bushido_man96

You're welcome.

Yes, very welcome, indeed. You've earned it!

We do burpee pyramids on our Saturday AM long workouts...this old guy is up to a total of 25 (1,2,3,4,5,4,3,2,1) so far. Been good to get back to running, up to about 22 miles/week (4 days, each run 5.5 to 6 miles). Want to be faster than I was last year, but I have to be careful to not mess up on running form and get injured. With Karate workouts the other 3 days (2 regular classes and long class on Saturdays) I don't have a down day, but so far that's been OK. I commend you man, on both the burpees and the running. Running has never been my cup of tea. Vomiting isn't either, so I stay away from the burpees. 5/22/2015 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 45x5x3, 135x5, 155x5, 180x3; work sets: 230x5, 235x5, 235x5. Funny story here, I was rummaging around to load on weight, and had to track down the 5 pound plates. I found one, put it on the right side, but forgot to put on one the left side, for that first set. Needless to say, that first set felt noticeably heavier on the right side... Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5; work sets: 103x5, 103x5, 103x5 Deadlifts: warm-ups: 135x5, 165x5, 195x5; work set: 295x5 Curls: 17x15, 45x15, 45x15. Done with a straight Olympic bar. Lying Triceps Extensions: 27x15, 27x15, 27x15 We are looking to do some extra exercises, and I think next week we will do some Pendlay Rows as the last exercise.

Nice video. I was surprised at how much/how often he went to one leg, but leg checking kicks makes sense. It keeps the hands available for use, which he did with all the striking and locking. The side stepping was pretty subtle, too, and I also found some of the side stepping stances having the feet close together interesting, too. Thanks for sharing it, Montana.

Thanks again, everyone! I'm so very greatful!

5/21/2015 Defensive Tactics Club: 2:30 - 4:00 pm. Reviewed and repped Americana and arm bar from the mount; we even used a grappling dummy we have now to work on the nuances of getting into position for the arm bar. Then we did our full mount reversal/guard pass to Americana/arm bar series as a mini-rolling series. Then we did a mount maintenance "game" that Royce had us do in the GRACIE training course. One guy starts in mount, and the goal of the person in mount is to try to maintain the mount as long as possible, with no striking and no submissions. The goal of the person mounted is to work a reversal, or use the elbow escape to get a knee out and one leg around. If the person on bottom succeeds, then they switch roles. After that, we touched on the elevator sweep, working off the video that Alex posted in this thread: Closed Guard to Elevator Sweep Video: [/url]

I used to play quite a bit of 2nd edition, and then a little 3rd edition, but got out of it when other priorities took over and I just didn't have the time to put into it. I also played quite a bit of Magic, The Gathering, and really, really enjoyed it. I still have a bunch of cards and decks, but just couldn't keep up with the production of the sets to keep putting money into it, especially as a casual player.

To the bold, I don't think so. Even the general public understands that most people providing a service have some sort of system in place that ensures they are learning from someone with some adequate experience in the field. I think most people will seek out this information, even if they don't know what it means. Not to be argumentative but what about the MMA schools? I have seen a few where the owner was a fairly young guy without much experience. I think it may depend on who is looking and what they are looking for. Some of the schools I have seen are more of a work out gym that does MMA or BJJ but are not really MA schools, I think in those cases people don't care about instructor qualifications as long as they seem like they can fight. I think also that in these cases the students are just looking to fight rather than learn MA and everything that goes with it. Quite possible that these places attract some of the "undesirable" students being discussed in another thread right now. I'm guessing this is more the exception rather than the rule, but that's just me guessing. Some people are just looking for fitness, and they will find it. And there are some "fight clubs" out there, too. But I think the high percentage of the places out there have some legitimate credentials, even if they are not elite credentials.

Ok, I got my sword hung up finally. It's in my basement right now, on my computer desk, for the time being. I hope to finish my basement some day, and find a really nice spot on a wall to hang it. But for now: http://www.karateforums.com/img/photos/bushido_man96-sword-display.jpg http://www.karateforums.com/img/photos/bushido_man96-sword-display2.jpg That belt has been hanging there for a while, and I thought it would be a nice touch.

Well said, and I couldn't agree more! This is the best place to discuss Martial Arts anywhere. Keep up the good work, Patrick!

To the bold, I don't think so. Even the general public understands that most people providing a service have some sort of system in place that ensures they are learning from someone with some adequate experience in the field. I think most people will seek out this information, even if they don't know what it means.

I've been lucky in that I haven't had to do this. The head instructor of our DT club does his best to vet each potential member before teaching someone a skill set that is meant to help and protect others, not harm those we try to protect.

We all get older as we train, but that's a painfully obvious statement. Father time is undefeated. I think it is unrealistic to think that I will always be able to perform my techniques the way that 16-18 year old kids can perform their techniques. There are quite a few techniques that I can still teach the mechanics of, but can't perform them the way I would like to. This is what makes good instructors good, and separates them from those who don't quite have the knack for it.

To hell with burpees! 5/20/2015 Strength Training Squats: warm-ups: 45x5x3, 135x5, 155x5, 180x3; work sets: 230x5, 230x5, 230x5 Press: warm-ups: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5; work sets: 102x5, 102x5, 102x5 Power Clean: 75x3, 75x3, 75x3, 75x3, 75x3 We got our fractional plates set, and put them to use today. I am going to love them, and they will be a great help for Kendall's progression.

I think the style of the technique, like many techniques, has changed over time due to the emphasis that has been placed on the aesthetics of forms performance, and not necessarily the practicality of the technique. For example, while the first few examples posted by DWx show the technique in a way similar to the way our school does it (we straighten the arms all the way back, and use a big twist for power), I don't think it is necessarily as practical a way to perform the technique, especially in applications. I think a better application is more along the lines of DWx's third video, but rather with the arms crossed at the chest or head level, for blocking and seizing purposes. The first section of this video displays a bit of what I'm talking about:

I think forms competition can be more appealing to a different kind of athlete than sparring is. Both require athletic ability, but sparring I dependent on a different kind of timing and reaction skill set than forms competition is. It takes a really good athlete to excel at both. Adding in forms-focused competition can only be a boon to the WTF.

I said to Heidi earlier in the thread I thought it odd that competitors were split only by age and not by dan rank also and that competitors had to learn all poomse. ITF tournaments work a little differently in that the ages are split off but dan grades are all separate categories too: 1st dans vs 1st dans, 2nd vs 2nd and so on. You also have to perform your form from your grade. I wouldn't say it's uncommon to see the higher dan forms at our tournaments. I agree with Danielle's assessment here. When I was in the ATA, they were always good about having tournament rings divided into appropriate age and rank categories. One thing the ATA also did was start their "Top Ten" black belt rankings, where competitors would score points for placing in regional and national/the world tournament. I don't recall what each placement scored, but if you double placed in tournaments, it was good for helping your score. It also helped tracking results for each age/rank group. I think other systems could benefit from this kind of setup, as well. I think that's why ATA students always got a bad rap, especially when others would claim that they only compete in their own tournaments. Really, they gain more within their organization to do so. They have a standardized rule set, trained judges, and their own sanctioned tournaments, so why not? Its not that they were not allowed to compete in other tournament systems; they definitely could, and I know of one instructor that used to be in Colorado that actually competed in some old PKA fights. Some ATA students compete in MMA now. But for those that like the ATA tournament circuit, its really one of the aspects of the ATA that is setup the right way.

I'd agree with your assessment here. I know I've got a book on various Karate kata at home, and I'll look into that and see what information I can find. But I just don't recall a weapon component to it.

Agreed... Picking and choosing which "battles" ("spare time shenanigans", as you put it ) to engage in is the key. (And, D&D has become an "odd" thing, too, IMO... up to 5th Edition; our group sticks with a blend of the old 1st and 2nd Editions...) I played 2nd edition and a bit of 3rd edition under a great GM. If it just wasn't so damned time consuming...

I agree, but is it necessary to always learn from a "master?" There are lots of good teachers out there that aren't masters, and I think its a shame to pass them up if one has the chance.

Personally, I prefer to spend class time working on technique and applications. I have a gym membership, and I have got back to strength training now. I like to use my MA practice time to develop my MA skills, not running, doing push-ups, and crunches until I'm too tired to do any decent technique work. Our basics session of class provide a pretty good warm-up, without doing any kind of other calesthenics, and I prefer it that way.

5/19/2015 Defensive Tactics Club: 2:00 - 3:30 pm. Worked on some of the GRACIE material, starting with UMPA with swim and trap mount reversal. After that, we worked on the elbow escape. After working those techniques, we did a series starting from full mount and reversing with the UMPA w/swim and trap, then passing the guard to the mount, and then setting an Americana or an arm bar. TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. First time back in a loooong time. Basics, one-steps, and sparring. Basics were tiring, like I thought they would be, but I did alright. Flexibility has gone away some, so I need to stretch it back. I haven't done a good job of keeping up on my form, so I didn't do it tonight. Did get some one-steps in, and then sparred. Sparring went ok, but I'm rusty. It felt good to be back.

That's pretty cool. Do you think the GM called him out to scout him out? I agree with the difficulty of the jump spinning target kick. Not a technique I'd look forward to doing.

I see no reason to employ a sword technique when there is no sword to employ it with. And from what I know of Karate forms, I don't think they were ever performed by the Samurai. To me, it doesn't make sense. There were weapons, they just weren't openly practiced. The samurai completely over powered the island for centuries. How can you say their fighting techniques would not have influenced the ryukyu? Especially around the time of conception of this kata. Who is credited with the creation of this kata? Does it have Chinese roots, like many of the others? Was the creator of the kata skilled in the use of the sword? I'm just curious, to see if this helps line up with the idea of the technique.

Interestingly enough, at about the 2:00 mark, this is actually one of our school's blue belt level one-steps! Our school website is down, but when its back up, I should have a link.