bushido_man96

What's up, KF?

You've had quite the journey, @Wastelander, and it's been a joy and a privilege to have you share it with us here on KF. I have especially enjoyed your Waza Wednesday clips.

Thank you so much, @Patrick. That means a lot!

I think this is really cool. To think that finding some helpful comments here helped to get you through a testing is awesome. I think it's cool that you still contribute even though you don't train right now. I hope you get back into it!

I'll echo @sensei8's sentiments! Congrats to all! It's been a blast and a privilege to watch your advancement during your time here at KF!

Thank you, @DarthPenguin! I'll have a reflections post up sooner or later; I'm waiting for sensei to type up my review.

I love the effort here!

I've competed in TKD events that scored like this as well. No, it's not terribly realistic. But neither is the continuous style of sparring that Olympic TKD is. However, I think the benefit is that the setting of competition is very much different than the setting of a self-defense scenario, and so are the feeling one experiences in each of those settings. I don't know if just doing bouts of continuous sparring is the answer or not. I think it can be helpful in teaching one to put together combinations and to have a plan if your technique isn't scored a point. I think you also have to consider that they stop because there is a referee that stops them. If the referee isn't there to stop them, then they shouldn't have a problem with continuing the action. Just about every major style of martial arts or combat sports has this issue. Kyokushin does hard, continuous fighting, and they can win by knockout, but they don't punch to the head. Olympic TKD is continuous, and one can even win by knockout, but they don't allow punching to the head, either. There are three major styles of wrestling out there in the forms of Folk Style, Freestyle, and Greco-Roman. Each has their differences, but none of them really work from their back. BJJ works all the areas of grappling, but like wrestling, doesn't allow strikes. MMA competition seems to be the middle ground. However, I'd refer to @Wastelander's information on Kakedameshi, as it might interest you. As long as people are working to get Karate into the Olympics, or grow other outlets like Combat Karate, it will have a place in lots of Karate dojos. As long as competition is a thing, even your run-of-the-mill weekend tournaments, it will have a place in dojos. But I think you'll end up seeing dojos that specialize in that kind of training for those specific high-level athletes that are looking to get to those venues to compete. Here's the biggest issue I see that could happen, but not necessarily will happen. If instructors start to look for tournament success as the identifier they want to hang their hat on, they will design their training curriculum to reflect that; they'll specialize in the sport sparring aspect of the training in an attempt to 1) develop good tournament fighters to grow their brand recognition, and 2) use it as a medium to identify the more talented athletes, single them out, and advance their training in order to accumulate tournament success and thus recognition for the school. When this happens, and sparring becomes the focus, then the applications take a back seat, and become forgotten. Forms become material for rank advancement. Now, that's a rather dystopian view of things, and I don't necessarily see that as how things end up, because not everyone is going to be interested in the competition aspects of things. In my opinion, I don't think the Olympic inclusion of TKD has been all that much of a benefit to the art, nor do I think it will benefit sport Karate.

Although not traditional Karate kata, the ATA forms were designed to flow from one to the next, like one large form. So however many one had learned, they could all be done in succession without stopping or returning to ready stance.

I think it would depend on whether you are doing a snapping front kick, using mostly the knee, or a thrusting front kick, which tends to get more hip and possibly some lean back involved.

5/21/2026 Aikido: 8:45 - 9:45 am. Morning Class. Aikitaisos and some forward and backward breakfalls, and some forward panda rolls. Strikes and front kicks. We did a kotegashi focus today, running through the 7th kyu requirement and then some versions that I have for my new rank requirements. Katatetori kotegashi (7th kyu): Dynamic, then static. We did static so we could focus on keeping the hand in the center on the entry; the initial step is close to uke's foot, then tenkan, keeping the grabbed wrist to the center. 4th Kyu kotegashi (don't have the name yet): This is uke grabbing one wrist and then coming around the back to secure the other wrist from behind. I have to twist and grab the wrist from behind, then do the kotegashi. There are 2 requirements from here, one doing the lock/throw in the initial hand that grabs the wrist in front, and the other is doing it on the other wrist when uke circles around. Going to take some work to get the grab coordinated. Defensive Tactics: 3:00 - 5:00 pm. Work-related, going through an instructor class on a restraint system. This keeps me certified to be able to teach to the department. Good review.

5/18/2026 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 135x3, 155x3, 155x3. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 135x5. Lat Pull-downs: 120x10, 120x10, 120x10. I was trying to ease my back into things. I had some pains after squatting again. May have to keep waiting.

Hey! It's great to see someone else starting up a training log!

I think it's pretty special that KarateForums.com is celebrating it’s 25th year as a martial arts forum on the internet. That’s huge. I believe that, for 25 years, it has been the best place to go and discuss the topics of the martial arts world. The quality of discussion is always high, always informative, and always welcoming. What does KarateForums.com mean to you? KarateForums.com has been an important part of my martial arts journey for the past 20 years. It has been the place I can come and discuss things after a class, ask questions about different approaches to things, and offer my own opinions on what we all love. I’ve come to KF after training with questions; I’ve come to KF after training with answers; I’ve gone back to training after reading and discussing things on KF and worked through them in my own training. Most importantly, KF has been the place I can come to when I haven’t been able to train for periods of time, whether due to health reasons, work reasons, or other things that have popped up in life. When I can’t train, and I’m in a funk, coming to KF has been a great place to exercise my martial arts in a mental way, with discussion and discourse. What memories spring to mind when you think of the community? There have been some great discussion threads on KF over the years, and although I can’t point to just one that I really enjoyed the most, going back at times and revisiting old conversations is a joy. I can see where I was at the time and how I’ve grown as a person and martial artist since then. During my time with KF, I’ve had two opportunities to actually meet with members. Once was when @sensei8 came to my hometown for a weekend of training and exchanging ideas. This was a great time, and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to meet Bob. The other time was when I was able to meet up with @Patrick at a conference in Topeka. During that conference, Patrick led a session on forum moderation and brought me into the session to share my experiences being a moderator on KF. I’ll always remember that and am grateful for the experience. How has KarateForums.com impacted your life and/or your martial arts journey? I’d say KF has impacted my martial arts journey the most just by exposing me to so many different stylists and their thoughts, opinions, and approaches on things like training, teaching, testing, and advancing as a martial artist, both physically and intrinsically (intrinsic advancement becomes more appealing the older I get). I can say with the utmost certainty that I would not be the martial artist I am today had I not found my way to KarateForums.com. Thank you, all members, past and present, that have been a part of this. Is there anything you want to say to your fellow members in honor of this shared milestone? Whether you have been here for 20 years or 20 minutes, you have probably already had an impact on someone here at KF, whether it’s a long-time member or a lurker just reading posts here and there and trying to decide if they want to join. As you grow in your martial arts journey, the other members here will grow with you. A simple word, a kind reply, or even what you might think is the most low-key response to a thread can have an impact on someone in a positive way. Whether you’re a brand-new martial artist that just started your very first class or a seasoned practitioner with a black belt so old it’s starting to tatter from training, you have a place here. Come on in, grow with us. I want to personally thank all of the members here, past and present, that have provided such great content and feedback through your topics and responses. You are what keeps KarateForums.com moving forward. Let's put another 25 years into this.

5/16/2026 Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 10:00 - 11:00 am. Open mat. It felt good to get back in, and I hope I don't have so many more interruptions. We rolled a few rounds to start out and I felt pretty good about them. I almost got a triangle choke set, and I worked a sweep once. We spent the rest of the class time working on stand-up. We focused on getting behind the opponent, using arm drags, duck-unders, etc. The coach/blue belt was really good about not offering a lot of excess forward pressure, so I tried to attack in spots with some extra forward pressure to try to get him to pressure back some. There were times where I felt him starting to come around my back and all I felt I could do was throw an underhook around his body to block him. I had some success with the other white belt that was there. Between rounds I stretched my legs. Back did ok today.

5/13/2026 Another morning Aikido video review session. 5th, 6th, and 7th kyu material, doing walk-thrus along the way. Aikido Testing: 6:15 - 7:20 pm. Testing is finally here. I'll do another testing reflection post that will go more in-depth on my thoughts, along with the evaluation review I got from the testing panel. I sat with sensei after testing, though, and got the evaluation right there. He gave me some things to work on, and congratulated me on a clean pass.

Congratulations, @Drew, and congrats on 15 years being a member! Awesome!

Excellent work, @aurik, and good luck on the upcoming test as well!

5/10/2026 Aikido: Video review of 7th, 6th, and 5th kyu material. 5/11/2026 Aikido: Video review again, same stuff. 5/12/2026 Aikido: Video review again, same stuff, along with walk-thrus of the techniques.

Make sure to keep up on your mental health, too.

Those were affects I wasn't really aware of. I usually only take some Flonase at night before I go to bed to help me breath better and snore less.

You hang in there, Bob. Keep fighting the fight!

Angles figure in to an extent, but not in the same way they would in standup. Instead of thinking in the terms of angles when I'm grappling, I think more in terms of position and positional improvement. Most of the time, though, I'm just trying not to die.

5/7/2026 Aikido: 9:00 - 10:00 am. Morning Class. Finally back to a class! And not too soon, as this is the only class I'll get before the testing. We did pre-test, which covers material from the previous ranks, 7th and 6th kyu, and getting things cleaned up there. We did lots of 7th and 6th kyu material review. Most of it I got through ok, just have a few things to hopefully clean up. Some of them will be called on for the test. Then we finished reviewing some of the more challenging 5th kyu techniques, to include the sokumen iriminage variations, kaitenage ura, and shionage ura. My back didn't bother me too much doing the breakfalls and getting pinned.

4/29/2026 Aikido Video Review: 5th kyu material. 5/4/2026 Aikido Video Review: 5th kyu material.