bushido_man96

Welcome to KF!

I do as well. Those are all spot-on points.I've been in your position, although with not as many years off. I was rather consistent in training, but found myself changing schools, leading to a similar situation. I was a 2nd dan black belt and certified instructor in one style of TKD, and moved to another. I spoke to the instructor about my prior experiences and rank. His school was a different style, with a totally different curriculum. What the instructor did was bring me on as a white belt, and then evaluated me as I went along. After my first testing, I was graded to low green belt, which was four ranks higher. This was awesome, and made me feel like the instructor trusted in what I had done previously. At the next testing, I jumped another two ranks, but I had to spend the previous testing cycle learning three new forms, and three sets of one-steps. So, after that testing, I requested that I only advance one rank per testing cycle from then on, that way I could make sure to give the attention that was due to the curriculum. From then on, I moved forward like every other student did. The main takeaway for me through all this was that the one thing that I kept as the sole focus was training. My goal is to train in the Martial Arts, not necessarily to test or hold a certain rank. As long as I'm training, and improving myself, then I'm doing what I need to do. The ranks and the testings will all come when they do. So, the point of it all is this; you must determine what is important to you. Is it rank? Is it the fact that you know you attained a black belt rank, and want to be acknowledged as such? Or, are you solely interested in perpetuating your MA training? You have to answer that question for yourself. I knew what I had attained, I knew what I was capable of, and I knew in my heart that no matter what rank someone chose to put around my waist, it didn't change what I had already learned and earned. Alongside that, I knew that it was up to the instructor as to what my progression was going to be, so I let it be. Hopefully this helps you out. Remember, it's all about the journey.

When I hit the bag, it is almost always with bare knuckles. At times I'll wear some light weight gloves, but not often, and when I have, I have not noticed that I've been able to hit the bag any harder. There have been times where I've felt the stability in my wrists to be lacking, and that's when I'll throw on some wrist wraps for stability. I rarely get bloody knuckles punching the bag any more, either. I used to get them, but that was when I noticed a flaw in my punching technique. I was punching into the bag, and then pushing the knuckles further through the bag, instead of pulling the punch straight back. Once I corrected this issue, my knuckles didn't get damaged nearly as much, resulting in more bag time and improved technique.

7/17/2019 Strength Training Warm-up: 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws. Squats: 45x5, 115x5, 135x5, 225x3, 280x5, 280x5, 280x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 115x5, 135x3, 160x1, 192.5x5, 192.5x5, 192.5x5. Power Cleans: 115x3, 140x3, 140x3, 140x3, 140x3, 140x3. Stretch: Kick stretches, quads, and arms. 7/23/2019 MA Training TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Pre-class: stretch for about 15 minutes. Basics: felt off balance, especially kicking. Stretch: decent amount of split stretches and seated stretching. Forms: Choong Jan; had a slip-up, need to practice it more. One-steps: low orange, low green, blue belt. 7/24/2019 Strength Training Warm-ups: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws. Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 225x3, 280x5, 280x5, 280x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 130x5, 130x5, 130x5. Power Cleans: 115x3, 135x3, 135x3, 135x3, 135x3, 135x3. Stretch: Kick stretches, quads, arms. Last week was our fair week, which is always a busy week for our department. I put in a lot of extra hours, and missed my Monday gym session. So, to that end, I did the numbers from the last workout I'd done with press and power clean, and stayed at the "light squat" percentage I'd last used. I'll keep working back up from there.

I'm lucky in that I already have a team of guys working with me. My sister a 3rd dan, a 2nd dan, then 5 other 1st dans who train and assist me in class. But always great to add another to the ranks. It sounds like your school is off to a good start!

There are pros and cons to this approach. I think that overall, one-day self-defense classes can be very beneficial, depending on what the curriculum is, and how it is presented. Our Defensive Tactics club puts on several of these kinds of seminars each year, mostly as women's self-defense courses. The curriculum is minimal, and it's presented in such a way to allow for lots of reps to be completed in the training day. I'd say that overall, the courses are very beneficial for introducing self-defense concepts to those that need them. And every now and then, you'll end up finding one that sticks, and joins your school, because they see the value in continued, focused training. I can understand not wanting to use these classes to not drive up the bottom line. In that case, do them for free!

Practicing a grappling style by yourself is going to be a big challenge. You really need that physical feedback to know what your doing and if it's working. Training dummies can be valuable tools, but there are just some things you can't do with them; like have them mount and punch you, and things like that.

7/15/2019 Strength Training Warm-ups: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws. Squats: 45x5, 115x5, 135x5, 225x3, 270x1, 310x5, 310x5, 310x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 130x5, 130x5, 130x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 265x1, 300x5. Stretch. I missed last Friday's workout session, due to state baseball tournament. This workout was a tough one. I believe with my squat up to 300+ now, I'm going to switch up the program for the squats, going to a light squat day on Wednesday. MA Training TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Pre-class: stretch for about 15 minutes. Basics: noticed I was having some balance issues when spin kicking. Forms: Choong Jang; need to work on hand/foot timing with the knife hand strike/stomp/elbow strikes. One-steps: low orange belt, and blue belt up. Sparring: one round of combinations, then two rounds of sparring with a first dan. Good sparring all around.

That's awesome, Danielle! It'll be great to have a black belt around that can help you out, provide an example for your school, and all that good stuff!

This thing happens from time to time, especially when participating in a contact sport/activity. It can be minimized, though. For example, if you know you have an important meeting or presentation coming up at work (like within the week), then maybe don't spar early in the week at class. After the professional obligation, have at it.

7/11/2019 TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Pre-class: about 15 minutes of good stretching. Basics: did more front kicks in basics, and more stretch kicks; worked on technique speed. Stretch: good split stretch and seated stretching. The right leg is tighter than the left. Forms: Choong Jang. One-steps: low orange, low green. Sparring: one round of combinations and two rounds of sparring. Tried to work the lead leg side, but felt a bit slow and out of sync. Post-class: more stretching. As I made my first trip back down the floor during basics today, I noticed something; no pain in my knees. It was a great class, mainly because my knees felt good the whole time through. Jump front snap kicks didn't even aggravate them. I think all the squatting is helping.

7/5/2019 Strength Training Warm-up: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws. Squats: 45x5, 115x5, 135x5, 225x3, 265x1, 300x5, 300x5, 300x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 115x5, 135x3, 155x1, 185x5, 185x5, 185x5. Power Cleans: 115x3, 135x3, 155x3, 155x3, 155x3, 155x3, 155x3. Stretch: kick stretches, arm stretches and dislocations. I'm excited to have worked back up to the 300 lb mark with squats. It's heavy, but it's great. Power cleans were tough today. I had trouble finishing the reps in the rack position, especially on the last sets/reps. 7/8/2019 Strength Training Warm-ups: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball chest passes. Squats: 45x5, 115x5, 135x5, 225x3, 265x1, 305x5, 305x5, 305x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 130x5, 130x5, 130x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 265x1, 300x5. Stretch. Again, nice hitting 300 on the deadlift, too. MA Training Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Had a bigger group in this class, and was able to have some good time for sparring at the end of class. 7/10/2019 Strength Training Warm-up: 10 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws. Squats: 45x5, 115x5, 135x5, 225x3, 265x1, 310x5, 310x5, 310x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 115x5, 135x3, 155x1, 190x5, 190x5, 190x5. Power Cleans: 115x5, 135x3, 157.5 - missed. 135x3, 135x3, 135x3, 135x3. Stretch. Power cleans....the problem I was having is that I wasn't dropping enough to receive the bar in the rack position. So I dropped the weight back down to 135, and focused on dropping into a quarter squat position to receive the bar. This worked much better, and will increase weight from there.

Welcome to KF! Good luck with your search!

Getting to train next to the ocean sounds really cool. Enjoy that while you can!

There is a difference between using WKF rules, and being an event sanctioned by the WKF. Is your tournament a WKF sanctioned event? If so, you'll probably have to follow their rules. If not, then do it your way.

Even showing reverence to a photo of a passed founder isn't necessarily idolatry. Its ok to show reverence to someone who has passed on that has some meaning to you. There is a difference between showing reverence and worship.

Some of my earliest MA training memories are on a concrete armory gym floor. Cold in the winter time, always hard to land on...ah, memories!

This is quite the development. I've been following you and this subject for years now, Bob, and although I guess this should have been seen as the inevitable course of action, it does seem odd, and rather sudden. I would have thought that the CIs would have been brought together or contacted to be notified about this development. It appears to me that this opens the doors for splintering amongst the schools, which is kind of sad on one hand, but also offers CIs the ability to bring more of their own flavor into their schools, which is a positive thing on the other hand. But this kind of thing is another instance of how we end up with so many new organizations, be it right, wrong, or indifferent. I don't know, Bob, crazy deal. Keep us posted as to how you plan to move forward.

This depends on the style or organization. There are few organizations out there that have developed different forms that include more of the kicks. The ATA has a set of forms that gradually increase the difficulty level of the kicks included. I know these aren't viewed as "traditional" forms, but what they have done is created a progressive training tool for advancing kicking.

Congrats on the National Team selection! I believe that you will provide quality representation on the team! It appears that you have taken another step in your journey, and it's opened your eyes in regards to how you approach your training. Perhaps by not pressuring yourself in training with a competition focus, you've opened yourself up to really getting better without realizing it! Again, congratulations!

Happy Independence Day to all the American posters out there! Hope you have a great 4th of July!

7/1/2019 Strength Training Warm-ups: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball chest passes. Squats: 45x5, 115x5, 135x5, 205x3, 235x1, 290x5, 290x5, 290x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 115x5, 135x3, 155x1, 180x5, 180x5, 180x5. Power Cleans: 115x3, 135x3, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3, 150x3. Stretch: standing toe touches, kick stretches on the Smith Machine, arm stretches. 7/3/2019 Strength Training Warm-ups: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws. Squats: 45x5, 115x5, 135x5, 225x3, 265x1, 295x5, 295x5, 295x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 127.5x5, 127.5x5, 127.5x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 265x1, 295x5. Stretch: kick stretches, arm stretches, shoulder dislocations, quad stretches. MA Training Taught TKD Class: 6:00 - 7:00. A relatively small class, mostly kids. Basics, forms (low orange, low green, high green, middle brown, third dan), one-steps, and got some sparring in. Before class started, I got some bag work and some stretching in.

Bowing is not a form of worship. Its a gesture of respect, much like the shaking of hands in the Western culture. I don't know of any idolatry that takes place in any Eastern art.

Happy Belated Birthday! Here's to getting old...er!

If you plan on getting a small business loan, you'll need to go into it with a business plan. You'll need to show what your plan is: building location, class schedule, rates you'll charge students per month, estimated expenditures, how you plan to generate revenue (especially to cover paying off the loan), what your start-up fees may be, and how soon you can estimate that you will start turning a profit (again, a point-of-interest from someone loaning you money). In a business like an MA club/school, you'll want to demonstrate that you hopefully have a group of students ready to go, willing to be paying dues from the jump. You'll have to demonstrate how that will generate income, and how you plan on growing to increase your income. Advertising, etc. You'll want to probably draw all this up in a very nice, presentable notebook that shows how you plan to make this work. You may want to speak with your financial advisor if you have one. They may be able to help with this. Best of luck! Please keep us posted.