bushido_man96

Interesting, with the turns, especially the use of the cross step to uncork the body to face behind. Its a nice twist, pardon the pun, but it looked smooth and natural. This one seemed a bit more awkward to me. Why is the sabaki in the spots that you show? Have you also been using these changes in any applications? I'd be interested to see those. Thanks for sharing the videos with us, I think its a very cool idea.

Thanks, Bob. Yesterday in practice, Kendall (and I ) got to learn how to do the spiral ride from the top position. I really liked how it worked out, and hope to work with Kendall on it some more this year.

I've never tried this. Interesting. Is the board held at a 45 degree angle, at about waist level?

Wow, that's more than I expected. But, if you have a fairly large student body, then you'd need a bigger number to get that increase. But that's not a bad problem to have!

It depends on who you talk to. Age holds back a lot of things in life; driving age, drinking age, voting age, etc. I think at some point it does have to be a consideration. You also have to look at what other responsibilities you expect of black belts of various ranks. Do you expect a third dan to teach? If so, what age is appropriate for that? Other questions like this have to come into consideration, as well.

All are points that I agree with you on. Avoiding a confrontation at all costs is paramount. But I think this guy did the right thing, and is being punished for it, and that's wrong. But, I digress... A mantra you see bandied about a lot, and usually by people who don't have a clue, is the old quote, "Better to be tried by twelve, then carried by six." If it comes down to it, and you don't have a choice, then yes, defend your life as you need to. But, its important to know what the consequences could be. Its definitely better to be at a trial then in a box at your own funeral, but the former could end up costing some of your livelihood, as well.

We don't use grading/licensing books over here, so that's new to me. From what you mention, though, it definitely sounds like something worth looking into as far as fraud goes.

Its not necessarily about making the next requirement available. Its about finding ways to motivate and drive the students, new ways, or perhaps old ways rediscovered. I don't want to discount a student just because I assume they should just be motivated themselves. That would be giving up on them in my mind. It would also challenge myself a lot more as well, and in the end, everybody wins.

Very good idea, very good points. Its important as we get older and work towards passing on what we know, that we find ways to do that to maintain the integrity of what we have.

12/9/2014 4-way legs swings: 10 each leg Push-ups: 30 (21/9), 20 (10/10) Lunges: 2x10 alternating Squats: 2x10 Treadmill: 15 minutes

Have you contacted the company about this issue? Perhaps its an issue they've had multiple reports about, and they may be willing to help you out.

I've done it before, and suffered no ill affects from it. But its not something I do every time I break. I regularly break with the ball of the foot for round kicks. I merely mentioned that it can be done, but its not a good idea doing very many boards.

Okay, onward and upward, to 7th gup, or 7th grade, or however it may fall in your respective dojang.... Songham 3, ATA yellow belt form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4oJx9DbmN0&list=PL6C5091F842375D2F&index=1 28 moves. You can see knife hand blocks added in here, with the low and the high, as well as a double knife hand block (or "guarding block"). There is also some different footwork, with the step back to perform the front kick, then followed by a round kick. So with the ATA, in the third form, we see a kicking combination introduced. I know DWx alluded to this: I would just note that as part of the basics that are taught in orientation, and done in almost all of our classes, regardless of rank, we do the same jump front snap kick shown in Songham 3 here. I'd say its the most basic jumping kick out there, and a good training tool that leads to training other jumping kicks. Bo Chung Hyung, TTA hi orange belt form: there is no clip for this one, so I will try to spell it out here as best I can: Edit: here's my clip of this form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHMpvCAkabA&list=PL82A89568D2E49FDC&index=7 Ready position (standard): 1. Turn to left, down block left in front stance 2. Remain in left front stance, retract hip slightly and execute right reverse punch 3. Slide left to right to face front, while chambering for right down block, step right foot out to the right, right front stance, right down block 4. Remain in right front stance, retract hip slightly and execute left reverse punch 5. Slide right foot to left to face front, step left foot forward to left front stance, left down block 6. Step forward with right leg to right front stance, right punch 7. Step forward with left leg to left front stance, left punch 8. Step forward with right leg to right front stance, right punch, kihap 9. Turn 270 degrees to the right with the left foot into left back stance, left middle block 10. Right back leg front kick... 11. Land in right front stance, right punch 12. Turn 180 degrees to the right with right foot to right back stance, right middle block 13. Left back leg front kick... 14. Land in left front stance, left punch 15. Turn 90 degrees to the left, stepping with the left foot to left front stance, left down block (you are heading back to starting position now) 16. Step forward with right leg to right front stance, right punch 17. Step forward with left leg to left front stance, left punch 18. Step forward with right leg to right front stance, right punch, kihap 19. Turn 270 degrees to the right with the left foot, land in left front stance, left down block 20. Remain in left front stance, retract hip slightly, right reverse punch 21. Slide left foot to right to face front, step to the right with the right foot into right front stance, right down block 22. Remain in right front stance, retract hip slightly, left reverse punch. Return to ready position. *All punches in this form are to the mid-section. So, 22 moves, a form by all accounts made by our GM as an "extra form" (translation of Bo Chung) to help learn to use the hips in striking. And now with the third form in the TTA, we add a kick, the front kick. Footwork stays pretty basic, with the 270 degree turns adding a degree of challenge. Palgwe 3: Looks like we have 22 moves here, too, with lots of blocking techniques (or are they really strikes..!!!) What I will note that I see here is stepping backwards, which I don't see a lot of in the other forms sets, at least not this early on. Tae Guek 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaGuL3BgKh8 Looks like 34 moves. I see lots of combinations in here, mixing in kicks and double punches, short stances moving to longer stances for power. I particularly like the move of the knife hand block in back stance and transition to punching in the front stance. I teach students who will be breaking boards with techniques like reverse punch or elbow strike to use this method to get their hips and body into the technique for power. Very useful here.

Update: so far, practice is going pretty well. Kendall is getting two practices a night, and I think that will help him out a lot. In the first practice, he is working with some of the newer kids, and doing some different stand-up stuff, which will really help his game. Kenneth, my youngest, is doing ok with it so far. They've mainly covered the basics of the shot, and are starting to get into top and bottom stuff. Although he did hit one really sweet takedown where he got into good position with his hips, then lifted an snapped his arms to really sweep it good. Then after that, he kind of hurried too much, but he is learning. Our first tournament is this weekend, so we are gearing up for that. I'm working with Kendall to clean up some stuff to shake the rust off, so hopefully he'll be ready to hit the mats on Saturday. I will keep you all posted!

Very cool guard. I'm moving to Illinois tomorrow. Does the pummel drill you do to transition from side to side ever show up in use, or is just mainly a drill to get the reps in and getting a feel for the move. I like all these different pummeling drills you show, and I think they hold lots of value for training the positions. Thanks for sharing this!

This is doable. I've done up to two boards myself, but I make sure to do it as a front leg kick, and I really snap it out there and back. It does sting a little, and it leaves some pretty cool red marks around the bones of the foot for a little while.

10 percent increase in what? In everything that's subjected to our P&L statement [Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4, and Annual] for the Hombu, for my dojo, and my MA retail store. The list is quite extensive, as it is with most business'. I would guess, and this is just me guessing, the most affective way to increase this 10% would be to add more students, correct? If that is the case, how many additional students would it take to hit this 10% mark?

Very good advise, along with sensei8's here: Especially if you foment this kind of training relationship with someone your rank or close to it. There is nothing quite like forming a bond with a training partner that you see it through the black belt ranks with. Also, if you have more than one MA school available in your area, don't discount the thought of cross-examining things with members of other schools that might have time to train outside of the school. Valuable lessons can be learned there, as well.

The MA isn't concerned with physical size and strength, imho, it shouldn't be. It's not what you got, it's how you use it!! How about the mental maturity of some teenagers?

I knew this was coming. I hope its a good re-make.

In cases such as these, its important for a witness for the accused to be an expert in self-defense and use-of-force. A good attorney would probably be able to line up an expert witness such as this, which would be able to help the case. I do agree with you in regards to urban legends and the like. There are lots of misconceptions out there, and its important that through the process of the trial, that the jury is educated about these misconceptions, and how they can't be applied.

I'm confused on the license thing, as well. Could you elaborate on that more? As for the sparring, I think that is odd. Why would they refuse to spar with you? And do you feel you were ranked undeservedly because you did not spar?

I do like the idea of if not objectives during a black belt cycle, at least providing more challenges for them. Advanced exercises for warm-up instead of basics, perhaps more focus on sparring and self-defense, lots more pair work, would all be good things I think would help keep the black belt mind stimulated.

12/4/2014 Solo Workout: Leg swings: 4 ways, 10 each leg. Pushups: 30 (20/10 modified), 20 (10/10) Lunges: 10 each leg. Squats: 10 Side bends: 10 each side. Twists: 10 each way.

I had also heard that some of the designers of these two sets of forms also had a hand in the designs of some of the Chang On forms, but I can't recall who it was. This, I did not realize. I thought the main reason behind the implementation of the walking stance was to help train the higher, more upright stance seen in Olympic sparring. Thanks for the info here, Iceman.