bushido_man96

Congrats on getting into your new facility! That's got to be a great feeling! 1/26/2015 Defensive Tactics for the Departments: 12:00 - 2:00 pm; my January offering for Dept DT. Worked primarily on the Krav Maga choke defenses, and on cleaning up the pluck motion, and footwork. Front choke, side choke, rear choke, front choke with push, rear choke with push, front choke against a wall, and rear choke against a wall. Finished up with some GRACIE mount reversals; UMPA and UMPA with swim and trap. Wrestling Practice: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Stand-ups from referee position. From bottom and on back, worked on bridging to make space and the dropping and hip heist to belly, then recover base. From top referee's position, worked on crashing the arm to half-Nelson. In the intermediate practice, Kendall got to work on chicken wing & single wrist, and a double chicken wing. These were great pinning moves. 1/28/2015 TKD Workout: 11:45 - 12:00 pm. White belt material. Chon Ji x2 Palgwe 1 x2 Taeguek 1 x2 Songham 1 x2 TTA white belt one-steps (7) x2 ATA white belt one-steps (3) x2 Choong Jang (4th dan form) x2 stretch. Defensive Tactics for the Departments: 12:00 - 2:00 pm. Focused on the Krav Maga choke defenses (front, side, rear, front with push, rear with push, front on wall, rear on wall), and spent a little time on handgun disarm from the front. Really focused on cleaning up the pluck again, and on working the footwork.

Welcome to KarateForums, Matt!

Welcome to KF!

Alrighty, somewhere along the way here, I've run out of all my other forms in keeping up with the belt ranks I currently do. And not knowing how the belt ranks really line up in the WTF, I'm sure I got off there, too. So for now, at the TTA hi brown belt level, we do the form Choong Moo hyung. Choong Moo hyung: 32 moves, with quite a few kicks. We see the bending ready stance prior to the first side kick, which is to the rear, and we also see the jumping side kick here done in a kind of leg bicycling motion. We don't do the kick that way; we take two steps, then come off with a back leg flying side kick, which is simpler than the kick he does here. Then you get a back leg round kick/spin side kick combination, a round kick to the 45 degree flank, and a combination of two back leg side kicks towards the end of the form. As for hand techniques, there are lots of open hand techniques, with the knife hand square block, a knife hand high block/upset knife hand strike move, and a horizontal spear hand strike. We also get the knife hand checking blocks, which are an X-block that checks a technique, but could also be used as a catch. We have an inner forearm block that comes to the inside, which is seen common in the early WTF/Kukki forms, but appears for the first time in the ITF forms. There is also the tricky jump 360 degree spin into the knife hand guarding blocks, which is a challenge, because you are supposed to jump from and land in the same spot. Overall, a very challenging form, but one I like. Footwork tends to be key for a good performance.

I agree. What I notice the most when teaching Hwa Rang and Choong Moo is that the students don't pay enough attention to the intricacies of the footwork in these forms. Good footwork will put their bodies in the right positions to perform the techniques with good power. I usually see the footwork get rushed too much, and then power fades, and technique fades.

You can always see if the instructor has some experience with throwing, and if he teaches any of the basics. There may be some in there, and you should be able to break some things down in some applications to see where some simple throws can be set up.

Cool stuff! Its nice to see some Sumo news. Thanks for sharing this. It looks like that practitioner is set up for a long run at stretching the record, too.

Thanks for the response. I keep thinking about both options, and I'll try to work on using both positions when I get to some rolling.

If you are wondering what it is, check with your head instructor. It may be something you are interested in, or it may not. Check into it, and see what it is. Please let us know what it consists of.

Yes, thank you, all! Your comments mean so much to me.

This is a great thread, and you raise some really good point, Danielle, especially in the training focus areas. You mention the statistical differences between the US and UK in regards to knife and gun attacks. I'm sure that has to do with the gun laws of each country, too.

In the state of Kansas, battery is statutorily defined as: (1) Intentionally or recklessly causing bodily harm to another person; or (2) intentionally causing physical contact with another person when done in a rude, insulting or angry manner. So, according to the encounter that Harkon had, his antagonist could be charged with battery under subsection 2 here. Spitting is physical contact.

01/25/2015 Solo Workout: 30 minutes Chon Ji x3 Palgwe 1 x3 Taeguek 1 x3 Songham 1 x3 ATA white belt one-steps (3) x2 TTA white belt one-steps (7) x2 Choong Jang (4th dan form) x3

Sounds to me like he's worried about you quitting more than anything else (possibly he recognizes that you've been frustrated with your progress lately). Seems to me he sees positive changes in you from the training and is legitimately worried that you'll quit and go back to doing "nothing" with your free time, as too many adults do, and not continuing to better yourself through martial arts or another means. Sounds like he cares about you and your well being and personal growth. This was my impression, as well. I think he was hinting that if you left, he wanted you to at least be doing some Martial Arts.

jaypo lays out some of the big reasons here. As an instructor over the years, I've seen many students leave once they hit black belt. Many set it as a goal, and once they've hit it, they think that's it. Its unfortunate, but it happens. I've had some very talented students quit shortly after black belt. Some of it could be the fault of the curriculum, as well. I am personally a fan of having black belt focused classes that provide training that is different than the standard classes. The basics are still important, but at some point, the law of diminishing returns sets in, and it can be beneficial to alter the training course somewhat. Another conclusion is that it is perhaps time in these Martial Artists' journeys to step back, or turn down a different path. If they continue some sort of training, this is a good thing, even if it isn't with your club. Try to keep in contact with them, and have open training times with them when you can. Perhaps eventually your passion will re-kindle a spark in them to return.

Looks pretty sharp! Congrats on your promotion! I truly think once you get to the ranks of 4th and 5th dan, its more about how you train and teach yourself, and what you discover in your training, and how you expand upon it, that makes a 5th dan different than a 4th dan. The style becomes your instructor, in a way, I guess.

Best of luck to you! I still get nervous for testings, after 21 years! Try to take some deep breaths, and when all is said in done, if you trust that you have been training well, then everything should take care of itself.

I agree. It sounds like you've got a lot going on there, and it would be difficult for us to diagnose from behind a keyboard. Get to a doctor, and see if you can get some physical therapy arranged. Welcome to KF, and I really hope to see you around! Keep reading and posting; its motivational...

I have to have every uniform I've ever purchased altered. I have big legs and wide hips, so I usually to get a pretty big uniform size, and then have the legs and arms all hemmed up.

Weight can still be an issue on the ground, but skill plays into is as well. It could be more to do with lack of skill, but not necessarily. When all other things are equal, size will always play some sort of factor. But keep training, and always try to partner with different body styles and skill levels so that you can push yourself.

Your cup might be more than half-full, if you set it down when you do kata....

It could be that he may not want to broach the topic at all. While asking him in private is an option, it could be that he still won't tell you anything, and he may not want to be pestered about it, either. As others have mentioned, if you enjoy his classes, and feel he is doing a good job teaching you, then it may not be worth worrying about. It also might be something he reserves to tell you for when you become higher ranked yourself. When you get to a spot where he says he can't grade you any more, then you'll have your answer.

I think it would be good to be flexible enough to allow both options to work. Maybe a set-up where one testing is at your place, and the next time you need his help, you go to his place. That would make for a nice mix, I think, and you can meet others through the testings he hosts.

Ok, ready for 1st gup material, and at this stage in the game, I'm going to have to do some clean-up to get things kind of consistent in regard to rank and what not. So please, bear with me here. We are fresh out of colored belt Kukki patterns, so I'll pick them up once we get to black belt rank proper. For now, two colored belt forms. ATA red belt form, Choong Jung 2: 46 moves. New blocks are double inner forearm block, knife hand high X-block. New strikes are long upset ridge hand strike, palm heel strike, and reverse upset punch. Kicking includes a reverse hook kick, a #3 jump round kick, and a repeat round kick/side kick combination. This form as a lot of open and techniques and combinations in it, with palm heel strikes and ridge hand strikes, and the open and knife hand square blocks. The kicking techniques are particularly challenging. The round/side kick really challenges balance, and the reverse hook kick requires power yet control necessary to keep from over rotating before returning the kick to the ground. This form is a great challenge to the ATA student approaching the black belt test. TTA middle brown belt form, Hwa Rang hyung: 29 movements by the book, 30-31 techniques in total. New hand techniques include the palm heel strike (we perform this movement in slow motion), reverse upset punch, downward knife hand strike in circular motion, and twin elbow strikes to the rear. We have a high/low scissors type block, and a technique where the student reaches out and grabs his punching and before pulling in and delivering a side kick with the front leg. We also get 2 round kicks in combination in this form. There is a section of 3 reverse punches done in back stance, but we do these punching forward with hip rotation, not to the 45. This form starts out very compact in the beginning, and I get lots of power in the opening sequence. I like the fact that there are more kicks in this form, too. There are lots of little footwork nuances that are not as apparent in this form until you begin to do it. I think this form and Choong Moo really require attention to the footwork to be successful in performing them.

I agree with you, and that was GM Lee's reason for designing the forms the way that he did for the ATA. His idea was that if TKD was to be known for its kicking techniques, then why don't the forms focus more and challenge more with kicking techniques? Later on in this thread, I'll lay out how each rank of the ATA adds more challenging techniques that are basic requirements in order to test. But I agree, this is what the ATA forms do well. Keep in mind, though, that most of the kicking techniques done in the ATA forms are not required to be high section. The recommended targeting for them is middle or high section. The jumping crescent kicks in brown belt form, though, are supposed to be high section, but front/crescent kicks are usually easier for people to get high section than other kicks. I agree, very subtle, and that was how I thought it was supposed to be done, but got confused when I saw how the second kick like his was done in the form. I used to be able to do that more easily, but gravity is working against me more lately.... This helps clarify that for me, thank you. I see your conundrum here, but it is possible. The key is to use that right leg front kick chamber motion to really burst off the ground, and then if you pull you knee up tight like a front kick chamber, its just a matter of flicking that kick out and back fast. While you are still on the rise, the second kick follows, hopefully higher than the first one, because you flicked it out there earlier at the beginning of the jump. I hope that helps out. Really make that first kick fast to make it work. With the shape I'm in now, I might have to do them both like the second one just so I don't make myself look bad...