bushido_man96

Yeah, me too. He did play a good Beast in the X-Men movie.

I disagree that the best defense against an attack is a counter attack. I think the best defense is to strike pre-emptively, and continuously evaluate the situation and continue to attack if needed, or try to escape. Your "in-and-out," "in-and-down," and "in-and-thru" classifications are interesting.

Tradition is one of those things that comes along with just about every style. Really, it boils down to just being certain acts, ideals, or rules that are followed over a period of time and just become ingrained to those that follow them. If one chooses to visit another school, then they should be willing to follow along with whatever traditions are present for the time being, out of respect for the place. If one doesn't agree with them, then seeking somewhere else to train should be the way to go. It becomes unfortunate when tradition leads to stagnation.

I hope they are interseting, Patrick. My biggest concern is that KC hasn't been consistent on offense yet. They are struggling to get much over 200 yards in the air per game, which isn't going to cut it over the long haul. They need to start pushing the ball down field, and get Bowe involved more. McGrath has been filling in well at TE, so they need to keep feeding him the ball, and make them cover him more and open up Bowe downfield. The line needs to block a bit better and open holes for Charles to get through, and open up a play-action game. They have work to do yet, and the schedule will get tougher here soon.

Congrats! Keep up the good work, and those details will all fall into place.

Cool. I'm surprised to see Wesley Snipes on there. Did he finally get his tax evasion mess all cleaned up?

10/16/2013 I picked out some different things with each rank to work on for their forms today. Low orange belt, mainly working on keeping his feet close under him on 270 degree turns, for better balance, and keeping his hands and forearms lined up for good blocks and strikes. High orange belt, getting him to loosen up his shoulders so he could strike faster without slowing himself down (same with his blocking). Low green belt, I focused mainly on her front stances, and not being lazy with them. I also worked on her turns in her form, stepping from one line to two lines in the turns. For our low brown belt, I had him focus on white belt and low orange belt form, and told him I was going to begin drilling him every class I have with him on those two forms, plus his own, so he can start working towards having them all down as he tests up. With the recommended black belts, I did a 'pick-a-form' where I called out a form name, and they had to recall it. They both have to do all colored belt forms and one-steps for their next testing, so I want to make sure they won't be stumped at all. At the end of class, I had the students work on kicking paddles instead of sparring. I focused mainly on outer crescent kicks and spin outer crescent kicks that are done in one-steps. For the ones having trouble, I had them start by facing away from the paddles, then look over their shoulder, and turn and kick from basically a half way point. In the past, this has been a good teaching tool for me in helping the students get the idea of where the leg is from chamber to contact point without a full spin pulling them off balance. From there, I moved to going from out outer crescent stance we do in basics, having them do the kick from the back leg in front stance, and then, after landing behind, using the momentum to set up the spinning outer crescent. Things started to click after a while.

In the past, I've seen some rewards from the "bring a friend" idea, that if the friend signs up, then you reduce the montly fee of the one who brought him in by maybe 5% or something.

Dead lifts are good for the back, but I'm not sure about helping with the flexibility. Sit on the floor, one leg straight, put the other foot over the straight knee, and then twist into that stretch by putting the opposite elbow on the knee and twisting to look behind you. I never liked that stretch, but it may help you. Toe touches might help, as well.

Google "goblet squats."

I'm trying to get in as much practice and teaching time as I can so that I can stay fresh on it all. I plan to do another department training in a month or so, and have been asked by a nearby department to put on a defensive tactics course for them as well in November. 10/16/2013 Taught TKD: 6:00 - 7:30 pm. I jumped in did some of the basics tonight, doing the hand technique portion, and stretch kicks, jump front kicks, and side kicks. It was a pretty small class, with only 6. For forms, I was able to spend a bit more time with each of the students on little things to help their forms out. With the black belts, I did a bit of "Forms Jeapordy" with them, pulling a form out of nowhere for them to do. One-steps, we were able to get a lot of reps in, and instead of sparring we worked on some kicking on the target pads. I had them mainly working on outer crescent kicks and spinning outer crescent kicks.

So, students can do the form anyway they want, instead of the way they were taught?? Seems to me that that would not be beneficial because the said form should be performed as exactly as possible as it was taught. Now, in a form competition, go for it. Do the form anyway one feels most comfortable. But in a testing cycle, not cool, and not allowed. Paces vary from school to school, but within said school, the pace should be dead on the same. Imho!! It depends on how well each person testing performs the form. I have, in my head, a pace, a set idea of how the combinations in the form are done, etc. I'm not sure what the guy next to me has in mind, or how he views the form or how he does it. So, I don't worry about him too much. I don't try to race him or anything, but I don't take away from my form to match his, or try to add to mine in pace or speed and end up looking sloppy to try to keep up with some 19 year old athletic kid that can move better than me.

There may not be any kind of way to "relate" how those forms are in comparison to the others. Keep in mind, when forms first started being used, there was no "beginning" or "advanced" forms. There were just forms. If we are to believe how the stories go, one learned a form, then its interpretations and applications, and did that form. If you wanted to seek out another, you sought out who did what you wanted. It wasn't necessarily more advanced, just different. Today, with the advent of the ranking systems, we have to have some way of making the grading system work gradually. So, we have forms that are broken apart into smaller sets to make them simpler to learn, or take the ones we believe to be easier, and have lower ranks do them first. Its nice to throw in some philosophy fairy-dust to exude a bit more interest from them, but not totally necessary, in my opinion. Now, some styles, like ATA TKD and the ITF and WTF, deliberately designed forms to get somewhat more challenging as the student progresses in rank. Some styles do this better than others, but they try to do it. With this in mind, we see how the delivery system of bringing MA to the public has changed from what it was to what it is now. Anyway, I'm sure I didn't really answer your question or help you at all. But, I don't know much about the Tang Soo Do forms aside from what I've read in the book I have on them. They are a lot closer to the Shotokan style forms than any of the TKD forms I have ever done, though, so your style has more of that link than mine does.

Still, accurate and credible feedback is needed. Without the feedback, nothing of value can be truly added to one MA betterment. It's all guess work and heresay and conjecture without the feedback. In that, it's not about one saying..."Better than nothing" because without that critical feedback, nothing can be learnt that's effective. Either ones doing it correctly, thus effectively, or ones not doing it correctly, thus ineffectively. Imho!! I agree that feedback is a key, and there are two ways to garner that feedback. 1, as I mentioned in the article, is to have a good partner. By working together, and working through the nuances of what you are covering, you get immediate feedback that you can use to correct mistakes and make adjustments as needed. 2, is to seek out help at a later time/date with a qualified instructor or other partner that you feel comfortable asking questions of. Then you go back and make changes as necessary. Is it a longer road to hoe? For sure. But, it is better than the alternative of not training altogether. Absolutely! I know that I've picked up lots of good ideas over the years here at KF that either take looking over the internet, or searching in books for different things to try and do. These media outlets are valuable resources that cannot be discounted.

A Google searched turned this one up: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&frm=1&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDAQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.eastbayexpress.com%2Foakland%2Feast-bay-shotokan-karate-club%2FLocation%3Foid%3D1708347&ei=6RVgUtSuO8Lx2QW50oGoCQ&usg=AFQjCNEoAT_yK9js_8QSmBuSb9cHJta10w&bvm=bv.54176721,d.b2I

If you choose to continue with both schools, then you need to put the extra effort in to practice the forms lots and lots. Practice one version 5 times in a row, and then do the other version, 5 times in a row. Make sure you know which you are doing, and focus on the nuances. Its really that simple, a memorization thing.

Nice article, with some nice drilling ideas. Stances are one of those things for me that it seems students worry the least about, because they are more concerned about kicking higher or punching faster. In my opinion, stances are comparatively easier to do, so keep at them! All else stems from your base. Thanks for sharing these drills with us!

At testing, I don't worry about setting a pace, really. I do the form the way I am comfortable doing it. If the others can't keep up, that's on them.

Sounds like it should be a fun challenge!

Congrats! Quite an accomplishment, good for you! Hard work pays off!

I agree that getting to safety is very important after an altercation. I'd even go as far as to making sure to call the incident in to law enforcement yourself, once you feel safe. Depending on where you live and how many people know you, fleeing without being identified might not be a viable option. By calling it in first, I think it makes you look better. Its also important to know when to stop when it comes to defending yourself. There is a line that can be crossed from self-defense into battery, and you don't want to cross that line. A valuable tool instructors can give students is the experience of being able to explain your actions after they happen.

I can't wait to see the next one. I heard that Bruce Willis won't be in it, though. He and Stallone got cross-ways over something.

This "blocking" sounds interesting, but I'm not sure. Are you saying that a white belt in the ATA class could be learning the yellow belt form? I think I would feel better by rotating in differing subjects, like a two-week touch on joint locks, etc, and then back to the forms weeks, but keep the basics of the classes the same.

I think I can't do 60 push-ups, so I'd try not to get into trouble.

I think it really took off in the late '80s and early '90s. When you think about it, kids have more time at their disposal than most adults do. I can vouch for this, because I see all the stuff I have my son running around doing, and the amount of activities my teenage and soon-to-be college bound daughter have time to do. So, in order to keep an MA business running, it only seems natural to make it available to children, even if you do have to make a few changes to what and how you do things. For a lot of schools out there, the kids programs are what keeps it solvent.