bushido_man96

That's too bad, Danielle. I think if I was in your shoes, I'd opt for the surgery after the event, but that's just my opinion. It sounds like its going to be a really special event.

I like to counter drills for kicking. Countering back leg round kicks with spin side kicks, spin hook/heel kicks, or 360 round kicks. Working variations on those. I also like drills that get you to cut to an angle and get off-line of an attack, and then attacking the centerline. I did a fun drill today in DT, using focus mitts to work in close and fight inside. From there, we stood inside a little circle, and had to stay inside the circle, so we had to work inside the whole time.

I agree with JR here. Static stretching is most beneficial after a hard workout, where you can really stretch and gain some flexibility. Dynamic stretching, or better yet, just warming up using the exercises you are going to do in class, is the best way to prepare your body for those movements. At my TKD school, we don't spend any time stretching. Students are expected to arrive early and stretch on their own, and then stretch on their own after class. We save class time for technique work, forms, one-steps, sparring, etc.

6/17/2016 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 45x5, 135x5, 165x5, 195x3, 225x3, 265x1; work sets: 295x5, 295x5, 295x5. Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 95x3, 115x1; work sets: 125x5, 125x5, 125x5. Deadlifts: warm-ups: 135x5, 165x5, 195x3, 225x3; work set: 295x5. 6/20/2016 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 45x5, 135x5, 165x5, 195x3, 225x3, 265x1; work sets: 300x5, 300x5, 300x5. Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 95x3, 115x1; work sets: 127.5x5, 127.5x5, 127.5x5. Power cleans: 130x3, 130x3, 130x3, 130x3, 130x3.

That translation is part of the reason that Gen. Choi wanted to do away with it.

If the Olympics are supposed to be competition between the best in the world, then professional athletes should be allowed to compete, regardless of the sport.

The blocking and footwork won't be exactly the same. With straight punches especially, getting off line is going to be an important part of the defense. You have less room for error, in my opinion, than with a more circular strike. Footwork is still important for defending circular strikes, but with circular strikes, you have options like stepping inside the arc of the strike, or ducking the strike.

I've noticed the same thing. I wrote an article on it a while back, it bothered me so much. One-steps, or step-sparring, however you refer to it, has its place, but training has to evolve from that, as well. Otherwise, it provides the students with a false sense of what they are capable of. Hooking and other circular punches are important to address, for the sake of student's well-being. Its likely punches like this will be seen in a confrontation.

Great details, Alex. I can see where the way I've been doing it has been much looser. I like how you pull his arm up onto his ribs, and then go to set the Americana. This will be some stuff for me to try. Thanks for sharing!

Glad to see you lurking, JR. The season starts for us in late November or early December, and the State tournament takes place at the end of March. So we go at least 4 months, as far as competing goes. Kendall has also been practicing at the Greco/Freestyle club, but it has become sporadic right now. Lots of summer stuff going on. After Wrestling season, both boys play baseball. Kendall is playing kid pitch for the second season, and Kenneth is in his second season of T-ball. After baseball, Kendall plays football. Kenneth also ran track. So they stay pretty active.

It sounds like you are thinking too much, and then trying to react. This will get better with time and practice. Hopefully your instructor will spend time on some sparring drills with you, and this will translate to what you see when you spar. You'll begin to react as opposed to think.

6/13/2016 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 45x5, 135x5, 165x5, 195x3, 225x3, 265x1; work sets: 290x5, 290x5, 290x5. Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 95x3; work sets: 122.5x5, 122.5x5, 122.5x5. Wearing the belt for work sets now. Power cleans: 125x3, 125x3, 125x3, 125x3, 125x3.

I have heard of it, but I don't have an Xbox. Have you dabbled with it any further?

Very nice video, and a cool kudos from Patrick McCarthy!

Doctrine is what we might teach: style is how we teach it.

I don't think I've failed to realize anything. Yes, east and west are different. I embrace the western culture, as I've grown up in it. I do think Muay Thai shares a theme that Wrestling does, where competition performance is prized.

Has that been proven? The main problem I have is finding some physical evedence that chi is in all these bodily areas.

Welcome to KF, webcrest! My first day was kind of nerving. A friend of mine invited me to class, so I had a connection in there. Very quickly, though, I was making more friends and moving along very well. My friend eventually stopped training, and I have kept on. Funny how things work out. Enjoy your time here, and we look forward to your comments!

I don't think every school in Japan is more demanding than every American school. Many would assume this is the case, but it is not. There are many good schools in America and Europe. Just like there are places to get a bad burger, there are places to get some mediocre or bad Martial Arts training. I'm sure there are bad Japanese dojos out there, too. As far as ranks and diplomas and the like go, there are styles out there that don't use them. My sons choose to do Wrestling, and there are no ranks there. With Wrestling, I quote sensei8 here, and say "the proof is on the mat."

Chi is stored in body fat, but it can't be separated from blood? That sounds like it could be a little contradictory. Where in the body fat it stored?

Great video, Alex, with some great variations from what we do in our DT club. Our fist defense is to get to your stage 2 position, blocking hooking punches that come into head by creating that arm/leg shield. But I like your stage 1 variation, and how you transition with the punches to the ribs. We also don't do the sweep at the end, but I like it, too! I've already shared it with my DT club.

I think Tai Chi practitioners don't use much footwork in their forms because they changed why they do Tai Chi. Most practitioners aren't focused on self-defense aspects, but more on health benefits.

6/9/2016 Defensive Tactics Club: 11:30 am - 2:00 pm. Finally, we've started our summer training session. And the collegiate wrestler we have in the club really brought some great training ideas with him, that we will likely use throughout the summer session. We started with a couple of rounds of mitt work, doing some combinations that included punches and kicks (both low and high), and then did primarily defensive work, with one guy throwing punches and only moving and defending and counter-punching when an opening was available. This was great for moving and defending. Next, we moved onto some gun retentions we did using different throws and takedowns to control positions. One was a hip toss (Greco-style set-up), and another was securing the gun-grab arm, stepping back with the gun side foot in a circle and blocking the bad guy's closest knee (same as grab side), taking them down from there. A third option we did was stuffing the head in a clinch and then executing a takedown by using their head to shove them into the takedown. From here, we worked a hips-in/hips-out drill, recognizing if the bad guy's hips come in to do the hip throw, and if they are back, do the knee block. We finished up doing some grappling drills. We did guard passing to mount, then striking on full mount, and then the bottom guy would do the elbow escape and shrimp back to guard. We do around 5 then switch. We finished with a 5-submission drill, where we just took a position and flowed through 5 different submissions (well, I tried to flow, anyways). Great workout overall. 6/10/2016 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 45x5, 135x5, 165x5, 195x3, 225x3, 265x1; work sets: 285x5, 285x5, 285x5. Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 95x3; work sets: 120x5, 120x5, 120x5. Deadlifts: warm-ups: 135x5, 165x5, 195x3, 225x3; work set: 285x5.

I just love to teach. I love teaching technique, helping students (that are willing to work hard) to learn the proper way to execute the techniques, and watching them get better over time.

I agree here. If you are standing on your principles, and the students don't like them, for whatever reason, then there really isn't anything you can do to change their minds. All you can hope for is that a few years down the road, they mature as Martial Artists and realize that they are likely missing out on what may be the better training. Just out of curiosity, why do you choose to remain non-profit? Could you not teach quality Karate and still make a profit doing so?