bushido_man96

Like with many styles, I think Aikido can be great or not so great, depending on the instructor you get and the methods of teaching they use. The biggest concern I have with Aikido is the amount of compliance given by uke when doing techniques. I understand the need to make sure training partners aren't broken, but the most common way I see it done is through the past of least resistance, and that is not how confrontations happen. I think that this issue could be dealt with best in tweaking the training methodology of most places. But like I said, it depends on the type of instructor and school one gets.

This is very true. All very good points. Self-awareness is the very first concept that should be taught, along with ways to learn to enhance it.

That mindset is the hardest thing to teach, and it is so much a part of person's attitude and demeanor, too. Its one of the biggest challenges I teaching self-defense.

Our school has talked about having a once-a-month get together of area schools for a sparring class, but its never taken off. The plan was to have it as a chance for black belts to get together and train with other black belts, but, so far, its been a no-go.

I have heard that things like that are happening. It won't likely be the norm, but with the amount of people playing, especially kids, what for predators to exploit it.There's been a lot of foot traffic in our area with this game, especially at our courthouse. There is a spot out there, and its drawing lots of people. I'm not sure if this would be a concept I would use to try to draw people in or not, but thanks for sharing the info here.

7/13/2016 Strength Training Front Squats: warm-ups: 45x5, 95x5, 115x5; work sets: 135x5, 135x5, 135x5. Lying Triceps Extensions: 60x10, 60x10, 60x10. Power Snatch: warm-ups: 65x2, 85x2, 95x2; work sets: 105x2, 105x2, 105x2, 105x2, 105x2.

Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz, and Ultimate Flexibility by Sang H. Kim.

7/1/2016 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 135x5, 195x5, 205x3, 225x3, 265x1; work sets: 315x5, 315x2, 315x5. Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 95x3, 115x1; work sets: 132x5, 132x5, 132x5. Deadlifts: warm-ups: 135x5, 195x5, 205x3, 225x3; work set: 315x5. On the second set of squats, the weight shifted forward, and I fell forward with the weight into the rack, so that set got scrapped. 7/11/2016 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 45x5, 135x5, 195x5, 205x3, 225x3, 265x1; work sets: 295x5, 295x5, 295x5. Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 95x3, 115x1; work sets: 120x5, 120x5, 120x5. Deadlifts: warm-ups: 135x5, 195x5, 205x3, 225x3; work set: 295x5. With the holiday coming, it screwed up my schedule, missing a week of training. So, I had to deload a bit. It always seems to happen when I get above that 300# mark on the squats.

Congrats to her!

Our school does an orientation period when students sign up for classes. This is a separate "class," about 30 minutes long, and only newly signed up white belts attend. We take that time to teach them the basics that we do as warm-ups for every class. It gives us time to do one-on-one training with them, and allows them to get comfortable (to an extant) with the moves, stances, transitions, etc, in a separate setting, as opposed to throwing them to the wolves right away and hoping they can keep up. Its a great system that has worked well for us.

Welcome to KF, catlike!

Welcome to KF!

Yes, it is. Seeing where everyone comes from is a great experience. Everyone's journey is so different!

Congrats!

Welcome to KF, gunner! I've been enjoying your contributions. Its great to have you here.

I agree, Bob. A low round kick can do lots of good damage, especially to the knee, or striking the common peroneal in the upper leg.

I've got a couple of ideas on how to look at this. 1. I was told early on that bowing in the east is the equivalent to the handshake in the west. It really isn't much more than that. I wonder if the reason for the bow has ever been explained to them in this way. Perhaps it would have helped. However, its hard to justify it when bowing onto and off of a floor. You wouldn't shake hands with the floor, and a floor is pretty neutral when it comes to accepting the respect of those that tread upon it. 2. If we can agree on statement 1 above, then would it be so bad as to make an exception and replace bowing with handshakes? It would still be a sign of respect, and you would be showing that you respect their beliefs in turn, regardless as to whether they might be misguided or not. Just food for thought. A different direction to take the discussion. I'm not in disagreement with the course of action the Hombu took. I'm just providing a different angle.

That sounds like a fun tournament tour! Good luck to you!

I guess my line of thinking is that if the Olympics are supposed to be the pinnacle of competition, then why aren't the best athletes being allowed to contend? In my mind, this is what's wrong with the Olympics, along with so many other things, like the IOC, for instance. Look at soccer. Pro athletes from every country are competing in soccer. Same when baseball was in there. Basketball, NBA pros are putting together another team that will likely thump every other team out there. Now, lets look at some of the other sports. TKD? No professional TKD league out there, so its ok to call them all amateurs. But lets be serious, most of these athletes are training professionally. Wrestling? Same thing. Track and field? These are sports that don't fill stands when they are free to go to, let alone at any professional level, like football or soccer or baseball or basketball. So we overlook those athletes as professionals, when they probably train like pros, anyway. At any rate, that's my rant. It probably wouldn't be worth while for a pro Boxer to participate in the Olympics, but if they wanted to, why not let them?

I'm a fan of learning application from day one. Even if it isn't from a forms standpoint, at least learning some kind of movement application is important.

I like your saying, and I think there is a lot to that. A lot of traditional styles really focus on the betterment of self, to the exclusion of getting better than someone else. But when it comes to the physical aspect of fighting, you need to be better than the other person. Martial Arts should always be a partner practice.

In my opinion, TKD can get excessive with the kihaps, especially in Olympic sparring.

Well, some football players have found ballet to be valuable to their balance on the field as runners. There are lots of movements that can be found outside MA training that can be beneficial to MA training. It could also be merely that this person learned the same thing in a different way through the teaching methods of belly dancing, providing a valuable "ah-ha!" moment for them.

4th dan, TKD.

6/23/2016 DT Club, Summer Session: 12:30 pm - 2:00 pm. Lots of good work today. Opened up with some light sparring, hands only. After a while of working that, we started working on kicks, so I got out the paddles and worked with the guys. Worked combos with round kicks to spin hook kicks or heel kicks. One of the guys wanted to work with crescent kicks, so we did some basic kicking drills with inside and outside kicks, then to some spinning crescents. After working the kicks on the paddles, we did some more light sparring, working in low and high kicks along with punches. We always allow head punches, which is great for me, since we don't do it in TKD. 6/24/2015 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 45x5, 135x5, 195x5, 205x3, 225x3, 265x1; work sets: 305x5, 305x5, 305x5. Feeling good! Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 95x3, 115x1; work sets: 130x5, 130x5, 130x5. Deadlifts: warm-ups: 135x5, 195x5, 205x3, 225x3; work set: 305x5. 6/27/2016 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 45x5, 135x5, 195x5, 205x3, 225x3, 265x1; work sets: 310x5, 310x5, 310x5. Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 95x3, 115x1; work sets: 131x5, 131x5, 131x5. Power cleans: 135x3, 135x3, 135x3, 135x3, 135x3. 6/28/2016 DT Club, Summer Session: 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm. Opened with light round of sparring, punches and kicks. After a break, did mitt work, really working on getting my short body inside and using hooks and uppercuts. I'm used to straight punching a lot, so my circular punches get a bit wild, so I worked on wrangling those in. We also did a bit of sparring inside a small circle, so I had to stay close and inside and work from there.