bushido_man96

Glad to hear you at least got a response. The shipping mishap may not actually be on them; once the product gets to the shipping company, it's on them to stay on schedule. It does appear the faster shipping option was a waste of money, and that's something I think you should address with them. Perhaps they'll make good on it on your next order (if there is one). If not, I'd find a place to leave a review and mention that the "faster shipping" is not fast, nor worth the money.

Congrats Zaine!

5/26/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 250x5, 250x5, 250x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 147x5, 147x5, 147x5. Lat Pull-downs: 152.5x10, 152.5x10, 152.5x10. Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 95x10, 95x10, 95x10 (47.5). 5/31/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 148x5, 148x5, 148x5. Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 185x3, 225x1, 245x5, 245x5. Press felt better than it did on Monday; the sets seem to go smoother. Squat always feels a little tired on Wednesday, so sticking with the light day moving forward. Snatch-deads were ok. Scenario-Based Use-of-Force Training: This was kind of a surprise at work today. I did an hour of I guess you could call simulation training. The scenario is played on a screen, and the person running it has some input into how I react in the scenario. It's not perfect, but it has some good applications.

Questions on your squat; are you keeping your knees shoved out, and are you making sure that you aren't causing some knee slide in the bottom by "bouncing?"

Wado Heretic, that's quite the resume you laid out. I found this statement rather inciteful: This is the kind of thing I tend to seek out more and more as I get older and grow in my MA journey, and this is a very awesome aspect of your approach to teaching.

Welcome to KF!

That's the beauty of this place. The price of the class includes all of the materials. They provide the W-2 steel, the clay, the wood, the rayskin, the bronze, the silk cords... everything. They do some add-ons for some of their classes, but again, they rpovide all of the materials and equipment. That is really cool. How long is the class? Does it take place over the course of a couple of weeks? What is the cost, if you don't mind me asking? It is a 5 day class (35 hours total) that runs Monday through Friday. Cost for the class is $850. Wow, pretty pricy, but worth it, for sure.

Noah, that sounds like a class that I would love to be a part of.

5/22/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 245x5, 245x5, 245x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 155x4, 145x5, 145x5. Lat Pull-downs: 150x10, 150x10, 150x10. Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 90x10, 90x10, 90x10. Back under the bar, with a 10% backoff on all the lifts; this is unfortunate, because I'm backed up farther than I was the last time I had this setback...not good for progress. The first press set was really heavy, and I only got 4 reps...and then realized I had misloaded the weight. So sets 2 and 3 reflect the actual 10% backoff. I didn't back off the lat pull-downs and iso-bench by 10%; I just backed off the lats a little. 5/24/2023 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 146x5, 146x5, 146x5. Deadlifts: 185x3, 225x2, 325x5. The deadlifts felt really heavy today. I hate getting reset like that. There was a highlight to this week, though; my boys are out of school for the summer, and they have been joining me at the gym, and we always have a good time together.

Good luck with your upcoming test!

Happy Birthday KF! What a great run we've had here!

That's the beauty of this place. The price of the class includes all of the materials. They provide the W-2 steel, the clay, the wood, the rayskin, the bronze, the silk cords... everything. They do some add-ons for some of their classes, but again, they rpovide all of the materials and equipment. That is really cool. How long is the class? Does it take place over the course of a couple of weeks? What is the cost, if you don't mind me asking?

That's quite the layout, Keith. Thanks for sharing your perspective. At our school, we have "traditional" classes, and these classes are all pretty much the same layout: basics, forms, one-steps, and sparring (if the instructor doesn't lollygag and actually get to it; all too often anymore, there isn't as much sparring). We have separate classes as well; we have out black belt class, in which we've been doing a rotation of forms focus one week, and a Ho Sin Sul focus the following week. The other class is a "T-shirt" class, which is more informal, and students can roll out the bags and kick all class, and we'll often spend time sparring, or we can pair up and do some different partner work if we would like to.

Yeah, that's the approach that I take. I know I'll get back to it, with a slight reset, and just start back down the road again. 5/20/2023 Women's Self-Defense Class: 9:00 am - 12:00 pm. This was put on at the TKD school, arranged by the CI and a domestic violence and abuse advocacy we have here called Options. We started the gig with about 16 attendees, and finished with 14 after a few had to leave early. Overall, it was a decent seminar.

Thanks, me too! Am cheering myself up with the fact that Saturday is deadlift day! I'm at the point that I never cheer for deadlift day anymore!

That sounds really cool! Do you have to supply the materials for the katana class? Or are they provided? I'm really interested in seeing how that goes for you!

I've seen classes where there is total consistency, and no variation; as a student, I hated that. It's good to see some variance.

I weigh around 260 lbs right now, so whatever percentage that is. 5/12/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 159x4, 159x5, 159x4, 159x2. Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 205x3, 245x2, 270x5, 270x5. 5/15/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Lat Pull-downs: 160x10, 160x10, 160x10. Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 85x10, 85x10, 85x10 (42.5). I didn't do any of the big lifts on this day because I was starting to have some issues with light headedness, which is often a precursor to a Meniere's flare up. If I get under heavy weight and Valsalva, it can set it off (had that happen before). So I did the assistance work I felt I could do, so I wouldn't skip the day altogether. That night, the wheels came off. Had a flare up that night, woke up with my head spinning. I've been fighting it all the following week, too, and missed a whole week of training. Hoping to get back on track soon.

Yuck, food poisoning. Glad you are feeling better!

Thank you for posting this review.

5/8/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 245x1, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 158x4, 158x4, 158x4, 158x4. Lat Pull-downs: 157.5x10, 157.5x10, 157.5x10 Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 80x10, 80x10, 80x10 (40). Couldn't get any sets of 5 on press today, but could get 4, so the setup is now 4 sets of 4, for a total of 16 reps, until it drops to sets of 3. TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black Belt Class. Pre-class calisthenic warmup. Hit forms in class today. Chon Ji, Dan Gun, Bo Choong, then rest; Do San and Won Hyo, then rest; Yul Kok and Jung Gun, then rest; Toi Gye and Hwa Hwrang, then rest; Choong Moo, a rest, and then Gae Baek. We rotated with another first degree who was being evaluated on his performance.

Congrats!

5/5/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 270x5, 270x5, 270x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 157x4, 157x5, 157x5, 157x1. Lat Pull-downs: 155x10, 155x10, 155x10. Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 75x10, 75x10, 75x10 (37.5). I get the feeling press is going to slow down. Only got 4 reps on the first set, but tried for the 5th. Surprisingly, the next two sets went for 5. Finished with a single to get my 15 total reps. Starting to chalk my hands for squat, and it's helping with the bar slippage.

This is what I'm using: https://www.lifefitness.com/en-us/catalog/strength-training/plate-loaded/plate-loaded/iso-lateral-bench-press It seems to be doing the job right now. I don't notice a lot of stress on my shoulders, and I feel that I'm getting the work in my chest that I want. 5/3/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 156x5, 156x5, 156x5. Deadlifts: 185x5, 225x3, 315x1, 360x5. Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 70x10, 70x10, 70x10. You mentioned the press, DP; it's definitely getting harder now. I'm trying as hard as I can to relegate the most layback to the last few reps of each set, but I find myself doing more layback as the weight goes up. There is nothing wrong with this, other than I wish I didn't have to layback so much at such light weight. The deadlifts felt heavy today. But slow and steady they went up, which is what counts.

Good on the band assisted chins/pulls. Can you do any unassisted at all? I've been hitting the lat pull-downs regularly so I can hopefully get to where I can do a full chin up.