bushido_man96

That guy's an incredible athlete. Lots of fun to watch. I imagine he's likely on the far end of the talent spectrum. Always fun to watch things like this.

This is what I was taught early on, as I think a lot of us are. Long, deeper stances had more stability, but sacrificed mobility; higher, narrower stances sacrificed stability for mobility. So, when its all said and done, it does appear to be teaching methodology that is the issue. Perhaps some things changed along the way, and just like the initial intentions behind the forms, the initial intentions of the stances lost their way, too, and training hasn't made up for that yet. When we do our basics in class, we are moving from front stance to front stance quite often, but its in a straight line, for the most part. We also land the foot at the time the technique is performed, which kind of lends a bit of a pause to allow the technique to penetrate with that mass behind it. Perhaps this causes a bit of a slow down, I don't know, though. I am impressed by the physics lesson you gave, JusticeZero. Nicely laid out, and it opened my eyes some (as well as had me scratching my head a bit....I'm not a big science/math guy). You've given me something to think more about it my training. I'm going to experiment with moving from stance to stance more, and not think about doing techniques with it, for now. It should help build the legs up, too. Your opening post starts in regards to discussing a small person using these stances to gain power. But does a larger person suffer the inverse of not benefiting as much from a deeper stance, or do you feel its down to practice?

Well, this is an interesting topic. Do you have a name for what you plan to put together, or do you have a main curriculum of what you plan to teach will contain? Have you taught classes before, and do you feel confident in doing that? I just ask because teaching is a whole new ball game, and I don't recall from any of your previous posts if you have teaching experience or not. As for "bread and butter" techniques...back leg round kick is fun for me. A good front kick is useful, and side kicks are good, but require a bit of setup, in my opinion, but I don't discount them at all. Wrist locks are ok, but shoulder locks are nice, too. As far as how I like to learn, I prefer to have a lot of two person work going on, going back and forth on various defense and offense, working a concept that way, with varying levels of resistance so you really learn how to make it work. Finally, best of luck in your endeavor. I won't tell you not to begin teaching your own style, but I will say just make sure you've got a good plan in place to teach your curriculum, and that you are solid in all of it. Whenever someone mentions creating their own style, there are many that become dismissive of the idea.

Congrats!

And likely with your back turned to them...

11/2/2012 Cardio Treadmill: 20 minutes, 1.34 miles. It was tough today. Bike: 1 mile cool down, 4:16. Stretch Forms Toi Gye x5 Choong Jung 1 x5 Stretch Toi Gye is the first brown belt form in the TTA curriculum. The dominant feature of it is the mountain blocks, which go from a sitting stance, swinging the back leg up almost like an inside crescent kick to gain momentum and twist the body, then landing down into a sitting stance with the blocking hands up. The goal is to keep the hands up high in the blocking position for the most part, not dropping them as you turn. You do two to the left, three back to the right, and one back to the left. The form layout is a modified I pattern. Choong Jung 1 is the brown belt form in the ATA. It has 44 moves, and follows a rectangle along the bottom half of the Songham Star. This form is unique in that it goes backwards first, in a series of techniques facing forward, but moving to the rear. Then it goes along the bottom right half of the rectangle, up to the top, all the way across to the left edge, down, then back to the middle of the bottom of the rectangle, and back up to the start position. Unique to this form are tension moves, done in 5 second counts, back leg front kick/consecutive round kicks, and jumping side kicks and outside crescent kicks.

Well, I guess go after it and have a good time.

I doubt Choi Kwang Do; I don't think they emphasize any contact at all in their sparring, from what I've read of it.

I can understand where you are coming from when you talk about the experience of it. The issue comes from the wording - with it being a goal. I can totally relate to learning from the experience if it ever happens; like if an LEO has to shoot someone. to call an experience like that a goal for an LEO, kind sends out a bad vibe, if you know what I mean. I think I understand the intentions in your thought. I think your choice of wording is just maybe not quite right.

That's what I do when I get the chance to train Aikido. I see little places here and there in between the spinning and misdirection where I could toss in a kick, or a strike, or just make the whole application a bit bloodier.It also gives me different movement options that I don't get in TKD or Combat Hapkido, which helps when I look back on those styles, too. Those styles have also helped me to see little hints to applications here and there in my TKD training, especially in the forms.

GM John Pellegrini is the founder of the Combat Hapkido system. I hold rank in the style, and I've found it is very effective for either civilian self-defense goals or LEO style restraint needs. I wouldn't get too caught up in the "Combat" label. He needed a name, and he wasn't along the lines of a more traditional Hapkido style, so he calls it Combat Hapkido. He made some changes, esecially along the lines of the kicking, where he only does low line kicking, instead of some of the higher, more TKDesque kicking seen in more traditional, Korean Hapkido styles. He also is heavy on the idea of using distraction techniques in order to facilitate the Hapkido; every technique application begins with a distraction technique of some kind; punch, palm strike, low kick, etc, to loosen the attackers grip or to distract them, then allowing the opportunity to seize a limb to take control, or counter grab and defend with a lock or takedown. There is also a focus on a finishing technique at the end of the defense. It may be a strike, or a break if necessary, etc. Another difference is that Pellegrini has worked with other stylists to incorporate other concepts into his system for a broader range of defense options. He has a trapping system that I have enjoyed working with, but its not trapping to the extent seen in arts like Wing Chun where trapping is like a whole world of techniques. There's enough to get by and get into a different defense; the focus isn't on trapping for the sake of trapping. Those are just a few things I can elaborate on Combat Hapkido. I don't have any experience with Krav Maga, so I leave that to someone else.

Totally agree. I don't think there's a pure style out there. Mine is a mix of at least 4 of the styles I practiced throughout the years, so although I state Ashihara Karate, its technically MMA. I think that when the term MMA is mentioned, we all conjure up the same basic idea of what it is based on the exposure we've had of since the early 1990's. That said, I think what we have come to see from the UFC and other companies is this MMA product, so the term has kind of grown into the name of the style. I think when you talk about other styles being "mixed" styles, though, you have to look at the extent to which that mix is taken, and how it mixes. I've learned different kind of joint manipulations from early on in my TKD career, and have extended that knowledge into Combat Hapkido and Aikido. But that doesn't really make me a "Mixed" Martial Artist like we think of in the sense of MMA. Honestly, nobody really cared about this "mixed" label until MMA really came into its own, and we saw the integration of standing and ground fighting like we have. Finally, I think when it comes to the MMA label, the main consideration is in the training methodologies of the MMA athletes and gyms. They work on actively mixing all those components from the beginning, and the focus is on performance, and not rank. They have all the faculties available for the standing game and the ground game, with various coaches specializing in the different aspects, but the overall goal of the gym is the focus on MMA competition. I really think what we have in MMA is the rebirth of Pankration. But, that name is already used now, too, so that leaves us just go with the name MMA, I think.

I completely, 100% agree with this. Are you sure you want to do this? I TOO agree with this, a friendship to me, is more important than "who can beat who!?!" I agree with these concerns, to an extent. But, I've also fought with my brothers in our yard before, giving one of them a nice bruise along his cheek bone. We're still family, though... I'm curious as to whether you and your friend are going to carry on a friendly sparring session to learn, or are the two of you planning to fight it out and intend to win by the score cards or knockout at the end? If its the latter, then I think MasterPain brings up a good point: This would be the way to go. You'd have a referee to make sure the rules are followed, at least. Maybe each of you could sell tickets to family, friends, and training peers from you schools to raise money for some kind of charity along the way. Also, I'd say know the rule set, and train for the rule set from now until the fight.

Well, its been back for several weeks now, and we are nearing the halfway point of the season. How is your team fairing? I'm a Chiefs fan, so, its been a tough go this year. Hoping for a win tonight against the Chargers.

11/01/2012 Cardio Treadmill: 20 minutes, 1.53 miles. I hate running. Bike: 1 mile cool down, 4:18 min. Stretch Forms Joong Gun x5 In Wha 2 x5 Stretch Forms today were 3rd gup colored belt forms. Joong Gun is the high blue belt form in the TTA. Anslow refers to this form as "the elbow breaking pattern" in his book, and the opening sequence is indicative of that. Both this form and its ATA counterpart have upward elbow strikes, along with crossing X blocks; this form has high X blocks, and a particular fun series of moves going from front stance and double forearm block, back leg side kick and landing in another front stance (very tough transition for me), double forearm block and another back leg side kick into a fighting stance. There are also U shaped staff blocks, and a hook punch. I get a decent pace with this form, and has some palm pressing blocks that help give it power, as well. Joong Gun's floor pattern comes back to the familiar I. In Wha 2 is the blue belt ATA form. Also consistent between these two forms are ridge hand blocks. Both forms have a considerable amount of open hand blocking. The square blocks in this form are open hand this time, too. The kicking sequences become tougher, with a repeat hook kick/round kick combination on each leg, and a side kick followed by a step together hook kick combination. A front leg jumping front kick from a parallel stance also makes an appearance. This form has 42 moves. This form follows the stacked squares pattern of the purple belt form, but movement is to the right from the start, as opposed to the left.

This would be the way to go, for sure. Any time you can do some conditioning work and work that is directly applicable to what you do, then that's bonus. Doing rounds of kicks, punches, and then mixed would good, I think, just depending on what your focus would be.

That's just nuts. I'm sorry that your experience turned out this way. There are good TKD schools out there. I hope you keep searching.

pittbull, its good to hear you've set and met some of your goals in your training. But, in regards to this one... Kind of weird. I've got kind of some mixed feelings about this. I can understand what you are saying about hearing it and feeling it, but I kind of relate it to the feeling of shooting someone. I know its not the same, but I hope it kind of illustrates my point. If it would have been your limb that had been broken, would you have considered it goal met?

Along the lines of what ShoriKid is suggesting, look up Tabata drills. Those would fit in nicely for you, and I think you can do just about any movement with them.

For those of you in the path of Sandy, stay safe, and I'll keep you all in my prayers.

I'm sorry to hear this. As a TKD instructor, this kind of behavior irritates me. I don't know if this guy thought you were trying to come in and prove something, or what, but the tact he took was completely out of line, and very disrespectful. Did you inform the instructor of your prior experiences? If so, then like I said, I'm ashamed of his approach here. If you didn't, then I think this guy has some issues with how he runs his school. At any rate, I hope you don't judge every TKD school to be like this one, because we are not. Again, I'm sorry to hear about this experience for you. Its a shame your exposure to TKD had to be negative.

10/31/2012 Treadmill: 20 min, 1.36 mi. Bike: 1 mile cool down, 4:37 Stretch Forms Yul Gok x5 In Wha 1 x5 Po Eun x5 Stretch Forms session today was 4th gup session for ATA and TTA forms, with Po Eun thrown in for fun. Yul Gok is the TTA's first blue belt form. I like this form, as I feel I can really power it out. Its one of my favorite colored belt forms. This form follows a modified I, with some angle work, and some tension moves. The TTA does tension knife hand strikes, where as other ITF stylist do this more as a hooking, grabbing motion. The way I see it is that any time you have an open hand in a form, you should look at grabbing applications, as well as striking or passing type blocks. This form also has a nice series in which you do a one leg stance and guarding blocks, followed by a side kick and land into an elbow strike, then turn and repeat the combination on the other side. This shows balance, power, and body control, and is a fun section. Anslow refers to this form as "the grabbing form." The ATA purple belt form is called In Wha 1. "In Wha" means "Unbroken Glory," and there are two of these forms. This form introduces the high/low block, and also the "square block," which the TTA just describes as a double block. The square block is the same move found in the opening sequence of Won Hyo, but it is done a bit differently. One hand to the opposite chest, and the other to the ribs, the chest hand moves across to an outer forearm block position, and the hand at the ribs moves up to a high block, but comes up and passes across the body to block anything coming to the center line on its way up. Both done simultaneously. This form also adds vertical punches, forward and back elbow strikes, and single outer knife hand blocks to the moves list. New kicks in this form are inner outer crescent kicks, repeat round kicks with same leg (at different levels, mid and hi, if the student can do that), and also a consecutive kicking sequence with the same leg; back leg front kick to the front, rechambered and followed by a side kick with the same leg to the side. The layout of this form is new, too. It is basically two squares stacked like boxes, and is like a figure 8 pattern. Just think of the 8 as a square, digital one . You start on the right edge, which is the top of the bottom square and the bottom of the top square. You go to the left, down, to the right, back up to the start, and then left from the start point to the right again, then up to the top of the top square, back right, and down to the start. Kind of tricky, with some 3/4 turning into square blocks. ATA purple belt really starts to up the difficulty as an intermediate level form, delving more into the TKD double kicking, and more turning in the form. Here, basics are starting to come together into more advanced techniques. This form has 44 moves. My black belt form of the day was Po Eun, mainly because it is short and sweet. Po Eun is a lot like Naifanchi in that it is done mainly in sitting/horse stances, with some back stances and cross legged stances thrown in. It follows a -- pattern, as well. This is the TTA 2nd dan recommended form.

I am of the opinion that strength training programs are always beneficial. If you want Kyokushin to be your main thing, then you won't be as focused on strength training as others might, and that's ok. I think if you did 2 days a week strength training, you would probably see some benefit. You could try for 3 if you like, but with that many classes in a week, you might fatigue more. But, you could try and see what you can do. Just listen to your body. Programs like Starting Strength and Wendler 5/3/1, or even Stronglifts 5x5, are good to start with. Of the crew I chat with, 5/3/1 seems to be the program of choice, and Wendler has several variations of it that you can modify, and he even discusses conditioning. Those are my thoughts. And don't be afraid to squat parallel!

Pretty cool opportunity.

Evil Dave gave good advise. Like anything, practice and experience will help you there. The main thing is to be consistent. And remember, its not like a testing where you basically judge a student against themselves; you are judging the best out of a group. Its just a different mindset than a testing setting.