bushido_man96

Happy Independence Day to all the US members celebrating! Enjoy your day, and stay safe around those fireworks!

I don't. I know lots of devices, like Apple Watches and the old FitBits do that stuff for a lot of people. I've personally never been interested in making sure I hit a step count every day.

Welcome to KF, Nick!

I'm the oldest of three as well. I did some mean stuff at times; I recall throwing big rocks at my middle brother's head often. Both of my brothers got bigger than me, though....

My dad introduced me when I was really young, probably around 6 or 8 or so. He just drug me along to a few classes he went to. I wasn't a committed student at that time, but the seed had been planted. Fast forward to my 8th grade year, a buddy of mine talked me into coming to a TKD class. That was it.

6/14/2023 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 152x5, 152x5, 152x5. Snatch Grip Deadlift: 185x3, 225x2, 250x5, 250x5. 6/16/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 270x5, 270x5, 270x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 153x5, 153x5, 153x5. Barbell Rows: 95x5, 115x5, 135x8, 135x8, 135x8. Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 115....pain! Iso-bench didn't go today. Got in, tried a rep, and it just hurt way too much. I tried adjusting the grip, and it still hurt way too much. As I type this, it's 6/30/2023. So, I've not had a training session in some time. Things have gone really south for me lately. Meniere's disease has flared up with vengeance, and I'm not sure why. My head has been a mess for going on three weeks now; lots of lightheadedness and general discomfort. Trying to lift heavy while that's going on isn't great, and my balance has been affected, too. 6/26/2023 DT Training Session: I did 4, 2-hour blocks of training at the department today. Even though I haven't been feeling the best, the sessions still went pretty well. We covered a lot of choke defense stuff, various headlocks, etc. After the training session, I was at home running around the kitchen, trying to get supper around....I bent down to get foil out of cupboard, stood up, and the world spun for hours. Ended up medicating myself and crashing out for 13 hours. It really sucks.

Thanks for that layout, Wado Heretic. Lots of really good points here. And you're spot-on about TKD.

Awesome!

6/5/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 265x5, 265x5, 265x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 150x5, 150x5, 150x5. Lat Pull-downs: 162.5x10, 162.5x10, 162.5x10. Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 110x10, 110x10, 110x10. 6/9/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 151x5, 151x5, 151x5. Deadlifts: 185x3, 225x2, 330x5.

Sounds like you had two great Martial Arts days there. Congrats on grading up! The seminar sounds like it would have been a good time, too.

Do you think you'll try that company again?

I'd hate to suggest this, as it would be kind of expensive, but have you thought about ordering two uniforms, one bigger than the other to fit your body better, and mix in the bottoms from the smaller order? I don't know of any company that will sell tops separate from bottoms. But somebody should consider doing that.

If he's Shorin Ryu, we don't use hips to generate power. Just an FYI. If I was testing him for a dan rank and he used hips, he'd fail. What's the reasoning behind this, if you don't mind me asking. I generate power in my techniques using my hips, so that's why I'm curious.

Could be some underlying principles that tend to apply to all MAs in general?

One thing that I have done is reduced the number of classes I go to in a week. My knees just take a beating every time I got to a traditional class, doing basics. I've also pulled back on my output during basics. Don't read that the wrong way; I'm not lazy; I keep the form good and tight, and I put forth good effort; I still get tired and sweaty. However, I don't blast everything like I used to. I guess I would say that I do a better job of pacing myself than I used to. When it comes to sparring, I'm not sure how to explain what I do differently. I've never been very athletic or explosive, so I'd say I was a below average sparrer when I was younger. But, now it seems different. I don't try to outwork anyone when I'm sparring. I pace myself, and don't throw a lot of techniques just to throw them out there and keep someone busy. I would just describe it as "old man sparring." I use a little bit of footwork, and I don't chase people down a lot. If they want to hang back, I'll let them, and wait for that moment when they come close or leave an opening (or I'll bait one open), and then I'll unload. If some youngster that likes to be offensive, bounce around, and throw lots of stuff, I'll do a lot of blocking and when they get in close, I punch a lot, and I don't care if they punch me back. And for a short heavy guy, I can surprise them with some speed and kicks higher than they might think I can throw. But as an older fellow, I just have to wait them out sometimes. I heard a saying not too long ago that really rang true to me: "some days, you're chicken salad, and most days, your chicken poop." Those chicken salad days don't come around as much as they used to, so I appreciate them a lot more when they do.

6/1/2023 TKD Testing: 6:00 - 7:30 pm. Another round of testing. We had one testing for 2nd dan/decided, and one testing for his 1st dan/decided, with some colored belts also testing along the way. I saw some improvements, for sure, which is always good to see, but I'd like to see more out of the black belts. I expressed this to the group as a whole at the end, by emphasizing that as they progress, instead of just regurgitating a memorized form, I should start to see the students "imbue the form with their presence." When we tell them "your" form, I should see something different about it from what anyone else does. And it's time they started thinking about it that way, and not just in forms, but in their technique and performance, no matter what they are doing. 6/2/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 260x5, 260x5, 260x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 149x5, 149x5, 149x5. Lat Pull-downs: 160x10, 160x10, 160x10. Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 105x10, 105x10, 105x10.

Testing is approaching! You mentioned doing kata twice; one fast and one regular speed; the first to focus everything, to help the second. I once read that Chuck Norris did a similar thing, but he added a third performance, in which you don't necessarily hold to the technique and bust out the form faster than you thought you could, even if it gets a little sloppy. His concept was that the extra fast form would help with to improve speed when doing it at the "normal" speed. An interesting concept, I thought.

Glad to hear you at least got a response. The shipping mishap may not actually be on them; once the product gets to the shipping company, it's on them to stay on schedule. It does appear the faster shipping option was a waste of money, and that's something I think you should address with them. Perhaps they'll make good on it on your next order (if there is one). If not, I'd find a place to leave a review and mention that the "faster shipping" is not fast, nor worth the money.

Congrats Zaine!

5/26/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 250x5, 250x5, 250x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 147x5, 147x5, 147x5. Lat Pull-downs: 152.5x10, 152.5x10, 152.5x10. Iso-Lateral Bench Press: 95x10, 95x10, 95x10 (47.5). 5/31/2023 Strength Training Rowing Machine: 2 minute warmup. Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 85x5, 115x3, 135x2, 148x5, 148x5, 148x5. Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 185x3, 225x1, 245x5, 245x5. Press felt better than it did on Monday; the sets seem to go smoother. Squat always feels a little tired on Wednesday, so sticking with the light day moving forward. Snatch-deads were ok. Scenario-Based Use-of-Force Training: This was kind of a surprise at work today. I did an hour of I guess you could call simulation training. The scenario is played on a screen, and the person running it has some input into how I react in the scenario. It's not perfect, but it has some good applications.

Questions on your squat; are you keeping your knees shoved out, and are you making sure that you aren't causing some knee slide in the bottom by "bouncing?"

Wado Heretic, that's quite the resume you laid out. I found this statement rather inciteful: This is the kind of thing I tend to seek out more and more as I get older and grow in my MA journey, and this is a very awesome aspect of your approach to teaching.

Welcome to KF!

That's the beauty of this place. The price of the class includes all of the materials. They provide the W-2 steel, the clay, the wood, the rayskin, the bronze, the silk cords... everything. They do some add-ons for some of their classes, but again, they rpovide all of the materials and equipment. That is really cool. How long is the class? Does it take place over the course of a couple of weeks? What is the cost, if you don't mind me asking? It is a 5 day class (35 hours total) that runs Monday through Friday. Cost for the class is $850. Wow, pretty pricy, but worth it, for sure.

Noah, that sounds like a class that I would love to be a part of.