bushido_man96

8/11/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5. Press: (PC)45x5, (PC)85x5, (PC)100x3, (PC)120x1, 144x3, 144x3, 144x2, 144x2, 144x2, 144x3. Power Clean & Jerk: 125x3, 125x3, 125x3. Neutral-grip Chins: 2, 2, 2, 2. Light squat day. I really appreciate it more and more, especially with the Meniere's giving me fits. I've decided to give the power clean another go (since I've given bench press a second chance, too). Also, since I'm kind of disappointed with how my press is going, I've decided to try to increase my overhead work, so I'm going to press everything I can, until I can't, and then move to jerk pressing. Today, due to lack of room on the racks (I had both of my boys at the gym with me), I power cleaned the first rep of each press warm-up. I did not clean the work sets. For the power cleans, I'm going to press and jerk all the weight that I can. Since the weight isn't high yet, and since I did the heavy pressing already, I jerked each clean rep. As I progress, I'm going to try to get more sets in (up to 5 is the plan), and I may progress from clean and press, to clean and push press, then to clean and jerk, and to just cleans once the weight gets up there. I am thinking of using the power clean to warm up my deadlift, as well. MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-Shirt Class: I did a little bit of work in this class, but spent most of the time teaching. It was a small class, just a couple of black belt kids. I had them doing side-stepping techniques on the bags, and after about 20 minutes of reps doing that, I had them line up to spar each other, and work to apply the side-stepping footwork and counters. I think the two did really well at doing so, and they definitely spent less time backing up, and more time circling and working angles.

Patrick, I really love the jacket! I never had a letter jacket as kid in high school, as Martial Arts was always my thing, and not other school athletics. This gift really means a lot to me! Thank you so much!

Nice!

It's definitely an eye-catcher.

8/9/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 235x1, 260x1, 295x5, 295x5, 295x5. Bench Press: 45x5, 95x5, 115x2, 135x2, 155x1, 185x5, 185x5, 185x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 255x1, 300x5. Neutral-grip Chins: 3, 2, 2. MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black Belt Class. Do-Kangs, 1, 2 x2, 3, by count. After individual forms work, I had all the students work on some things I broke down for them on Kwang Gae. Finished with three-steps.

8/6/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 235x1, 260x1, 290x5, 290x5, 290x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 100x3, 120x1, 142x5, 142x3, 142x2, 142x2, 142x3. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1 295x5. Neutral-grip Chins: 3, 2, 2, 2, 2. The Meniere's subsided some today, and I didn't feel the effects on squat as much. Press, my nemesis. The first set to 5 was a struggle, and then after that, it was all a struggle. Right before the last set, I realized that I had tightened my belt after squatting to hole I added for pressing....tightened the belt, and got a set of 3. Deadlifts are still feeling good, and my back isn't complaining about them.

I agree that gradings are just a small part of the bigger picture of the journey. I've been a member of schools that I feel put too much emphasis on "the next grading" all the time, and that is what is always being worked towards, as opposed to thinking about the myriad different things instructors should be teaching their students.Welcome to KF!

8/3/2021 TKD Testing: 6:00 - 7:20 pm. We had another small group testing, but one was testing for 2nd dan. The rest were colored belts. It's always fun to watch their improvement. 8/4/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 235x1, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5. Bench Press: 45x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x1, 155x1, 180x5, 180x5, 180x5. Neutral-grip Chins: 3, 2, 2, 2, 2. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 290x5. MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-shirt Class. Spent the bulk of the hour working on counters and footwork sparring drills. No gear, just light and easy movement. Spent a good amount of time before class stretching out.

Thank you for all the kind words, everyone! They mean a lot to me!

Congratulations!

We had a grading last night at our dojang, rather small one, but they all have been lately. Despite that, it was a good testing, and the school owner and I were the judges. Throughout our testing, we usually take notes on various things we notice, along with jotting down the testing scores on the material at hand, as I'm sure most instructors do. At the end of testing, we'll address these with the students and audience. As per usual, technique usually comes up in some way, shape or form, and last night, the CI was discussing it. While he was making his points, it kind of struck me that we talk about technique a lot; good technique vs bad technique, how we want techniques done, etc. Although we tend to know it when we see it, we don't really but a face to the name, so to speak. So while he was addressing his point, I had one of those "a ha" moments that Bob (sensei8) mentions, and I addressed with the students. I defined technique for them as "the efficiency of movement," and now that I've thought on it a bit more, I think I would amend that to "the efficiency and application of movement." We see good technique as fluid movement that allows the technique to be performed with precision, power, economy of movement, etc. We see proper technique as the way that allows movements to have speed and power generated through them. It's also usually done in a direct manner, thus the efficiency aspect. I'd love to hear everyone else's thoughts on the matter. I've always thought about good technique, and I feel like I can teach good techniques, but I'd never really verbalized it out loud in this way. Anyone else have a thought like this, or do you have a different analogy for defining technique? I'd love to hear the discussion.

7/30/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 235x1, 260x1, 280x5, 280x5, 280x5. Bench Press: 45x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2, 175x5, 175x5, 175x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 205x2, 275x2. 8/2/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 235x1, 260x1, 285x5, 285x5, 285x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 100x2, 120x1, 140x5, 140x5, 140x3, 140x2. Neutral-grip Chins: 2, 2, 2, 2. Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 205x2, 225x1, 245x1, 285x5. Meniere's really messed with me today while squatting. Really light headed after the sets. I'm struggling with the press right now, too. MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black Belt Class. Do-Kangs 1-3, and Choong Jang hyung. Three-steps, then self-defense, working on chokes from the front, from the side, and from the front with a push.

That sounds great! Getting to start working on bunkai and things that bring out applications is a great way to retain information.

Wow, 15 years on staff! I didn't realize it'd been that long! I feel truly blessed to be part of such a great community, discussing something that is very near and dear to me in this world. At first, I thought KF was a great place to come and talk about Martial Arts. As I've gone along all these years, I've found that KF is just a great place to come and talk with good people about anything; I've shared ups and downs, highs and lows, within my MA journey and from life in general. Outside of my immediate family, I've never found so much great support and camaraderie. I can only hope that I've given back to this community as much as it has given to me over the years. Thank you everyone!

Oh, that's great.

7/26/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 290x5, 290x5, 290x5. Bench Press: 45x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2, 165x5, 165x5, 165x5. Neutral-grip Chins: 3, 3, 2, 2. Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 225x5. Back to pulling deadlifts. I still have the pain in my back, but it didn't change in any way deadlifting, so I'm back at it. Bench is still going well. MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Black Belt Class. We did Do-Kangs 1 through 3 (did 2 twice), then got into self-defense. We did some choke defenses, based off the Krav Maga system. Mainly worked front choke. 7/28/2021 MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-shirt Class. I spent a lot of time teaching in this class. I had the students pad up, and worked them on several contact drills. I had them stand close enough to each other that they could throw a front leg side kick without stepping and make contact, so they could start to get used to the idea of being kinestheticly aware. After that, it was a side kick counter drill, using a block and side-step, and setting up "crossing the T" to start attacking. Then we moved on to round kick counters, countering with spin side kicks. 7/29/2021 Firearms Training Range: About 5 hours of range time. Duty pistol, backup, rifle, shotgun, and bean bag round qualifications, along with use-of-force training and review. I had a really great day at the range with my pistols. I was 46 out of 50 with my duty pistol, with only 1 off from the 25 yard line, and 47 out of 50 on my backup, with 2 off from the 25 yard line. I was one off on each of the rifle and shotgun, too, but I usually have all of them on. Not sure what happened. But overall, very happy with my performance with the pistols.

7/23/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 285x5, 285x5, 285x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 100x3, 120x1, 144.5x4, 1, 3, 2, 2, 3. Neutral-grip Chins: 3, 2, 2, 2, 2. Press wasn't going well, so I just decided to do as many as I could at a time, break for a few minutes, then throw it up again, to get 15 total reps.

Welcome to KF, Jack! I've read a book of Graden's, and still have it in my library. Glad to have you here!

Are they planning on spinning it off!? Boy, I really hope so. I did rather enjoy it. The final season was a pretty good one.

7/21/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 250x5, 250x5, 250x5. Bench Press: 45x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2, 160x5, 160x5, 160x5. Assisted Chins: 100x10, 100x10, 100x8, 100x9. TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-shirt class. My first night back in some time, so I paced myself. I did Choong Jang a few times, and did some basics up and down the floor. Later, I kept time and center judged sparring.

I read a book titled Black Belt Management by John Graden some time ago. I'm not sure if it's the best, but it might be worth a look.

7/14/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 250x5, 250x5, 250x5. Press: 45x5, 85x3, 115x1, 141.5x5, 141.5x5, 141.5x5 Assisted Chins: 100x10, 100x10, 100x8, 100x7. Missed a day, so back for a Wednesday light day. 7/16/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5. Bench Press: 45x5, 95x5, 115x3, 135x2, 155x5, 155x5, 155x5. Neutral-grip Chins: 2, 2, 2, 2. Decided to give bench press a go. After a few reps, I started feeling it in my shoulder again. One of the guys at the gym suggested widening the grip slightly. I did, and it seemed to have helped. 7/19/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 280x5, 280x5, 280x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 115x1, 143x5, 143x5, 143x5. Neutral-grip Chins: 3, 2, 2, 2, 2.

That sounds like great news moving forward, Bob. I'm glad you've found a doctor that will engage with you.

You can find instructions all over the internet for different versions of makiwara, if that's what you're interested in. The Wavemaster standing heavy bag is hard to beat, too. Although it won't swing like a nice heavy bag, you can work around it, and you can roll it out of the way to a corner when you're done.

Excellent! Enjoy your journey together!