bushido_man96

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to KF, Mark!

They have a website though: http://www.sunyis.com K. Yep, but not everyone does.

5/22/2013 Did some review for upcoming testing with some of the higher ranked adolescents and adults. Focused on getting more hip twist with some, and some bits and pieces on forms. Also reviewed one-steps, and work on breaking with two of the students that are brown belts. Some of the others did some focus bag work with kicks.

You need to have a rule about talking, and stand by it; when you talk, they listen. They raise hands and ask questions then. Really, its the best way to keep it going. Now, once they get into training, and are asking each other questions back and forth, that's ok. But if you need to address the class as a whole, then come up with some kind of "hey, shut up!" signal, like clapping twice, whistling, or something like that, to get everyone's attention.

I would teach the forms in order, front to back. But teach in segments. Three or four move segments are easiest, and they'll put them together after steady reps.

Alex, great video. Thanks for sharing that. I've added it to my youtube videos for future reference. Let me know when and where I can train with Mr. Harris, as well, please! Really, some good stuff, and I like all the reps, too. I can see some great training ideas with some transitions to blue guns, as well. 5/21/2013 GRACIE Combative review: 11:30-1:00 pm. Drilled body lock takedown to mount, and "airplane" to gain control. From there, we drilled an Americana arm lock, and also a straight arm bar. We moved to punch block defenses, that were in 4 stages, and at the end, where bad guy comes to side control, bring the shin across the body, and work to an elevator sweep. 5/22/2013 Taught TKD: 6-7pm. Assisted teach tonight, working with higher ranks on forms review, one-steps review, and board breaking for upcoming testing. Also had some of the students working kicks on the bags. 5/23/2013 Range: 8-11:30 am. Did our department day qualification shoot with the pistol. I shot my duty pistol, and then my personal pistol. Shot 49 out of 50 with my duty pistol, which I was pleased as punch with, and shot 47 out of 50 with my off-duty weapon, which was still good. Afterwards, we shot at targets with T-shirts and hats on, with water balloons in the heads and body. We advanced to cover and shot from there (we had the option to shoot on the advance, but I was too bouncy). We had two targets to shoot, and two people shot at a time, 3 mags of 4 rounds each. Did ok, didn't get to my last mag, but shot more than I would have liked at the 1st target. After that, we played poker. I lost, but it was a fun try.

Big numbers, for sure. I'm willing to bet not all those students are active, though.

Good advise. Check into both, and see which you like better.

I agree. It appears you seem very determined to root out the McDojos in the world. I would worry less about that, and more about your own training. Its apparent there is some form of rivalry between your school and this one. Don't let it be a distraction from your training.

I'd rather work a skill than that many reps. Rep training is good, but if you don't put equal amounts to skill into it, then it won't translate other than being able to throw an immense amount of techniques. Conditioning is a good thing, and so is developing muscle memory, but I think developing the skills is a little bit more important.

I think its a good thing he's done for you. Your instructor is forcing you to change what you do, making you better. As for the self-defense aspect, you don't really want to be retreating that much. Backing up makes it likely that you will trip and fall, which could be onto a side walk, onto glass, into mud, or into traffic, all of which are varying degrees of bad. Remember that sparring in class to a set of rules can allow for a false sense of security to set in. You don't want to give up too much ground. Take ground, and make it your own. Think of your sparring like colonization; conquer land and keep it.

Without having to move, I'd arrange my schedule to get my DT practice in twice a week with the Defensive Tactics club through our college here. The instructor there does lots of DT stuff mixed in with BJJ and Gracie Combatives. I'd also maintain my TKD schedule, and try to work in Aikido again. I'd also get back to Combat Hapkido.

I don't know if there are 10,000 members in the TTA or not. As far as I know, I'm the only Sun Yi's Academy student active on these forums right now.

I couldn't agree more. Kudos, Patrick!

5/15/2013 Used class time to focus on side kicks some more. Did just line drills really, breaking the kick into its component parts. First drill was from sitting stance, our "side kick position" for basics. First, stepped over, chambered, and put foot back down. Then moved to adding in the pivot on the base leg and swiveling of the hips to get the "drive" into the kick. Next, added in the kick. Then I did the same set of drills from a back stance, using the back leg as the kicking leg. This forced the students to really pivot on the base leg to get the chamber into position to be a side kick and not a round kick.

I think a lot of people just aren't that aggressive, and don't want to push others like that; it makes them feel uncomfortable. So its tough to get through that mindset.

Sounds like it was a fun time. I've seen adds up for these things, but don't think I would be in any kind of shape to run one.

That sounds like it was a good time. How long did the seminar last? 5/13/2013 Played about 40 minutes of one on one half basketball with Kendall. I shot a frosty .07%, and I lost, 24-22. But it was fun, and I used it as an opportunity to generally run around and work on my footwork. Taught TKD: 6-7 pm. Did basics up to side kicks again, and then worked side kicks more and more. Did several line drills, first working on chamber, then chamber and pivot, and then adding the kick last. Then got to one-steps, did combos of kicks and punches, and then the 1 technique drill back and forth. 5/16/2013 Taser re-cert: 8-11 am. Mostly class stuff, then shot a few targets, and discussed some use of force issues and where to fit the Taser. Also considered some thoughts on transition to lethal force if needed. Basketball with Kendall again, about 30 to 40 minutes. Lost pretty bad this time, 32-20. It was all ugly, but fun. I will add that my son travels and double dribbles to no end, giving him an unfair advantage..... Stretched in the evening while at Kendall's Wrestling practice. He was working on some Greco/Freestyle throws with a bigger kid, and was a bit discouraged by the mismatch, but he did good, and got lots of reps in. I did a little bag work while there, too.

Welcome, Angel!

Respect is important for any social activity, including the Martial Arts. Respect is strengthened over time, and through our experiences. I also agree that respect goes up and down the ladder, and I also understand that there will come a time when one won't respect another for various reasons. Its just the way we as people are. And the staunchest rivals usually have the deepest respect for each other.

I agree here. However, you can do some training on your own to help improve speed and timing to some extent. Working on improving your explosive movement will help when putting things together. If you can get a partner to work with outside of class, you can work on some drills to help improve as well. Working some counter drills, and then working some of what I would call "mission sparring," where the goal would be to score using what you just worked on drilling, as opposed to winning.

When viewing things like this, one has to really try to keep in perspective what it is. These are very athletic individuals performing at a high degree of difficulty. I don't enjoy watching them really, either. The back flip, although cool, had no point, and neither did much of the weapon twirling.But, they are talented men and women, and I admire their talent and ability; I can't do that. I struggle to stand up straight sometimes I try not to view these individuals entire Martial knowledge by watching them do 2 minutes of twirling and back flipping. They probably have very good basics, and very good forms, and they may have a good understanding of self-defense, as well. I don't know them, so I shouldn't assume their entire MA knowledge and experience is centered around a random back flip.

I've heard the "8-12 reps for muscular endurance" talked about for a lot of years, however, I've done some reading that may show that not to be the case. If you want to improve muscular endurance, you have to tap into a different energy system in the body, and 8-12 reps aren't going to get you there. Things like running long distance do that. So, if you want to "lift" into muscular endurance, you are probably looking into doing reps in the range of the 100s. Better to go with sets of 5, and build your strength, and supplement running or other cardio for endurance. But for Karate, sprint training or hill running may prove more beneficial.

I think in order to make something like this work from across styles, its important for the judges to be up to snuff on the technical aspects. All need to agree on what proper side kicks or front kicks look like, what the back stances and front stances look like, and the other techniques. Now, I'm no Karateka, so I can't be sure, so I'll ask: are there variations in how a knife hand strike is formed from Wado or Shotokan, or are the technical similarities similar?