bushido_man96

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!

That's great stuff! Love the connections there! I can't wait to see season 4!

That's a great point, Danielle, and I like your approach to dealing with that angle.

Maybe I'm calling them by the wrong name? I was doing these: Yeah, the "skullcrusher" typically stops over the forehead. You're doing an LTE. 6/4/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x5, 225x1, 245x5, 265x5, 280x5. Press: 45x5, 65x5, 85x3, 105x1, 125x1, 150x2, 150x2, 150x2, 150x1. Push Press: 160x3, 160x1. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x5, 225x1, 275x5, 315x1. I had family come to town to visit for most of the week, so I missed Monday and Wednesday's workouts. Friday was a try to get back into it day. I did ascending work sets on the squat, with the hope of doing the top set of 280 for 3x5 on the following Monday. Press did not respond well to the days off, and perhaps should have been backed off a bit. I will try 150 again on Monday and see how it goes. I tried to finish with a few sets of of push press, but my arms were worn out. I did manage a heavy single for deadlifts.

Every brand of escrima/arnis stick I've bought have all started to splinter out after some decent amount of contact drills. Does anyone have suggestions for a set of sticks that won't start to splinter out and can hold up to lots of single and double stick drills?

Great points Spartacus It's a fine line as you want parents to be engaged and involved with their child's learning, but if it goes too far the other way you get parents who couldn't care less and just treat it as daycare. A helpful tactic might be to: 1, make sure the parents understand to not participate in the classes, and 2, talk to these active parents after classes, and give them a list of a few things to have the student work on at home, complete with cues of what to work on in the techniques. They get to help, and hopefully leave your class time to you.

Great points!

It's important as in instructor make sure you cover important points in training, and make it fun for the students. In an ideal situation, the student is there of their own volition, and wants to be there, and therefore is engaged prior to even getting there. However, not all situations are ideal. When a student is being lazy, and you can tell that they are there because the parent wants them there, then you are already fighting an uphill battle. The way I would handle this scenario is three-fold. First, I'd have a talk with the student, one to one, and find out if they are truly interested in the class or not. Hopefully, you get an honest answer. From there, I'd move to speaking with the parents, and talking to them about your observations of the student in class, and how to handle that moving forward. I wouldn't want to push an unmotivated, lazy student into a testing or grading, and it wouldn't be fair to those who do work hard and engage in class. From there, I'd bring the student and parents together and find out how to solve the issue. If it means the student leaving the school, then so be it; it would be much better than burning the student out on something they don't want to do, anyways. Perhaps, the key to that student's enjoyment lies elsewhere. Bob is right; not every black belt can teach. I also believe that as hard as a good teacher may try, they just might not be able to reach every single student out there, where another instructor might. This could be the case, as well, and they might need to seek a change of scenery.

5/28/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1, 280x5, 280x5, 280x5. Push Press: 45x5, 95x3, 115x2, 135x1, 160x5, 160x5, 160x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x1 275x1, 315x5.

Agreed. Always, always, always ask to watch a class. If they don't allow you to, I think this sends up a red flag, and makes the decision process easier.

I agree with you, Bob. It's important to open up and see things for what they are, and not necessarily how they look in comparison to how you've done it in the past. Very much a carryover of some of the topics struck in our discussion on the Tao of JKD.

I think Karate, along with other "traditional" styles, are making a comeback. I don't know if it has more to do with the "downfall" of MMA, or the rise of Karate in popular culture with the likes of shows like Cobra Kai. Either way, it is welcomed. As an aside, I don't think MMA is losing popularity or is falling by the wayside. By and large, MMA is the avenue that Martial Artists that want to compete professionally take. MMA has evolved so much, and the athletes competing there are truly elite athletes. Not everyone who gets into Martial Arts is going to be an elite athlete, nor do they all want to train that way. So, I believe styles like Karate and Taekwondo will always have students ready to step into their ranks. I also believe that as more pro MMA athletes step aside and retire, they may look to the more "traditional" styles (or look back to them) in order to fill that void in their world.

Welcome to KF, Ruler of Demacia! Those are all great points. Set the goals, and go about achieving them; what happens along side is gravy.

Danielle, instead of skull crushers, have you thought of trying lying triceps extensions? It's a great triceps exercise that hits all three heads of the triceps and uses a larger range of motion. It's also easier to load incrementally. It's a great ancillary exercise for helping out with bench and presses. 5/26/2021 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 245x5, 245x5, 245x5. Press: 45x5, 85x5, 105x2, 125x1, 150x3, 150x2, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3, 150x1. Assisted Chins: 105x10, 105x10, 105x9, 105x9. Light squat day. Second set of press went sideways on me. I think I misgrooved rep 2 some, as it was a struggle to get up, so I tried to breath at the top and catch rep 3 with a rebound out of the bottom. It didn't work. Rest of the sets were good, though, so only thing I can think of is a misgroove. Superset press with the assisted chins. When I get to 4 sets of 10, I'm going to lower the counterweight.