bushido_man96

That is very cool! Thanks for sharing it @aurik!

10/24/2024 Strength Training Leg Press: 135x10, 185x10, 225x5, 315x3, 335x2, 365x5, 365x5, 365x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x2, 140x5, 140x5, 140x5. Lat Pull-downs: 175x8, 175x8, 175x8, 175x8. Moving the pull-downs to 4 sets of 8. Sets of 10 just weren't finishing like I wanted them to. I'm also going to forego supersetting them with the upper body movement to better recover for each set. BJJ Class: 7:00 - 8:15 pm. 1. Top guy on knees, bottom guy sits on his butt in butterfly guard. Bottom guy's job was to elevate and sweep, trying to use a shoulder crunch to do so. The shoulder crunch was basically isolating one shoulder with a forearm across the top guy's face, and lifting the elbow to help facilitate the sweep like a lever (win). The top guy's job was to try to get a high body lock, apply pressure and pass by getting the legs clear of the hips by getting to them to the side (win). 5 min, x2 rounds. I really struggled on both ends of this drill. On bottom, I wasn't getting him pulled up high enough onto me to get him unbalanced and swept. When on top, I struggled getting the pressure and the body lock. I did pass a few times. When I was on bottom I was keeping my hooks in too high. I needed to keep them out more towards the knees, and I needed to keep them active. 2. Standing. One guy had a single-leg shelved on the outside, and try to move them and get a trip. The defender's job was to get an uchi-mata (win). 3 min. I got the uchi-mata a few times. I had trouble getting a good trip. 3. Same drill, but the person with the leg shelved was trying to get to the other leg for a takedown, or otherwise takedown with the single-leg. 3 min. This was very challenging against Kendall. Free rolling: 3 rounds, 3 min each, all with Kendall. In one round I managed to get a decent takedown, but I broke contact and didn't follow into it, so he recovered quickly. At one point I almost had an armbar; I just didn't get it set right. He did get me with an Americana in side control once. A common theme is that I tend to get taken down a lot and end up pulling guard. I was exhausted after that second round. My arms felt like lead.

That's a long time, Bob! I hope I can pull that off, too!

I heard some thoughts about that movie this past week; it should have been a different title, with the addendum of "A Halloween Story," or something like that. Then the expectations wouldn't have been so high for it, and it might have been better received.

I thought KC's offense was moving better this week, until they had a bad possession inside the 5 that almost ended in disaster. That defense made two goal-line stands that were just amazing. I really think the Chiefs should have held the Raiders to 13 points, but they played prevent on that last possession, which I think they did much too early. However, I think Spags knew with no timeouts left, they could let the Raiders drain the clock themselves, which is what they did. Still, I would have much rather seen them play better defense on that last drive. Deandre Hopkins looked good when he was on the field. I didn't expect to see him much, due to the complexity of the system Reid runs. After a full week of practice, he should be able to be more of a factor on Monday Night Football. The Buccaneers are going to be a tough out, so they better show up to play.

I agree. I've felt that way with TKD from time to time. But I love going to the Aikido classes. I use that energy from Aikido and bleed it over into my TKD training, looking for new things in the "same old stuff" that I've been doing for years.

That'd be interesting, too.

10/23/2024 TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. Basics: I took it easy on stepping and turning today; knees weren't feeling great. I really made sure I was pre-pivoting on kicks and when walking in stances. The mat was really chewing up my feet again. I did all the front kicks today as thrusting front kicks. The 3rd dan leading the class had a really good thought he got from a higher-up on doing back leg round kicks and then landing in front stance; really pull back on the rechamber so you pull the body back into a better position to set down quicker. It worked well. After basics I did a floor stretch. Forms: Choong Jang. It was feeling really good, but I was off-target, and have been several times, when punching my left hand into my right palm (reverse punch in a back stance). I don't have this issue on the other side. One-steps: Watched a blue belt and an orange belt work back and forth on white belt one-steps. I gave comments on the evasive motions, and how they needed to cut out the extra steps in order to make them smooth and better effect the evasion.

I used to do stuff like that, but don't do it anymore. I don't know that it helps all that much, and prefer to use my time in the gym to get stronger overall. It can be fun to try to make strength training look like that athletic endeavor we do, but in the grand scheme of things, I don't think they help that much over a long period of time.

I think the "question mark" kick you mention tries to curl back down on contact as well. I'm not sure if @Montana's variation finishes with a downward curve, or if it just travels straight across into the target like a round kick would.

I had Bob teach me Naifanchi years ago. I think it's a good idea to ask. You never know.

Happy Birthday, Bob! I'll always cherish the time we spent on the mat together. Keep fighting that good fight!

I thought the Bucs/Ravens game would be a lot closer. Ravens really took it to them. I hadn't heard about the possibility of trading Crosby. That'll be interesting to see play out. Chiefs players are dropping like flies; Juju will miss at least another week, and DB Jaylen Watson is out for the rest of the year with a fractured leg. Can Spags keep it going? I think so. I saw that the Rams are shopping Cooper Kupp. I think he'd be a good pickup for KC, but he's got an injury history, and the Chiefs don't need any more of that. That was a heck of a defensive game against the 49ers, and Mahomes was Mahomes exactly when he needed to be. The Raiders could be a tough out this weekend. Always tough to play the division rival.

It's fitting that this thread was revived. I'm preparing to test for my 5th dan coming up in December. I'll have to write a paper for it, too. I've been rolling over things in my mind to try to write about. Perhaps this thread will provide the inspiration.

I've never been good at visualization training. I have trouble imagining things at times. Sometimes I've been able to go through material in my head, but that's about it, and I have trouble with directional orientation when doing it. I've never been one to meditate, either. However, some breathing exercises is something we do in Aikido from time to time, and it seems to be helpful, and I work on breathing exercises at times when I'm driving.

This is cool. Is the movie to be released in theaters, or will it be a Netflix exclusive?

10/21/2024 Aikido Class: Weapons Class: 5:00 - 6:00 pm. Lots of jo work today. We had some new students in the class, so we worked a lot on hi-4. I got to do some lo-8 with another experienced student, and got some good continuous work in. Then we did jo kata 1, both sides, and jo kata 2. We had to really dig into memory and put jo kata 2 together, but we got there, and I think it'll stick better from that work. We finished with some jo-dori. TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Just me and the CI, so we did all 12 three-steps, and then all colored belt one-steps. The three-steps we did back and forth, and for the one-steps, we did each belt rank's one-steps continuously, then attacked for the other partner to do them all. Some good steady work, and my outer crescent kicks went better today. We finished by doing all black belt forms up to our current rank. Then I sat in The Rack and stretched up to 140 degrees. 10/22/2024 Strength Training Leg Press: 135x10, 185x10, 225x5, 315x3, 360x5, 360x5, 360x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2, 160x5, 160x5, 160x5. Lat Pull-downs: 172.5x10, 172.5x10, 172.5x10. Press was on the agenda for today, but my head wasn't feeling it, so I did bench instead. I put the belt on for the work sets, and I noticed a difference.

Kudos to you! Trying to escape side control really sucks!

This is a good point. However, I think that has a lot to do with the Japanese Occupation of Korea and how the Koreans railed against anything Japanese after it was over. It's like an absentee father that a child has never met. They may never consider them their "father," but that doesn't mean they aren't related.

I think time in rank is pretty important. I honestly think our school should have more time between gradings than we currently do. However, there's nothing wrong with having a student wait two cycles to make sure they are ready to test.

10/19/2024 Joint Shorin-Ryu Karate/Aikido Seminar: 3:30 - 6:30 pm. I've recently learned that there is a Shorin-Ryu dojo about an hour northeast of me in a small town, High Winds Okinawan Karate. They held a seminar about a month or so ago, but due to other commitments I was unable to attend. My Aikido Sensei was able to attend for a day, and he had a good time and said they were very proficient. So he invited them to come do a joint training session at his dojo, with their Senseis teaching Shorin-Ryu material the first hour and a half, and him teaching Aikido the second hour and a half. I got to attend this one, and had a really good time. I'm going to get long-winded here, fair warning. Karate: 3:30 - 5:00 pm. We started off with learning some basic techniques; high blocks, straight punches, outside-to-inside blocks, front thrust kicks, knife hand blocks (shuto), etc. We moved to doing the kicks and punches on shields, in combinations. Then we moved to focus mitts, doing strike/strike/block or duck/kick. It was fun, as we haven't done focus mitt work in our school in forever. This was all stuff I was familiar with, other than a few nuances which didn't really cause any issues. Still fun. Next, they did some self-defense work. First was against a two-handed choke from the front. The instructor taught to look one way and use the opposite arm to lock down on the same side arm, pinning it to your chest. The other hand high blocks up to knock the other hand off, and then that high block hand comes back down as a knife hand strike to the neck. Then he showed defenses against a bar-arm/rear naked choke from behind. We secured the wrist of the attacker and raise our other hand up, then swing it down between our bodies and use the momentum to turn to face them at the same time. From there, it was body lock and work to throw or find other solutions. Then the attack was augmented to be choking and dragging you backwards. From there we secured the wrist again, pulled down for some breathing room, and stepped the leg back around the attacker's leg on the closed side of the lock. The step back helps to regain balance and put a pivot point on their leg. Then it was twist into them slightly and then big twist back to the front, throwing them over the leg. Last self-defense scenario was against a straight reverse punch or stepping punch. Outside-to-inside block (I'd just call it inside block, they called it outside block) right above the elbow and simultaneous punch to the ribs with the other hand. Punching hand then comes up towards the shoulder while the other hand stayed connected, then slide down to the wrist and arm bar, and if they try to bend the arm, switch over to an S-lock and take them down the other way. Lastly, we finished up with them showing us some of the body conditioning they do. Punches to the abdomen while tightening the core/kiai, doing inside blocks to each other to toughen the arms, and finally standing in fighting stance and taking round kicks to the inside and outside of the leg just above the knee. Lots of good concepts, and it was very interesting to see how they did things. Always cool to learn new stuff. Aikido: 5:00 - 6:30 pm. We started with rolling and breakfalling (ukemi), which I always need work on to smooth things out. We worked ikkyo and nikkyo applications to a lapel grab/straight punch attack. We did nikkyo first, and this went well, stepping to the inside of the attacking arm (big step off-line) and sending the hand to their shoulder to defend while stretching them out. Then slide that arm down to secure the wrist, turn back and keep the body bladed to avoid attack and secure the nikkyo lock on the shoulder. Then we blocked on the inside with the other hand while sweeping the back foot all the way back and around, moving the body out of the way and setting up the transition into ikkyo, almost like and arm bar, but turning the elbow to point down at the finish, with something like an S-lock on the wrist. It was an odd stepping motion with the block, and I had to really think about it to get it down. Then from that position to get the arm moving, there is a back step with the leg in front to a front stance-like position, then I do what I liken to turning from one front stance to another front stance facing the other way, using the hips to generate the movement of the attacker into position. Keeping it all tied to the hips is the key. Last technique was going outside to block the arm, what he referred to as the "Hail Mary" version, due to the more potential for being struck. This went into juju-nage, which is twisting one arm around the other and throwing. Took some work, but got to where it was feeling better. We got to do some "free work" after, where we could blend elements of what we learned from the Karate section, or from what we know previously, into the techniques. This was fun to explore. I primarily see opportunities to strike and kick. This seminar was a lot of fun, I met some great people, and even caught up with an old friend who attends that Karate dojo. I look forward to more opportunities to train with them.

I think at some point, the practitioners that have been on the journey for a very long time, eventually do make it their own. I know I have started to do that.

I think it's very important to spar with different body types, ranks, and experience levels. It's good to see something you haven't seen before, and it makes you better. Sparring tall opponents has always been a problem for me, so I like to spar taller people when I get the chance. I tend to spar the others in our dojang using what I call "old man tricks." I get in close and punch a lot. When kicks come in, sometimes I'll pin my elbow into my ribs and end up blocking with my elbow. I'll take a shot to deliver a shot of my own. I don't bounce around a lot when I spar anymore, and I'll sit down and kind of "tank up," letting them come to me and then retaliate with some quick bursts. Reaching out and hooking their hand is fun, too. They think about that and try to avoid it, opening up something else.

10/15/2024 Strength Training Leg Press: 135x10, 185x10, 225x5, 315x3, 355x5, 355x5, 355x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x2, 137.5x5, 137.5x5, 137.5x5. Lat Pull-downs: 167.5x10, 167.5x10, 167.5x10. Stretch. 10/17/2024 Strength Training Squat: 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x5, 155x5, 155x5, 155x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2, 155x5, 155x5, 155x5. Lat Pull-downs: 170x10, 170x10, 170x10. The squat felt ok at the time. I noticed later my tinnitus seemed to be louder, so I'll have to watch this. BJJ Class: 7:00 - 8:00 pm. We worked from full guard in this class. 1. Bottom guy has closed guard, and his job is to try to control top guy's posture and work to isolate head/arm (win). Top guy can't win. 5 min. I did ok here. I was able to get head/arm isolation on Kendall a few times. He struggled at first, but he caught on and was able to do the same to me. 2. Same game, but the bottom guy could work to a sweep if the top guy postured up and away. If bottom guy got head/arm isolation or a sweep, that was a win. Top guy still couldn't win. 5 min. I did get one sweep on Kendall. He said I moved faster than he thought I could . Kendall did a much better job defending from the top this time, and I didn't get as many head/arm isolations. 3. Setting triangle choke. Bottom guy started with head/arm isolation, and his job was to try to set the triangle choke. Top guy tried to defend it. 5 min, 2 rounds. Kendall and I spent most of the time just trying to figure out how to set the choke. We both have big legs (and short legs) and broad shoulders, and we had a tough time getting the choke set. We just need to keep working on it. Coach was able to talk Kendall through the choke on him, but we struggled when we grappled together.

I feel bad for Stefanski. He's had a stellar defense there for the past few years that is being squandered on a pitiful offense that I'm not sure he's to blame for. Watson is just bad, bad, bad. I didn't expect this to carry on for 3 seasons. Unfortunately, he's being paid so much guaranteed money, it's not a shock the ownership want to see him on the field. However, I think W's are better.