bushido_man96

Good luck!

Congrats to all of your students! Your nervousness for you students shows your concern and passion for their learning. I think thats great. Keep up the good work!

Way to go! It should feel good, so enjoy it!

Sounds like a fantastic class. Was it an instructor course by chance? Please, let me know where you find these trainings, so I can get more material for DT for our department.

12/2/2013 TKD class: 6:00 - 7:30 pm. Basics, with extra stretching kicks and front snap kicks, forms, which I just did my form, but did some stretching while others were practicing forms. One-steps, and then sparring. Sparring felt a bit off. I felt like I really couldn't get any movement going. 12/3/2013 Defensive Tactics class: 10:30 - 11:30 am. Helped the students review for their final. Went over the wrist grabs, choke defenses, and some positions on the ground, and discussed a bit of concepts to consider for fighting multiple attackers. 12/5/2013 Defensive Tactics class: 10:30 - 11:30 am. Final. The students were taken to a gym where they had to run 2 suicides, and then brought into the mat room where they were attacked by one or two guys in red man/Blauer suits, and they had to strike effectively to get away. Then, they were put into bad positions on the ground, full mount or side control, and they had to reverse, strike, and get off and away. It went well, and it was fun! The students all did a great job, too.

Very nice. Thank you for sharing. I notice the way you blocked to the bicep. The way we learned to block in the GRACIE course was to block at the biceps like that, and then hook to control. Very good block, and gives you good control. I liked your description of waist power or waist energy, too.

Nice concepts there. I like the analogy of the spring. I'd like to see some more on how you apply it, too. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Thank you! I'll give an update as soon as I can.

Good points here. Effectiveness and the ability to execute become better as we apply them through our experiences. Therefore, the more experience we have, the more effective our execution can become.

I think everything has its limits. We as people, and any activities that we partake in. There are lots of different activities that we do as people throughout our days in order to complete our lives as we go along. As much as we enjoy the martial arts, they are limited, and therefore, we have to fill our lives with other activities, as well.

I hear that a lot as well. Mostly it's a lot of enthusiasts who just love that period of time. You see a lot of scholars and people who just like to swing faux swords at each other (for good reason, it's a lot of fun). You have a a handful of EMA people and fewer WMA but from all reports it's a great time. It is fun. A group of guys around here and I used to do it weekly. Lots of bumps and bruises to end up talking about, but it was a great time. I don't have any practice experience in WMA, but it is a point of interest of mine, and I've done a lot of reading on the subject. The Association of Renaissance Martial Arts (ARMA) has a nice website that has information on searching out or creating study groups. It seems to be more available in larger metropolitan areas, though. Please, keep us posted as you progress through your WMA practice!

I agree. There are those who learn better visually, and those who learn better by being read to and then answering questions, and I'm sure there are a lot of layers in between. I think part of being an instructor is being able to learn to read yours students, and figuring out how they best learn, and adapting your curriculum to them so that they can learn. That said, with so many styles of learning, its important to be exposed to so many styles of teaching, which can be difficult. If you take the flip side of the coin here, that people can learn in different ways, and have trouble adjusting to different modalities of learning, then teachers that teach a certain way may have trouble adjusting their teaching style to accomodate certain students. This isn't a bad thing, and it shouldn't be viewed as a "its better or worse" thing. Its different. And the exposure to different ideas and ways of doing things is how we learn what our preferences are and how we choose to approach things. Great share, Alex. Thank you.

I have never had the opportunity to do Yoga, but it sounds like its great for flexibility. As I get older, I find it harder and harder to retain my flexibility. Perhaps it would be something to look into.

I think "a-ha!" moments continue as we continue our journey, but the more we learn, I think it becomes less and less often that we experience these moments. And when we do experience them, I think they tend to be more subtle than they were when we were knew and young and fresh to the Martial Arts. I think early on, they are "a-ha!" moments. They are very striking to us, and we really see the difference between what we did and what we now do. As we move up in the number of years and experiences we have in the Martial Arts, they become less like "a-ha!" excitement, and more like "aah," or "oh, yeah..." moments. This doesn't take away from the importance of these moments, either. Far from it. I think that the higher our skill levels become, then the finer and finer the improvements are. Our knowledge and experience also bring us more into control of ourselves, and our reactions to these moments.

I'm going to our Traditional Taekwondo Association headquarter school in Topeka, KS, this weekend to test for my 4th dan. I have a pre-test black belt class on Friday evening, and then testing on Saturday morning. I haven't tested since 2007 in TKD, so its been a while. Wish me luck!

Gene LeBell is a legend in the Martial Arts community, and has been involved with mixed style competition long before it was popularized by the UFC. It would be amazing to sit and listen to this man tell his stories: http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/440075/Gene-LeBell-reflects-on-50-years-of-mixed-rules-fighting/

It appears these two are going to be squaring off in a Boxing match: http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/440098/Roy-Jones-Jr-fighting-in-Moscow-to-be-ready-for-Silva/ I think it should be fun to watch. Who do you got? Will Jone's age be an issue? And I'm wondering if it will primarily be a promotional thing, or if they are going to try to fight to knockout and go to score cards, etc. Either way, it should be interesting.

My sentiments exactly. Honorary belts / degrees don't equate to proficiency in the subject. I will say however that from personal experience competing in Russia, it does seem that Putin and his government are very supportive of the martial arts. Agreed. With the WTF being tied up in politics like it is, like it has to be, in order to remain an Olympic sport, things like this won't likely go unoticed by the IOC. And, the idea behind Martial Arts is that it can cross cultural and political barriers, etc etc. He also does hold rank in Judo, so the guy is a Martial Artist at least. Congrats to him on this honorary title.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Congrats!

Congrats to all!

Congrats, Alex! You are a great contributor, and you really do echo what this community is all about, and you exemplify that as a staff member. Here's to plenty more years to come!

Great advice.

There is a quote I've seen floating around here: "Only warriors can choose pacifism."

I saw the fight, and I don't think GSP won it, and I can see where White is upset with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. I think the scoring system needs to be addressed in MMA, and it should be done by former fighters, and not a state board that isn't familiar with fighting.