bushido_man96

This happens to me a lot when I am really tired. I go to class anyway, and feel so much better after I get to working out, and after class, I'm always glad I went.

I would be willing to bet that it is due to the lack of training. I get that way when I have long layoffs, too. Sometimes, you just have to make yourself do some work on your own when you can't get to class, and that can help you out some. But there really is no substitute to being in great class environment with fellow students and a great instructor.

You should ask around at the schools that you want to train at, and ask if its ok if you just join their classes to work out, as opposed to train and test for rank there. Try to work out a deal to pay by the month or class when you can show up, and keep your membership at the more permanent location. You might just have to eat the month that you are gone, but if that's the only way you can work it out, then you may have to go with hit.

I'm going to go a bit of a different route than some others here, but if you've got an opinion, I don't see any reason why you don't express it in a thoughtful manner conducive to generating a dialogue on the subject. Some may get defensive, but if they are honest with themselves, then perhaps they'd be willing to listen to reason.

4/11/2015

Seminar: DT Club-sponsored Personal Defense Seminar, 9:00 am - noon. This is the first one of these seminars that I've been able to be a part of, but the DT club does them about twice a year here, and its usually a women's focused seminar. The head of the DT club opened up with some basic situational awareness talk along with some stats behind sexual assaults. From there, the group was divided into two, and we had two mat rooms set up for the classes. There were some basic wrist escapes taught, some choke defenses, and then some ground work, from a bully choke on the ground, to a shrimping escape from a sexual assault position with various options on finishing depending on what the bad guy did, and a full mount reversal. It was a lot of fun!

Taekwondo Poomsae: The Fighting Scrolls, by Kingsley Umoh, is a new book I've found with some different takes on the applications of the Taegeuk and Palgwe forms. Its a different approach than O'Neil's book.

Bunkai isn't a thing in ITF in the same way as it is in Karate or at least certainly not oyo bunkai. The moves are generally taught at face value and a punch is just a punch. In fact when I first joined Karateforums, bunkai was a very alien concept to me and I'd certainly never encountered it in my training. To be honest I still struggle with the concept.

I was the same way. I knew nothing of bunkai until I heard of it hear on KF. I do like the idea behind it, though, even if it just presents a different way of looking at the same thing, which is a good way to stimulate the thought process. I haven't gotten to where I teach bunkai (or Hae Sul as a Korean concept) of entire forms, but I do present different applications of individual movements that our class does in basics from time to time. I haven't had the opportunity to break down entire forms up to this point.

Thanks for the rundown. It sounds like you've got an opportunity to learn some good stuff there. Please keep us posted as to your progress, and what you find works with your other style.

Thanks for sharing that explanation. I really like what you said about family, and representing your Jiu-Jitsu, and the like. That really made sense.

"Taekwondo is a 5000 year old Korean Martial Art..."

Congratulations! Well earned many times over!

I've never heard of it, but if that's the rundown of it, it doesn't sound like it would be an effective style to get into. I can understand why they try to stay "women only," to perhaps prevent men from seeing their tactics, but even still, they won't be doing anything knew under the sun. I'd advise her to beware.

4/8/2015

Defensive Tactics Club: 2:00 - 3:00 pm. Did some work on Kimura and hip bump sweep, and also spent quite a bit of time working on the triangle choke. All the reps are helping out!

Gym:

Squats: warm-up 45x5x2, 105x5, 110x5, 110x5

Bench: warm-up 45x5x2, 95x5, 100x5, 100x5. A bit wider grip, and lower on the sternum helped my shoulder a lot.

Deads: 135x5, 135x5, 135x5

Stretched out later at home.

Did anybody else read "throwing a martial arts tournament" as "losing on purpose"?

Chrissy, in regards to your plans, are you set up under some kind of association or governing body that would help you with this tournament? The heavy contact level is a concern to me, especially if you are just a random style wanting to throw out a Kyokushin style tournament without any kind of insurance, etc, and wearing very little padding. You might struggle to get insured. Injuries will happen at a tournament like this. Injuries happen at light-contact tournaments. I'd be leery on this, and make sure to research it as much as possible.

This is me looking from the outside, and forgive me for that. But, I'd like to see the application of each movement within the 5th Dan form...ATA 5th dan Poomsae, Chung Hae. Some of the combinations seemed to have no correlation to one another, and I admit, that with me looking in from the outside, I was confused.

I suppose that's the beauty of the MA being made up of different styles of the MA. What I'm use to DOESN'T have to be the same in another. I also suppose that I've been down the Shindokan path so long that I demand some effective applications.

Please set me straight because I need to be set straight, especially if I'm wearing Shindokan blinders where I can only see that and not the beauty of Chung Hae.

Its important to remember how young a style the ATA is, and how and why the forms were created. By and large, the ATA forms were created to help students develop TKD techniques as the student advances in rank. They were not laid down with bunkai-style applications in mind. They were designed to challenge the practitioner at that rank with the techniques of that rank.

I hope that makes sense, and answers your question.

I don't think so. Moving with a purpose is the key.

Nice.

I apologize for not being as active on this thread as I was earlier. The truth is, each of these posts takes me quite a bit of time to put together, so I need to have a big open time slot to make the posts as good (hopefully) as I want them to be. So, with that said, let's do some 5th dan evaluation of forms!

5th dan ITF tuls:

So San:

Se Jong: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dsD2_4tvBE

Tong Il: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXro0R2CmzU

So San: 72 moves, a long form! This follows the + pattern, as well. This form has some interesting footwork, with forward double step-slide turning, which can be seen around move 50, if I see it right, and in move 55. We also see some stepping backwards at move 66 to perform a left scooping block, and then shifting forward to punch in move 67. The form starts by shifting/sliding back wards to block, then stepping forward to strike. After opening, we see some blocking and striking at angles similar to those seen in Yoo Sin. There is also some tricky segments where a twin knife hand strike is delivered out to either side, and then with the arms held in position, their is a high side kick to the right, followed by turning to do a round kick to the left (moves 9, 10, 11). This is repeated later, as well. Move 17 is double low block, followed by a grab and releasing motion in move 18, and a strike follows in move 19. There seems to be a lot of shifting throughout this form. After move 50 with the forward double step slide, we jump back, turning, and execute double guarding blocks. This repeats at move 56, as well. Overall, there are some challenging aspects to this form, but it also seems to focus on some smaller shifting motions and not quite as many athletic motions that we saw in earlier forms.

Se Jong: 24 moves, in a stacked I pattern. Our association does this form at 3rd dan recommended. This form tends to move rather quickly, going one way and then another after just one move, and there is no repeating in the form. I liked this form because I feel like I can move rather powerfully with it. At move #8, for some reason, in our style, we step all the way to face the opposite way to punch, as opposed to just a 90 degree turn. I have no idea why, but we end up facing the right way at the end. At move 20, we do a single palm pressing block, instead of the double. I like this form because it has a fast, powerful feeling to it that appeals to me.

Here is the version we do in my school: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCNaSl1b0fU&list=PLon1GNgZPzV52Ef_tAanXfcPXyraURw2I&index=3 You can see where the differences are at moves 8, 9, and 10. At move 10, we get back headed in the right direction, and the form finishes properly.

Tong Il: 56 movements, in a straight line. This pattern is supposed to symbolize Gen. Choi's desire that Korea become unified, and the stamping motions symbolize his frustration of Korea being divided. This form starts off in a slow, rather smooth rhythm. There are quite a few of slow move performances in the form, as well. There are also some interesting strikes with the top of the hand, what I've heard called an ox-jaw strike, but here are called bow wrist upward block. We see downward kick, outward vertical kick, along with some target kicks. I like the way this form flows, with slower, powerful segments mixed in with faster segments.

And that brings the ITF tul portion of the thread to an end, for the time being. Also of note is there is no GTF pattern to add to the 5th dan ITF tuls. But, just because there aren't any more new patters in ITF, doesn't mean we won't revisit them as we go along!

WTF/Kukki 5th dan Poomsae, Sipjin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGOPx0P1aKU

31 moves, in a + pattern. Sipjin symbolizes the longevity humans derive from the everlasting elements of nature, and follows the line of movement that is the Chinese character for 10, symbolizing "the infinitely multiplying nature of the decimal system and the endless development of life forms in nature," (from Complete Taekwondo Poomsae). This is an interesting pattern, and again, seems to have that Poe Eun feeling to it at the beginning, moving along the line facing mostly forward, but turning around to face the other way with the open mountain block at moves 4 and 9. The motions starting at move 2b and continuing through move 3c, with the augmented middle section block, pressing forward and opening the hand, and then to a horizontal spear hand thrust with the opposite hand. This segment repeats, as well. At move 15b, we see the first of several boulder pushing blocks, which press very slowly and cover a large area, and they move more upwards than the way I have done them, moving across. We also see some twin forward punches in this form, done in pairs from opposite stances. This is a very interesting form. I noticed in the boulder pushing block, the front stance appeared to have the feet on one line, instead of shoulder width apart, which would be a very awkward movement for me. This form also runs a mix of fast move combinations with slower segments of power and tension.

ATA 5th dan Poomsae, Chung Hae:

95 moves, in an hourglass pattern. The form starts with a rather abrupt series of retreating steps and blocking before becoming offensive. The complex ATA kicking keeps up, with an early front kick then consecutive side kick to the opposite side. There are also lots of long, circular blocking motions, both fast and slow, and some more single hand striking combinations. We also see a triple repeating kick set (side kick and some round kicks, as near as I can tell), and a jump spin hook kick. There is a challenging section with a jump front kick followed by a jump spin outer crescent kick, followed by some retreating and blocking, and then it repeats. This form has a lot of moves in some long stances, and lots of movement, taking series of full steps forwards and backwards. There is a very odd circular square block. Later, we see a retreating and jumping spin outer crescent kick, followed by a jump spin inner crescent kick, and prior to that, he was working from a one-leg stance. We see a nice combination that has a stomp kick, followed by some downward striking and then a low kick to finish a downed opponent. That is a long form!

There we have it, 5th dan forms. As we move up the ladder, the lists of forms will likely get shorter, and hopefully, I can still find links to all the form that are out there.

Until then, thoughts, opinions, observations, and tips for any form performances are appreciated!

Nice rundown, especially with getting out of a bad position. And I like how you are always pressing about moving up the "positional ladder." Its just not enough to say, "don't get caught in this position," because its going to happen. Great stuff, Alex.

I wholeheartedly concur!!

In BJJ, is it a good thing or a bad thing to be always moving? I ask that because we're taught that it's a bad thing to always be moving for the simple reason that...

"Each time you move, you open up other possibilities to your opponent to capitalize upon; don't be moving just to be moving: have consciousness while moving" ~Dai-Soke

Nice tutorial; as always!!

The thing about the pressure point, is that it's also not a guarantee for a varied reasons. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained!!

Martial Arts classes tend to have a rather high attrition rate. People either find it more challenging than they thought, or just find its not for them. But, it could be a slow week, too, and the class could fill back in.

Yes, that is what it is, Shawn.

Patrick

She is already in a very limited niche of interest. Obviously her popularity, whatever it may be, is limited to the narrow circle of MMA fans. I doubt she is even vaguely recognized by the average citizen who probably is not a fan of hers or even expresses interest for her sport. Although it could have something to do with her PR, it does seem very odd that only Walmart would refuse to sell a sport fighter's book when two of the largest bookstore chains are selling it. Strange indeed....

I think she is one of the most-searched topics on Google, as well, so she has some drawing power.

I do think it odd that Walmart won't carry her book in stores, but will sell it through their website. It doesn't make sense. Nor does it make sense that they refer to her as "too violent," but sell the Game of Thrones DVD series, which, if they follow the books well, and I understand they do, are quite a bit more violent than any of Ronda's fights. I think it smacks of hypocrisy on Walmart's part.

Either way, I don't think it will affect her book sales that much.

Welcome to KF! You will find no lack of passionate Karatekas or other stylists to converse with here!

Welcome to KF, Juan! Have you considered joining any dojo's/clubs in your area to get some live instruction?

This is a great idea. I think one of the best things you could do to develop your strikes is find a partner to spar or semi-spar with. Working with Boxers would be a great benefit, but many times they train with big gloves on, which will affect your ability to use your hands in your defensive techniques, and thus affecting your transition to offense. If you check out some of stonecrusher96's videos in the Chinese Martial Arts forum, you'll see some great drilling ideas, but you will also see how they can be nullified once you start training with Boxing gloves.

So, with that in mind, what I would suggest is to get some nice MMA style gloves with the open fingers, and some good, Boxing type headgear to absorb blows well, and do some light to medium contact sparring where you try to apply your defenses on the attacker in a live situation. And don't just spar, drill/spar. Have him start with a jab, and work on recognizing it and defending it. Then work up to a jab/cross combination you defend. The better you get, the more you can start doing some more spontaneous sparring sessions to see how you've come with your drilling.

That's what I would recommend. Please let us know how it goes, and what you learn!