bushido_man96

Merry Christmas everyone!

Congrats!

I second that! Me and my boys were playing it some time ago on their Xbox. A great time!

That's the perfect resolution, Bob.

When I think of techniques, or tactics, or a game plan, I think of executing that particular technique, tactic, or game plan. I think a performance can be for the sake of the performance, where as when executing, it has a goal or end result in mind.

12/21/2022 Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 110x5, 165x3, 200x1, 225x5, 225x5, 225x5. Triceps Push-downs: 60x12, 60x12, 60x12, 60x12. (lower ROM). Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 165x3, 225x2, 240x5, 240x5. Squats are getting heavier. Deadlift sets went surprisingly well.

That is a lot of kata practice, Zaine! I don't think I could put that kind of time in, but perhaps 500 in a month could be doable? That's worth considering!

That is excellent, Zaine! Kindle that fire!

12/19/2022 Strength Training Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 110x5, 165x3, 200x1, 220x5, 220x5, 220x5. Triceps Push-downs: 40x12, 50x12, 60x12, 60x12. Deadlifts: 235x3, 305x2, 340x5. Back to the gym after a week of my head not feeling right. Squat went ok. Picked up with what I had planned to lift the last time in the gym. It went good, but my knees didn't like it. For the triceps push-downs, I did the more limited range of motion, taking my shoulder out of it. The deadlift set was a bad one. I was able to pull the weight, but when the first warmup feels heavy, that means the work set is going to suck. And it did. The first rep stayed on the shins, but the rest of them floated away, making the pulls really hard.

12/18/2022 Evening walk on the treadmill, 30 minutes. Pretty low key...I spent time reading an MA book while walking.

Very good points, Bob. Evident, clear, and discernable...with a purpose, for sure!

I like this talk about Receiving. Instead of thinking of blocking or countering, I should start to thing of it as "Receiving" like this. Being flexible and responsive, not reactive. Making adjustments with the body. As Bruce Lee would say, "when he expands, I contract; when he contracts, I expand..." Contract and receive, expand and receive. What do I do when I find my opponent receiving my techniques? Receive the reception??? That doesn't sound right as I type it out, so there must be another answer. Adapt and try again.

I do think that is a thing. Adults just don't seem motivated to do much with their free time outside the home.

Thanks for the update! Congrats to you and your daughter on your performances. Great job on keeping your daughter encouraged; it sounds like she has a great attitude towards the whole thing. Well done, dad! It's great to see those judges give her some good feedback, especially in that it paralleled that which you would have given her. It is often very difficult for us to teach/coach our own children, and it does them good to hear suggestions coming from others. I liked your form. Looked really nice!

12/17/2022 A little Saturday workout. 15 minutes walking on the treadmill, and then 10 minutes on the rower, 1:1 min. intervals.

I think the big issue is that in order for a dedicated Karateka to get ready to fight full contact in something like the UFC is that the school they train at will need to focus on that kind of training, and most don't. So, the Karateka would have to attend his regular classes for Karate, and then find time to train at an MMA gym where the sparring, pad work, and additional ground fighting can be trained, and trained the way the fighter will have to approach the fight in the ring. That's a lot of extra time to commit to training. It would probably be more beneficial for an established Karateka that wants to compete in MMA to leave his/her dojo, taking their knowledge with them to an actual MMA gym, and only train MMA for as long as they plan to compete.

Lack of adults in classes is a huge thing. A few decades ago, it wasn't uncommon to have decent sized classes of adults showing up. I don't know what's changed, but adults don't seem as interested in training anymore.

Kind of on topic here, I've been seeing that the PKA (Professional Kickboxing Association) is firing up. Not exactly sure if there will be some TV rights or what, but perhaps something worth watching? The association has signed a TKD champion, Julio Cesar Carlos, as their first fighter.

Awesome! Congrats to you both!

12/16/2022 MA Training: half hour of solo training. 10 minutes of simple footwork; stepping forwards and backwards, transitioning to different stances and concentrating on making quick steps by staying low and focusing on the weight shifting. The steps were accompanied by chambering the for a kick and chambering the front or rear hand for a punch. Did forwards and backwards, single steps, lunging with front leg or crossover with the back leg. Also did some side stepping. Then spent the next 10 or so minutes adding in hand checks and finishing with either a lunge or reverse punch. Finished with some stretching. The catalyst for this particular workout came from the pages of Tae Kwon Do, Secrets of Korean Karate, by Sihak Henry Cho. The style of sparring described in this book doesn't really correlate to the type of sparring we do at our TKD school. Our school spars using Olympic rules, but depending on the tournaments attended, it is either continuous or stop for point. Most of the students at our school spar in this continuous fashion, so I'm going to try an experiment when I finally get back to class. I like to change up the way I spar, and I do it often, sewing confusion in the other black belts I spar. In one of the last classes I was at, one student was calling out to another student, saying "that's not the way he was sparring me!" I relished in that. I'm interested in seeing how this straight-line style of sparring will work the next time I get to spar.

I know that feeling! My kid still yells at the screen with headphones while playing Minecraft. Not sure what is going on that needs yelling at, but I'm given to understand that the yelling is well-deserved. Same story at my house....

Hehe, my kids play with headphones on, but that sure doesn't keep them quiet!

Good luck! And be sure to pace yourself!

It's great to see that kind of dedication in her! Awesome!

12/14/2022 MA Training: Spent 20 minutes solo training in the house, doing very basic blocking and striking techniques. I stayed in place, either stepping forward to block or back, and then added in a counter, usually a punch. Working on getting synced up in a rhythm again.