bushido_man96

I wouldn't worry about that too much, Bob. It may not be something your Dai-Soke would have wanted, but, things are different now that he's gone, too. So, changes may be in order, whether he would have approved them or not.

It would be nice to have a black belt focused class at out school, but we don't at this time. Mainly because we don't have a whole lot of black belts. Its nice to be able to get to spend class time focusing on black belt forms and the like, as opposed to colored belt curriculum.

Good advise. I think going to school and exploring options is better than something that tries to specialize in the MAs as a field of study. There are also the Health and Human Performance areas to consider majoring in, along with business, especially if one wants to pursue the Martial Arts afterwards.

I wouldn't start a kid off in the MAs until they are at least 6, and even that won't apply to every kid. Anything younger than that is probably going to lack focus enough to learn and retain anything.

2/15/2012 Deffley B Dead lift: warmup: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3; work: 350x5x3 Push press: warmup: 45x5, 95x5, 115x3; work: 163.6x5x5 Rack pulls: 395x3x5 2/18/2012 Deffley C Squats: warmup: 45x5, 135x5, 225x3, 245x2; work: 300x2x2 Box squats: 235x3x5 Overhead press: warmup: 45x5, 95x5, 115x3; work: 132.4x3x4 Incline bench press: 145x3x5 Front squats: 145x3x5 Back hyperextensions: 12, 25x5,10 Assisted pull-ups: 3x10 Missed Monday's workout due to a road trip. 2/22/2012 Deffley B Dead lift: warmup: 135x5, 225x5, 315x3; work: 350x5x3 Rack pulls: 395x3x5 Romanian dead lift: 45x10, 95x10, 135x5, 185x3,5,5,5

Yep that was what I meant pulse the leg by gripping the muscle to raise it. Ah, ok. I see what you are saying now. Didn't mean to steal your idea there!Heh no, great minds think alike Is it coincedence that we both do TKD? I think not!

What are the standards?

This seems like a point to expand upon, as the whole polyester pile concept just seems awful for everyone involved. Although I do consider rugby to be a great spectator sport. I've been involved in one of those piles. Not fun at all, and the one I was in on started standing, and ended up in me getting partially tased...not fun at all.Coordinating defensive tactics with multiple good guys to one bad guy should be a priority, that way we can practice communication and better coordinate our tactics.

Again, you are only learning a small part of the culture, and the fact that one uses their native language to refer to techniques does not detract from the philosophical aspect one is trying to learn.

Ok, so, what's the tournament standard to go by, then? Do you have to win to attain a certain rank? What does 2nd place get you? Let's play with this example a little bit. We use tournaments to ascertain rank. Obviously, wins is going to be the important issue here, so we won't concern ourselves something silly like losing. So, we establish that winning is what's important in determining if our rank is true. What levels do we have to fight at? Are we talking point tournaments, or knockdown or even MMA rules? After all, MMA rules will be the most all-inclusive rule set we could find. Now, if we must have wins in MMA to substantiate our ranks, then what kind of record would be sufficient enough to deem one a legitimate 1st dan? And then 3rd dan? Are the only "masters" going to be the ones considered champions, winning title fights? If we don't want to go with MMA rule sets, then we can perhaps stick to what is more commonly thought of as Karate tournaments; point sparring, where there is a break called after a point, and then competitors are reset, and start again. Proving yourself over and over again against regional competition will only take you so far, so you would have to consider national and interantional level competition to rank yourself higher than 1st dan. And I'm sure there are no politics at those levels, either. What happens when you retire from tournaments, then? Notice how guys like George Foreman are always referred to as "former heavyweight champion?" If you stop competing, then you effectively stop your path to higher rank, and deem yourself a "former black belt." We haven't even considered crossing over into grappling based tournaments, unless you consider MMA a close substitute to that. So you see, I don't think that tournament competition is necessarily a good way to try to ascertain whether someone deserves their rank or not. Yes, my arguement here is a bit extreme, but once you open that can of worms, where do you stop it? Then you get into the whole "competition and self-defense are two different things" arguement, and start back at square one. I hope this clarifies the point I've been trying to make.

Next time, tell her you did control yourself, and that she can tell because she could walk out under her own power....

Thanks for this information, Danielle.

Sounds like fun, even with minor bruising. Let me know how the training goes as you evolve with it.

It is important to practice and have a plan for when one gets taken to the ground. Good footwork can help to defend takedowns. I also agree with MP that there are a core set of moves out there that it would behoove most Martial Artists to gain an understanding of for the purposes of self-defense.

Yep that was what I meant pulse the leg by gripping the muscle to raise it. Ah, ok. I see what you are saying now. Didn't mean to steal your idea there!

That would put up red flags for me, especially if there is a timeline attached to it. Bad? Bad how? Can you elaborate a bit on it? Was their technique lacking? Did you feel they did not spar well? Fail to break boards? What were the testing requirements? This is true, and I also liked your observation that exams should be taken only when one is ready for it, makes sense. If this is the case, then most schools that follow a protocol such as this are not likely to have many test failures. So we kind of go from one end of the spectrum: "schools are lacking in integrity and standards are slipping because no one fails tests,"; to the other end of the spectrum: "its good practice to only allow those who are ready to take tests, this way, there are fewer to no failures." The truth of the matter, in my opinion, is that the possibility of a test failure should exist, not that students should be expected to fail. With this in mind, its important to take into consideration what criteria is being tested on, and what weight each piece of the criteria holds in regards to the entire test score. I disagree in the use of tournaments and competitions in being a part of a test, or using tournament competition performances as a sole qualifier in skill and knowledge. Tournaments and competition are not everyone's thing, and not all great tournament players are good at conveying their knowledge to the next generation of students (as has been discussed in other threads). Now, I make this arguement with some bias; I am not, nor ever have been, what I would consider an athlete. I don't have a treasure trove of natural talent or God-given physical abilites to work with. Along with that, I'm not ashamed to admit that I have had a very lack-luster tournament career. I've done ok in my share of forms competitions, but sparring was never really my thing. I can bang back and forth on people in class without problems, but when it comes to scoring points and the like in competition, I've never been good at it. Perhaps that means someone holds me in less regard because they know me, sparred me in competition, and handled me well. That's fine with me. But if they would want to tell me or convey to me that I am not really my rank because of my tournament results, well, I think there could be a fun discussion to come out of that. So what is important, then, is defining what the rank "should be." I would be interested to see this expanded upon. I've seen some ranks with technique I thought was poor compared to the rank they have, as well. But in discussing this, its important to have an idea of what we view of as "the standard" in mind.

Sounds nice, DWx. Was it terribly pricey?

2/13/2012 Deffley A Squats: warmup: 45x5, 135x5, 225x3, 245x2; work: 295x2x2 Box squats: 230x3x5 Bench press: warmup: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x2; work: 245x5,5,4 Barbell rows: warmup: 95x5, 115x5, 135x3, 155x2; work: 187.4x3x5 Hip thrusts: 3x12 Glute-ham raises: 3x6 Assisted chinups: 3x10 Stretch: standing/kneeling quads, toe touches, chest/tris/bis. Curse you bench press!!!

I've failed tests before. Its not really a big deal. I've seen others fail, as well. We just pick up and keep on.

Also very little lateral movement. All forwards and backwards on the platform.

Excellent advise. It is ok to ask for some lightening up in sparring. Hopefully, the higher ranks can usually see this, and can adjust it themselves, but at times, it may not seem as bad as it is to them. We are always taught that if we want something, to ask. Sparring shouldn't be any different. Years ago, I had a TKD instructor who liked to just overwhelm people when he sparred, no matter the rank. If you were a younger, lower rank, he'd do it with speed. As you got higher in rank, he did it with speed and contact levels. Honestly, it sucked. If you slipped a point in somewhere, it was game over after that. Not a constructive learning environment, especially when your a short, chubby kid with esteem problems anyway.

We did make that tournament a few weeks ago. I thought it went well, although he didn't win any of his matches. He competed against some kids with several years of experience, and I ended up putting him in a weight class above what he should have been at, and I could see the difference there. That all said, he fought hard, stayed off his back, and avoided getting pinned. All his losses were by points, but he fought like the dickens to stay off his back. I thought he did a good job.

I think that's a great idea, LP, especially for someone like me who isn't entirely confident in fighting on the ground, to nullify the attacker until help shows up. I've seen some of this demonstrated, and I think it is a most valuable tool to use. What I would work on in training is that if you are at that point, if you are going to draw your weapon, then there is no question as to what happens next; it gets used. That would be the most important point to get across, I think. We didn't do much rolling in our gear, but did do some. That stuff on the belt can really affect how well you move and work for position, that's for sure. Do you find that people get banged and bruised up more from training with the duty belt on? It would definitely be helpful in excessive force arguements. Reference the highlighted portion; just remember that in law enforcement, you almost always are bringing a weapon to every fight. That said, I still think the idea is a sound tactic.

All good advise by tallgeese. This last paragraph here is one that may be the easiest for you to add in. You don't need a partner for it, and it will benefit in the long run. Another thing I would add along with the shadowboxing and other methods tg mentioned is to use some visualization training, as well. Picture an attack coming at you, and then defend it. Then picture the same attack, defend, and then perhaps alter your defense during the scenario due to some change in the event, or perhaps because the previous one didn't work, or things like that. I'll admit its tougher to do, but it may prove helpful.

Just out of curiosity, how is the above statement quantified? Are there numbers to sustain the claim? How was the conclusion drawn? What are the other 2 styles that are deadly? I don't know if you were told this is the case, or read it somewhere, or if it is merely an opinion, but I doubt the statement can be backed up by pure fact.