bushido_man96

There is often too much attention, I feel, put on the cultural/philosophical aspects of what the Martial Arts are supposed to portray. I don't have any issues with schools that want to push that stuff, but, I don't think it is the job of the Martial Arts instructor to guide people on how to make the decisions of their lives. Morals and ethics should come from home life and whatever spiritual/religious followings one has. Mine came from my upbringing, not the Martial Arts. When it boils down to it, a Martial Art's goal should absolutely be to produce students who know how to defend themselves, and black belts should be the pinnacle of that. I do not feel that all "traditional" styles of Martial Arts are missing what is necessary to produce someone who is good at defending themselves. Like anything, there are bad apples out there, though, and its unfortunate that they cause others to have a false sense of security.

Had another interesting development tonight at the end of class. I was asking for some clarification on a move in the form, and cited the General's encyclopedia as my main source at home, and that opened a little can of worms. It didn't cause me any trouble, but it spiked my interest a bit. I guess we do Chung Do Kwan style, or it is espoused as such. He said there was "an arguement," and that Choi isn't necessarily the real founder of such. I'm not sure if this is being confused for the Oh Do Kwan or not. But, he basically made it sound like Choi isn't necessarily right. This is odd, for sure. I do know that Nam Tae-hi was involved in helping come up with some of the forms of the ITF, and Yoo Sin may be one of those. But I'm not sure what he was getting at, and probably won't ever find out. I've also talked with my former ATA instructor, who had a chance to meet with my current GM, Chae Sun Yi, in Topeka when he was looking for a place to train while going to school there. He is under the understanding that my current GM was one of several who gained rank under H.U. Lee when he came to America and started the ATA. Apparently, several of Lee's students broke off and started their own organizations or schools, and apparently, my current GM attained something like 6th dan under Lee. This could jive, as I believe the ATA used the ITF forms when it started, and the first ATA forms were not trademarked until the 1980's. Just some interesting stuff to stoke the fires of conversation here. I love TKD politics. Not.

That's why in the court of law the focus becomes what "a reasonable person" would have done under the circumstances. Of course, for law enforcement, what is reasonable changes a bit.

Speaking of Machida and Lesnar, are they still fighing? I haven't heard much about Machida at all lately.

3/22/2011 Weights: Pull day: Lat pull-down: 140x10, 150x8, 160x6 Seated row (close grip): 120x10, 130x10, 150x8 Lat pull-over: 90x10, 100x8, 110x6 Upright rows: 75x10, 80x8, 85x6 Dumbell rows: 45x10, 50x8, 55x6 Legs: Squats: 2x10 Lunges: 10 each leg DT work: 9:00 - 9:40. Worked block/pass/pin into takedowns. I was very rusty, and need to get back into this. 3/23/2011 Weights: Push day: Iso shoulder press: 45x10, 55x8, 60x6 Rear deltoid fly: 105x10, 120x8, 4 Deltoid machine: 130x10, 145x8, 160x6 Abs: Smith crunch: 30x10x3 Decline crunches: 22x10x3 TKD class: 6:00 - 7:00. Basics, form, one-steps. Good review on the one-steps, but my knees were screaming at me, and hurt my performance a bit. Before class, I worked on the inside crescent kick/hand slap from sitting stance, trying to get that piece down. Went down the floor a few times to get some reps in. It may be coming around. I've also found a serious fault with one of the orange belt one-steps, especially doing it against taller, bigger guys. A slight adjustment, although not necessarily approved, fixed the issue. Proud dad moment of the day: When I got home from class, I saw my 5 year old son on the back deck, holding a gun-shaped piece of old fence wood. He was hiding behind the BBQ grill, moving strategically, using cover, and poking around shooting. I asked what he was doing when he came in, and he said he was playing cops. So proud. Wife made some comment about being blessed to have a few boys.

You might take some ridicule for teaching something you call a Karate style, especially when other instructors begin to find out it is your "own" style (read, a "created" style). I don't view what you want to do as a bad thing, and it sounds like you aren't leading with your ego, which is great. I do think that if you had attained a black belt, you would have more credibility amongst other schools, but again, I don't think this a big deal if you plan to be honest with everyone you plan to teach. Good luck in your endeavor.

I hate running. But, I would run stairs or hills given the opportunity. I did run stairs for a time at our college collesium, and liked it better than just running. I hope to try to start doing a bit of hill running soon.

I agree. Get to it and enjoy!

3/21/2011 Weights: Push day: Bench press + chains: 135x10, 145x8, 155x6 Incline bench: 135x10, 145x8, 155x6 Dips: 3x5 Triceps push-downs: 100x10, 120x8, 130x6 Overhead triceps extension: 90x10, 100x8, 110x6 Dumbell crossbody triceps press: 30x6, 25x8, 8 Abs: Smith crunch: 30x10x3 Ab coaster: 30x10x3 Decline crunch: 22x10x3

Do you kick by just picking the front leg up, or do you step into it with your back leg? Stepping into it can give me power and help cover distance, but also telegraphs. For some reason, picking the front leg up to side kick is just ackward for me. I feel the same way most of the time. I like to follow up or end with a back leg kick, and try to use the front leg to start. I've been working the front kick lately, as its quicker for me to pull off than the side kick.

I think belt ranking would just mess up MMA. It just doesn't seem like it would be good to fit belts into it. I view it more like Wrestling and Boxing, without ranks, but you find out who is at the top through competitions.

I don't disagree, but I don't think this epidemic is new, either. There is the feeling that these politics never existed before, which I think is false. As long as people are gathered and involved in something, there will always be politics. I think things tend to get over-romanticized as time goes by. All we hear of the past is the great stories that have come along, but don't really experience what it was actually like at the time. I think its also important to realize that different cultures have different values, and this can effect the politics inherent in things, as well.

Another Political mess! It seems this happens more with forms competition than with sparring/fighting. Certain judges will like to see certain things in a form, and will judge accordingly. But in sparring, the rules are usually clear enough to see who is scoring points/winning and who isn't.

That's too bad. I know what its like to have few adults in a class, and the opportunity to have more in that enjoy it, and want to stay around, doesn't come along very often. Its too bad they don't want to stick it out.

In our organization, when we test for black belt, we have to do all the colored belt material at that testing. However, the instructor can call any form up to the rank the student is at any testing. We don't normally do our basics during testing. We go straight into the testing material of forms, one-steps, sparring, board breaking, etc. I do think we should call on lower ranking forms to be done more often at our testings. It would make students think about keeping up on them better.

I knew that was true when I was suspended in middle school because some kid punched me in the face. I didn't even hit back, but if i had... I would love to encourage my students to fight back when someone's picking on them, but I would be so fired. I noticed a kid doing his homework at the gym yesterday. In the health class book there was a chapter on violence. I asked to read it. The words self defense did not exist, but zero tolerance does. In other words we will punish you for defending yourself. Yep. This is happening, and its bad. The punishment for bullying isn't severe enough to deter those who do it. Suspend them from school? They don't care, because they likely don't want to be there anyway. I tell my kids to not put up with it, and if they have to fight, go for it. I'll take care of the teachers. They may get in trouble at school, but they won't with me, if they are in the right. I agree here, when it comes down to property. In this sue-happy world of people who lack accountability, this will happen. Possessions, unless they are yours, from your home, aren't really worth it. I'm sure WalMart has some clause in their insurance to cover loss like that. I do remember while I was in the academy watching a video not of a theft, but of a domestic battery in progress, and the convenience store attendants just stood by and watched. I think they did call the cops, but they did not intervene with the beating. The reason was because this store branch has a policy that states that its employees will not intervene in fights like this. Property, I can understand. But, watching this video really got to me. If it meant my job, I'd probably be willing to give it up to stop a physical beating. But, I'm sure they had the policy in place for much the same reason WalMart has this policy above.

When sparring, do you have a preference between back leg and front leg kicking? I'm interested in all angles here; point, Olympic, Karate or TKD, pro or cage aspects, knockdown, etc. My instructor is a big proponent of "establishing a front leg," especially a side kick, but this strategy doesn't work so well for me. It could be just that I am slower, and don't have good reaction time. I will do front leg round kicks, but like to come off my back leg, and am starting to work more combos beginning with a back leg kick, like the front kick, to the body. I'd like to hear everyone else's preferences.

3/17/2011 TKD class: 6:00 - 7:30. Basics, forms, one-steps, and sparring, with a stretch after basics. Sparring went ok. Worked on a back leg front kick, and getting it into combinations. Some were ok, I think I just need to commit to it more. I also need to work on my footwork bad. I also despise my form. It angers me. 3/19/2011 Stretching.

Not me. Nice job.

Rank may not always be respected or recognized. Skill will be.

My only issue with this side of the argument is that if you don't speak the entire language, and only know the "Karate" portion of the language, it really isn't going to help you out much more than just following along. If you are going to receive any kind of intricate, more precise instructions on fine tuning technique, either the instructor has to speak to you in the language you speak and understand, or have a translator present. One of the common knocks to TKD, especially in Olympic style sparring, is all the kihaps that go on. TKD has its kihaps, and Karate has its "Osu."

I don't think it negates it completely. Cup or not, that many strikes in that area consecutively are going to cause some pain and discomfort. But, how many times anymore do you see someone end up in a position like that, allowing for that many strikes to that target area to take place? Even when it was legal, you didn't see it like that, except for maybe that one time. I don't recall many others.

I can remember times being a dummy for instructors demonstrating pressure points and the like. When I think back on them, I can't think of any of them that would hurt more than taking a punch or a kick thrown with "intent." They were also done while standing still; no resistance. We did go over things like this when I was in academy as well. However, they never crossed over to the types of techniques we did for more active resistance. They were used for the passive resistive types of scenarios.

I agree. Knowing why helps to see the reasoning behind the methods. If all an instructor can do is say something is wrong, and do it again, without any kind of elaboration, then they aren't being an instructor. Agreed again. I have no issue with the repititions. But they need to be good reps. Exactly, and not every student can pick things up like that. And great students can come out of both molds, and become great teachers. But not if they aren't taught in the first place. And that is what will end up happening. Instructors like these won't have many good students unless they get the really talented ones, or those who can dig into those concepts themselves and make the most out of them.

You'll have to fill me in. I don't recall that fight. It might have been one I didn't see. After a later crime, I feel less sympathy.You're right. It's not often, and they're not always fight enders, but I'd still rather be hit in my belly. Well, I can't deny that that experience would suck. But, there are always exceptions that prove the rule. And, it this case, it was multiple strikes in a very compromised position. Ouch... I agree with you here. This is a case of "saying doesn't make it so." I do think it can be beneficial to train how to exploit these opportunities when they do arise, but its tough to expect that they will happen in isolation.