bushido_man96

Heidi, your contributions at KF are beyond measure! You are such a great mentor to so many people here. You helped guide me when I was fresh as a moderator, and I looked to your example throughout. Thank you for all the time and years you have given to KF as a staff member, and we look forward to seeing you around still!

Welcome to KF!

Double congratulations are in order! As to your question, I prefer a more laid back testing environment, and not all the pomp and show. But that's just me.

I saw the new trailer for The Defenders, and I'm ready for it, for sure!

Wow, at 8 years old. The WTF must not worry about students doing forms ahead of their rank?

Welcome to KF, Chris! Like stated earlier, training outside the dojo when you can't be there is a great idea. Most instructors would encourage it. Touch base with the instructor whenever you can, and have him make sure you are getting things right, and this can be a great form of training.

Bob makes a good point. We can get closer and ever closer to perfection, but never to it. Excellence isn't necessarily more easy to attain, but doesn't hold the same stigma as perfection does. I think at times when focusing on perfection, it can be to the detriment of other things. I've heard the saying "perfect is the enemy of good" in weight training circles, and I think it can apply elsewhere, and the MAs could be one of those places.

I did Aikido for a short time while I was still doing TKD, and there were spots where I could easily see I could slip in a kick or a strike when executing the throws and holds. Since TKD was my primary style, it was easier to see where it applied. As you get more years in, you'll see where you can slip Aikido into Goju.

No, nothing is new. What changes are focus and application. That's more of how we get the different styles than anything else.

I'd really hate to see all that happen, Bob, but I understand where you are coming from. Hopefully, he will just stay out of it.

Thanks, Kusotare!

Happy belated birthday!

So, what's the status here, Bob? Is Iwoa coming back?

I see what you are saying. At the same time, one can try to be as healthy as possible, do everything the "right" way, and get hit by a car. I, too, like the idea of having a six-pack and eating healthy, but I like to enjoy life, and eat steak, and chocolate, and pasta, and chocolate, and drink soda (and eat chocolate). I'm not going to have a visible six-pack. Not going to happen. So I don't worry about it. Nor will I choose to spend life eating salads as meals and drinking kale shakes. Not even if a doctor prescribed it. My point is, yeah, there are things in life that we can do to ourselves that might be harmful if not moderated. This can be eating choices and physical activities. But its also important to enjoy life along the way, and if you can't do that, then all of life just becomes work, and then, likely not enjoyable.

When life hands you a lemon, make some lemonade, right? Keep up the hard work, and I'll keep you in my prayers.

I really don't do either. Just some regular stretching routine when I get the chance. I don't sunbathe on purpose, either, although my skin does bronze up quite nicely when the summer rolls around from being outside, fishing and the like. I always end up with a really nice famers tan.

Congrats!

The problem I see is how a minimal amount of ground fighting experience can nullify years of training in stand-up. That was one of the things that was demonstrated in the early UFC's, and it still holds true. Sure, stand-up styles can train to defend wrestling-style takedowns, but it isn't enough. Wrestlers train daily in practice to takedown other wrestlers, people who know how to do takedowns, and know how to defend takedowns. And if the can hit a successful takedown against a takedown and takedown-defense specialist, then a stand-up practitioner who works on take-down defense once a week isn't likely going to be able to avoid getting taken down. A ground fighter will eat a few stand-up techniques to get the person to the ground, too. I've done some research on this, and over the course of the years of various challenge matches between strictly stand-up and grappling styles, the stand-up stylists haven't fared to well. I wrote an article on the topic some time ago, if you've got some free time to check it out: MMA: The Marriage of Martial Arts

Yin and Yang, if you by into the idea behind that philosophy, is everywhere. Hard and soft, light and dark, etc. It sounds like you are experiencing similar in training these two styles. My advice would be to continue to train both for as long as you can. Will it be a challenge? Certainly. But we don't do these things because they are easy. Will you have to focus more each class on what you are doing? Probably, for some time, until you get used to doing it. But what will happen is that as you spend more and more time training in each, you will see how they start to come together in what you do. You will learn how to do strong, rigid punching and striking along with melding and blending and absorbing attacks using Aiki defenses. And it will be beautiful. It just takes time. Here's another, less intrinsic reason to continue training in both: you may not get the chance to later on down the line. Life happens, and where once one had an abundance of training time available to oneself, one then finds that his time is taken up by other responsibilities; work, family, school, etc. So, take this opportunity to be selfish and do this for yourself.

I think that sounds kind of crazy if you ask me. Many of us practice the Martial Arts as something we enjoy doing with what little time we have left over from out busy weeks. There are people out there that do train 6 days a week. Most of them I refer to as professionals. I think being pushed in a grading is a good thing. However, as an instructor, its my job to know how far I can push a student, and to do so without driving them over the edge. I have to realize that when my students leave my school, they have lives and other matters to attend to, so they shouldn't be sore for a week after a grading.

Some people are lucky and have good genetics, and tend to be athletic no matter what. Some of us don't. Personally, I think one should strive for both. One can be healthy but not strong, and likewise one can be strong but not healthy. I think there is also a misconception about what healthy is. Some people think 6-pack abs and being able to run a mile-and-a-half in a certain time is the only kind of healthy. They aren't all the same, so a balance has to be struck.

Great weekend training idea, for sure!The best thing you can do is make a list of the places that are available, and start making visits to the dojo's during class times. Instructors should allow you to watch a class. If they don't, I'd scratch them off the list, but that's just me. And don't just watch one class. Go to a few of the classes, to see if they differ from one to the next. Last of all, ask the CI questions, especially those geared towards the kind of training you are looking for. This is the best way to get pointed in the right direction.

If you're talking strictly Boxers vs. strictly Grapplers, I'm not so sure. Early UFCs proved that out. The boxers have to get some ground experience, and vise versa. It kind of makes me think of this whole Connor MacGregor vs Floyd Mayweather conversation. Put Floyd in the MMA ring with MacGregor, and he's probably going to get owned, and be ugly, if he doesn't have much grappling experience. Put Connor in a boxing ring with Money, and it will be ugly the other way. Floyd would dance like its prom night, and Connor would be lucky to land one square shot I think. Moving forward, its got to come down to cross-training.

Welcome aboard!

I think I prefer that the white belt is not earned, other than getting it with the uniform. I like to think that there are thousands of white belts out there walking around, and I'm just waiting for them come in and get to training.