bushido_man96

The belt ranking systems actually help students to create goals by setting acheivable objectives. To many new students, the black belt becomes the goal. The colored belt system provides a system of visually recognizable objectives that help keep students on track to achieve their goals. That, in my opinion, is the value of the belt system; it provides the track for the train to run on.

You've done a fantastic job through all this, Patrick. Just think to yourself, now, how much worse could it ever get, right? I respect your hard work and dedication to keep your communities running as they do. Keep up the good work, Patrick.

I don't think the Chiefs will better their win-loss totals over last year. They had a pretty favorable schedule last year, and this year KC has a tough one. Getting shellacked by two teams that have been subpar the last several years doesn't bode well when the tough ones roll around. And it has been confirmed that KC has lost Charles for the year to an ACL injury. Oh, drat. Andrew Luck, here we come!

The Yankees have really poured it on. Boston and Tampa are still dangerous, though. My pick this year goes to the Phillies, though. Awesome performances so far this year. Its been kind of nice to listen to the Royals this year, with all the young talent they brought up. Next year it will be interesting to see what numbers those young guys put up with a full year under them. Now, just get the pitching decent.

9/19/2011 Yoo Sin hyung x2 Se Jong hyung x2 Naifanchi x2

Well, we are two weeks into the 2011 season now, so what's up with your team, everyone!? As I'm sure everyone has noticed so far, the Chiefs look ABISMALL. I think its going to be a long season. Who knows, maybe they'll win the Mark Luck lottery? But, I wonder, if they would draft him and send Cassel on his way, or stick with Cassel. I would hope the new GM, Pioli, would make the right decision and draft the best player available. But, that's getting ahead of things a bit. Who knows, they may still be able to win 3 or 4 games, likely taking them out of the running for Luck. We'll see. In other bad news, along with losing Eric Berry and Tony Moeaki for the season, reports from this last Sunday state Jamaal Charles likely has an ACL injury, which could translate to gone for the season, as well. Things just keep getting better and better. Also, allowing 40+ points two weeks in a row....where's the defense? Man, I haven't seen beatings that bad in quite some time, and not back to back. I hope everyone else is having a good year!

The Olympic snatch does include the squat. But, do you mean completing the snatch movement, and then doing a complete, down-then-up, overhead squat? Crazy, I say! Actually, the guy that was working with me showed me the power and Olympic snatch, the main difference being getting into the full squat on the Olympic snatch. I think I'm opting for the power snatch, as I won't likely do an Olympic lifting competitions, but, you never know, I may try more of the Olympic way, just to get more squat work in.

Thank you both for such a quick reply. With kicking pad work, is your response (that no footwear is worn) the same everywhere or might some TKD schools wear footwear for this? Also, if someone did wear footwear when practising kicks against a pad (held by a partner) would this be dangerous? Many thanks again. I'd say, on the whole, no footwear is worn. If they're wearing the TKD shoes, not that dangerous as they are very light (compared to a running shoe for example) and are pretty soft all round. So if you get caught with a kick by someone wearing them, its not that much worse than if they'd kicked you bare foot. I'd be more worried about tearing up the pad tbh. I agree here. But, if you have some kind of condition that it would behoove you to wear some foot protection when kicking anything, then make sure to check this out with the head instructor. If you can also provide a doctor's note, this can be helpful. Usually in situations like this, an insturctor would be willing to allow it.

I don't think anyone claimed TKD had an influence on Kyokushin. I'm not sure when Kyokushin came on the scene exactly, but it must not have been too long after TKD became formally established, as Gen. Choi had an interest in trying to get Oyama involved with TKD. Mainly, I think he was trying to capitalize on Oyama's popularity and student base.

Evergrey: great post.

Well, I don't know who Kat Williams is. But I know who Primo Williams is....I could see him in that story.

I'll bet the landing really sucked.

Man, that's just wrong!

Does it star the ultimate warrior, Sho' Nuff?

I thought someone had bumped the April Fool's thread from earlier this year. Crazy stuff.

I hear you there. My schedule is so inconsistent, and we are so busy with school stuff every weekend now, my Aikido time has taken a back seat again. But, we'll see if I can get anything worked out again over the next few weeks. Not being consistent sucks.

I'm in agreement with Ueshirokarate here. Specialization has done some great things with many styles; Boxing, TKD, Wrestling, and Judo have all done well, and even become Olympic games due to their specialization. However, as a TKD practitioner, the lack of ground defense, and even the lack of defending head punches in live sparring detracts from an overall practicality of self-defense. I don't really agree with this concept. I don't think that because you know several things, that it means you can't be an expert at them at the same time. Now, if you only diddle here and dally there, but with no real direction, then yeah, one will fall into the "jack of all trades, master of none." But, that shouldn't be confused with someone who is dilligently studying and working multiple disciplines together; if done right, one can master a few different styles.

I am sure they will. My wife knows I can't help myself when it comes to literature. Without as much knowledge on the topic as tallgeese has, I'd still like to offer up my thoughts. I think that the OODA loop probably would fall as a subsection under the "Make a Plan" section of your ladder here. I think the focus behind the OODA loop is to help "Make a Plan" that is as quick, easy, efficient, and effective as possible to initiate and carry out, and I think the big part of it comes from having good tactics that can carry over to multiple scenarios, allowing for quicker decision making. I hope I'm close here, anyways...

That sounds like it was a rough go, DWx. There is nothing quite like that diploma one gets from the school of hard knocks, is there? Its good to hear that it wasn't a concussion.

These are all very valid points, and I agree that a broomstick can become a staff weapon in a pinch. The major point I consider in training with more traditional weapons is doing so against another weapon, and not being constrained to merely whirling a weapon through the air in a form. I agree there is value in most any weapon you learn. However, I think some are more readily applicable than others.

I can't help you much here, but good luck with this experience, and please keep us posted as to how it goes for you. I can't believe you can find so much time to train! You're lucky, man.

I sure hope it helps. I just need to get back to my TKD school now. Also, adding the jerk to my power cleans has been a nice jolt to my quads. Good fun!

9/16/2011 SL 5x5A Squats: warmup: 45x5x2, 135x5, 205x3, 225x2; work: 285x3x5 Bench press: warmup: 45x5x2, 135x5, 155x3, 175x2; work: 215x5x5 Barbell rows: warmup: 75x5x2, 95x3, 105x2; work: 140x5x5 Power clean and jerk: 140x3x5 Dips: 5x5 Stretch: standing/kneeling quads, front/twist/side kick bar stretch, toe touches, seated knee hugs, seated back twist, chest/bis/tris.

Yes, Boxing before the Marquis of Queensbury rules era, was a more complete system, which included some throws. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to share.

Many people can consider themselves warriors. That does not make them so. One can try to attain a "warrior mindset," but that does not necessarily make them a warrior. But it would help.