bushido_man96

Did anyone fill out an NCAA bracket for an office pool, or just for fun? I do just about every year, and won once. This year, thanks to Wichita State University, La Salle, and Florida Gulf Coast, I can safely take my bracket and set it afire, as its really gone bad. I had all #1 seeds make the Final Four, and am missing one now. However, KU is still rollling, and I like to see them do well. And overall, the games have been very close, with #1 seed Indiana and #2 seed Ohio State having tough games, but still winning and advancing. So, who do you have? How's it going so far?

I have the same feeling with my karate career. After winning national championship I changed my club, but was not allowed to compete for one year, because old club did not sign my transfer papers. --- and I moved to a new city to study and got married, kid and now grandkids. Now I have time to catch up with my tournament carreer:-) Sounds like your career was infinitely better than mine.

A good move, I think. No one to draft at QB this year, at least not as a starter, as near as I can tell. Although I'm interested in Gino Smith, but not sold enough on him to risk 1st round pick. Draft Joekel, and then look to other needs. How about that Dumerville mishap? Ravens picked up a good one there, and they needed a good move like that. However, I won't count the Ravens out, as they always seem to make smart moves, even if they are unpopular. Letting Boldin get away was a bad move, though, I think. Good pick up for the 49ers. We'll see what the Welker signing shows us. Lots of New Englander's didn't like this one, but in the end, how many mistakes does Robert Kraft make? Listening to Colin Cowherd, I learned that Welker's best year before coming to NE was a 600+ yard season. I also understand that NE offered him better guaranteed money than Denver, but he still went to Denver. Seeing that play out should be interesting.

I'm sure Mo will have a great year. The rest of the team might have some work ahead of them, though. The Royals have really loaded up this year, and might make a run in the central division. Not necessarily win it, but they may play themselves into wild card contention. And its about time, too.

Welcome to KF!

Welcome, Robert!

I'd go with quarter staff. Or stick.

I'm not sure how I feel about either. If/when I pass my next testing, I'll be conferred both; rank of 4th dan, and title of Junior Master. I'm not really sure how I feel about that. I don't really want students to start calling me Jr Master Walker, but our instructor is big on etiquette, and it won't really be an option. I will also wonder to myself, "am I really a Jr. Master?" So, its a bit tough for me to think about right now.

Good luck to you! 6 hours of testing sounds like quite a trial!

Good luck!

If it truly is an issue of self-defense, then it must be dealt with regardless of the gender of the attacker. However, JusticeZero does put some very good points out there.

His legend wouldn't be what it is today.

3/19/2013 Inverted rows: 2x10 Bar stretch: front and side kick Tried to do some dips; my arms won't even let me start the motion. I've got a lot of rebuilding to do. Tried some jumping pull-ups and negatives; 3 of em. 3-step sparring: 1 and 2, 5 times each. Getting more comfortable with them, and moving quicker. 3/20/2013 10 minutes of Wrestling with Kendall: worked on switch and standing switch. Pre-class stretch. TKD class: 6 - 7. One-steps, low green and white belt, several times each. Forms were Do-Kang 1, Se Jong, and Yoo Sin. Then moved to kicking class. I was doing kicks on BOB, and decided to target the neck with as many kicks as I could. That was fun. Kicks we did were front leg side, back leg side, spin back, and switching away spin back kick. The spinning kicks were to the body. Then did front and back leg round kicks. 10 kicks on each leg. Good work out.

Nicely done! Congrats!

Congrats!

It's only cheating if I'm not winning sensei. ROFL I got cheated my entire TKD tournament career....

I'm a bit confused by what you mean here, Bob. Could you elaborate a bit more?

I think character is very important, not just to Martial Artists, but to everyone. Good people are built on strong character.

For me, it depends on the content. For grappling content, I'd want someone way ahead of me in skill and experience, so I could pick up more pointers on the way. For some joint manipulation or otherwise, someone right about my skill level.

You could give it a try. I think staying very basic for the time being would be most beneficial to you. Perhaps stay with a drill for a few weeks at a time before moving on. But in the end, its up to you. If you think you are tracking the concepts well enough, then you might decide otherwise. Then again, waiting until August is really that far off, so that wouldn't be a bad idea, either. Then, after you start learning in class, use the videos to supplement what you've done in class.

Wouldn't this be the same in weight classes in combat sports? When you put on bulk, you put on bulk, it doesn't matter how. If you have big arms because you do the ring event a lot, then how is that different than the guy who has big arms because he does a lot of triceps dips and barbell curls? Also, everyone has a "genetic potential," and there are articles out there that can relate it better than I can. The point is, you can't too much beyond that unless you add in some kind of performance enhancers. There is also, sans performance enhancers, a point at which it becomes difficult to add more weight to a one-rep max. Professional lifters have a very stringent workout protocol, and whereas a novice lifter may add 100 lbs to their squat max in a year, a guy who dead lifts 1000 lbs will work for a whole year to add between 2.5 to 5 lbs to that effort. Maybe they'll add 10 to it over the course of a year. So at that point, they are getting ever closer to that genetic potential. These little guys that do gymnastics are probably close to their genetic potential, as well, in regards to the bodyweight exercises they do. My point is, the bulk little gymnastics athletes put on isn't any different than getting stronger and bulking up by lifting weights for power. Nor those who only do bodyweight exercises over bench presses or power cleans. And just because a power lift is doing a heavy lift slowly, doesn't mean they are slow. Lifters do a lift as fast as they can. 135 lbs goes up a lot faster than 400 lbs. Obviously, heavier weight will be harder to move, so it takes longer. But it isn't necessarily slow, and it isn't encouraging or teaching the body to be slow. Hope all that helps.

Is there proof to these claims? You lose range of motion by not stretching. Guys with big, strong legs can still kick high; Van Damme comes to mind. Wesley Snipes and Michael Jai White are big guys, too, but they kick well. I'm sure there are many more I am missing, but you can see big guys compete in the old K-1s, and they had some big, strong legs, too. Still kick high and kick well. I assume that you are referring to me saying "there might be a point where you get too bulky to move quickly"? If so, I can tell you that I don't have proof, which is why I said "might"--I have known a couple people who bulked up and got slower, but that's all. Just an anecdotal observation and musing on my part . I definitely agree that being muscular doesn't make you slow, I was merely thinking out loud that there may be a point of diminishing returns. Sorry about the misconception here, Wastelander. My comments were mainly directed towards GreatestDisciple's comments.

For the record, I like this a lot. It does go back to my previous post as well. I love the sequence, it starts with sweep. A fundamental grappling skill. The cheating isn't on the end of beating the grappling, it's in the final control phase AFTER grappling skill has countered poor position. I like this as well. From what I've seen in the LEO grappling training, this is what the goal is. Not spending any more time on the ground than needed. I've also seen some positions worked that allow the LEO to draw and fire at the bad guy from the ground, but a good position is the key.

Quite the conundrum there. That's why, as you know, good basic strength is important. I was dabbling with some of the body positions you tend to use, Justice, and found that it requires a strength that I don't have right now. Its also like bringing guys in to TKD that have strong legs, but don't know how to kick properly yet, and have to learn how to do that activity properly. My question is, what kind of drilling will you do to improve the necessary strength?

Some styles require sparring in some form or another for certain ranks. Once our students are above orange belt, they spar at every testing. Sometimes, it isn't an option.