bushido_man96

There are some who do and some who don't charge for testing fees. Personally, I don't hold it against instructors that do. Its their business, literally and figuratively, and as long as the student understands the arrangement, then there's no concern. Some instructors work as a non-profit, and some don't. I'm fine either way. If by paying testing fees it helps the instructor keep the school in good shape and purchases great training equipment for the students to use, then I'm all for it.

3/13/2018 Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:15 pm. Big class tonight. Basics, forms, and one-steps tonight. At the end of one-steps training, I went over some finer points of some of the one-steps where the pulling hand is an important aspect of the technique, and why its important, keeping power and control in the center, etc. I also explained a little how the one-steps act as templates for more advanced self-defense, if you know how to read into them.

Agreed, those are all good guidelines to follow. I've got some videos of forms I've done on youtube, but I've got them marked as private, and use them for reference for myself, or to share here from time to time.

Welcome to KF! What styles do you practice?

I totally agree. Economy of motion becomes the hallmark of the older, more experienced Martial Artist, and I really think it is due to necessity. The older we get, the harder it is to get loose, get warmed up, and generally move the body around. For me, a jumping, spinning side kick has become a switch-foot spin side kick that doesn't get too high off the ground, but is aimed to drive into the ribs and drive that young pup back and away from me. Or, I close in fast and "hook" them on the arm just a bit, and then rain blows down over the top of them with my other hand. Its these little things in life that bring a smile to my face anymore.

Not being a Karate guy, could someone please define Tegumi for me?

Along with great power comes great responsibility. (Have no idea who said that ). The bottom line is it is a responsibility to know when to use our skills and to what extent. To be able to identify a real threat or just someone talking big with no real intention. Empathy, humility and common sense play a huge factor. Those that would use skills easily are beginners that have no real understanding of the skills they possess or what damage they can do. I think this falls down to two parts of responsibility. One the instructor not only teaching but informing. And two the individuals knowing what they can do and when it is appropriate to use their skills. As MA'ist this becomes our way of life and beyond learning and perfecting the skills comes the individual responsibility to know when to use them and to what extent. To the bold above, you took the words right out of my mouth. Teaching the techniques we do teach is the easy part, really. Teaching our students when and how to recognize danger, and then how to deal with it appropriately, is the tougher part. That being the case, its so important that we spend the necessary time teaching it.

For the most part, we can video some of the testings. I've taken videos of my tournaments in the past to study things and get better. I've also filmed students doing forms before, and then had them watch the video with me, and point out exactly what I'm talking about when I tell them to fix this or that. It gives the a different point of reference, and helps them to see it better at times. A very useful training tool.

I feel slow, too. I find when sparring these young guys and girls, I tend to let them be the more active ones, burn themselves down some, and be more precise with when and where I throw techniques. Some days, of course, are better than others.

3/5/2018 Strength Training Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5; work sets: 115x5, 115x5, 115x5. Squat: 115x5, 115x5, 115x5. Lat Pull-downs: 130x10, 130x10, 130x10. Barbell Curls: 55x10, 55x10, 55x10. LTE: 51x10, 51x10, 51x10. 3/7/2018 Strength Training Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3; work sets: 117.5x5, 117.5x5, 117.5x5. Squat: 117.5x5, 117.5x5, 117.5x5. Lat Pull-downs: 130x12, 130x12, 130x12. Barbell Curls: 57x10, 57x10, 57x10. LTE: 52x10, 52x10, 52x10. Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:10 pm. Basics, forms, one-steps, sparring. After the sparring rounds, we worked on some more footwork and countering drills. 3/12/2018 Strength Training Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3; work sets: 120x5, 120x5, 120x5. Lat Pull-downs: 130x12, 130x12, 130x12. Barbell Curls: 60x10, 60x10, 60x10. Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:10 pm. Basics (14 in class tonight, so really moved through them), forms, one-steps, sparring. After finishing one-steps, I went over one of the orange belt one-steps that involves a trip and then face punch to finish. A lot of the students tend to want to get lazy, and the attackers just fall down for the defenders, because they know the takedown is coming. So, I made it a point to focus on making the defender perform the takedown, and the attacker working on falling properly. This is especially important for the lower ranks early on. For sparring, I did shorter rounds, and rotated them through often, but didn't give them much of a break between matches, just to keep them moving and fighting through being tired.

Its a good question, and one well worth considering. I follow a guy who talks extensively about weight training with the big barbell movements, one of the main ones being the squat. When asked about the necessity of stretching, he's fond of saying that if an athlete can perform a proper depth parallel squat, then the athlete is sufficiently flexible. With that said, I think it depends on what a particular practitioner wants to accomplish. If you like to do head kicks, but lack the natural flexibility to do so, then you'll have to spend some time stretching. But, I think as Martial Artists in general, we get stuck in the rut of thinking that static stretching is the only way to go. Getting the body good and warmed up, and then using dynamic stretching techniques that force you to move your body into the positions the activity demands will help the body to attain the necessary flexibility to perform the movement, over time. Now, when you think about the kind of combat military or law enforcement personnel will get into, developing flexibility isn't a major point of concern (I'm an LEO, and teach police defensive tactics, so I have experience here). The duty belt we wear severely limits the types of kicks we can do and how high we can do them. I'm not going to be kicking much over belt high, and most of the kicking I teach are front snapping kicks, front thrust kicks, and low round kicks. The basic idea is strike targets below the waist with the feet, and targets above the waist with the hands. Its simple and allows us to work to our duty belt to end the fights. So, with waist down kicking, flexibility isn't a major concern.

When I teach the "blocks," I teach to keep the arc of travel to the endpoint in a tight arc. Middle blocks have the arm at about 90 degrees. High blocks finish like yours, a fist width from the head and a fist width above the forehead. Down blocks finish no more than 6 inches above the knee.

This is a very good question! I am at a very different position in this equation than you are, being that I am typically neither the most high-ranking nor the most senior member of my dojo where I train (I have trained for 18 years, but at my dojo many have trained for over 40 years). However, I encounter these kinds of self-inflated beginners often, and I say that they are all 'beginners' because if a person is trying to boost their reputation in the dojo by establishing dominance over someone as easygoing and superficially non-threatening as me, they generally are pretty bad at karate and are looking for the lowest bar they can jump . Out of respect for those who have more experience than I do, I usually try to do more listening than talking in the dojo, and am fairly polite to everyone, since I dislike the picking-on-lower-rank thing that some people do in their clubs. Some beginners misinterpret my politeness as weakness, and as such, attempt to disregard my words when I do offer advice. .... I actually kind of love it when this happens, because I feel like I get an excuse to let loose a little. -for the betterment of the kohai! You know sensei8, this has been a theme I've always enjoyed in your posts. I couldn't agree more! I'll cite an example of one beginners' class I taught at my college dojo to demonstrate how I deal with this kind of thing. I was conducting a fairly standard introductory class, nothing out of the ordinary. The big idea of the class was standing, moving, and using basic hand techniques while in back stance. One 3-week old white belt (about 6' muscular 19-year-old guy) chimes in "It makes literally NO sense to stand this way!" me: "It is hard at first, but it gets easier. Keep trying!" him: "No, I mean that you're wrong. It's so much easier if I stand like this!" me: "That's a different stance, but it doesn't work for these techniques, so we're not going to practice that right now." him: ~"Maybe it just doesn't work for you."~ me: "Okay... How about you stand your way with knifehand block, and I'll stand my way, let's see who can push the other person's arm to the side. Ready?... Go!" -he hit the floor -he stood up, put his arm back on mine, he hit the floor -he stood up, ... paused, then put his arm back on mine. He wobbled when I pushed, but didn't fall over. him: "See! It works my way too!" me: "Nope. Look at your feet." He was standing in a very good back stance the way I was trying to teach it to him. A quite solid post!! And from the description, a solid stance! Excellent teaching!

That's great news! Indomitable spirit indeed!

I'm basically of the belief that life is not fair in general, and to wait for it to become so is a futile effort. My dad always told me "don't sweat the small stuff, and its all small stuff."

I agree. Also, I have an issue with demotion if it involves the physical taking of a belt. The student earned that belt (and likely paid for it), so, to me, taking that away from someone is pretty much theft. If it is something that I felt that I absolutely had to do, I would take to the Grandmaster at the head school about just having the demotion made in the records of the HQ school. Just out of curiosity: How many schools make students pay for their belts? Our color belts are given to us (no testing fee what so ever.) Black belt testing costs something like $100, but that covers a new uniform, embroidered belt and whatever paperwork our master instructor needs to fill out to register black belts with the WT. This arrangement has been the norm for me since the start of my training, back in the early '90s. I don't see anything wrong with charging testing fees, as there are usually expenses involved with them, like purchasing the belts, providing for guest instructors at times, etc. Another reason I like to see them as separate fees is because that way I only charge a student to test when they choose to test.

Here's an update, after a long delay. Kendall has had a really rough go as of late. At our local tournament this past weekend, Kendall went 0-2 and was eliminated, which was pretty rough for him. He has done well in the past years at our tournament, and he likes to do well in the local arena (who doesn't?). Kenneth was 1-3 against some really tough kids that were good enough to toy with him, but placed 4th. Now, districts are up this weekend. The brackets are out, and Kendall has a bye in the first round, and for some odd reason, an area wrestler that has been performing well isn't in the bracket. I don't know why, but it seems odd, as this kid has been having success in the area. If Kendall can win a match, I think he can place high enough to qualify for state. He just have to mentally win the match first. Kenneth, on the other hand, has a fast track into the state tournament. The top 4 go, and he is in a four-man round robin bracket, so, he qualifies. Not the way I'd prefer to see it, but I'm glad that he will get this experience, and perhaps it will give him some motivation to build on going forward. I'll post district results next week.

I agree. Also, I have an issue with demotion if it involves the physical taking of a belt. The student earned that belt (and likely paid for it), so, to me, taking that away from someone is pretty much theft. If it is something that I felt that I absolutely had to do, I would take to the Grandmaster at the head school about just having the demotion made in the records of the HQ school.

It'd be great to be able to split kids from adults in my school... not enough students, though. I frequently end up being paired off with a 10 year old green belt to train (he's the only other green belt who currently attends.) They to have us practice throws on each other... Incredibly difficult! He weighs like 70lb, and is about 4" tall. I'm 5'10" and 185lb. I do like the fact we have a total of 2 hours per session in our school, though. I agree, and our school has bounced back and forth between the split classes in the past. Currently, our classes are mixed, but the instructor has made a slight adjustment in the class structure to help out a bit. For basics and forms, the class just runs as normal; basics all together and forms by rank. But when we line up for one-steps and sparring, adults face adults in the front of the room, and kids face kids by rank towards the back half of the room. Its nice, in that adults stay paired with adults and kids with kids, so there aren't a whole lot of mismatches.

I think there are several points to consider here. For one, I think a lot of instructors tend to train alone more than with a class. All too often, they spend their time instructing the class, and not working on their own things. With that said, it can become difficult to really understand what it is your body is doing without a peer or superior rank watching and commenting on it. Now, having said that, the other side of the coin is that this is improvement and not otherwise. As we perform physical actions over and over again, the movements we do become in grained in us. This is often referred to as "muscle memory," but it probably has less to do with the muscles and more to do with the nervous systems and how the motor pathways affect it through the movement. The more often we do the same movements, the more ingrained it becomes in our body, and thus the more easily it appears that we are able perform a task that we have repeated over and over again. If we see the same person doing the same thing everyday, we don't notice the incremental changes that take place (like boiling a frog, I guess). After a period of time it occurs to us (perhaps due to some kind of reminder of the past) that there are differences there we did not notice before.

I once read an article that discussed a surgeon who warmed up with Katamari Damascy for at least 20 minutes before he would operate. That's pretty cool. The exercises the physio gave were just trying to touch each finger with your joint and squeezing a stress ball. Xbox was more fun Them my kids will have quite the dexterous fingers! Its great to hear your good news, Danielle!

I agree most wholeheartedly with Brian!! Now, there's the dictionary definition, then there's the MAist definition; oftentimes, they're both worlds apart!! Yes, I agree with that. I'm not a fan of the dictionary definition of what a Martial Art is. It obviously wasn't written by a Martial Artist.

Congrats, Devin and Noah! You are both great members of the community and the staff! Thank both of you for all your contributions!

Interestingly if you do the Chang Hon forms, virtually all start with a defensive movement and with the left arm. The two that do start with attacking techniques, Ul Ji and Tong Il, start by stepping backwards. I always heard this was because the General said Taekwon-Do is supposed to be primarily used for defense and not in aggression. As to why it's a left hand first, the training convention in ITF TKD is to always start blocks with the left and attacks with the right when doing line work. Which seems logical, blocking with the left hand and then counterattacking with the strong right hand (for most of the population).

Again, the word style here is being used differently by us.