bushido_man96

Wow. Crazy. When doing push-ups are not enough, add pain. Makes me feel really self-concious about the whopping two sets of 15 I got in today...

3/25/2011 Weights: Pull day: Hang clean: 115x10, 125x8, 135x4 (almost embarrassed to post those numbers...) Barbell curls: 65x10, 75x8, 80x6 Shoulder shrugs: 240x10, 260x8, 280x6 Cross body dumbell curls: 25x10, 30x8, 35x6 Overhead cable curl downs: 70x10x3 Dumbell wrist curls: 15x15, 20, 20 Reverse dumbell wrist curls: 15x15x3 Lunges: 10 each leg x2

There's always a technicality to deal with.

Sometimes we have water breaks, but it usually comes after basics and we start doing forms by rank. Some nights, if we go straight into forms from basics, we might not get a drink. Our school doesn't allow water bottles in the room, either, likely for fear of it being spilled. Silly, really.

How about grappling and striking? Pretty generic, but states what you do. You could state something like: "Grappling and Striking learned from various sources."

I enjoy the search as well. I also spend quite a bit of time searching on my own, even in a class full of other students who "appear" to be doing the same thing. Sometimes, my search invovles crossing the path of another who is searching, as well. So, its not all necessarily on my own. Or maybe it is on my own, but with others around, too. That's probably about as deep as I'll get with that. But a nice topic!

If you could train all 6 days. I'm having a good week if I get two days in at a class.

That's what's nice about knockouts. Can't "not see" those.

You can always train in your head. When I'm not physically training, I think about things quite a bit, and then when I do train, I let those things come out.

Tallgeese and MasterPain pretty well summed that up. If you have to eat a kick to get to grips, do it. If the kicks tend to kind of hang out there after completion, you might by able to grab one, and then make a takedown easier. If you do grab it, though, watch for the other one to spin to your head. It would be a last-ditch effort, but watch for it. I actually did that to my brother one time. It works, but will likely put you both on the ground, which is where you will want to be anyway....just not unconscious.

One of the reasons schools hold tournaments is to bring in some income. There's no doubt that a large tourney can bring in some big funds. There are differing views on tournaments, as well. Some people don't like tournaments, and feel that making the Martial Arts into a sport like that cause its focus to shift, and detract from the goal of self-defense. Others view tournaments as an outlet for testing themselves against others. It just depends on how you look at them. They can be a lot of fun.

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.