bushido_man96

Good points, Joe. I had not really thought of this before now. Part of my requirment as a 3rd dan is to be teaching in some capacity or another. I don't get compensated with pay, but I do get a lower rate for my monthly dues. So, I catch a bit of a break there. Nothing has ever come up in the past at any of my schools on this.

Toughening those areas is hard to do. There isn't much to build up there. I have been guilty at times for putting an elbow on a round kicking foot. It is especially good medicine for a hard kicker.... Little injuries like these are some of the reasons that sparring without pads should be done more often. After all, you won't get to fight in pads, and you may take a ding like that. Its good training, in the end.

7-31-09 Warm-up: 5 min. on bike, stretch 5 min. Leg press: 275x20x3 Austrailian pull-ups: 18, 16, max sets. Crunches: 3x25 Lat pull-down: 108x15x3 Dead lift: 185x5x3

I agree that taping toes might help prevent some of those injuries. Ouch, I can't imagine what that feels like!

You're welcome. I'm glad it was helpful for you.

I think that the main thing to consider is that if they did begin to study Karate or some other Martial Art, that they could make that size and strength work for them. Its just a matter of working the Karate into the training regime, and putting it all together.

Ditto Well, if that's the case, I do TKD, which came out of Shotokan, which comes from Okinawan Karate as well.....does that count?

Now that I have thought about this, I wouldn't presume that there is a time that one wouldn't need a sensei, but there will come a time when one won't have one available to him.

If the coach is pushing, tell the coach how you feel about the competitions, and if you want to set some out, then do it. He can't force you to go to them.

I saw this story on SportsCenter this morning: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/otl/news/story?id=4371874 Leroy Sutton's left leg is amputate below the knee, and his right below the hip. Dartanyon Crockett was born with Leber's disease, which causes acute visual loss. He is extremely nearsighted. These two both Wrestled at Lincoln-West High in Cleveland. The whole story of these two is really pretty touching.

One of the things that I always looked at as a positive of JKD was that it seems that one could take the techniques that he already knew, and then use them to apply the principles of JKD to. I'm sure that there is some new technique added in, like the straight lead, but for the most part, it appears to me that many of the techniques you have already learned can serve you well in JKD. Am I wrong here, Joe?

If I were you, I'd visit the area schools, and see what is offered. Watch a class or two of each, and ask for a schedule to look at. From there, you should be able to allocate your time to get a class or 2 in per week. When you view the classes, watch the content, and what they tend to focus on. You should be able to tell if they are working towards goals that may equal what you want. You may not find the perfect match, but you should get something that gives you most of what you want. Like tallgeese mentioned, working on techniques on your own, without instruction, could lead to bad habits forming. You can break these, but it can take time, and you end up re-training instead of training. Like he said, work things you are pretty sure you know for now. Along with that, doing some basic physical fitness exercises would benefit your solo training time fairly significantly. Welcome to KF.

No doubt there. It definitely takes some guidance to get there.

7-30-09 Warm-up: Bike ride/jog with the puppy dog today - stretch. Combat Hapkido: 8:45 - 9:30. We worked on our trapping applications today, and also worked on strining together techniques from these applications. The work we have been doing on combo string really helped out here. Bench press: 195x5x5 sets Crunches: 25x4 1/2 sit-ups: 25 Push-ups: 28, 20..max sets Double crunches: 25 Dumbell military press: 20x15x3 Sit-ups: 15, 15 Dips: 7, 6...max sets Tonight TKD testing: 6:00 - 7:00. Testing was small tonight, with 3 white belts, 3 low orange belts, and 1 high orange belt, and 1 recommended black belt testing for 1st dan. No demo tonight, either, which I was kind of glad for.

I've done that several times, to each of my ankles, and it is not a good time at all. I've had x-rays each time, because I heard the popping noises each time. You should do the same. I didn't have any broken bones any of the times, but on one occasion I did have to wear a boot to lock my foot into place, and keep weight off of it. Not a fun time, but at least it wasn't broken.

Actually, I power lifting does tend to build muscle mass, just not as toned up as a body builder would be. Also, I don't think there is actual proof that building a massive body is building a slow body. I think that there is a common misconception that big people are slow people, and this just isn't the case. Even if someone is big and strong, like a body builder, they can still train to be fast. Also, keep in mind that one's ability be fast is due in large part to the amount of fast-twitch muscle fibers one is genetically endowed with. Football players are a good example of how big, strong, muscular people can be strong and fast. Many NFL caliber offensive lineman, weighing in the neighborhood of 300 lbs, can still run a 40 yard dash in around 5 seconds. Then, they bench press 225 lbs between 20 and 30 times. You can also watch some of the drills that linemen do with their hands, because they have to use their hands so much in their blocking techniques. Sumo wrestlers are another example to look at. Even though they don't look like they are strong, and look unhealthy due to their size, most of them are extremely flexible, and their hands are fast, too. So, as you can see from these examples, there is more proof that weight training in various capacities is actually a boon MA training, as opposed to a drawback.

These are great ways to look at the lead leg round kick. Thanks for the pointers. I should have clarified what I was thinking earlier, because the kick I was thinking of was one of just picking the front leg up, without any step with the back leg, or other set-up for the kick. But, these are good ideas that you mention here.

...isn't finished yet. ...isn't a big secretive thing. ...isn't a religion.

That what we used to call them when I was in my ATA classes...they are a very effective tool in developing the muscle memory for a kick.

You might try to check with an athletic trainer or MMA coach in your area as to what they would suggest. You could also try speaking with a nutritionist, let them know what your activites and goals are, and see what they suggest. Welcome to the Forums, by the way.

Being strong is not a disadvantage to the Martial Artists. One who put an end to that arguement was Joe Lewis, who was a weight lifter since he was around 14 years old. He was not slow, and he was not inflexible, and he was a very successful Martial Artist. You can actually see that even now, even though he has aged quite a bit, that his strength training still benefits him. As for what the result of having "body builder muscles" is to the practicing Martial Artist, I am not sure. However, a lot of what a person's muscle structure looks like is due to genetic traits. Some people will have some awesome tone, and some won't have any tone at all, but may be able to bench press a house. In the time that I have been weight lifting, I have not noticed any kind of slow down in technique, or loss of flexibility from lifting, and I tend to lift as heavy as I can, when I can. Also note, that there is a difference between power lifting and body building.

The main drawback of a front leg round kick is that it lacks a lot of power, even if it is thrown to a low target. Throwing a belt level or higher front leg round kick wouldn't accomplish much in a full contact fight, unless one can generate and unusually high amount of power from it.

7-28-09 I taught two classes tonight, the Little Lions, which consists of 4-6 year olds, and the adult class. Little Lions The Lions class was a focus on memorization today, and I did a drill called "add a technique" with them. Basically, what we did is I had them all line up and face me in a fighting stance, and I mirrored them. I did one punch, then they had to repeat it, without watching me do it. Then I added another punch, followed by a kick, then another. I only worked them up to 4 pretty simple techniques, and they picked it up pretty well. The second drill we did was holding one red pad, and one black pad. If the red pad was flashed, they did a punch, and if the black pad was flashed, they did a kick; two techniques each, and then to the end of the line. "End of the line" was an exercise in self-control in itself, one that several of the kids failed miserably. The drills themselves, went well, though. Adult Class Prepped for testing with forms and one-steps, giving a few little things to each of the groups that were testing, things that they could tighten up their forms and one-steps a bit with. Worked on cleaning up a bit of the basics, as well. Mainly little adjustments in foot placement, good hip usage, etc. We got some good sparring time in, and even got some ring time with those that had pads to spar with. I also worked on some front thrusting kicks for sparring use as a stopping kick, but I mainly had them focusing on getting the thrust motion, and not a sliding up, snapping motion of the knee.

7-28-09 Warm-up: bike 1 mile with the dog, then a 5 minute stretch. Leg press: 315x10x3 Australian pull-ups: 14, 11, 10...all max sets Lunges: 3x10x10 lbs. dumbells Dumbell curls supersets, 25, 15, 10: 10, 15, 20x2, 10, 12, 15...killers. Calf raises: 3x15 each leg Finished up on a Schwinn Spinner for about 5 minutes, doing short bursts of high speed, then resting. 5 minute stretch. Little Lions class: 5:15 - 5:45. Taught this class tonight, and we worked on memorization. A few of the kids were a bit misbehaved, so I had to sit them out. For the most part, the drills we did went pretty well. TKD class: 6:00 - 7:30. I got to teach this class tonight, too. I added the axe kicks into the basics that we did last week. I also added a punch/back leg side kick combination, to get some extra work on the side kick. Testing is this week, so we reviewed the forms and one-steps to prep for that, and gave each of them some little things to clean up for the test. Finished out with some sparring, and then drilling on a front thrust kick to either the kick shield or the chest protector.

Good idea, for sure. I also like to do slow kicking while the students use the wall or a chair for balance. That one really helps them "remember" how the leg goes and how the muscles should be working for a particular kick.