bushido_man96

I think you make some good points there. I'm not necessarily against larger organizations, but they do come with their own set of CQ issues.

So, I've been giving this some thought, and come up with an interesting paradox. In order to give life to the "artless art," and in the end to have "no technique," you have to start by learning something in the first place. I think it would very difficult for someone with no MA or fighting experience at all to step out of the house, and all of a sudden be creating an art that "just is" without knowing anything in the first place. So, in order for the art to "just be," you had to have something to start with in the first place. Bruce had Gung Fu to start with, after all. And even though he didn't want to put any restrictions on his style, he did have drills and concepts that he taught (these things seem intuitive, because having drills and concepts makes it easier to organize thoughts and processes). Anywho, that's where my mind went on these thoughts. Fear not; the next post will be up soon! Just wanted to read others' thoughts on this, as well.

I think if you start introducing steps like junior instructor, senior instructor, and beyond, then you get right back to the same issues you have with the dan grades. I do like Noah's idea of an instructor certification, but beyond that, you end up back at the pomp and circumstance that was there before, only now it's the instructors who start thinking highly of themselves over other instructors who haven't reached the same level of "instructorship" that they have.

I'd be leery to attempt to tie anything to competitive achievements. Reason being is that there comes a point in competitions where natural ability becomes a big factor in who is able to compete and who isn't. It's easier for great athletes to demonstrate skill in competition. But great athletes aren't always the best coaches and instructors. There are lots of people out there that are so naturally gifted that they pick up on movements easily, and don't struggle with physical skills. Hence, they don't have to troubleshoot as often as the less naturally talented, who have to work harder and smarter to get just a little bit more out of everything. These are the folks who tend to become good coaches and teachers. Case in point here. Knows the curriculum for shodan, but due to the competition standards set by that instructor, can't be a shodan. But may in fact have the competence to teach and coach the movements, given the chance.

3/22/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 min warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 140x5, 140x5, 140x5. Deadlifts: 185x5, 225x3, 315x1, 345x5. Light squat today to get the system warmed up. Press went good, and deadlift was a religious experience today. After finishing them, I could tell my body still isn't completely recovered from being sick. 10% deload, just like everything else, and I'm always kind of blasted after the set of 5, but today was just worse. I could feel my lungs trying to catch up. TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-Shirt Class. I did some basic work on the standing heavy bag, just working combinations over and over again. I got a little bit of speed bag work going, but then our 11 year old 1st dan wanted me to hold a rebreakable board for her to attempt a jumping, spinning, inside ax kick. I drilled her on the kick, working on the turning and spinning mechanics and driving the leg down and through the board. After some drilling, she did some breaks, with two different levels of boards.

I agree. The current CI at our school is interested in expanding our self-defense knowledge. However, ho sin sul (self-defense) is reserved for the black belt classes. How is that helpful or right? We had also talked about introducing some grappling drills, just to get some exposure to it, and to give our students some idea of how to deal with it. However, he had an issue with teaching it especially to some of the younger kids right away. Too advanced. I told him there are a BJJ white belts out there. Didn't seem to help much. Another issue I have is that the school is always worried about the next testing. I just don't care for that approach. The instructors always end up "teaching to the test," and therefore the classes are structured for learning testing material. So no exploration gets done.

This is a very interesting thought, indeed. First off, thanks for sharing this with us. I look forward to the discussions! At first glance, I wasn't so sure, but the way you went on to explain it, I feel like you've hit on some very good points. The one that jumped out to me the most was this: A caveat real quick: I usually tend to read threads from top to bottom, seeing what other posters have said so far. I did not do that with this thread, because I didn't want to influence my answer in any way. I'll catch up on the replies after this post. So, when I read that section of your post, it really resonated with me. That's exactly the frustration I have with my school/organization at this point in time. For example, the GM added this series of three-step sparring; 18 of them if I recall, and the first 6 are required at the dan testings now. To me, this is frivolously adding worthless curriculum to give black belts some more busy work to do; more to memorize for testing. Compound that with the exorbitant testing fees (it would cost me more than a good car payment to test for 5th dan), it makes the thought of testing frustrating. Then you mentioned the politics; I wonder how others in the organization, especially ones that I've taught in the past who have now tested up to or past my current rank, look at me. I honestly don't care, but what does bother me is the expectation of "respecting the rank" when I don't honestly think they have more to offer than I do. At any rate, that a lot of me and my issues, but like I mentioned, your comment really resonated with me in that sense. I'm tired of busting my but to learn some new three-steps that I don't think are useful or beneficial training. The thought of exploring deeper into the style, and even learning from other stylists, really appeals to me. I like your idea, but it would definitely be a hard one to pull off. It will probably be relegated to a few stylists here and there that decide to go with this approach. There's a lot of merit in it; when practitioners start seeing each other more and more as peers as opposed to wondering where they fall into the hierarchy, then so many new things become possible. Like Bob always says, "Proof is on the floor!"

Congratulations!

I like that suggestion, Patrick. I plan on being really low key with this league.

Form creep happens to everyone. It's always good to have another qualified eye pointing things out.

I'm in.

3/20/2023 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 265x5, 265x5, 265x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5. After battling sickness for 17 days, once more unto the breach. I deloaded 10%, and it went ok. My legs will be sore from squatting for a few days, but by and large, the session went ok. Legs got a little shaky, and the movement patters were a bit rusty, but I'll be right as rain in a week or so. TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black Belt Class. Chon Ji, Do-Kang 1 & 2. I was pretty much taking it easy the rest of class, and we were working on some self-defense aspects with the CI's 11 year old daughter.

That's awesome! Congratulations!

Bob makes a lot of good points. I think the longer many of us stay in the arts, the less we thing about rank and what it might mean, where the more important aspect is what can someone teach? If I can learn something from someone that I don't know and find valuable, then their rank is really unimportant. I do think it's important to understand and see if someone is a fraud or not, but like many things, this comes with time and experience. My current rank basically means that I can teach someone the fundamentals of TKD, and I can confidently convey the aspects of the techniques to them, along with some concepts behind self-defense. How good someone thinks I am is pretty irrelevant to me; I know me pretty well, and am comfortable with my abilities. Can I teach ground skills? Not too many of them, and not really well. So, I'd recommend someone seek somebody other than me out for that, and then tell me who they found, so maybe I can go learn from them, too.

Welcome to KF, Fractured!

Welcome to KF!

Congratulations, Fractured! Well done!

Welcome to KF, Revario! Glad to have you here!

The problem is that half of the time half of the teams in the league are looking for a QB to run their offense, let alone trying to find 2 of them that are good, and make the team, and then don't want to sign for a ton of money when their rookie contract is up. I do understand what you are saying, but I just don't see it being a practical outcome in the NFL.

A few things I used to work on in the past: Cross the T: this is a matter of using footwork and techniques to get into a position where you are side on, but the opponent is not; his front is to you. From there, he has more targets open for you to go after and for him to defend, so advantage offense. Clear with a Kick: we're kickers in TKD, so what I used to tell a student was to clear with a kick when they finish a combo. This helps to keep the opponent out of range so you can see them come back and re-engage. It also teaches them to control some space.

Yeah, I expected this going into it. If I could bench press without pain, I would, but anything I can sub to train the chest a bit, I'm willing to compromise on. I'm starting out really low so that I can keep a bead on how my shoulders feel going forward with the movement. 3/3/2023 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 265x1, 295x5, 295x5, 295x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 100x3, 130x1, 150x5, 150x5, 150x5. Lat Pull-downs: 142.5x10, 142.5x10, 142.5x10. Iso-lateral Bench Press: 30x10, 30x10, 30x10 (15). A decent session here, and then, over the weekend, I got sick. Some cold bug, and I was coughing so hard that it made my back and stomach muscles really sore. So, I've missed a week of training, and am likely to miss some more. The cough isn't nearly as bad as it was, but I still notice some fatigue. As per usual, life deloads me.

I think what and how you plan on training on a particular day can lead to wearing different gear for protection, based on the training. Light drilling might require little to no equipment. Harder contact naturally tends to lend itself to more protective equipment in many cases. I also notice that when harder contact is the goal, a rule-set tends to get implemented in order to prevent serious injury. In the end, I think it's a matter of finding a balance.

Congratulations, Noah! A well deserved award! Thanks for all you've done here at KF, and here's to the next 10 years on staff!

I think it's hard to run a two QB system in the NFL. Mainly due to the salary cap, and having to pay for other important positions, too.

I might be able to join.