bushido_man96

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.

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!