x3, 100x3, 100x3, 100x3. LTE: 42x10, 42x10, 42x10. Barbell Curls: 62x10, 62x10, 62x10. Catching the clean was quite a mess, really. Got to focus on the technique a little bit as I go.

Happy Birthday, Mo!

5/1/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x5, 185x5, 185x5. Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x5, 95x5, 95x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 235x5. Barbell Rows: 105x10, 105x10, 105x10. Dropping to one work set of deadlifts now. Its also time to get the chalk out. Grip was failing on the last rep. Next week, I think I'll add the power clean, and see how my knees tolerate it. MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Basics: basics were "conditioning basics" today, so we basically were doing basics for a minute or two straight, then getting a short break. Some things were changed up a bit. My left knee really hurt at the beginning, but once I got into the second grouping of basics, the pain subsided, and I went on normally (except for being really tired). Stretch: felt like I got pretty loose today, which was nice. Forms: Choong Jang, and it felt pretty good today. I've found it tough to try to combo some of the moves together, so focused on really individualized techniques in spots, which helped. Having trouble with a tricky turn and balance on one leg. One-steps: white belt and orange belt. Sparring: I tried to approach with a strategy of using only front leg kicks or a spin side kick off the back leg. I worked on doubling kicks up with round kicks, and also worked on front leg hook kicks. Out of three rounds, I did end up throwing one back leg round kick in there. Post-class: worked on a "switching" spin side kick with a blue belt, addressing a position he had been in while we were sparring, and broke down some technical bits on it. Also stretched again.

Yes, you are right. It takes bag training and makes it more interactive. Being able to alternate rounds between that, a heavy bag, and a speed bag would make for great workout variety.

Yeah, those are limits. Punches to the body only, which is protected by a vest most of the time, and typically an emphasis on kicking, but above the belt and not to the back.

I start by saying, "Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light...?"