bushido_man96

Kneel on one knee, with the leg trailing behind, with the other leg out to your front, and lean toward your front leg. You can also do the standing stretch, grabbing your ankle, and slowly lower your upper body, making a T shape.

Ah, back to training! 2-19-07: Chest: Bench Press: 145x10, 195x6, 205x5 I'm starting to feel good about bench press again. I think next week I will take the weight up a bit more. Triceps: Skullcrackers: 70x8, 80x6, 85x4 Dips: 2x5 Abs: Decline abs: 15x3 Side Raises: 3x20x25 lbs. Hanging Knee Raises: 3x10 Also did Hang clean: 115x10, 135x8, 145x4 Conditioning: Stairs: 3x30 sec, 1 min. rest Steppers: 3x30 sec, 1 min rest Squat jumps: 3x10 Single-leg butt kicks: 5 each leg. I may need some more strength to get to where I can do these decently. But, man, they will be great for building explosiveness for my flying side kick board break. I will also have Combat Hapkido from 3:30 - 5:30 or 6:00. Then, I will have Tradtional TKD Class from 6:00 - 7:00. A good training day, all around. I'll give an update on how these classes go later on (if not tomorrow). I don't know if I'll be back on tonight, so I thought I would just make one entry, and edit as needed. I know; I am all about efficiency! OK, here is the edit: Oh, boy, we had fun last night in class! It was the normal class, but at the end, I had one sparring match with a youngin' that I did well against, but then, we had a 3-for-all! Me (2nd dan), a 1st dan, and a 4th dan. What a good time that was! I was happy with myself, because I felt like I did a good job of staying out of the middle, and making sure that I was only fighting one guy at a time. I even faired well against the 4th dan, who is very tough in one-on-one. I did manage to get the 1st dan in the back of the head. He was caught up with the 4th dan, and I snuck behind him, and gave him a little tap on the head-gear! You know, just to let him know I was there. Unfortunately, at one point while I was retreating from a punch by the 1st dan, I got caught on his heel as well, and started stumbling backwards. I decided to just fall down, and roll with it. I was able to get back into the rumble quicker that way.

This is similar to what I have heard. However, lifting the head off of the floor for the leg lifts is different. Crunches are better than sit-ups as well. I'm not sure why, but for some reason the Army still uses the sit-up in their physical testings. I wonder why they don't use the crunch?

If you want realistic targeting, I feel that BOB is only useful if you care to limit your realistic striking practice to 1/4 of the body. Personally, if you could get one of those very tall Thai kicking bags, that would be great for training.

No, I know the kick, and I've often thought it would be good in point sparring...but I have yet to try it. I'm not very good at trying "new things" while sparring. I have used it a few times in sparring. Instead of switching stances and throwing a round kick, I just flip the twist kick up to the body. I don't throw it to the head, though. And it isn't often that I do use it. Being able to break boards with that kick, though, would be cool.

I was merely try to use MMA as somewhat of a comparison to real life. I know a cage match is not real life but in my opinion about as close as you can get without going at it for real. I have never taken the art and am merely stating my thoughts of it being of limited use. I respect the art and your opinion but still find it of dubious self defense use. The more "tradtional" style, the Angola, is said to make use of headbutting, some punching, and elbows. It tends to not be as flashy as the Regional style, which is the style that seems to get more exposure. Regional would be style most likely used in the Olympics, if it ever gets there.

He played for the Chicago Bears for a short period of time. If you have seen the new version of the movie The Longest Yard (with Adam Sandler), he is in that movie as well. Here is a Wiki-bio on him: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Sapp They have him listed at 6'5", but I have heard that he was more like 6'8". 335 pounds if probably close, if not shy a bit. Here is his record, listed on sherdog.com: http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/fightfinder.asp?FighterID=4416 I thought that he had fought more than that, but I could be wrong. Here is a page with some Sapp videos: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Bob+Sapp Enjoy!

Ummm, .................thanks? One of the problems that I have with TKD is that in many schools punching to the head is not allowed. I have trained at some schools where head contact was allowed, but it was light, and most of the time backfists to the side of the head were utilized. This is ok, for competition purposes, but I think that instructors need to include drills that focus not only on hand to head contact, but also on defending against it. Those traditional blocks really don't work quite like you think they would.

Good one!

What is the "rule" that you are referring to???

Very true. Didn't think of that.

Who is your instructor out there in AZ? Is Master Thor in Phoenix?

I would check with AWMA, or maybe Century (although I never hear good info about Century).

I agree with bearich. It should work out ok, just don't overwhelm yourself with too many katas at one time.

Good points here, Baron. That is a problem with 'letting up' in sparring. Nice analogies, too!

Bob Sapp comes to mind.

I am not so sure that I would agree with this statement. I get nervous prior to a tournament, but not until I am actually there. And even then, it does not compare even in the least to the way I feel when someone starts to get in my face, get rowdy, and starts getting into fight mode. That feels waaaaay different, and much more uncomfortable.

I understand what you mean! When I try to write out the forms, it always ends up looking like it is very long, and drawn out; almost like I write down too much information. I have seen it done with collums at the top of a page, with headings like this: Movement Direction Section Stance Then list accordingly underneath each heading. That seems to work ok.

Boxing won't make you jump, and only uses the hands to strike with. That could be an option. Tai-chi is low impact, but I'm not sold on its effectiveness.

Very interesting. Each side in the article has made some good points. I had not realized that Caporiea had become so popular. If it was to make its way here, I would be willing to give it a try. It sounds to me that there are some people who are trying to make changes to it, either to make it more practical, or to market it. There will always be things like this going on, and there is not much that can be done about it. I think that there can be cultural, spiritual, and physical aspcects found in many activities, much like this one. I am not sure if the Brazilians are concerned because the rest of the world is going to take what is theirs, and make it unpure, or what. However, it has been exposed, and I think that Brazil needs to take an active role in laying out some standards if they don't want too many changes to take place.

The school that I attend is part of a chain. My instructor is a very good technician, and I think we have a pretty decent school.

I have written them down before, and I also have found them on the internet and printed them off to put in the curriculum sections of the notebook that I keep. I also have several books on the forms that I do, and some that I don't. Now that you mention it, I just remembered that I need to update some of the forms curriculum that I have. Any good places to look for said notes? Here are a few sites: http://www.natkd.com/chang_hon.htm This site has TKD form videos and diagrams. I like the diagrams. http://www.natkd.com/palgawe.htm Videos of the Palgwe and WTF black belt forms. http://www.natkd.com/pyong_ahn_forms.htm Vids of Pyung An forms. http://www.natkd.com/taeguek.htm Taegeuk and WTF black belt forms, with PDFs and Diagrams. http://www.kyokushinbudokai.org/ Some Kyokushin katas. http://www.karate.org.yu/articles/kata.htm Shorin Ryu katas. http://www.paperwindow.com/tkd/ The (Shamelessly) Unofficial TKD Resource...my personal favorite. There are others, I'm sure. I hope these help you out. Sorry, but the bulk of them are TKD.

I agree with Baron. It is there, but just not highly utilized.

That is a good idea. I may do that, but I'm really not interested in training with legacy, traditional MA weapons such as Okinawan farm implements. Gun, knife, etc defense interests me - modern day weapons. Using a cane or umbrella to defend would be interesting. But I would most likely start fencing again before I did any other weapon training. Knife defense, and some Kali/Arnis training might be up your alley, if you can find a place. That is what I have always wanted to do. You may also want to look into the Combat Cane. That weapon is legal to carry, and they make some very stout, nasty ones. Just something to think about!

Good video! That was great! I particularly enjoyed how he blamed his assistant. If you ask me, that guy holding the boards looked rock solid. I can see the point in your arguement against board breaking, NightOwl. However, board breaking can be of some use. At our higher level colored belt testings, and black belt testings, in TKD, we do board breaks. Usually, it is just on two boards, with 2 holders at each of the stations. It demonstrates technique and power, and the ability to focus and target. Like you said, breaking is not the end-all, be-all, of the martial arts. However, they can be useful, as long as they are not taken out of proportion.