bushido_man96

That all sounds good. And we just do an autodraft, correct?

I appreciate that response. I'll be sure to keep it in mind, and understand that I may struggle with it initially. I look forward to your response to chapter 1. I think we'll generate some great discussion going forward!

I think the term "mastery" gets a little too overused, and we got caught up in too much. I think "expertise" is a much more valid way to approach what a black belt has accomplished upon reaching that rank.

3/24/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 270x5, 270x5, 270x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 142.5x5, 142.5x5, 142.5x5. Pretty wiped out after the main lifts, so skipped the accessory stuff again. Hoping to get back on those next week. 3/27/2023 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 143.5x5, 143.5x5, 143.5x5. Lat Pull-downs: 130x10, 130x10, 130x10. Iso-lateral Bench Press: 30x10, 30x10, 30x10 (15). Had some balance shifting issues on the squat today. I felt my weight shift forward on a few reps. Still ironing out form issues, but the weight is moving ok. Press seemed better today, too, and I got the accessory stuff worked back in. I wasn't feeling nearly as winded.

Is that $12.99 per month?

Wow, that's quite a lot to take in. Thanks for sharing it. Reading the book as an uninformed practitioner, I'm not sure on how to separate the wheat from the chaff. I agree with you on the Fibonacci Ratio explanation; it reminded me of General Choi's explanation on sine wave. When it comes to the section on the mechanics of the movements for Sanchin, I've been trying to understand those. For instance, when he talks about getting the spine in the proper position for the kata. That doesn't appear very natural to me, so I'm trying to think about getting into that position and making sure I'm doing it right. I think we could get into the weeds on the discussion of this book, and I'd like to do that. If you like, we could take it chapter by chapter, and see what we come up with. And any take you have on the performance of Sanchin along the way, I'd take to heart.

That sounds very interesting, indeed. Do they have their own rank progression system, different from more traditional Shotokan systems? I didn't know if Shotokan had an orange belt or not.

I think we could discuss the book in this thread here. I saw some things as i read along that jumped out at me a well. I'm still working through it, but we could get started.

I see your analogy. However, if you prune a branch, you don't have "nothing;" you still have the branch. See what I mean? It's very confusing, and I don't think that word does it justice.

Those are good points, DP. I saw a similar quote about pacifism once: "Only a warrior can choose a lift of pacifism; everyone else is condemned to it." Strong words. When we create something, our personality comes to light, and also grows, and is therefore enriched. I think also every time we explore and "create" something, we learn about ourselves, whether good or bad, thus the "deepening of the personal dimension of the soul." As for the personality being rooted in the "nothing,"....when I see this, I wonder if the translation of whatever that word would be in Chinese is really very well expressed in English, or with the word "nothing." In my mind, nothing can't have something in it; to me, it seems like a void. Therefore, can something truly be rooted in nothing?

Update here, I'm beginning my journey in learning Sanchin. I'm starting by re-reading Kris Wilder's book, The Way of Sanchin Kata. There are lots of interesting discussion points and tidbits in this book, so many that I think this book could get it's own forum dissertation like the one started for Tao of Jeet Kune Do, especially after working on Sanchin itself. I'll be looking into some of the video references made earlier, too, after I finish reading the book.

What is that Machida Virtual Dojo like? I'd be interested in what kind of Shotokan he's teaching.

Many years ago, while in college, I played in a fantasy hockey league in intramurals. Didn't know a thing about hockey, other than what I caught on Sportscenter highlights. But I did have a good time playing in the league.

I think you make some good points there. I'm not necessarily against larger organizations, but they do come with their own set of CQ issues.

So, I've been giving this some thought, and come up with an interesting paradox. In order to give life to the "artless art," and in the end to have "no technique," you have to start by learning something in the first place. I think it would very difficult for someone with no MA or fighting experience at all to step out of the house, and all of a sudden be creating an art that "just is" without knowing anything in the first place. So, in order for the art to "just be," you had to have something to start with in the first place. Bruce had Gung Fu to start with, after all. And even though he didn't want to put any restrictions on his style, he did have drills and concepts that he taught (these things seem intuitive, because having drills and concepts makes it easier to organize thoughts and processes). Anywho, that's where my mind went on these thoughts. Fear not; the next post will be up soon! Just wanted to read others' thoughts on this, as well.

I think if you start introducing steps like junior instructor, senior instructor, and beyond, then you get right back to the same issues you have with the dan grades. I do like Noah's idea of an instructor certification, but beyond that, you end up back at the pomp and circumstance that was there before, only now it's the instructors who start thinking highly of themselves over other instructors who haven't reached the same level of "instructorship" that they have.

I'd be leery to attempt to tie anything to competitive achievements. Reason being is that there comes a point in competitions where natural ability becomes a big factor in who is able to compete and who isn't. It's easier for great athletes to demonstrate skill in competition. But great athletes aren't always the best coaches and instructors. There are lots of people out there that are so naturally gifted that they pick up on movements easily, and don't struggle with physical skills. Hence, they don't have to troubleshoot as often as the less naturally talented, who have to work harder and smarter to get just a little bit more out of everything. These are the folks who tend to become good coaches and teachers. Case in point here. Knows the curriculum for shodan, but due to the competition standards set by that instructor, can't be a shodan. But may in fact have the competence to teach and coach the movements, given the chance.

3/22/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 min warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 140x5, 140x5, 140x5. Deadlifts: 185x5, 225x3, 315x1, 345x5. Light squat today to get the system warmed up. Press went good, and deadlift was a religious experience today. After finishing them, I could tell my body still isn't completely recovered from being sick. 10% deload, just like everything else, and I'm always kind of blasted after the set of 5, but today was just worse. I could feel my lungs trying to catch up. TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-Shirt Class. I did some basic work on the standing heavy bag, just working combinations over and over again. I got a little bit of speed bag work going, but then our 11 year old 1st dan wanted me to hold a rebreakable board for her to attempt a jumping, spinning, inside ax kick. I drilled her on the kick, working on the turning and spinning mechanics and driving the leg down and through the board. After some drilling, she did some breaks, with two different levels of boards.

I agree. The current CI at our school is interested in expanding our self-defense knowledge. However, ho sin sul (self-defense) is reserved for the black belt classes. How is that helpful or right? We had also talked about introducing some grappling drills, just to get some exposure to it, and to give our students some idea of how to deal with it. However, he had an issue with teaching it especially to some of the younger kids right away. Too advanced. I told him there are a BJJ white belts out there. Didn't seem to help much. Another issue I have is that the school is always worried about the next testing. I just don't care for that approach. The instructors always end up "teaching to the test," and therefore the classes are structured for learning testing material. So no exploration gets done.

This is a very interesting thought, indeed. First off, thanks for sharing this with us. I look forward to the discussions! At first glance, I wasn't so sure, but the way you went on to explain it, I feel like you've hit on some very good points. The one that jumped out to me the most was this: A caveat real quick: I usually tend to read threads from top to bottom, seeing what other posters have said so far. I did not do that with this thread, because I didn't want to influence my answer in any way. I'll catch up on the replies after this post. So, when I read that section of your post, it really resonated with me. That's exactly the frustration I have with my school/organization at this point in time. For example, the GM added this series of three-step sparring; 18 of them if I recall, and the first 6 are required at the dan testings now. To me, this is frivolously adding worthless curriculum to give black belts some more busy work to do; more to memorize for testing. Compound that with the exorbitant testing fees (it would cost me more than a good car payment to test for 5th dan), it makes the thought of testing frustrating. Then you mentioned the politics; I wonder how others in the organization, especially ones that I've taught in the past who have now tested up to or past my current rank, look at me. I honestly don't care, but what does bother me is the expectation of "respecting the rank" when I don't honestly think they have more to offer than I do. At any rate, that a lot of me and my issues, but like I mentioned, your comment really resonated with me in that sense. I'm tired of busting my but to learn some new three-steps that I don't think are useful or beneficial training. The thought of exploring deeper into the style, and even learning from other stylists, really appeals to me. I like your idea, but it would definitely be a hard one to pull off. It will probably be relegated to a few stylists here and there that decide to go with this approach. There's a lot of merit in it; when practitioners start seeing each other more and more as peers as opposed to wondering where they fall into the hierarchy, then so many new things become possible. Like Bob always says, "Proof is on the floor!"

Congratulations!

I like that suggestion, Patrick. I plan on being really low key with this league.

Form creep happens to everyone. It's always good to have another qualified eye pointing things out.

I'm in.

3/20/2023 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 265x5, 265x5, 265x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5. After battling sickness for 17 days, once more unto the breach. I deloaded 10%, and it went ok. My legs will be sore from squatting for a few days, but by and large, the session went ok. Legs got a little shaky, and the movement patters were a bit rusty, but I'll be right as rain in a week or so. TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black Belt Class. Chon Ji, Do-Kang 1 & 2. I was pretty much taking it easy the rest of class, and we were working on some self-defense aspects with the CI's 11 year old daughter.