bushido_man96

As much as we talk about it, I'm not so sure that passion actually existed to the extent we think it did. We see a lot of great stories from "back in the day," but if we look at the stories from our own "day," I think we'll see similar amounts of stories. The things that seem to change are the things people dedicate themselves to. Anyways, just a thought, but I digress.... Who wrote this book you read? It sounds like he has quite the interesting story.

It's a bit worse than that in my case unfortunately, as if worn cartilage is not bad enough. I had an accident and few years ago. Unfortunately the x ray technician failed to spot the damage. The conclusion in a very busy A and E department was that nothing was broken, just badly bruised, and a few weeks of rest to light activity would fix it. It was about 2 years later when the problems persisted that an MRI and further xray analysis revealed that in fact the two joint surfaces had actually caved in. Fragments of broken bone from the smashed joint surfaces had moved and reset in the wrong position. If we'd realised this at the time, there's a chance that key hole surgery could have saved the joint. As it's all now well and truly set in the wrong place, it's a case of management until it either fuses or possibly a joint replacement. As grim as all that sounds though, in about 50% of similar cases, joint degradation stops, and it gets no worse for years. Wow! Yup. I'd defiantly move to an art with less trauma on the feet. Does kicking bother your feet, or just being on your feet in general? It varies. Most days, if I behave myself within my ability, then I'm fine on my feet. I'm also fine kicking most days. But I have to be a bit careful with the type of kick. Kicking to strike with the ball of the foot is a bad idea for me. To be honest I think ball of the foot strikes are a bad idea for anybody. It's basically arthritis waiting to happen. But many people get away with it. Not me. I can still do all the kicks in our arsenal, but I have to be very selective and when and how to use each. I'd never present a front kick as anything more than a distraction for example, because if I deliver it with power, it's going to potentially leaving me limping for a couple of weeks. The bizarre bouncing footwork characteristics of the likes of taekwondo and some styles of karate is out of the question for me. I can do the kangaroo bounce, but if I were to do it for more than a few bounces I'd be limping for a week. So in short, I can still do everything, but whereas many can do everything without thinking too much about it, I have to constantly think about the price I'll pay in terms of foot pain over the next week or more. I'm sorry to hear this. Its got to be rough, training with that kind of pain. It sounds like you are very aware of it, though, and do a good job of training around it. I think, for the most part, you don't have to worry about bouncing around a lot necessarily to be successful in TKD. I used to bounce a lot more, but now I don't. What I work on being better at now is using short, sharp footwork steps to get to the positions I need to attack or counter or avoid an attack. I think of the movements as more like Tai Sabaki, like in Aikido or some Karate. From what I've seen you write here, you've adapted your training to suit your body's needs. I don't think that will change no matter where you go train (accept maybe for BJJ; that might be a good option).

This is a good approach to take. Take your concerns to them. At least that way you know that they know. I would also mention that if you have trained over the course of several years, it can become more and more difficult to see the improvement. We all reach a point of diminishing returns, and as Martial Artists that means we force ourselves to work even harder to see just a tiny bit of improvement or change. Anyways, food for thought. Please keep us posted as you move forward in your journey here, and what course you decide to take.

Been training 25 years... I know I don't train nearly enough, that's for sure!

Free sparring is useful for learning and practicing strategies. The two sparring can agree to working on certain attack/counter strategies, and get lots of reps in doing it, without worry about the "break/point" stopping the match. This is super good for training. It can also be a great way to warm up or just blow off some steam with a buddy. Its great for drilling. Point sparring is important for applying the strategies you work on in the stressful environment where failure can happen.

Congrats!

Great question! Does my gym make profit? Yes. Could I live off it if I didn't have a day job? No. That's the reality of it. Now, this works out fine since it's not a primary income stream. There's also the fact I'm not paying tuition and the gym picks up my continuing education such as seminars etc. I think this is how 90% of the MA gyms around end up operating. Most of us do this as a hobby, and if we can get the hobby to pay for itself with just a little left over to play with, then we call it a win. I do agree with your opening post, Danielle. I don't have any issues at all with an instructor making money by teaching Martial Arts. Being able to cover expenses is great, but pulling enough of a profit to upgrade the school and even pay yourself as an instructor/owner is even better.

Thanks, Bob. I'm glad that made sense...I wasn't sure it did...

In TKD, we don't use the term sensei, and we don't really use any other Korean titles formally in class. I'm just called "mister" usually. But, for me, being recognized as a teacher, means to me that I have a responsibility to the students. Its my job to bring them along as students, and do the best I can to help them understand TKD. As a student (because I still am one), its looking to someone for some guidance in the things I may not quite understand yet, and helping to become the better me that they can make me. Its looking to someone who will tell me what I need to hear, and not what I might want to hear. Its someone who can hopefully help me find the answer that I might not be able to provide.

6/27/2018 TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:15 pm. Basics, stretch, forms (lots of black belt forms review today: Kwang Gae, Poe Eun, Yoo Sin, Choong Jang), one-steps (orange belt), and sparring.

It's a bit worse than that in my case unfortunately, as if worn cartilage is not bad enough. I had an accident and few years ago. Unfortunately the x ray technician failed to spot the damage. The conclusion in a very busy A and E department was that nothing was broken, just badly bruised, and a few weeks of rest to light activity would fix it. It was about 2 years later when the problems persisted that an MRI and further xray analysis revealed that in fact the two joint surfaces had actually caved in. Fragments of broken bone from the smashed joint surfaces had moved and reset in the wrong position. If we'd realised this at the time, there's a chance that key hole surgery could have saved the joint. As it's all now well and truly set in the wrong place, it's a case of management until it either fuses or possibly a joint replacement. As grim as all that sounds though, in about 50% of similar cases, joint degradation stops, and it gets no worse for years. Wow! Yup. I'd defiantly move to an art with less trauma on the feet. Does kicking bother your feet, or just being on your feet in general?

That's a good question. I think instead of trying to reinvent the wheel, I'd take moves that already portray distinct self-defense maneuvers and build my form out of them. Unless I figured something out from my own unfortunate experience of self-defense, and could come up with a way to mimic that movement that would look different than anything I've already seen in a form.

Best of luck!

Congratulations on your promotion! I'd say my toughest tests, physically anyway, have been my tests for shodan. All of the colored belt curriculum was required both times, along with the obligatory board breaking and sparring, which makes for a long day.

6/21/2018 Range Training: 4 hours of range, pistol and rifle. Even did some dueling tree competition. 6/25/2018 Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Basics, forms, one-steps, and sparring. Prior to class, I did Po Eun and Se Jong a couple of times each, and had decent stretch.

If you can kick that high, then I don't understand where the stiffness is coming in at. It could be more like you haven't trained your body to pull the leg back from that speed, and therefore you out-kick you ability to rechamber it, so to speak. Rechamber is important so that you are putting your body in a position of control after kicking. Most of our kicks have the same chamber and rechamber positions, based on the kick being done. Whether that is right or wrong could be a topic for discussion, but lets just pretend that for the time being we want our chamber and rechamber positions to be the same. If you want to throw a second round kick after that one, you are going to be hard pressed to do so from the position you end in. Your better option is a side kick, but unfortunately, due to that rechamber position, its about your only option without re-aligning your body to kick again. I'd say your best follow-up technique from there would be to go into a spinning technique of some kind with the other leg. That is not a bad follow-up, but once someone notices that its the only follow-up, you become easy to set up. Again, I don't believe stiffness is your issue. I'm pretty stiff myself these days, but I don't have issues with my rechambers. And when I try to slow it down a little, and stop the video as you start the kick, you aren't so stiff that you can't chamber it properly. If you can chamber properly, you can rechamber properly. Your main problem is you are over-rotating a bit.

I've found that keeping the hands closed while blocking tends to help with this. I don't get my fingers jammed up or my wrists hurt nearly as much.

You've come to the right place, Keith! Welcome to KF!

6/11/2018 TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Basics, stretch, forms (Choong Jang and Se Jong), and a little bit of one-step work. 6/13/2018 Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Basics, forms, one-steps. Before class, I got about 20 minutes of work in with black belt basics and three-steps. 6/18/2018 Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Basics, forms, one-steps, side kick work on the wall. Spent 20 minutes prior to class doing Se Jong, Po Eun, Do Kang 4, and three-steps 1 and 2.

In the first clip on the other post, I thought your rechamber looked more like that of a side kick than a round kick. In these pics of the already extended kick, all I see is an extended round kick.

In the first video of your kick, your rechamber was in the wrong place. It looked like you threw a round kick, and then rechambered it like a side kick with the foot in the wrong position (this was because you were kicking with the top of your foot). Your speed was good, faster than I can kick. But if you can't control it, then you need to slow down and work on technique and muscle control until you get the kick right. If you kick like that and miss, it puts you in a bad position to try to recover from. The kick to the bag was definitely better. But the kick in the air I don't think I'd let slide as an instructor. I'd take the time to work on fixing that part of it.

Congrats, shortyafter!

It sounds like you're talking about what I've heard referred to as a half-moon step, Bob. I don't step that way, either. My foot might come in toward my center line a little bit, but not a lot, and not all the way to the center line. I know of some styles that like to sweep the stepping foot along the ground, too, and I don't like that either. It just tends to be a difference in styles.

I've used both. In self-defense, most of my kicking is going to be pretty low, so I'll favor the shin over the instep. But, that will also be determined on how much the target is moving. I may plan to kick with the shin, but if the target backs away, the instep has to do the job. If I have my boots on, the instep will be tough to get as well, so then its the toes of the boots doing the job.

5/29/2018 Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Since it was the week after testing, we loosened things up a bit, and had a kicking class. After doing an abbreviated session of basics to warm up, I rolled out the Wavemasters and the kicking paddles, and we did a bunch of kicking. Good class and a nice change of pace. 5/30/2018 Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. For the meat of this class, I had the kids doing a forms challenge, testing them on their lower ranked material. The did really well for the most part, but there were a few forms we spent some time reviewing with the class. We finished up with some more kicking on the paddles. 6/6/2018 Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. After basics, we spent a lot of time on forms, learning new forms after getting testing results in.