bushido_man96

That was always my problem, too, Danielle. I'm weighing 245 lbs now, and it's the lightest I've been in some time. I'm only getting a few at a time, though. I can't recommend enough to get some incremental plates. I bought a set some time ago, and it was a great investment, especially for pressing, and for training my kids. 6/21/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 300x5, 300x5, 300x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 115x2, 135x1, 151.5x3, 151.5x3, 151.5x3, 151.5x2, 151.5x2, 151.5x2. Deadlifts: 135x5, 225x3, 275x1, 295x1, 335x5. Neutral-grip Chins: 2, 2, 2, 2. Squat sets felt surprisingly good, until the last set, which just seems to be how the last set goes. Press dropped to sets of 2. Deadlift might just be a PR. 6/23/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 255x5, 255x5, 255x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 115x1, 138x5, 138x5, 138x5. Neutral-grip Chins: 2, 2, 2. Assisted Chin-ups: 100x9, 100x7, 100x6, 100x6. I love Wednesday light day. It's a nice break between the two heavy workouts.

That's what I think I need, a hardwood stick. My rattan always starts to fray.

Good ole Paulus! Great resource!

I think the best thing you can do is address it with the parents. You are correct, there is no point in wasting her time or their money for them to pay for something she doesn't enjoy doing. They may have an ulterior motive that they want her to be in there to learn some discipline, respect, etc. However, I don't think that would be a good enough reason for her to stick around, especially if she tends to be a distraction to the class.

If that is the path you want to take, why do full contact Karate tournaments when you could compete in MMA? You'd have to work all the ranges of combat, and it would be more complete than just doing stand-up tournaments.

Great to hear you are back in the dojo! Good luck with your upcoming testing!

6/18/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 295x5, 295x5, 295x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 115x2, 135x1, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3. Deadlifts: 140x5, 225x3, 275x1, 295x1, 330x5. Neutral Grip Chins: 2, 2, 1, 1. Bodyweight 245 lbs. Second set of squats seemed like something different went wrong on each rep. Third set was good, until rep 5. Press was good, got all sets of 3, finally. Deadlifts was really heavy. Finished with some chin up reps, which I'm really excited about, even though I can't do very many.

6/16/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 250x5, 250x5, 250x5. Press: 45x5, 85x3, 115x1, 136.5x5, 136.5x5, 136.5x5. Chin-ups (neutral grip): 2 and a partial, 2 partials. Assisted Chins: 105x10, 105x10, 105x10, 105x10. Light squat and press day. I tried some neutral grip chins, and got a few! I reached 10 reps on each set of assisted chins, and will add weight for next time.

Lots of great points made here so far. The way curriculums have developed to reflect what is learned at each rank, would probably really limit most students if they chose not to test after 1st dan level. Personally, I think at times, at least in my experiences with my school, we worry too much about the testing, getting to the next testing, and making sure students have the testing material down, instead of exploring more aspects of the Martial Arts world. If I had my way, I'd change some of that.

Congrats, JR! You've been an awesome staff member, and you're posts are always great!

Congrats, Liam! Your contributions have always been awesome, and you've been a great member of the team!

6/14/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 290x5, 290x5, 290x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 105x3, 115x1, 135x1, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3, 150x2, 150x2, 150x2. Deadlifts: 135x5, 225x3, 275x1, 295x1, 325x5. Last set of squats was the most troublesome. I don't even know what to do with my press anymore. Deadlifts had trouble staying on my shins, but I managed to get all 5, which I wasn't sure about. 6/15/2021 So, just a side note here. I took my youngest son to the gym to do his workout, and just messing around, I was able to do one neutral grip chin up, and almost a second! I'm going to be messing with this more often. Felt good to be able to do a chin up. I have never done one before!

Agreed. All kinds of gems in that one. Definitely worth another read.

Congrats!

I missed the entire Gameboy lineup.

Those are some tantalizing titles, Danielle. I especially like anything from the Kane/Wilder pair. I will look for that...and make sure I don't already have it! Sang H. Kim has a book titled The Martial Artist's Desk Reference that might be worth looking into.

Looking good, Danielle! How's the press feeling now?

That was my favorite of the series, but I was never able to beat it. I'll need to start playing it again. I don't recall the timeline, though. Was Trevor before or after Simon?

I absolutely agree with this sentiment. Failures tend to really stand out to us, and we can use them as stepping stones to the next levels of success.I want to thank everyone who has resurrected this thread and chimed in on it here recently. It's really wonderful to me to see some conversation start up from it!

6/11/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 285x5, 285x5, 285x5. Push Press: 45x5, 95x5, 115x2, 135x1, 160x5, 160x5, 160x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 275x1, 320x5. First two sets of squats felt great. But the day before, I'd been having issues with pressure in my head, and set three really gave me fits. I was able to get it done, though, even though I felt a bit lightheaded afterwards. Push press was a bear, and deadlifts were a grind. My oldest son was there with me, though, and he watched my form, and said it looked good.

I guess I get to plug myself in as the Korean Karate answer for this question. At this point in my life, it's hard to imagine my life without ever having TKD in it. No small matter is the fact that I met my wife in my TKD class, so there's a whole slew of things that sprouted just from that. Had it not been for TKD, I'd probably not done anything active through my teen years. I don't know if I can say that TKD gave me the values that I have today, but I can say that it has enhanced my perception of my values, and how I approach things. I don't know what I'd be without TKD in my life.

Hmm, I did enjoy the games as a kid. I'll have to look into it. I actually have two of the three games downloaded on the Wii U.

Oh boy! Well, if they're quality, it'll be worth it.

6/7/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 280x5, 280x5, 280x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 115x2, 135x1, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3, 150x2, 150x1. Assisted Chins: 105x7, 105x7, 105x7. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 275x1, 300x5. I think I might have finally found my squat groove. Second set felt the best; third set got heavy, but bar speed seemed fine. Press, was another matter. Sets of three until the last where number three just wouldn't go up. Maybe I pushed it out in front, but not sure. I should probably take more video of my sets. The deadlifts were slow and heavy, but getting a set of 5 without too much backoff was nice. 6/9/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 250x5, 250x5, 250x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 115x1, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5. Assisted Chins: 105x10, 105x8, 105x9, 105x8. Light squat and press today. It was nice to get sets of 5 on the press, but even the reduced weight still seemed heavy.

Thanks for the suggestion, Bob. I'll be checking into them!