bushido_man96

Happy belated Birthday to you!

Well done! A fantastic milestone!

I've not been able to bring myself to watch this series yet. Is it enjoyable?

I do love that movie. It is quite moving at the end. Part 2 is watchable, but I haven't seen any of the others.

I do want to see this. I'm interested to see how the interactions are going to change or be the same between Johnny and Daniel. We were considering getting YouTubeTV, which comes with YouTubeRed, but it isn't available in our area for some reason, so I don't know if or when I'll get to see it.

Years ago, my old TKD club in my hometown trained at the National Guard Armory. Its a big area, but concrete floors. That might be another option to consider.

3/27/2018 Strength Training Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3; work sets: 127.5x5, 127.5x5, 127.5x5. Lat Pull-downs: 135x10, 135x10, 135x10. Squat: 127.5x5, 127.5x5, 127.5x5. Barbell Curls: 61x10, 61x10, 61x10. 3/31/2018 TKD Testing: 11:00 am - 1:00 pm. We had a good group of testing candidates, and all of them performed very well. Our Grandmaster also came out as a special guest judge, which was great for the students.

I don't do crunches, sit-ups, or any of those kinds of exercises. I get my ab work in at the gym, doing the basic barbell exercises, which, when done properly, are used to stabilize the trunk during the exercises, and thus making them stronger.

What I think OneKickWonder is saying is that just training more doesn't necessarily means that you are training better. Also, I think its important to note that many people who train in Martial Arts are doing so by working Martial Arts into the very limited amount of free time they have in their lives. This is very difficult, and finding the time to add extra training sessions can become difficult. This contributes to the common student's lack of availability to spend time training.

....and you just broke it!

Higher Self, I have not ever trained with Steve Mackey, or under Bushidokan Karate. Where is he located at? Topeka or Wichita area? I live in Hays, more towards central/western KS. Where are you from?

With this noted, and continuing the devil's advocacy that seems to be defining this thread, then when does a white belt become a Martial Artist? Is it when the student decides to dedicate themselves to learning the system? Does it require a certain amount of training time? Is one not a Martial Artist until they can display proficiency in a style?

Tai Chi might be easier on my knees than TKD!

3/19/2018 Strength Training Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3; work sets: 127.5x5, 127.5x5, 127.5x5. Lat Pull-downs: 135x10, 135x10, 135x10. LTE: 54x10, 54x10, 54x10. MA Training Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:10 pm. Basics (I performed about half of basics with the class, since it was a small class), forms, one-steps, and then, instead of sparring, I rolled the bags out to do some kicking and movement drills. After some kicking on the bags, I had the students working on side-stepping to cut an angle, and then follow up with a shuffle-stepping round kick. 3/20/2018 MA Training TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:15 pm. Basics (lots of different basics added in today, doing lots of inside and outside crescent kicks and axe kicks with the front and back legs), stretch, forms (Choong Jang), one-steps (white, blue, brown belt), and some sparring drills and sparring. I tried to work on my side-stepping and working angles. I was able to pull off some repeat kicking, and moved ok.

Great post, JR.

That's a good question. Like the similarity between Ki and Qi and Chi. I think they are different spellings for a similar thing, but I am not for sure, either.

Lots of good information here so far. I agree with DWx in that some research needs to be done in order to determine why attendance is down. It could be any number of factors, including, but not limited to, kids being interested in other things, classes being too long/too short/bad times (scheduling), adults being busy with other aspects of their lives (again, could be a scheduling issue), or your instructor's focus, teaching style, availability, etc. Any one of these, or a combination thereof, could be contributing to lack of attendance. I don't think a name change will fix anything. Is the instructor planning on changing his entire curriculum? If so, that could have its own problems, and he will definitely need a plan to implement the new curriculum. Does the instructor not teach self-defense at all? Many schools included the term "self-defense" somewhere in their description. This would usually suffice, I think. I agree with OneKickWonder that not all schools teach self-defense, but I'm of the opinion that self-defense should at the very least end up being a side-effect of Martial Arts training. If it is not at least a side-effect, then I think there is something wrong with the approach. But that is just my two cents worth.

I like and agree with pretty much everything you’re saying, but I have one thing to add... The inherent difference between wrestling and karate (and pretty much every belted MA) is while there’s no belts/ranks in wrestling, there’s a lot of competition. Wrestlers will use their competition as a measure of progress and success. And there’s an off-season. If karate had the same amount of competition and off-season, I think the belts could easily go by the way-side for kids. A record is a quick and tangible reminder/indicator of progress. Take away the whole or almost the whole competition aspect from wrestling where all they’re doing is practicing against each other week in and week out, and a lot of kids are going to get bored with it, regardless of how fun the coach makes it, how much they’re actually improving, etc. Adults like to see tangible and measurable progress in pretty much any endeavor. Kids significantly more so. Furthermore, kids in wrestling, and pretty much any other sport, who don’t see any success don’t stick around very long. How many kids willingly and excitedly come back after an “0-for” season? How many kids would come back to karate without being promoted for a long time? In their minds they failed. I think competition is a part of it, but I don't think its all of it. I've seen some pretty mediocre kids that just love it and keep coming back. The off-season could be part of it, too. But, with that said, Karate typically has plenty of competition available, and it doesn't really have a season, so tournaments can be found year round (the same can be said for Wrestling). Perhaps rotating MA seasons would help kids out?

They do enjoy it, although no one enjoys losing. Kendall's year has been spent on the bottom half of 12U, which means the top half is full of 13 year olds who are starting to or have hit puberty, thus they are more physically developed, taller, stronger, etc. So, its just a tough way to go. Next year, he will hopefully have grown and matured some, which will help him out the way its helped out others above him this year. Kenneth is still young and learning, and I'm proud of the progress he's made this year. He won't progress like Kendall, as they are two very different ducks. We'll keep working and improving, and things will fall where they do.

No, its not rubbish. There is a counter for everything, and the best way to avoid getting locked up is to not get there in the first place. Its a testament to training, in my opinion. This kind of training should push a student to learn new ways to set up their techniques, so as to hide the fact that they are coming, or cause the opponent to be concerned about some other threat, perceived or not, and use it to set up the initial threat.

That's a rough setup, Lupin. When your student body is that transitional, I can see how its difficult to keep things consistent. I hear a lot about the changing/adding of ranks for kids because they have short attention spans, want to see more results more often, etc, but I wonder if that truly is the case or not. I say this because of my exposure to wrestling. We seem to consistently have the same kids coming out every year for wrestling, and they stick with it throughout the season. And there are no belts, no ranks given out. More than the ranks we pass out, I think as instructors we have to consider our curriculum, as well. If it stagnates and becomes monotonous, then that can become a problem. Its important to keep challenging our students, and helping them to learn something new every day if we can.

Wise words.

Now, I will say that I don't know that I would drop a student's dues completely to zero. I would work with the student or their parents to find a solution that is affordable for them, and may perhaps include helping out around the dojang as well.

3/16/2018 Strength Training Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3; work sets: 125x5, 125x5, 125x5. Lat Pull-downs: 130x12, 130x12, 130x12. Barbell Curls: 61x10, 61x10, 61x10.

Districts was last weekend, and it was a tough weekend indeed. Kendall went 0-3, and for the first time since he was 8 years old, is sitting out of participation at state. So, we'll be working during the off-season and getting ready for next year. Kenneth went 0-3, but did some better wrestling. He had a chance to win his first match, but just couldn't quite finish. The other two matches were against some good wrestlers, but he did his best to stay with them, though, and since there were only 4 in his bracket, he qualifies for the state tournament, which is in a few weeks.