bushido_man96

To me, its representative of roughly 25 years of practice, work, learning, teaching, experiencing, and continuing of my time in Martial Arts. Right now, as a 4th dan, it represents not just my time in the art, but also the time I give to other students, in teaching, training, and just sharing the experiences that I've had, in the hopes that they can have even better experiences than mine. As a requirement to test for my 4th Dan, I had to right a brief essay, and read aloud at the HQ school in front of all the testers and the audience. I've shared it here: 4th Dan Testing Essay

I, too, have questions about how the change affects the curriculum and the students that currently hold one of the "tweener" ranks that got dropped. As far as the belt systems in general go, I'm usually in accord with whatever each school decides to do for themselves. I'm not going to get too wound up over a "tradition" that is really not much more than 100-120 years old. I believe Kano Jigoro is credited with coming up with the belt system. Our system does kind of a hybrid of the older color belt system: White Orange (lo and hi) Green (lo and hi) Blue (lo and hi) Brown (lo, middle, and hi) Black (a recommended "skunk" belt followed by full dan rank). So, each color is divided into two ranks, and each rank has a separate form and one-step requirement (except brown, which has three). So, in the spirit of stimulating the conversation further, Bob, what kind of discussions did you and the board have in regards to the pros and cons of maintaining the 8 belt system and dropping to the four belt system?

That terminology sticks with me; from reading lots of Bruce Lee material. He was big on it.

Those are good points, and I didn't think about them prior to you bringing them up. In a situation like that, I think its important to re-evaluate the situation perhaps on a yearly basis. As the student becomes older, and gets old enough to start making some money, it should be re-evaluated, too. Keep an open dialogue between the parents and the student, and keep a pulse on the situation. Safety nets should only be temporary.

Happy Birthday, Alex!

That helps out a lot, thank you.

Each instructor will have a different approach to this. For a student that is truly dedicated, I would try to find some arrangement to help them out, and also try to keep that between me and the family.

3/14/2018 Strength Training Press: warm-up sets: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3; work sets: 122.5x5, 122.5x5, 122.5x5. Lat Pull-downs: 130x12, 130x12, 130x12. LTE: 53x10, 53x10, 53x10. MA Training 5:30 - 6:00 pm. Got to the dojang early for a pre-class workout. I was hoping one of the 2nd dans that is regular would be there early to work out with, but he wasn't. I did Do-Kang 1-4 (which is considered our "black belt basics"), and then did my current form, Choong Jang (4th dan in my org). Afterwards, I did some stretching. TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:10 pm. No teaching today; I was a student, and needed to be. Basics, stretch, forms (Choong Jang again), one-steps (white belt, blue belt, and high brown belt one-steps, especially the one with the spin heel kick in it), and then sparring. But instead of sparring, we did combinations with a twist. Usually, we do combinations going forward while the partner backs up. We did that first, and then the second set we did, the person doing the combinations had to move backwards instead of forwards. We had to either kick and then move back (stepping, shuffling, etc), or kick while retreating (switch-away round kicks or spin side kicks, and the like). It was very different, and a very good approach. The final combination we did was going forward again, but we had to have some sort of footwork prior to kicking. Also a good approach.

I do believe there is something to this.

Thanks. You're absolutely right. I should have stuck with Shureido. I lived in the UK until recently and I always used to deal direct with Shureido in Okinawa. Unfortunately lead times seem to have got longer and longer. Hence my reason for trying something different. I also had to adjust the length of my pants on the Shrueido Gi's too, which was a pain. But I did like the Gi overall. I’ve never owned a gi that I didn’t need to shorten the legs. Being short and round does that to me As far as I know, Shureido gis are handmade, thus the lead times. Gotta take the good with the bad. I'm with you. I have to order everything big and then have half a foot hemmed off. Lately, I order size 7 or 8, and then they have to get cut down. I wish there was a place around that could take measurements and make me a nice uniform to my size.

Thanks for the explanation, and the further replies here. Does tegumi contain grappling on the ground between the two participants, or is it more of standing grappling involving joint manipulation?

We are pretty much the same way, JR. Only we tie on our belts for the most part. One unique thing done in our association is after a black belt test at the HQ school, the GM's wife prepares a Korean meal, which is a fun time.

All valid points!

Congrats, mushybees!

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.