bushido_man96

Zaine, I love seeing the running kata total. Keep up the good work! I don't think I'll be able to commit to even a 500 hyungs goal for the month. Doing the math made it 16 hyungs per day, and I don't have that kind of time. But, what I will do is keep a running total of how many times I do my current form, Choon Jang, for this month, and see how high I can get the total. 1/2/2023 Strength Training Squats: 45x5x2, 95x5, 135x5, 185x4, 205x5, 205x5, 205x5. Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 95x5, 95x5, 95x5. Going back to low bar squats, going to see how my shoulder handles it. Man, it felt so much better than safety bar squats. The stress on my lower back was different, and it also felt different driving out of the hole. Went back to press, too. Will see how my shoulder feels in a few days. I have DT training tomorrow, and that tends to really overwork my shoulder.

12/30/2022 Strength Training Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 115x5, 165x3, 210x1, 235x5, 235x5, 235x5. Triceps Push-downs: 62.5x15, 62.5x15, 62x5x15, 62.5x15 (bottom ROM). Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 165x3, 225x2, 245x5, 245x5. Shoulder pain today, so no presses. Snatch deads went good; last two had trouble with it wanting to float away from the shins.

My side kick is a waist level kick right now, too. I'd have to get really warmed up to get it high. But in all actuality, you have more power at waist level and lower anyway. So just drill the heck out of that waist level side kick! And the more you do it, the more you'll see your flexibility starting to come back.

Nice!

That's a great arrangement, Zaine. 12/28/2022 Strength Training Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 235x3, 305x1, 345x5. Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 90x5, 90x5, 90x5. First 3 reps of deadlifts were good. Last 2 were floating away from the shins again. Press went ok; I feel it in my shoulder when the rep comes down more than when I send it up. But I'm not noticing much residual soreness after the workouts at this point. On an up note, my boys came into the gym today (still out of school on break). I got to watch my oldest boy squat 440 lbs for 3 sets of 5, and my youngest pull 270 lbs for a set of 5. And we laughed and joked and had a good time, like we usually do at they gym.

Yes, for sure it is harder this way. It's part of the reason we do it that way in basics. In order to get the side kick done correctly, with the body and leg in proper alignment, you have to focus on a), making sure to keep the body side-on (the cross-over will cause newer students to over-step and bring their back hip too far forward), and b), emphasizes getting the chamber into the proper position by getting the body back into that side-on position. When I first started doing it that way, it was weird, but the more I did it, the more I understood why, and the more it's helped with my side kick technique. But as an instructor, I've got to really harp on students when doing the kick to make sure they are really breaking it down and not skipping steps.

I have not seen anything on Master Ko yet, but it's really hard finding good information at all. If he was teaching in the 1940s, it would be helpful to know which Kwan he was associated with, if he was associated with one. If he called what he taught Tang Soo Do, then I wonder if he was a student of Hwang Kee's in the Moo Duk Kwan? I do have another similar article on the history of the Moo Duk Kwan, if you haven't read it yet. Most of it discusses Master Kee's origins, along with the split that occurred. I'm happy for any information anyone can provide to me, and I'll try to look into it. If I see anything, I'll be sure to share it with you. Any specific information you can provide will be helpful.

I did order myself several Martial Arts books that have arrived throughout this week. Does that count?

I was pleased it came out that way, but not pleased I had to do it in the first place. 12/27/2022 Solo workout, about 20 minutes worth of some more footwork drills, advancing with the front foot and chambering for a kick/punch. Then stepping with the back foot and chambering. Worked side stepping and stepping off-line, too. With the forward lunge, I really focused on pushing with the back foot as much as stepping with the front foot. Loosened my hips with some inside and outside crescent chambers.

In our school, when we do basics, we do our side kicks from a sitting stance, and always step in front of the kicking foot. We do this in order to emphasize getting the kick into the proper chamber position, nice and high, and then getting the hip thrust into the kick.

I'm assuming Master Ko was a Tang Soo Do practitioner? If so, he was probably associated with the Moo Duk Kwan at some point. I don't recall seeing his name yet, but I mainly was researching the origin history of the Kwans. But I'll keep his name in mind as I keep searching, and let you know what pops up. What can you tell me of Master Ko?

Yes, how did the CT Scan go, please!!?? I pray nothing to serious!! Thanks for asking, guys. Nothing out of the ordinary. Kind of a waste of time. Wished I'd have cancelled it altogether. 12/26/2022 Strength Training Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 110x5, 165x3, 200x1, 230x5, 230x5, 230x5. Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 85x5, 85x5. Triceps Push-downs: 62.5x12, 62.5x12, 62.5x12, 62.5x12 (bottom half ROM). Stretch: quads, hams, glutes, back. I could move my arms through the press ROM, so I decided to load the bar and give it a try again. I'll monitor how my arm feels over the next few days.

Thank you for the information. I will have to see if I can find copies of those.

Thank you for the kind words, Bob. I really appreciate them. The research is kind of fun to do, and I plan on getting back to it soon. I've got several more Kwans to look into.

I once heard our former instructor refer to our style as Chung Do Kwan, but I don't that there is really any connection to that original Kwan. Our system uses most of the ITF forms, but with no sine wave. Something interesting I saw in my research, which I need to work back into the original piece, is that Song Moo Kwan appears to be Korean for Shotokan. This makes sense; Byung Jik Ro, having studied Shotokan in Japan, returns home and opened his school of Shotokan, but in Korean called it Song Moo Kwan.

Agreed. I've always loved side scrolling co-op fighters, harkening back to the Streets of Rage series.

12/23/2022 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill today. I had to fast last night for a CT scan this morning, and didn't get to eat anything until about 3:00 pm. So no lifting today.

Congrats on passing your grading, DarthPenguin!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Congrats!

I second that! Me and my boys were playing it some time ago on their Xbox. A great time!

That's the perfect resolution, Bob.

When I think of techniques, or tactics, or a game plan, I think of executing that particular technique, tactic, or game plan. I think a performance can be for the sake of the performance, where as when executing, it has a goal or end result in mind.

12/21/2022 Safety Squats: 60x5x2, 110x5, 165x3, 200x1, 225x5, 225x5, 225x5. Triceps Push-downs: 60x12, 60x12, 60x12, 60x12. (lower ROM). Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 165x3, 225x2, 240x5, 240x5. Squats are getting heavier. Deadlift sets went surprisingly well.

That is a lot of kata practice, Zaine! I don't think I could put that kind of time in, but perhaps 500 in a month could be doable? That's worth considering!