bushido_man96

I saw that. Should be interesting.

I know Allen is a big guy, but man, I can't help but think he's going to take a shot that eventually that grounds him for a while. Mahomes doesn't look for that contact when he runs, but it seems Allen does at times.

I agree with all of the above. There are so many factors to take into consideration that it's impossible to answer this question. Ideally, I would say to train in something, and also work on getting bigger and stronger yourself while you train, to help even out the strength curve. Nothing you can do about getting taller, but everyone can get stronger.

Great thoughts by aurik there, and I concur. My initial thought, just to throw a number out there, would be maybe around $50 per month, per student. I like to offer some tiered discounts for family members though, to encourage families to do it together. I'd go something like full price for the first family member, maybe $30 or half at $25 for the second member, maybe $10 for the third, and then $5 for each additional family member beyond that. But, like aurik mentioned, you should start with what your expenses and overhead is going to be, and then work backwards to determine how many students you need at what price point to break even. The problem is dealing with the ebb and flow of student numbers, and making sure to keep a price competitive enough to attract students and cover the costs based on a minimum student number, or something like that.

I'd have to look into whether vertical are offered for the brand or not. I'd have to see if they have any boards made so the magnets line up differently. 10/9/2023 Aikido Class: Weapons Class: 5:00 - 6:00 pm. Opened with some two-cycle Okinaga breathing, where the emphasis became on really extending the exhalation of the breath. Difficult still, but not as uncomfortable as the four-cycle Okinaga breathing. After breathing, we did jo kata 1 (just on the right side), several times at count, and then kind of on our own for the last run through. Sensei pointed out a few things as far as posture and hand positions went, and the direction and trajectory of some strikes. Overall, I felt pretty good about it, but it will still take some time to get it memorized. Next was bokken kata 1. I feel like I've got it down; it seems much more straightforward to me, and it's quite a bit shorter. After doing that several times, we practiced a sword disarm, which was very Aiki in nature. I really enjoyed it. TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Pre-class warmup was going through Chon Ji, Dan Gun, Bo Chung, Do San, and Won Hyo. We had a freshly graded 3rd dan recommended who got to learn Se Jong today, so me and the other three students practiced Do-Kangs. We did 1, 2 twice, 3 twice, 4 twice, 5 and then 6. I had one student repeat 4 a few times so he could get it down.

My oldest son has been playing that. He seems to enjoy it. I hear it's quite a vast game.

I saw the Twins advanced, and there was some scuttle about the Jays pulling their pitcher.

I've been enjoying it. I really hope the Chiefs can get this new roster of receivers rolling. They've not been winning handily at all, but Patrick willed out a win on last Sunday night against the Jets. I have faith that Andy Reid will get things pointed in the right direction. I'm super glad Chris Jones is back in the lineup, and hope they can get him signed next off-season. The Bills really showed up against the Dolphins last week. It's crazy how things can swing from week to week. The Lions are a legitimate threat to win the NFC Norse division, and I think the NFC East comes down to a fight between the Cowboys and Eagles.

10/4/2023 TKD Class: T-Shirt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. I warmed up with all 5 Do-Kangs, and then rolled out the heavy bag, strapped on the rebreakable board holder, and went back to work. I started with just one grey board, doing punches. I got it with the right hand, but not the left. Went down to a blue board the left hand and got it. Kind of the same deal with knife hand strikes. On reverse knife hand strike, I got one blue board on each hand. For kicks, I did back leg round kicks and spin heel kicks, using one grey board for each kick, both sides. One of the many things I don't like about this rebreakable board setup is that I can't rotate the boards between having the crease going horizontal or vertical; it's always vertical. Round kicks I prefer to have the grain vertical, as well as front kicks. I did not like the way the right leg round kick felt on contact with the board being horizontal.

Apparently, this practice was the norm in the early days of Okinawan Karate training. It makes sense, as well, as everyone's body is different, and everyone has different abilities. Also of note is that we tend to change how we do things as we age. Knees and backs get old and creaky; I don't jump around as much as I used to. Physical limitations tend to cause us to change how we do things.When Martial Arts worked into the mainstream, and organizations started being created, the need to systematize and codify things became the norm, and hence we have a lot of practitioners that now learn something a particular way, and are fearful of changing it due to maintaining "tradition," when in fact, traditionally, things would change for someone over time. Granted, time and experience are necessary to determine whether a change is necessary or not.

Is this not quite risky though - a semester of varying arts is just enough for a lot of people to become a danger to themselves - erroneously believing they 'can fight' and getting into situations that they shouldn't? It's the instructor's job to hopefully explain this to the students. Also ideally, there are enough higher ranked students to help with the class that let's the others know kind of where they stand. In my experience, however, by and large, I don't see people thinking that way. I don't see it any different than a student who attends classes for a few months and then quits of his own accord. There just isn't much you can do about those people.

That sounds like a great training experience, too. It's funny what can change when the rules change. The KISS principle really does ring true. 10/3/2023 Knife Training Course: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm. This was a one-day law enforcement focused knife training course. The course opened with some classroom time, covering use of force, legal concerns, and the like, along with watching some videos of knife attacks that happened to officers on-duty. The instructor finished the classroom portion with a cutting demonstration on a thick roast on a stick. He showed what a sharp 3 1/2" blade could do, your typical tactical folder. After the classroom stuff was over, we moved to the meat of the class. We did unarmed knife defense, knife vs knife defense, and some disarms. Lots of drilling and lots of reps. It all had a very Filipino base to it, which was a lot of fun, and I'd had some work with some of the principles years back with a buddy of mine that had worked in another DT system. We trained with blunt folders, and my right arm is scraped and bruised from the wrist up to the biceps. I asked about some differences in dealing with longer blades, and the instructor provided me with some longer blunt blades (fixed blades) to work with my partners with, which I enjoyed even more. He had some book recommendations, too, so I'll be adding to my MA library soon. This was a very new concept to me, and I had an absolute blast at this class. If he comes back next year, I'll sign up for the training again.

10/2/2023 Aikido: Weapons Class: 5:00 - 6:00 pm. We did bokken kata 1 and jo kata 1 (but we did jo kata on the opposite side as well). The Sensei did some explanations of a few things, but he took what he called the "Eastern approach" to teaching; basically, a lot of watching the instructor and repeating, and getting quite a few reps in. Due to his nature, he did break down a few things here and there, but for the most part, I spent the time trying to mimic his movements. We did the forms all by count, which helped, and there was another black belt in the class to watch as well. The last few we did were done more in sections as opposed to a proper count, but still done piecemeal, which helped me follow along. In all honesty, I kind of enjoyed this approach to class, and I really think a solid hour of doing just one of the katas would be very beneficial in just getting the base movements down. Using the class the next week to start breaking things down and getting into the nuances would be awesome. I really enjoyed this class. TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Pre-class, I warmed up with Chon Ji, Dan Gun, Bo Chung, Do San, and Won Hwo hyungs. For warmup, one of the other students did some pretesting items, so me and the other black belt went through some random floor drills I pulled off the top of my head, and finished with a forearm conditioning drill. After that, we did what the CI likes to call "Ho Sin Sul sparring." We basically have all legal targets, grabs are allowed, etc. We don't go full speed (although we tend to speed up at times), and we start with one person going on the offensive first, and then it's counter and attack, then it kind of goes free-form after that. It gets interesting. If we get to far into getting tangled up, we reset and start again. I did pretty well, for the most part, protecting myself and countering and trying to move. My movement could be a little better, especially when it comes to checking kicks. The one time I got myself into a bad situation was when I foolishly decided to try a spin side kick, and gave up my back, and body locked and probably would have been taken down. So lesson learned, which confirmed what I already knew. For it's limitations, there are still some good things to be learned from this kind of sparring.

Congratulations Danielle!

Sounds like you'll have a nice little training hall there!

It sounds like seeking out another venue isn't likely, but if it is an option, consider it.

The Aikido sensei and I know each other pretty well; while he was climbing the ranks in Aikido, he also took our TKD classes as offered by the college for credit hours. He's well aware of my rank and experience, as I am of his. He mentioned while we were training that he was moving me along in some aspects, due to my already advanced training. I thought this was kind of cool. I also feel comfortable asking him to back things off and be more basic if I feel the need to. 9/27/2023 TKD Class: T-Shirt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Some pre-class stretching in The Rack, along with some pre-class kicking, focusing on my technique and base foot pivoting, especiall for the side kick. After getting through all six Do-Kangs, I decided to work on side kick board breaking. We have a board holder we can attach to something, along with rebreakable boards that attach to it magnetically. Unfortunately, the only thing to tie the apparatus to is a Wavemaster sanding bag. This is less than ideal, as that damn thing likes to move around a lot. It makes clean breaking a challenge, as do the rebreakable boards. I did some step-behind side kicks on each leg, 2 boards then moving up to 3. Next, I tried back leg side kicks, and that was just a mess. I couldn't tell if I was breaking, or if they were breaking on the rebound at times. I tried spin side kicks after that; left spin side went just fine, but the right leg was all over the place. Targeting was way off, not getting spun enough. Need to practice this more. With the bag flying all over the place like it was, I used another bag right behind it to try to stabilize it a bit. It helped some, but not much. However, I will probably continue to frustrate myself by working on it again next week, too.

fingers crossed! I've just splashed out on a decent amount of new equipment for the house so am looking forward to getting back into it using the new gear Is there anything more motivating than buying new equipment?

As am I. I'm hoping to get back to the weights within a month or so.

Very little. Several years ago, when I had a bit more time on my hands, I did join the Aikido club, attended classes, and even tested once. Things happened and I fell out of it. Right now, the class times meet up with my TKD class times, and as much as I'd like to go to classes 5 days a week, I just don't have the time to do so. But when he mentioned this class and it's time, I decided to jump on it. I did have quite a bit of time in Combat Hapkido, along with rank, so not all of the material is foreign to me. I do enjoy going to that class and wearing a white belt, though.

9/26/2023 Aikido: Weapons Class: 5:00 - 6:00 pm. We worked with the bokken today, which was a lot different from the jo. It was just me and the instructor, so a great one-on-one session. He started by showing me an actual katana, and the details of drawing and sheathing it (trickier than I realized), then we got into the actual lesson. We worked on the 5 guards: Chudan, Jodan, Gedan, Hasso-no-kamae, and Waki-gamae. We worked on the positions of the arms and elbows, posture, and stance. The stance is very different to me, but I'm getting used to it. We also did a few sword thrusts (tsuki, I believe), one stepping slightly off-line with the lead foot and thrusting, and another stepping off-line with the left (rear) leg and then thrusting. We also worked on shomen-uchi and yokomen-uchi. TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. We opened class with a review of three-steps, and I got through 1-9, which as pretty good. After getting through 1-6, my and my partner worked 6-9 repeatedly, and I feel like I've got them down now. Just have to keep up the practice. I opted not to spar in the back half of the class. Perhaps I'll feel better about it next week.

Congrats, DP!

9/20/2023 TKD Class: T-Shirt Class: 6:45 - 7:15 pm. A shortened class for me; I was running late with all the errands I had after getting off work late, and dipped out a touch early due to having some more errands to run after class and before getting home to make supper. I did spend the time learning Do-Kang 6, going over it in it's entirety several times. A little bit of stretching in The Rack after that, and I was done. Got pretty tired doing those sets; I'm pretty out of shape right now.

I could also ask my wife if it's okay for me to sleep with another woman. I didn't actually do it; I just asked, right? This could be the same thing. I fail to see the resemblance in these subjects. I think asking the instructor if it's ok to buy his own belt would not necessarily spark thoughts of infidelity to his style.

Alright, it's been a while. Health has not been good, and had to make a trip to see the specialist about getting things under control. I've not done anything since 8/23, and finally got back into some classes yesterday. 9/18/2023 Aikido Weapons Class: 5:00 - 6:00 pm. We opened the class with some Okinaga breathing, which was a very new experience for me. We did 4-cycle okinaga, and he would clap some small wooden blocks together to signal when to change. First clap, breathe in slowly; second clap, hold; third clap, breathe out slowly; fourth clap, hold. Holding after the exhale was new, and very uncomfortable. The cycles got longer each time, which added a new element as well. It will take some getting used to. After that, we did the first three jo awase. We did a bit of individual drilling, but then moved into doing them with partners, which was fun. The third one took a little while to get going smoothly, but it came together after a while. This pretty much finished out the class. This video shows the jo awase of Kobyashi Ryu, which the instructor said are done similar to ours. The first three are a decent indicator of what we did, but I felt like we were closer together. Another main difference was that we did all the initial strikes to the face. TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. That's right, double-dipping today! We did a forms review class, getting through all my forms, up to 4th dan, 16 forms in total. Since I hadn't trained in quite some time, I didn't over reach on the kicks, because I didn't want to pull something. It was a good review, and still a good workout. I had a few balance issues here and there, but nothing too egregious. The idea of doing the Aikido weapons class stemmed from a coffee session that myself, our CI, and the Aikido Sensei had to talk about how the demo in the quad went, among other MA topics. It was a very enjoyable discussion, and as the conversation went on, the Aikido mentioned the weapons class he had, and the time falls pretty good with my schedule, so I told him when I got to feeling better, I'd go check it out. I'm hoping to keep it in my schedule, as well. I really enjoyed it. There were a few things I was clumsy with, but I didn't mind that at all.