bushido_man96

..or flip a sensei...

I just went through AK Athletics to purchase some wrestling mats for our department for DT training. You should look at them, and see if they have what you're looking for.

Congratulations, ashworth! So awesome!

Sounds like it was a fun card. I haven't seen a UFC in so long; I just can't lay down the money for it.

I guess you'd call it an assistance exercise, but it's true purpose here is to serve as the medium day pulling exercise. It has to get heavy to be useful, but the nature of it's longer ROM, it can't get as heavy as the deadlift. So the longer pull forces lighter weights, and the lighter weight necessitates doing 2 sets. The goal of the lift, like the deadlift, is to keep adding weight and keep getting stronger. In order to that, even with deadlift, there comes a time when it may become necessary to augment the grip in order to keep driving up the numbers. When that time comes, I'll start using straps. Right now I make sure to chalk up for my last warmup set and the work sets, and that seems to do the trick for now. My basic approach is that all the supplemental pulling exercises need to be contributing to driving the weight up on the deadlift. If they aren't doing that, then there is no reason for me to do them, and it's time to switch to something else. I was using power cleans as one of my lighter pulling day exercises, until the pain in my shoulder just became unbearable. I need to get it fixed, get the rehab over, and get back to pressing and cleaning. 11/18/2022 Strength Training Warmup: 2 minutes on the rower. Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 100x5, 140x3, 180x1, 205x5, 205x5, 205x5. Deadlifts: 225x3, 295x2, 330x5. Stretch: quads, lower back, hams, glutes. I didn't feel any pulling on the adductor while squatting today, so that's good. I may be figuring out how keep my knees in the proper position to avoid this. The key is to stay focused as the weight goes up. The deadlifts felt really good today. I've really tried to focus on driving the floor away with my feet, and squeezing my chest up. The bar stayed on the shins today, and the bar path felt good. This week saw my work schedule get jumbled around again, so I only got two days in to lift. But, it seems that for now, missing the light day doesn't have any adverse effects.

That's awesome news, Bob! So glad to hear it!

I found another text on TSD: Tang Soo Do: The Ultimate Guide to the Korean Martial Art, written by Kang Uk Lee. He's of a different organization, and I look forward to reading it and comparing it to the other book that I have.

Have you done a Google search for the area? I'm sure something would pop up in Houston.

I don't think any kind of list ever got finalized. But I agree with the approach you took with your 6 year old. Learning how to apply one throw from various grips/approaches/stances is a solid way to gain good fundamentals.

11/14/2022 Strength Training Warmup: 2 minutes on the rowing machine. Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 100x5, 140x3, 180x1, 200x5, 200x5, 200x5. Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 165x3, 215x2, 240x5, 240x5. I find I'm spending time squatting really trying to figure out where it doesn't pull on my adductor. For the most part, I'm getting it right. Snatch deads felt really good today; they stayed locked in and tight to the shins. I think the first thing to give out will be grip strength. I'll have to look at working with straps as I approach the 300 lb mark for the lift.

A properly made makiwara; I wish we had one of those.

11/11/2022 Finally, back to the gym. Strength Training Warmup: a couple of minutes on the rowing machine. Safety Squat: 60x5x2, 130x5, 150x3, 170x1, 195x5, 195x5, 195x5. Deadlifts: 225x3, 275x2, 325x5. Stretch: quads, hams, glutes, lower back. Deadlift felt pretty good today. It seemed to stay locked tight to the body. Looking forward to a full week of training next week.

I think you will find more similarities than differences in TSD and Karate (depending on the style, of course). What I'm not as aware of is the kind of partner work/drilling they do in TSD. I think what you will see is a TKDesque flair for kicking, too.

Yes, I hope so. It should be that way for the deadlift, anyway. I find that if I miss too many days of squatting, coming back really sucks.

Great questions, DP. Yes, the ties of TKD to Shotokan Karate are accurate. Most of these pioneers of early TKD got their first taste of Martial Arts training in Japanese styles, due it Japan's occupation of Korea at the time. If you ever get a chance to look at the forms depicted in CS Kim's book Authentic Tang Soo Do, you can see the obvious comparisons to Shotokan Karate. I have Nakayama's book series of the Shotokan katas, and have done a side-by-side comparison, and the similarities are too striking to ignore. If not Shotokan, then some form of Okinawan Karate. As I did into the other Kwans and post the information here, you'll notice a similar pattern. Especially when it comes to General Choi's Oh Do Kwan; it was stated that he studied Shotokan under Funakoshi, and received a 2nd dan. I'm not sure how many organizations or associations of TSD there are out there, but I'd be willing to bet that that they can all trace their way back to the Moo Duk Kwan eventually. I'll have to do a search when I have time of various TSD groups.

That sounds like good news, Bob! Hooray!

I see what you are saying, but they are still world champions. Until the Japanese leagues, or the Korean leagues, or the Latin American leagues reach out to challenge the World Series winners, I won't concede. I think there is good talent that comes from those leagues, but that talent is always looking to come to MLB. When it comes to soccer, I can see your point. It is much more established as a world game, with lots of talent throughout, and they have a process set up to allow all of those leagues to compete with each other. And there are just so many different leagues, too. So it's different. I'd feel the same about football, or I guess I could refer to it as American football. If some other organization wants to challenge the World Champs from the NFL to a game to decide the winner, then that would be great. But the best football talent in the world is in the NFL already. I would contend that the best college team wouldn't stand a change against the worst NFL team. So again, I would hold my stance on the Astros being World Champs. To each their own.

I notice you had no leg exercises on this day. Have you thought of basically supesetting your squat and press? Especially with only getting two days per week to strength train, getting more bang for your buck would be the way to go. I'd dead/bench on one day, and squat/press on the other. Start your leg exercise, and once you hit your first work set, warm up to the first work set of the other exercise, then alternate after you rest. It's an efficient way to work, especially with your weights being much lighter like they are, and you'll get a full body workout along with the full body stress to driver progress. Just a thought though. Keep up the good work!

I think if they could come away with WS titles in a 5 or 6 year span, that would tip the scales into a dynasty. Got to have those world titles to really get that dynasty tag.

Out of curiosity is the range time work related or recreation related? Work related. One of the perks! 11/8/2022 Strength Training Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 130x5, 150x3, 170x1, 200x5. My darn workout got cut short because I got called into work. The schedule got changed, and I didn't realize my shifts got moved around. Bummer. Probably won't be back into the gym this week until Friday afternoon now.

I found a little more info on Richard Chun in an article in issue 165 of Totally Tae Kwon Do. It was a reprint of an interview he had done previously, and one of the questions asked about his start in the Martial Arts. He answered that he started at age 11 in the Moo Duk Kwan, but he stated that at the time it was called Tang Soo Do. Later on, he mentions that Tang Soo Do evolved into TKD, but in the same reply mentions that "TSD still exists today..." but then talks more about what TKD had become. It appears that he experienced the breakaway during his training.

11/7/2022 Range: Night shoot tonight. Did a 50 round qualification course with the pistol, including a transition to the back-up weapon, then two 15-round runs with the rifle, then two 5-round runs with the shotgun. For the long guns, we were shooting one target on our way to cover, then had to roll out and shoot at targets that were on either side of the cover. Always good to practice at night.

Dynasty?? The Astros?? Far more than a few titles are needed for that label. Well, I don't think they need 26 to labeled a dynasty. But a run of like 3 titles in 5 years, and several LCS appearances along the way, then that's more like it.

I think "dynasty" is few more titles away.

I agree here, that's awesome! Keep up the good work! Karate: