bushido_man96

Congratulations, Hammer! Well deserved! And remember people, there's a shortage...so be considerate, and at least use both sides.....

3/27/2020 Firearms Training Spent about an hour at the range, just doing some extra work with our rangemaster. Fired lots of rounds from the 25 and 15 yard lines, using dummy rounds to help with the trigger control. My accuracy from that range is improving a LOT. Now, I just have to improve my speed. 3/30/2020 Strength Training (as best I can) Goblet Squats: 20 lb dumbell, 10x2. Dumbell Press: 20 lb dumbell, 10x2.

I've not watched the Ip Man series. Is it worthwhile?

Having been fortunate enough to train with you, Brian at your school, the space in doable with the 6 foot social distancing policy with the 10 person limit. Me, myself, and I, at this moment, wouldn't feel comfortable in reopening any class size, and that's mainly because I've an underlying condition...Afib, and while I've no Covid-19 symptoms, my Afib won't allow me otherwise. Good luck, if your school does move forward in that endeavour. Well, this is nixed now. Our governor issued a "stay at home" order, so we're closed for the time being.

"Weighted" kata/forms are a fun way to experience technique. It's not something I'd recommend to do a lot of, because the weights effect technique to a degree, but it can be a great change up. For an interesting experiment, do a "weighted" kata, and then after a few minutes rest, do the same kata again, and really go all-out for speed.

We did a test run with the blackbelts on Friday with Zoom. Great software, but very weird teaching to a camera and not being able to physically interact with people. Also challenging setting up the room and lighting. Lighting was not something I had considered. Good to know. Our school is in the process of setting something up, so we'll see how we approach it. Not being able to interact would have to be the toughest part about it! Sometimes the cues we give out in regards to techniques are aided by a little bit of personal contact (appropriate, of course), and missing this aspect will be a challenging aspect to a new way of teaching.

I like the idea here, very creative! I wish more of it had less Japanese terms, though; I'm not as up-to-snuff on my Karate terms as I was when I was reading a lot more.

Great stuff so far, everyone! Best of the Best is really a favorite of mine, as well. I need to find it somewhere. I haven't seen Good Guys Wear Black of ages! May be worth a look-up. Also, The Hero and The Terror might be worth a re-watch.

Our school is going to open classes back up on Monday for those who feel comfortable attending. They are adding an extra class time for our Little Lions, and are allowing attendees to wear a mask if they feel comfortable doing so. They are also eliminating sparring and one-step/self-defense practice for the time being, in order to observe the 6 foot social distancing policy, and are keeping the limit at 10, counting the instructor. We'll see how this goes, and what kind of reception it gets.

No, not that I know of, anyway. We picked up all his books along with it, so I think the gist is that we'll be assigned work from the books, and they assignments will be completed through some Google sheets or docs or something like that, and then submitted to the teacher.

If you do decide to try something streaming, Danielle, update us as to how it goes and what kind of feedback you get.

I've actually considered attempting this in the past. Right now, with thoughts of testing in the sometime future, I don't want to take on any new curriculum, but once that's passed, I've thought of toying with this idea.

So, I think we can all agree this Covid-19 thing sucks, and is seriously messing with our favorite hobby/pastime/way of life. But, if we can't go to the Martial Arts, we can bring to our home, with the likes of Netflix, VUDU, Amazon Prime Video, and all the other streaming possibilities. So, with that in mind, let's do this! Pick your favorite blast from the past, or something newer, give it a watch, and post about it here, and what it means to you, what you like about it, what you dislike, etc. I recently rewatched The Last Samurai on Netflix. I'm not a bit Tom Cruise fan, but that movie is just beautiful. I do like the Algren character and his troubled story line, and how at the end, he seems to find some peace.

I still like the idea of a technical grade, too. Best of luck in this endeavor! I'm sure you'll do great (and be very exhausted when you are done)!

Yeah, it was a high/low moment for the boys...lol. That business will start up next week for us. I went and picked up Kenneth's Chromebook this week, so we'll see how this goes.

In Stuart Anslow's Encyclopedia of Taekwon-do Patterns, he has the Global TKD Federation (GTF) forms listed, and some of those are pretty crazy long, with lots of different kicking combinations. They do intrigue me, but I honestly don't think I could do them well.

I've not done much of anything since this whole thing has started. If it keeps up, that'll change, and I'll have to start doing something at home. I don't have a lot of room for forms practice, but I can make do with a lot of other stuff.

Our school is shut down for the time being, as well. I'm really hoping this falls away quickly.

The Governor of the State of Kansas has ordered schools closed FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR! But, learning is not canceled, so we have to figure out how to get our kids through their regularly scheduled classes from at home, all the while working full-time jobs of our own.

Thank you, Bob! It was a challenging season, to say the least. To start off, this year the season was shortened quite a bit, so fewer tournaments to get to. We missed out on the first few tournaments of the year due to my work schedule, and then missed several more when my mother passed away. Top it all off with Covid 19 finishing the season. So, it was a rough all around, but, onward and upward. Baseball season is around the corner, so never a dull moment in the Walker house!

Congratulations! Onward and upward!

Ok, time to finish off this season. Kendall, due to some other obligations, was unable to compete in the District 4 Championship tourney we had here in town on 3/7. Kenneth, however, did compete. Kenneth lost his first two matches, getting pinned. I again thought he was doing well on his feet, moving and working with his hands, but I think he just needs to learn how to finish after getting into the position he wants. He did get to wrestle a third match for 5th/6th place, which the tournament does in order to fill out the state bracket if need be. Kenneth made it through the first period, even though he got taken down, he kept good position. When they went to the second period, I told the coach to put him on top. Coach did, and Kenneth broke the kid down, turned him, and pinned him. So, he ended 1-2 on the day, 5th place, but unfortunately, not a state qualifier. But....the day after the tourney, I got a call from one of the coaches who said the state tournament organizers were filling out the brackets, and in order to get a full bracket, Kenneth's name came up. Kenneth was excited, and said he wanted to go, so we committed to the state tournament! Hooray! ...But alas, our story ends on a downer, as the State tournament ended up being canceled due to the Covid 19 spread. Kenneth was super bummed about that. So that's how this year ends....in limbo.

3/12/2020 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 205x3, 235x1, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5. Lat Pull-downs: 160x8, 160x8, 160x8, 160x8. Stretch: front kick and quads. 3/13/2020 Strength Training Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 225x2, 250x1, 295x5. Barbell Rows: 145x8, 145x8, 145x8. Stretch: front kick and quads. 3/15/2020 Firearms Training Spent a half-hour at the range, shooting the backup weapon. Still really working on trigger control and not anticipating the shot. I'm getting better, getting lot's more holes in the paper. I had Kenneth practice with me, too, and he's doing a good job.

We're closed up, too.

We've got the same thing going on here.