bushido_man96

Interesting analogy there.

If you don't have time for it, then take time off. However, if you are coming up with other excuses to yourself in order to avoid the sparring aspect that scares you, then I think you would be doing yourself a disservice by quitting. Take sparring in gradually; you don't have to win, the goal is to learn something. And you will eventually overcome your fear, which will make you feel great. Life is full of things to overcome. Don't walk away from them all. Otherwise, you spend life looking over your shoulder at what you could have been doing.

Another thing is that a good side kick requires the body to be in alignment to deliver power, and getting into this alignment is a bit tricky, and in MMA, the cons of the technique just might outwiegh the pros of learning it.

I agree. It would be a great study to show supervisors in regards to justifying a continuing DT program.My DT partner has actually succeeded in getting mandatory DT training quarterly for his department.

I tend to agree with the others in regards to the isolations. If you want to get stronger, then you only really need three exercises per lift day, doing 5 sets of 5 reps each, adding weight in increments each workout; 5 lbs each workout is good for progression. There are good programs out there, like Starting Strength, or Stronglifts, which is what I got started with for a while, and got really good results with. Those are good beginning programs, and you can probably progress on those for a year or two, working out 3 days per week. The barbell is your friend. As you get stroger, you can add in assistance exercises to aid with the main lifts. Also, a PROPERLY PERFORMED squat is an ACL neutral movement. I'm not telling you to do it right now; talk to your ortho first But, lots of doctors don't do squats, and automatically have the negative opinion of them that most people that don't understand the squat do.

6/11/2012 Teaching TKD Adult class: 6 - 7. Basics, forms, one-steps. Worked some on breakfalls since the orange belts have to fall in a one-step. Prior to class, I got some stretching in. 6/13/2012 Floor kicks: side kicks: 3x10 each side; round kicks: 3x10 each side. Tried to work them with my 6 year old son, but he had lazy floppy body going on, so we didn't do too much. 6/18/2012 Floor kicks: side kicks: 3x10 each side; round kicks: 3x10 each side. 6/20/2012 Stretch: seated straddle, working to the left and right, and a bit of hip and glute stretching. Continuous Kicks Side kick: 5 each side Round kick: 5 each side Hook kick: 5 each side I did the sides, then rounds, then hooks, rapid succession, so there was no rest between each; just long enough to switch sides. Used a bannister for balance. Forms: Kwang Gae and Poe Uen, just walk throughs in the house for review. I've been unable to get to the gym regularly, due to my right shoulder issues. I go see an ortho this week, and we'll see what we get to do from there. I can't lift weights, and doing strikes and blocks aggravates the shoulder, too. This is misery.

In the same vein, I would also mention that 300 push ups is not the same as a 300 lb bench press, and vise versa. You can't really correlate the two. Also, free weight exercises do force the body to balance itself in order to get the weight to move in the most efficient manner. Body weight exercises are typically a great assistance exercise to weight training. Dips are a great assistance exercise to bench press, and if you use the chain belts to add weights, you can progressive load your dips, which means you can see your progress go up. Pull-ups are great for the back and arms, and by adding small weight increments to them, you can progressively load and see the results. Body weight exercises and free weight exercises compliment each other so well, but there is an idea that the two are separated due to the "bulking up" myth that weight training is tagged with, and the idea that bodyweight exercises will make you look leaner automatically. In the end, I'd say do both. Find a program and do it (not somone's "routine" in a muscle magazine, but a true weight training program).

Welcome to the Forums!

Welcome aboard!

Welcome to KarateForums!

In Shindokan, we don't block...we deflect. Yeah, you deflect people to the other side of the room! And I enjoy it quite a lot; better them than me!! I see how ya are!

First off, self-preservation should never be viewed as disrespectful. That said, I would talk to the instructor and inform him of your experiences, and what you usually do when falling/rolling out of something. He shouldn't take offense to this. From there, if you are really looking to get into the Aikido experience, the instructor should have you go over some basic rolling and breakfall instruction with you, so you can become familiar with it. Also, most instructors are good about demonstrating the techniques, and letting the uke know whether they are rolling or breakfalling out of it. That there should give you some guidance. If all else fails, don't let someone's perception of respect keep you from protecting yourself in the class setting. If a flip bails you out uninjured, then do it. Then maybe slow the next move down, so you can work on the projection part of the technique, and thus how to land. Enjoy Aikido! Its great fun!

Our school doesn't do enough sparring, in my opinion. Also, when we do, we wear entirely too much gear. Not that I'm a big fan of pain, I just don't like the restrictions of the gear I wear.

And TKD, just quietly. Haha, a little bit, yeah. Mostly in the later years, though I think that wasn't just Sosai making those changes at that point. I understood he and Gen. Choi met at least once, and spoke of TKD, but I never knew he learned some.

Both. As mentioned above, each has its place, and both can be powerful. Its a matter of situation over choice, I think.

I was told by an Aikidoka once, "slow and smooth, smooth is faster." Much like you stated above. Make sense, and it works. Some people are born fast, and some can aquire a bit more speed than they start out with, but much of it is genetic predisposition. Being accurate, on the other hand, is something everyone can train to improve on. I vote accuracy first. Speed will come with time. And even more than speed, I think timing would be more disirable a trait to command. Having good timing can make you appear faster than you really are.

Good words, Bob. Its been great to learn about your MA experiences, and I've felt privileged to have been able to share the floor with you. You always speak from the heart, and I admire that. I only hope my journey can go on for as long as your's has.

Welcome to KF, Trevelyan!

Yeah, I think we are all kinda saying the same thing here. It doesn't have to be done with anything fancy, but it should be done religiously. Agreed. When I can't find my journal, I'm so lost and irritated.

Good luck to you, and have fun!

Hey, its good to hear you got started in the Martial Arts! Don't worry about your age, or your weight. Hard work and the enjoyment involved will overcome all that other stuff. Glad to have you here!

Actually, getting stronger can be a big help. If size is a concern, which from his opening post, it seems to be, then hitting the gym to gain some strength can be beneficial. As long as he lifts and keeps training and working toward improving, lifting weights will only help him. For some reason, Martial Artists tend to be scared of gaining muscle mass, because it will "slow them down." It just isn't true. Power training can actually help to increase speed. Look at a guy like Joe Lewis. Dude is still big. I don't think he was known to be slow. If our poster is confident in his abilities for the most part, but finds size to be an issue, then adding a strength training regime 3 days a week will do nothing but help any athlete, including Martial Artists.

This has been my experience, as well. When dealing with black belt ranks, two judges of the appropriate rank were required.

Aikido - one of the hardest styles out there, have you ever been an UKE for a Aikido Yudansha, you end up with more bruises than "Soft" Mick (no offence to Mick) As most Judoka and Aikidoka will tell you "The Floor will hit you harder than any punch or Kick!!!" OSU!!!! That's why Aikido has such a strong influence in Ashihara because Ashihara Kancho realised how "painful" Aikido can be OSU!!! An Aikido book I read referred to "throwing planets at people." Kind of an entertaining way to look at it.

All good advise. You could use a Composition notebook, or just a spiral notebook, and divide each page into 3 columns, and do one day per column. I just use a small spiral fat notebook, and jot my stuff down in there. The bigger notebook will allow you to compare your previous workouts easier, in more of a timeline manner.