bushido_man96

As an instructor with a wife, 3 kids, and a full-time job not instructing, it can be hard to pencil in training time like I could when I was young. As a teacher, your duty is to your students, and not yourself, so you can't always line up in the class and do basics and forms, especially if you are going to watch and make corrections, and help your students get better. Often times, the only class I can make in a week is the one I teach, so I don't get a class of my own to work out in. So, I have to try to find some training time on my own, which can be hard to dig up, too. What is important, is knowing the material you teach. That is a big one. So, its important to take the time to review at least, to stay on top of what you teach.

In my opinion, if you are in a Martial Arts class, you should be learning self-defense. Not everyone thinks this way, though, and its my opinion only. Hopefully what you spend time learning as a Martial Art has a side effect of lending to self-defense abilitiy.

Well done! Congrats!

Congrats, Danielle! Sounds like it was quite the test, for sure. Well done!

Agreed. If you're using a weapon generally I think that the intention is to hurt the opponent. A weapon has the ability to hurt the opponent, albeit, the wielder of said weapon is where the intention lies, and not in any weapon!! Imho!! All true. To use one of tallgeese's terms, a weapon is a force multiplier, and should be used as such. A weapon that doesn't much hurt the opponent is of little use, like a pillow fight. If you don't want to hurt an opponent, then avoid the confrontation altogether.

From what I've seen, there is a DVD that can be bought to accompany that book, which would have the form on it. That book has the form in it, too, if you are interested in picking it up. You might be able to find a clip on youtube, as well.

I don't know, Bob. I'll take 11-5 next year, for sure. There are some tough games in there, especially with playing Denver twice (Super Bowl team), Seatle (Super Bowl champ), San Franscisco (NFC Champ appearance), and New England (AFC Champ appearance). Then there is San Diego twice, who was much improved and made the playoffs, as well. I'm ready for a challenging season.

There are grappling schools out there that might have a self-defense focus, and could provide good self-defense training. There are grappling schools out there that will focus on improving position and getting out of a situation, which is great training if you wind up on the ground (which is where a lot of people end up). Don't discount a grappling school.

4/25/2014 GRACIE Re-certification: Day 2, 8:00 am - noon. Started off working weapon retention from mount and guard, and then reviewed standing weapon retention. We also worked drop-and-draw against knife attack, and worked close up knife attack defenses. Then spent time reviewing all material, cleaning up some nuances along the way.

Thanks, Bob. If he does compete, we'll have video. For now, though, its just practice. Can't wait til next year!

4/24/2014 GRACIE Re-certification: Day 1, 8:00 am - 3:00 pm. Doing an overall review of all the material from the course. Good workout, and it was good to see some familiar faces from our time at the course last year. One more day to go, and its always a blast to train with Royce!

The NFL released its 2014 schedule. Here is a week-by-week schedule: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2014/04/23/2014-nfl-schedule-by-week/8072059/ And a team-by-team schedule: http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2014/04/23/2014-nfl-schedule-by-teams/8072165/ What do you think? How does it look for your team this year? KC got a tough draw, playing at Denver, New England, and at San Francisco, all before their bye week at week 6. November 16 they have Seattle at home, then two weeks later, Denver at home. It will be a tough road to hoe this year!

Nope. Not going. They probably don't have an internet connection, and then I couldn't post on KarateForums. Not going.

I have not seen it yet, but have wanted to. Now that its on Netflix, the wife and I may sit down and watch it.

At 5'7" to 5'8", you'd be a pretty short QB. Unless you have a rocket arm, or play at a school that runs the option, your shot at playing QB might be fairly minimal. Your prototypical QB is 6' at least, although there have been a few great shorter QBs, but even then, they go about 5'10". Depending on your speed, you might be able to fit into a position like halfback or wide receiver. You might also look at putting on some bulk to gain a bit of weight. But those are just suggestions, and not hard and fast rules, either. Best of luck, and keep us posted.

Happy Birthday Noah!

Personally I think someone filmed them at a demonstration and jumped to conclusions. The WTF has a creative forms division for competition therefore there is no need to add these to the traditional divisions. The info I got was from a book by Richard Chun. It made mention of them being developed, so I went looking for them. I figured they would slot them into the black belt ranks somewhere.

Agreed! Sometimes, too much thought gets put into the wrong things.

Everyone's learning curve is different. The most important thing to do when making mistakes is to not get down on yourself. Let the instructor fix it, and move on. Focus on the task at hand, and do your best. That is all any instructor can ask out of their students.

Each person will be different on this. I don't look down on someone because they have a lower belt color; I don't know that person, what they have done in the past, or may currently do. To assume something like this can put you in a bad spot. But, I'm sure there are those out there that do look down on others, look at sparring as a chance to school a lower rank, and show how good they are; it can be an ego trip for some. Everyone will be different on this matter.

We have now started the Greco/Freestyle season of practice. Its two nights a week, for 2 hours each night. Kendall is always nervous about this style, I think mainly because of the throwing. He has more of a comfort level with folk style, and I feel I can help him with folk style better than Greco or Freestyle. But, I think its good for him to keep getting the mat time, and he is even having a better attitude about the practices, and is staying much more positive. I don't think we will be hitting any competitions for it yet, but he will hit the practicies as often as he can.

Great post, so well explained. I haven't got to this kind of training yet, but I hope to, soon. Now, I have an idea of what to expect, and to keep myself positive about it.

I disagree here to an extent. I'm not big on the philosophical side of the Martial Arts. I'm not really big on trying to influence others to what I believe, which is what I really think the philosophical side of the Martial Arts is. I do think good character is important, though, and most people, especially adults, have developed their own ideologies by the time they would come to me to learn a Martial Art. I also feel that if I am going to spend my time and money learning Martial Arts, I want to learn technique, and how to use it and when to use it. I don't really want someone to preach his value system to me. I already have one, and it has served me well for many years. Maybe putting a little bit here and there foreward for something to think about; I don't mind that. I think that students like this can still be good students, and become great Martial Artists. Its just a matter of what each wants to focus on. Then, on the flip side, you get those students who sign up for a Karate class or a TKD class, and then they want to become Japanese or Korean. They may try to focus so much on the culture and its philosophies that they ignore developing skills that might help them defend themselves. So, its possible to get students on both sides of the coin.

Welcome aboard, Carpenter! I found that when I did Aikido, I found spots that would allow me to insert kicks quite nicely to help "facilitate" the takedowns. I've found the same in Hapkido, but my Hapkido style is very much open to striking for distraction. I find that the BJJ that we do will help level me out so that I at least don't get freaked out when being on the ground. Some of the Hapkido/Aikido takedowns work nicely with controlling an arm when they land, leaving a nice opportunity to set an armbar.

Very well said. Some schools will put more focus on philosophical meaning behind belt colors, and some will just use different colors to denote different levels of knowledge and ability. In the ATA, there is a meaning and interpretation to each belt color. In my current style of TKD, there really isn't. So, it just depends.