bushido_man96

I heard something rather disheartening the other day after class. The class opened by the head instructor presenting our newly minted recommended black belt (a kid) with a memo book to write in. I'd suggested the idea some time ago of suggesting that students keep a training journal for themselves. They would date each entry, and jot down either notes from class, what an instructor told them to work on, or they did well, or thoughts on how they felt they performed, etc. I think it's a good way for students to focus their training more, and go back and reflect on their younger, lower ranked selves and where they are now. The recommended black belt was also talking about how he was looking forward to testing, because he wanted to be a member of the group of black belts in his family. I didn't realize this, but apparently his dad and some other members have trained in the past. Anyway, after class was over and I was up in the changing room, the new recommended black belt said that he plans on quitting after he gets his full-fledged 1st dan. I asked him, "why quit?" He stated his goal was to join the others in his family that have earned black belts. They apparently must have done the same; earned the rank and quit. I said, "Why not be the one who keeps training?" He asked me, "Didn't you have any goals?" I told him I was still reaching my goals. Then I said if I would have quit when I got my 1st dan, then I wouldn't have been there to train with him tonight. I told him I plan to do Martial Arts until I die. I asked him who will take over when I'm gone? He said the other instructor. I said he may be gone, too. I told him to just put some thought into it. This is most unfortunate, and it's not the first time I've seen it, especially in kids. I think we as instructors should start discussions about training beyond the 1st dan level early and often as students move through the ranks. I was not shocked by his revelation; just found it unfortunate. I'm sure others here have had the same happen.

2/6/2025 TKD Testing: 6:00 - 7:20 pm. Only three testing today, but one was a high brown belt testing for recommended black belt. All the testers did well and passed.

2/2/2025 Dry-Firing: 10 minutes of dry-fire practice, drawing, getting the red dot on target, then squeezing off a few rounds. I worked on trigger control and controlling the shake in my hands. I've found that if I put more pressure on the frame with my left thumb, it tends to help.

1/30/2025 TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. The CI had a 2nd dan high schooler come up to the front with him and lead basics. He was nervous, I could tell, and he was stumbling on the commands a bit. It's good experience for him, though. In basics, we did a back leg round kick/spin outer crescent kick combo that isn't usually done, but was good to do. Black belts also did a combination from Do Gan 6, a stutter step round kick, step behind hook kick, stutter step round kick, spin heel kick combination. Good practice. For forms, I did Choi Yong, then helped with white and green belt one-steps. Advanced Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Did all Do Gons; balance was bad. Finished by working on three-steps 7-12 multiple times.

Just started Okinawan Karate: A History of Styles and Masters, Volume 1: Shuri-Te and Shorin-Ryu, by Christopher M. Clarke.

They should have moved on the year prior, but that's the Jets for you. I think at this point in Aaron Rodgers's career, the juice isn't worth the squeeze. I think he's too much of a disruption to be a positive addition to any locker room. If he wants to play, someone will sign him, and the Raiders could use a bridge QB with some clout to get a rebuild jump-started.

That is basically the long and short of it.

I like the idea of weapons sparring. In the above, it seemed rather fruitless for someone to punch someone in the head who's wearing a helmet. That aside, I think this is a great thing to work on moving forward. Just from watching, it didn't appear that they allowed strikes to the legs, or any kind of sweeps. This is an issue, as the rules tend to lean more "sporty" than realistic, but other rulesets could be implemented. The closest thing I've done to this has been SCA style fighting in the past. Lots of fun, although not a true representation of medieval combat.

1/27/2025 TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. Taught this class. Had a blast. After basics, forms were Dan Gun, Won Hyo, and we reviewed Chon Ji and Dan Gun some more with the green belt and low orange belt, respectively. They did their one-steps, and then a brief bout of sparring. Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:20 pm. Just me, and a green belt stayed to get some extra work in. I did all my forms: Chon Ji, Dan Gun, Bo Chung, Do San, Won Hyo, Yul Kok, Jung Gun, Toi Gye, Hwa Rang, Choong Moo, Kwang Gae, Poe Eun, Gae Baek, Se Jong, Yoo Sin, Choong Jang, and Choi Yong. 10 minutes of floor stretching, then about 10 minutes in The Rack, up over 140 degrees.

Hehe, always liked that song...millions of peaches, peaches for free...

Its a loss. There may be no one to blame, as the other team was just better. Did Reid get out-coached? Maybe. I'm sure he stated as much. But I wouldn't fire him. There is always finger-pointing and blame-gaming after such a loss. Sometimes, teams just have a stinker. That was a stinker. OT needs to be addressed again in the off-season. The last two draft picks at the position have been bad. When you kick your All-Pro left guard out to left tackle, there are glaring issues at the position. Caliendo filled in at LG decently, but there's no doubt in my mind that if Thune was playing his guard position, then the results of the pass rush might have been different. Might have been. The Eagles has a talented front four, especially with a high-impact DT on a rookie contract. Although it was too little too late at the time, it was nice to see Worthy running past the defense and catching some deep balls. I hope to see more of that next season. With Rice back in the line-up as the underneath/screen receiver, Worthy should get chances to stretch the field more with his speed. I hope they can retain Hopkins and Brown, but if not, hopefully one of them stays. Reasons like you mention, @sensei8, are why I avoid the internet in general and social media particularly most of the time. It's just angry people venting, and it solves nothing. The last time Mahomes got shelled this bad in a Super Bowl, he came back and won two more. If that's what it takes, count me in. Of course, one never knows when the run will eventually end, and if this is it, then the Chiefs have brought home more than most. I'm glad I got to finally see it. Congratulations to the Philadelphia Eagles. See y'all next season. On a more positive note, the UFL kicks off in April I think. Anyone going to try to watch?

Eww, not a good sight.

Another round of testing done. It was another small one, as most of them seem to be anymore. We had one white belt kid that showed for regular class, so we used it as an opportunity to have her up in front going through material and offering advise on fixing things. This testing went from about 6:00 - 7:20 pm (by the time we got done with feedback afterwards). We started with some basics for warmups. We had a low green belt, a high green belt, and a high brown belt test. The high brown belt had to do three forms, all one-steps, sparring and board breaks. The others did their form, one-steps, and sparring. The following are some things that I saw. Hand techniques: I saw some low chambering, and it should be higher, crossing the arms in front of the face/neck area, but also out away from the body slightly, and not in like jamming oneself. I think of that crossing position as a defensive position in and of itself, and teach it that way. I saw some upper body techniques that were disjointed from their stances, and mostly from the low green belt. Good hand/foot timing (strike thrown and lands as the foot touches down) will help with this. I told them that stances help with power, and good hand/foot timing does as well. Getting this down will help with understanding how to generate power in the techniques even when not stepping into them. Along with this, I saw some "happy feet" in the forms, where they'd step into a stance and then fidget their feet around to adjust the stance before moving to the next, never really settling into the stance. I then went on to discuss comfort in stances, and how a practitioner must learn to "feel" when they are in the proper stance, and that the stance is done right (proper weight distribution, proper hip placement in regards to where the stance is centered, etc). I said they have to start developing that kinesthetic awareness of knowing where their body is and what it is doing in space. Some of the students are already starting to feel this, and some are rushing through things too much to feel it. Something else I saw was the pivot foot following the kick, and not pivoting during the kick or slightly before kicking. I told them they lose power and follow-through that way, as well as being not good for the knees. With that said, I did see power coming along in the forms quite well from last testing. They are starting to understand power generation, and hopefully the above comments will help them even more. Orange belt one-step #3....this is a takedown, and a couple of the students just "sat down" from the technique. I explained that the technique is a takedown (it's done with a step behind the attacker's front foot, like a trip, but also can be done as a reap at higher ranks). I told them that the attacker's job is to fall, and it should be a breakfall, with some slap and some noise, not a sit-down quietly. It means the defender is not doing it properly, and the attacker is not making them have to do it properly. I told the high green belt that she was using good footwork and body positioning in her sparring, staying bladed and not presenting big targets. I also heard too many apologies during sparring. A "sorry" here and there. I told them to stop doing that and just keep sparring. It's not uncommon to get someone jammed up, or bounce off their leg when kicking at the same time, and other such incidental contact. If something really untoward takes place, we'll stop the match and have a discussion about it. If you have to break momentarily for some reason, get reset, touch gloves, and go. The students did meet the requirements to pass, and they received their belts on the spot.

I would feel such a way. I don't want to create a bunch of bullies that are going out looking for an excuse to see if their skills will hold up. That is something that I think must be addressed in training, teaching not only techniques, but also the responsibility that comes with having to use them. Having good conversations with students about levels of use-of-force and the consequences that come with going overboard can be quite beneficial in that regard.

1/26/2025 Three Style Cross Training Seminar, Day 2, Session 2. This was the Shorin-Ryu session, and it's the second time I've been exposed to the Shorin-Ryu senseis. They are a great pair, and their students are awesome. Shorin-Ryu: 5:00 - 8:00 pm. We started out with variations of push-ups, and learning their basic stances. Along with the stances they covered some of their basic blocks, which don't differ too much from some things we do, just some different nuances in technique. We did body conditioning, to include a forearm striking drill with blocks, kicking the inside and the outside of the upper legs, punching to the stomach, and slapping the sides up and down. From there, the first instructor went into some self-defense techniques. On the first one, the attacker would do a "walk by and grab" at the forearm. The defender would re-grab with a knife hand and then go into an armbar. After working that variation, it was changed up by bringing the arm you re-grabbed up at the elbow and reversing the armbar into a shionage. Next was a defense against a bear hug attempt from the front. Defender would either drop step or step forward into a front stance while sending double palms to the abdomen/ribs and jolting them to a stop. The instructor also showed "hikite" from that position, grabbing handfuls of skin on the sides, high up on the ribs. Then we would close by stepping behind the attacker (or in front, depending on the leg that is forward) and load them onto the hips for a hip throw. Finish with an armbar. With the initial step, being in an open stance with the attacker is ideal, as it allows for the step behind hip throw, whereas stepping closed stance requires you to step forward in front of them, really deep, and load the hips and throw. It can still be done, and I liked both variations (I actually liked the challenge of the closed stance variation). Then we did defense of bear hug from behind. The defense started like the beginning of Yoo Sin hyung, dropping into sitting stance/raising elbows up to prevent grab. Ideally, you shift the left or right slightly to split the center. Then it was headbutt backwards, shove the hands forward and hips back to break their balance and make space, and then they'd reach down and grab the attacker's foot and pull it up between your legs, tripping them by sitting on their knee. Finish with a kick. That concluded the first half of Shorin-Ryu session, and the other instructor took over from there. We finished with one more self-defense technique, a bully choke defense. It was very similar to those that I've taught in the past. Turn away from the choke, strike to the groin and drop to a knee, with the "up" knee behind them. Reach inside hand around to hook chin or face or eye or something, and pull them back over the knee to drop them to the ground. While pushing the head down, grab/hook the leg or grab clothing and pull the leg up as you push the head down (turning a big steering wheel). We could drop the knee down to allow for a nicer fall for our partner. We could finish by securing an armbar. After that, we went into some technique work. We did front thrust kicks (as opposed to snap kicks, that we do mostly in class), then we kicked the shields. More pad work followed: jab/cross/adjust to front thrust kick on the shields, then we did elbow strikes on the shields (forward elbow strikes). We finished on the shields with knee strikes in a clinch, and then moved to mitt work. We did jab/cross/duck the mitt. The mitt work was finished with a really fast repeating round kick drill. Mitt was held out, and the kicker would do a step together round kick, strike the mitt, then step down feet together and step back to the start position, then repeat. So it was step up kick, step back, then step up kick again, over and over, till it burned and you wanted to stop. We did both legs that way. Good time. After the bag work, the instructor had his students demo their forms, each one doing a different one. I saw some Pinans, some Bassai, and a Naihanchi in there, too. They were fun to watch, and they were very solid in their performance. After the demo, he talked about bunkai, and the process of working bunkai from the techniques. He put together a "kata" on the spot, 3 moves to the left, 3 to the right, and then demonstrated the process for pulling bunkai out for each segment. It was a lot of fun, and it's a part of forms practice I've always studied on and wanted to spend more time doing. We finished with some meditation. This last section was a tough one on me, one, because my body was pretty sore from the rest of the weekend. Two, because the AFC Championship game was on! I offered apologies ahead of time because I turned on my phone to keep track of the game while we were training.... Overall, this was a fantastic weekend of training, led by a bunch of great martial artists that really enjoyed training and learning from others. Everyone was super gracious and appreciative of what they took from each session. This kind of training is what the Martial Arts community is really all about.

Congrats to the HOF inductees. Congrats to the Sharpe brothers on being the first pair of siblings in the HOF.

Thank you for that, @Wastelander! I'll print that out for sure!

What most people don't realize is how close-in self-defense actually takes place. It'd be nice to keep it at kicking range, but that just isn't the case most times.

So sorry to hear this. May he rest in peace. Who will be his successor?

The Tenets of TKD: Courtesy: Treat others with respect, be polite, encourage a sense of justice and humanity, and being helpful to your fellow man. "The Golden Rule." Integrity: Do the right thing, and do the thing right. I've often heard it said that integrity is doing the right thing even when no one is looking. Being honest, not lying, and putting forth your best efforts in order to benefit others. Perseverance: When things are going right, going smooth, and come easy, it's easy to keep going. Perseverance is doing so when things aren't easy, aren't smooth, and you'd rather be doing something else. Setting goals and following through with them to the end. Not giving up. "Patience leads to virtue or merit." Don't be "the little engine that could." Instead, be "the little engine that does." Self-Control: In actions, words, deeds, and thoughts. "With great power comes great responsibility." As Martial Artists, we have a duty to those around us to exercise self-control. We should be seeking to make things better around us. Indomitable Spirit: "Seven times down, eight times up!" Training in Martial Arts can drive our bodies to the breaking point at times. Indomitable spirit is what keeps us going. A mental strength to keep trying and to keep working, even when our bodies say "stop!" Doing what's right, even in the face of persecution. These are very brief descriptions; I'm sure pages could be written on each, and probably already have by better people than me. But these are but a glimpse into our dojang tenets.

It probably does happen, but I'm willing to believe that it isn't pursued a lot. The ones that do do it, though, will cast an ill shadow on the rest of the industry, which sucks.

1/26/2025 Three Style Cross Training Seminar, Day 2, Session 1. Aikido: 12:30 - 3:30 pm. This session was taught solely by the sensei of my Aikido dojo. We started talking about some body mechanics and how the "unbendable arm" theory applies to the connecting of the body together in order for it to be strong and structured. After some time experiencing this principle, we did a couple variations of iriminage. I'm getting a little better at picking up the little nuances of the techniques. We did some weapons defenses, using a tanto upside down as a beer bottle/club attack, defending with a "buddy drop" technique after getting behind the attacker. Next was a kotegashi defense against a knife thrust with a takedown and disarm to finish. Next was some rolling work. I help up ok doing this. I started very low and really tried to focus on the nuances of the roll. We augmented the rolling by getting some help from a partner to simulate more of a breakfall. This, I seemed to struggle with. I know my descriptions here make it seem like there wasn't as much accomplished in this session, but we did quite a few repetitions on each section and really got a lot done, and I really enjoyed it.

Oh, Bob, it pains me to hear this! I'll be praying for you my friend. Keep up the good fight!

With your permission, @Wastelander, I'm going to put together a printout of your explanation above and the other article to perhaps present to the other black belts at our school as an alternate training method.

That makes sense, thanks for the clarification. I do see the value in the training, and it is worth incorporating into our training.