bushido_man96

11/12, got a half hour of cardio work in. On Friday, 11/16, I did some forms work. Chon Ji up through Yul Gok, which is seven forms.

I find a couple of things to take away from this thread: You're basically talking about reaching the point of diminishing returns. We see skill sets and abilities increase quickly in beginners, and as they become more establish in their activity, its more and more difficult to see significant gains. Strength training works the same way. The flip side to it is that once you've worked so hard to get to that point, its necessary to keep working at it to maintain what you've got. But at the same time, at some point it might be better to look into developing a different skill set that is much weaker or inferior. Something else I take away is something that I believe Napoleon said: "quantity has a quality all its own," or something to that affect. Now, he was probably speaking about bulk troop numbers and the like, but I think its still applicable across the board. The will to put in a high volume of work to become good at something has its merits, too. Myself, personally, I don't really have any particular technique or combination that I practice like that anymore, and I have trouble remembering if I did that in my early days.

11/5, 11/7, and 11/10 were three more cardio days (M/W/F). On Wed and Fri, I got a full 30 minutes, uninterrupted, on the elliptical and bike, respectively. I'm not sure if its helping yet, but it can't be hurting. Soon, I should be able to start making it back to class.

I truly agree, to me the art is the personal expression beyond merely learning to perform a technique. To learn a new kata or kihon is to me - comparing it to music - to practice a new scale. This practice turns into art once I feel confident enough to start writing new songs using the new scale or confident enough to improvise - eventually even with my eyes closed - using that new scale. When the physical expression of internalised technical knowledge is so refined - or "pure" - that it has the ability to effect another human being on a deeper, emotional level, that is when form has become art to me. I understand the thoughts behind expression in Martial Arts, and I think it truly is the basis of "art," and when most practitioners talk about their "expression" of the art, the most common form of expression tends to be the use of forms or katas. I would add, however, to look even deeper than that, into the expression one can find in something like sparring, or rolling, or bag work, or breaking, or any of the myriad facets of training. There is so much to explore.

Running intervals can be helpful, if its done right. I'd recommend running stairs, if you can find a nice stadium to do it in. Otherwise, as JazzKicker mentioned, rounds on the bag is probably one of the better ways to do things. You can even do katas different ways to help with stamina. You can do it once through really slowly and with tension, then you can do it be really blasting the moves out as fast and hard as you can. Technique will dip, but you can work on that in a later set. Now, with all that aside, I'm really sorry to hear about the state of your current school. That really sucks. I think you've got a good plan, though, with a goal to reach, so see it through. What do you plan to do after you quit the school?

Congrats!

Interesting article. Its no secret that I'm a parent with kids in various sports. I'm very supportive of my kids, and I expect them to practice hard in order to perform to the best of their abilities. I also try to be supportive of coaches, and let them do their jobs. If I have questions, I ask them. Now, in my experience, I haven't seen the extreme of a parent going onto a field and attacking a ref, and for the most part, the parents are pretty laid back in the crowds. I see some parents get aggravated over a ref's call at times, but I've never seen it get too out of hand. I have been guilty of calling out an opinion on what I thought was an obviously missed call, and have since done my best to temper myself from doing that. By and large, in my neck of the woods, parents tend to keep themselves under control. The last sentence of the article bothered me somewhat, though... As a parent, I want to be involved in what my kids are doing. I want to watch their progress and make sure they pay attention to the coaches, work hard, etc. I don't like it when I have to drop my kid off and not watch their practices.

I got some more cardio in on 10/31 and 11/2, Wednesday and Friday. The elliptical seems to give me the most workout, but the bike is a nice change of pace.

This is interesting, and sounds promising. They've laid out some goals in their agreement, so it doesn't just look like a bunch of platitudes. There's still a lot of ground for them to cover, but this look like a good first step.

No advise, other than have a fun time! Sounds like a fun trip!

KC keeps rolling, and that offense is something else. Unfortunately, so is the defense. That will be what holds them back.

Congrats to the Boston Red Sox. I did see that the Yankees signed up CC for another season. You like the signing, Bob?

Welcome to KF!

I got the same message, using Explorer.

We do allow parents to watch the classes. The caveat is that the parents are informed that our MA class isn't like other sports, where parents tend to interject their own expertise into what their kids are doing from the sidelines, i.e., the back of the room. There's no cheering and yelling during sparring, either. If the parents have questions, I'm always available after class to talk, and if they want things to work on, I'll send a few points of focus home with them to help their child work on. Its a pretty good system, and has served us well so far. As a parent myself, I love to see parents invested in what their kids are doing.

More cardio....10/24, 10/26, and on 10/29. I'm usually hopping on the elliptical right now, which tends to work my legs more, but doesn't mess with my knees much. Right now, I'm averaging four days per week. I'm happy with that.

And so is the Instructor who will remind!! Yes indeed!

The journey changes as we go along, and making those changes helps me to learn more about myself and what I can and can't do, and how to learn how to do what I can't do, again.

This is a tough one. When I was a beginner, I looked to higher ranks, especially the black belts, as being proficient. They made things look so easy. When I got to that rank myself, I liked to view myself as proficient, but still with a lot to learn (I still feel that way). As an instructor, being proficient means being able to hold your own at the front of a class, demonstrating, teaching, and helping the students learn the things that they probably assume I make look easy. I think the quote Bob had from Bruce Lee sums things up quite nicely.

Thanks, Bob, that's kind of you to say!

Ok, so I've been off a while. Its that point in the year where my schedule rotates me to afternoon and early evening shifts, which interfere with just about everything a normal person wants to do with his life. But now, I've got time to get to the gym, and priority one is to drop some weight. So I've made a deal with the devil, I mean Cardio, and have spent the past three sessions doing some elliptical and bike work at the gym. On 10/20 and 10/22/2018, I spent around 20 minutes on ellipticals. Today, 10/23/2018, I spent about 35 minutes on bike, and then did a light stretch.

Pre-pivot. What I mean is, instead of twisting the support foot as you kick, turn your support foot to the position you want it to be in prior to executing the kick. For example, if I do a right leg side kick, then I point my left foot with the heel towards the target before chambering the leg and kicking. This helps to ensure I'm in the proper position, and saves the knee a little bit of stress.

Great you've made it back. I've been on hiatus as of late, too, due to work and life schedules. I hope to be back on that MA horse soon, too. That first class back is rough. The first week back is rough. But, muscle memory is a wonderful thing.

I like that idea, Patrick...a lot!! I hope that they do someday. Who knows, maybe they'll both be future members....As for the season, it has not started yet. Kendall finished up his first season of middle school football just a few weeks ago, and Kenneth will finish up his first year of football this coming weekend. I think the middle school season starts in January or something like that. The Kid's Wrestling program should kick up towards the end of November, early December.

He may very well be a male chauvinist. If that’s the case, keep pairing up with someone else. It’s his issue to deal with, you don’t have to change anyone. You made a great point - we all need to adjust what we’re doing depending on who we’re partnered with. While I don’t spar with the younger ones very often, I have to go easier with them. There are a few women who I go easier with. There are also adult men who I go easier with. Then there are people with injuries and/or medical issues. To go all out with everyone doesn’t do anyone any good. Sparring partners are exactly that - partners. You should push your partner to work hard and keep him/her out of their comfort zone. Completely dominating and overwhelming them doesn’t do them any good, and it doesn’t do you much good either. I typically spar with two 3rd dans and a 4th dan on Tuesday nights. I’m a 1st kyu. They go at me, and I go right back at them. But I know they’re not going as hard as they possibly can. They’re pushing me hard enough to improve. When I get stupid and think I can keep up with everything they’ve got, I’m reminded of how far off I am during stuff like promotional tests. I just tested for 1st kyu last Monday night. They came at me far harder that night than they consistently do on Tuesday nights, that’s for sure. And I know they have more than they gave me that night. You go as hard as your partner can handle and walk away learning and improving. Some people can’t handle my 50%, and I wouldn’t be able to handle others’ 50%. The point is for everyone to work together and improve, not to walk in and dominate everyone in sight. Male, female, child, adult, injured, in perfect health; everyone should be reasonably pushed to their own individual limits. Just because I’m a man doesn’t mean every woman’s limits are significantly lower than mine. In fact, my limits are significantly lower than several women I train alongside. I think you might be going a bit rough by claiming he's a chauvinist. He was probably just raised that way, and he sticks to it. I don't think that's a bad thing at all. If he's been raised to never raise a hand to a woman, no matter the circumstance, then it probably translates to anything he does. He may just never feel comfortable with a high level of contact with a female, for fear of causing injury by accident. But who knows... What you could consider is speaking to you instructor about it, and maybe the three of you sitting down and hashing things out. It might help, or it might not. In the end, you should probably respect his wishes as much as he respects yours.