bushido_man96

Again, congrats to both of you! Super well done!

I'm a little over 2 hours away from Manhattan.

11/14/2023 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 155x5, 185x5, 195x3, 205x1. Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x5, 95x5, 95x5. Jerk: 95x2, 115x2, 135x2, 135x2, 135x2. Lat Pull-downs: 100x10, 100x10, 100x10. Took a 5/3/1 approach to the squat sets, adding weight as the reps went down. I may continue that approach to see where it gets me. Unfortunately, there was no morning Aikido class this week.

I would love to seem some photos of what you get assembled!

One area where I think they could be beneficial is in circumstances where muscular atrophy could occur, such as a limb being immobilized in a brace or a cast. Being able to get some muscle stimulation going that way might be helpful in slowing the atrophy.

Congratulations to both of you!

I knew you weren't, Bob. I recalled that you were one of those darned Yankees.

That original Frasier series was really, really good!

Boy, you're pulling out all the big questions, aren't you! This is a tough one. As a younger man, I didn't think about it much; only when a relative or acquaintance died. As an older man, there's days I think about it going to work: "this could be the day someone tries to kill me." And then, I just go about my work. Then there's other aspect of death that can come to mind; quick and instantaneous, or slow and agonizing? Just the other day, I was talking to my wife, and told her that if and when I go, I want to donate my martial arts library to someone or somewhere that will preserve it for other local martial artist to use. That's kind of weird, right? I will say this: I hope there's pizza and Oreos in heaven, cause I'm going to eat a ton of them when I get there!

I think it's ok for it to be an open-ended question. The answer today likely won't be the same answer tomorrow. Best to be flexible. "Be water, my friend!"

11/11/2023 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5. Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3. Jerk: 75x2, 85x2, 95x2, 105x2. Got disgusted with myself, so went back to the gym. I didn't go crazy, as I don't want my head to explode on me, but I'm going to be playing around with some options to see if I can start getting some work in. A side note: the Aikido instructor told me the other day that my rolling has been looking pretty good, especially for being out of it for so long. He checked his records; the last time I'd attended an Aikido class was 11 years ago. My, how time gets away from us.

I'd agree. Lots of fluids, flush your system out, and get back to it in a few days.

That's what it's all about, right there!

Any Governing Body needs to prepare for that inevitable, otherwise anarchy will set in certain areas of the Administration. Integrity doesn't only exist in ranks but in every aspect and corner of the Governing Body at all times. Like a will, certain things must be assured for the protection of the Governing Body as well as its Student Body. Reading Fat Cobra's post, I thought of you immediately, Bob. Hopefully, they get something in place to preserve what has been built. I can't offer much in the way of experience with Karate organizations, but I've been a part of a few TKD organizations, and the pros and cons tend to be the same. I agree that setting standards for technique and gradings is a big pro for many organizations. If used properly, it should be a great evaluation tool for producing quality students across the organization. However, I've seen great disparities between schools within the same organizations. Some instructors are good, and some are not, and it tends to show up in the students. I think some aren't hardline enough, and are afraid to be the "bad guy" that tells a student that they shouldn't be testing. This is something that I feel organizations should have a handle in addressing, but that kind of oversight can be difficult to logistically plan for. Of the cons, I agree that many organizations get stuck in a rut "teaching to the curriculum," to the point where it can stifle creativity and branching out. The organization I'm currently a part of has been adding curriculum to the black belt ranks, and from what I've seen of what's been added, it has no practical use other than providing more stuff to spend time to memorize in order to test on it. This is bad, and it's curriculum for the sake of the curriculum, and doesn't help to better the students.

I think this is a great way to approach kata training in general, but I always add a caveat to it. I wouldn't necessarily encourage students to change things right away; any kind of changes should only be made if and when necessary (and reluctantly), after an extensive amount of study into the how's and why's of it's original intent. Change for the sake of change benefits nothing. A change made due to the physical limitations of aging, an accident, or even in relation to body style and physical capabilities, can benefit the practitioner, and also provide others with an option to explore should they see the need to based on similar circumstances.

Congrats, scohen0300!

Congrats to the Rangers and their fans!

Life is. People are born, they live, and they die. I think the goal is to make sure you feel like your existence is meaningful, and you are positive in that aspect. Do what you can, be good, be helpful, give back, etc.

That final drive for the Cowboys was tough to watch. Dak just held the ball too long, and it seemed like in a situation like that, he would have been firing it out quick. Even at the end, they still had their chance to win a tough division road game. KC really looked good in the first half against the Dolphins, and they came out like gangbusters on the opening drive. What bothers me is the lack of scoring after that, especially in the 2nd half. But that defense really played well, and, get an important win over Patrick's Dolphins in the hopes of retaining homefield advantage in the playoffs.

11/6/2023 Aikido Class: 8:30 - 9:30 am. After some stretching and rolling, we worked on some basic wrist cross grabs, and then we used what we worked on to do geo-waza. It was quite a bit of fun, and we kept the techniques to grabbing attacks. Sensei gave us the option to pick which "level" we wanted to go at, either slow enough to give ourselves time to think, or we could put a little pressure on ourselves if we didn't react to the initial grab then the attacker would initiate another one. My partner and I stayed around this 2nd level, and we really got quite a bit of moving around done. I rolled around a lot, and my abs were a bit sore the next day from all the rolling. Very fun class.

Agree with DP. They aren't going to give you that much benefit. Easy doesn't typically work, and this is a case of that for sure.

You might like Monster Squad then. Kind of a Halloweenish Goonies movie.

Well, KC has to get their act together. An abomination of a game in Denver, and that the week before going to Germany to play the Dolphins. I don't want to see them lose 2 in a row going into the bye week.

Apparently he got cut in the neck by a skate blade. I assume it sliced his carotid artery. This has happened at the NHL level, and it was only by the quick intervention of the medical staff that the player survived. That's the reason that goalies are now required to wear neck protection. I'm pretty sure they're going to require players to wear neck/throat protection going forward. Man, that's tragic. Thoughts and prayers with his family and friends.

10/30/2023 Aikido Class: 8:30 - 9:30 am. This Monday morning class is plenty early enough to not interfere with my work schedule, so looking forward to it as long as my head holds out. Sensei referred to it as a "technical basics" class, which it was. We did some basic warmups and aiki-taiso movements, spending some time on the mechanics and doing a few with a partner to get the feel for being "grounded" and "centered" to make the technique work better. Then we did some breakfall work, which was very broken down into steps, and done from our knees. We worked on getting the arm to break the fall first, while pushing off with a leg in order to stop the momentum with a different foot hitting the ground. We kind of rolled over in a one-two-three count, and I started to get the hang of it towards the end. I've done breakfalls before, but not usually this technical. We got to finish class with 13 jo kata, which was fun, and I got a pretty good handle on it, and was able to start moving through it with some confidence, with which came some power in the techniques.