bushido_man96

I tend to agree here, especially with those approaching the gradings for black belt. Getting that consistent time in to be sharp is important.

Try to look at this moment as a turning point in your training. You know where you've been, and now you have an inkling of where you could get to. Use it as motivation to continue on that path, so that you don't have to feel that way again. Not all of the "Aha!" moments are pleasant.

4/18/2023 Defensive Tactics Training: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm. Teaching for the department today. We covered lots of striking and striking tools; straight punches, palm strikes, hammer strikes, all with front and rear hands; low front kicks to the groin and push kicks to stop an incoming attacker; elbow strikes and knee strikes. Lots of pad work, and lots of fun.

Those reflections can be quite informative training tools.

You're welcome, Bob. And don't worry, I'll work on some more of them when I get some more free time.

You make a lot of good points there. It's important to remember, as instructors, that most people take up MA activities to have fun. If becomes unfun, then they are likely to stop showing up. Now, there is a caveat here; I don't feel inclined to change what I teach in order for students to enjoy themselves more. I won't be stepping out of my circle of knowledge unless I am confident enough I won't mess it up, or I can bring in an expert to relay it for me. But if there gets to be too many requirements, it can become unfun. I am not against time in rank requirements. But I am against forcing someone to take more time away from important day to day activities in order to achieve it.

4/17/2023 TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. I did my calisthenics warmup prior to class again, minus the bouncing around; my left foot was hurting when doing this. In class, we did Do-Kang 1, which I managed to botch up nicely, and then went into Ho Sin Sul. We started with some punch defense flow drills, which me and the guy I worked with turned into some extra passing and extra punches. The CI had been to an Aikido seminar over the weekend, and he took some things from that, and we modified them a touch, and worked on Aikido-esque punch defenses. We worked in a wrist lock takedown to an arm bar, which I then started altering for more of a securing position from which to cuff and detain from. I talked about the use of spacing, by either taking it away, or making it in order to achieve the goal of the technique, and making sure not to linger in between. I didn't get my lifting session in today. I was up the night before with some stomach/digestive issues, and this afternoon was taken up because my youngest had to have a root canal done (poor guy was a trooper, though).

The book A Killing Art by Alex Gillis does a much better job of telling the story of the history behind TDK. You should give it a go.

Sure, kata could be added, or the kata you have could be honed and trained on more. If kata are going to be added, there should be a pretty good reason for adding them, aside from just adding more curriculum.

4/14/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 250x5, 250x5, 250x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 150x5, 150x5, 150x5. Lat Pull-downs: 140x10, 140x10, 140x10. Iso-lateral Bench Press: 45x10, 45x10, 45x10 (22.5). All felt pretty good today. Press seems like it might be slowing down. I anticipate programming changes coming soon. I put the wrist straps on for the last set of presses.

I think it can get tough to trace back origins, and there was a lot of political machinations going on early in the history of the kwans; heck, the changing of the name to Taekwondo is quite a story of it's own.

It's great to have you come back, Drew!

4/12/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 130x1, 148.5x5, 148.5x5, 148.5x5. Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 260x5, 260x5, 260x5. A decent session, considering my back and my knees were bothering me. The first press set was tough again, but the second and third sets went well. I may up my last warmup to a double and see how that affects the first set. Snatch deads went up good.

Welcome back, Drew, and congrats!

Thank you for the help, guys. I've made the moves you suggested, Patrick. Thanks for not taking advantage of my ignorance!

Congratulations to all!

I will let you know how that works out for me, DP. 4/10/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 245x5, 245x5, 245x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 130x1, 147.5x5, 147.5x5, 147.5x5. Lat Pull-downs: 135x10, 135x10, 135x10. Dropped the squats a little more after my knees were in so much pain. I only noticed anything on the last set, but I may have been in a hurry and letting the knees slide in the bottom. Press sets got better as they went on. TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. I have been feeling old, cold, and tight prior to my classes, so I decided that pre-class, I was going to make myself move and warm, even if I was hurting. I just did some basic calisthenics; arm circles, hip twisting, arm swings, bouncing in sparring stance, etc. Really helped out, as obvious as that sounds. I did an easy walk-through of Choong Jang and Yoo Sin hyungs, too. This was a class full of Do-Kangs. #1 once, #2 twice, #3 twice, #4 twice, and 5 & 6 once each. My knees really hurt after Do-Kang 5; lots of jumping in that one, and it did a number. While doing the Do-Kangs, I worked on the stepping concept I read about in the book on Sanchin, in pulling with the front leg when stepping with the back leg. I really noticed a difference, and I plan to try to keep applying that in classes.

When I was in class the last Monday night, I tried applying that stepping concept outlined in the book, about pulling with the lead foot when initiating the step forward with the rear foot. I really noticed a difference.

4/6/2023 TKD Testing: 6:00 - 6:30 pm. We had a really small testing today, so it didn't take long to get through it. We had a total of three people test, and it went smoothly. A few things for the lower ranks to work on, but overall, things are going the right way. 4/7/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 130x1, 146.5x5, 146.5x5, 146.5x5. Deadlifts: 185x5, 225x3, 315x1, 350x5. Ok, an interesting week, to say the least. Wednesday's workout, when I should have done my heavy pulls, didn't happen because I had to wait at home for a package to show up from Fed-Ex that had to be signed for. It's important for my wife's work, and if no one was here, then it'd have been sent back to a town 100 miles away. So, I was basically held hostage by Fed-Ex waiting for a package that we got notifications that it was out for delivery....but it didn't show up. Showed up the next day. So, Friday rolled around, and I didn't want to skip my pulls for the week. So I basically did my midweek light squat/pull workout, and it went pretty well. My knee was feeling much better, and the light squat went well. Pressing didn't aggravate the knee at all, and I added weight and everything went up well. Added weight to the last deadlift, and that pull went well, too. I've also purchased a Captains of Crush grip trainer a week or so ago, and I've been keeping it in the car when I drive, just busting out high rep sets on it as I have time. I bought the lowest one, and after a few weeks, I'm going to buy the next level up and train with it. I'm anxious to see what it does for my grip strength and forearms.

Yes, I've seen these things before, and in the book, he even demonstrates going through Sanchin with chishi. I see this as an issue of holding onto the past for way too long, and not embracing more modern ideas. For example, I think something similar could be achieved using dumbbells instead of trying to make old stone mallets. Another issue I have altogether is that too many people try to make their strength training look like their sport/activity, in order to make it more "functional." The problem with this approach is that it completely fails to understand what strength training is. Strength training is a general physical adaptation. Lots of people like to think they can get "baseball strong" or "football strong" or "karate strong" by trying to make their "strength" training look like the moves they do in their sport/activity, when they would be better off training for overall strength the right way, using good programming and progressive overload to make the entire body strong, which will then transition into athletic performance. Hence, like I mentioned earlier, no taking strength training advise from Martial Arts instructors. Ok, rant over.

This is more along the lines I was thinking. I think you and I are on the same page here; you did a very good job articulating this. It's going to take some time, for sure. Would you say it's more like a natural step forward in length, or just a bit longer?

I have some questions about the league. Mainly, how does it work When do we adjust our lineups? Do I need to pay attention to the pitching, or are all the pitchers just scored for the week? Do I need to pay attention to when guys start? What about the bullpen, how do I work those guys? Thanks for any help. It's been a long time since I played fantasy baseball, and when I did, it wasn't in a format like this one.

There will be good and bad experiences here, just like any human experience. I met my wife at TKD class, so it worked out pretty well for me. I think it's important for an instructor to be professional about it; if an instructor is trying to date every good looking student that comes through the school, then he/she should probably reconsider their motives. But many times, something happens organically, and everyone lives happily ever after.

4/3/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 195x3, 245x1, 285x1. Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 115x3 So, today fell apart in a hurry. This is mainly due to the fact that I played baseball on the Sunday prior; my 13 year old's travelling team did a scrimmage against the parents. I didn't have any muscle soreness, but the next day, my knees hurt very much bad. To top that off, my head was bothering me, too. So my plan going in was going to do some heavy singles on squat, and try to press regularly. I got one of the singles done, then moved to press, and my right knee really went to pot...doing a squat unloaded made the knee feel compromised, so I had to scratch squats altogether. Then my kid called to get picked up from school, so the workout was a wash.

"Calm mind like water" I think I have a grasp of. "Mind like the moon" I'm not as sure on. What does it mean to have "a mind like the moon?" To glow at night, and still be visible in the daytime? To wax and wane? To hang above the world and see it from a different perspective? How would you elaborate on it?