bushido_man96

Olympic lifts are great lifts to do. I highly recommend including Olympic lifts in a regular weight lifting routine, as well. One can't neglect the squats and deadlifts at the expense of the Olympic lifts. In fact, what commonly get referred to as the "slow lifts" (that is not what they are, so it's a misnomer), are important for driving the progress of the Olympic lifts.

I agree. When it comes to the katas, I think taking a few each day to focus on will be more helpful than doing all of them once. You'll be able to focus on troubled sections or techniques.

I get that! I'm getting kicked pretty regularly myself, between work, kids, etc.

It sounds like you are pretty well in touch with how you are, how you act, how you train, and how your body responds to various situations. That's very important, because at least you know, and you are able to discuss it openly and honestly. That's a good first step in figuring out some answers. If you want to try to fix this punching issue in self-defense, you may need to work on mind set. This is going to be difficult, and I'm not sure I have any options that would help you out. Go over scenarios in your mind, and use some form of self-talk to work yourself into that mindset where you know that you may have to hurt someone really bad in order to defend yourself or someone else. It's a switch you have to learn to flip.

Anytime! Please keep us posted as to how you progress!

5/30/2019 MA Training TKD Testing: 6:00 - 8:30 pm. We were fortunate to have the highest ranking Instructor in our organization (after our GM) to guest judge at out testing. My instructor and him came up the ranks together, and are very good friends. It was a special day to have him there at testing. He got to observe several of our skunk belts test for 1st dan, a few 2nd Recs test for 2nd Dan, and quite a few colored belts testing through the ranks. Board breaking went over well, and he had great things to say to us all at the end to testing. Topping it off was that it was our instructor's birthday, so he got a Happy Birthday song at the beginning of testing, suggested by some one of the kids. A good day. 5/31/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5,185x3, 205x1, 230x5, 230x5, 230x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 100x5, 150x5, 150x5, 150x5. Power Clean: 75x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3, 120x3. LTE: 52.5x10, 52.5x10, 52.5x10. Lat Pull-downs: 120x10, 120x10, 120x10. I put the belt on for the squat work sets, and that seems to be the way to go moving forward. I did the lat pull-downs with a chin-up grip, so they hit the biceps just about as well as the curls did, and I get the back in with it.

That sounds really good! Too bad I don't have access to Cinemax...

There's someone I've not seen in some time! Good to see you back!

5/29/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5, 225x5. Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 80x3, 110x5, 110x5, 110x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 205x1, 260x5. Barbell Rows: 125x10, 125x10, 125x10. MA Training Taught TKD Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm, Beginner's kids class. Class consisted of white belts through a low green belt. We covered basics, forms, one-steps, and did some combinations work instead of sparring getting ready or testing the following day. 6:30 - 7:30 pm, mixed class. Basics, forms, one-steps (doing all lower ranked one-steps for those testing), and instead of any sparring exercise, we did some work on board breaks.

5/28/2019 Firearms Training Three and a half hours at the range today. We shot pistol and rifle, doing several different drills. Worked on some transitions, worked on shooting something moving, and also shooting on the move. Worked on some shooting with the pistol at the 25 yard line, too. MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Basics: working on the same back stance focus, and also really focused on balance in the three-move combinations we do. We did our cross-over side kicks, and then step-behind side kicks, and I need to clean up my step-behind side kicks a little bit. Stretch: seated splits, and standing back stretches. Forms: Choong Jang; had a little hiccup for some reason, but straightened that out and did ok. One-steps: blue belt, then the first three-step. Sparring: some light testing sparring without pads with testing coming up. Post-class: played the attacker for a black belt reviewing green, blue, and brown belt one-steps. My left knee was really, really bothering me. I couldn't do jump front snap kicks with my right leg, because jumping and landing on my left was too painful. I relegated myself to doing a stepping front leg snap kick instead. I'm going to look into getting some kind of knee wrap to see if that can keep my knee more stable.

Welcome to KF, and welcome back to the MA journey! I'm sure you won't be disappointed in finding friendly advice here! As a matter of fact, it's our specialty!

I've worked with the Jo a very little bit, in my time in Aikido. I do like it, and find it quite different from many styles of Bo/Quarterstaff. I think there is lots of value in learning to use it.

The organization I used to be in was the opposite. We’d have a stripe going through the belt to indicate a higher rank. The stripe wasn’t white though; it was the color of the next belt. So from yellow to green, it went solid yellow-yellow with green stripe, solid green. My current organization uses a patch we sew onto one end of the belt. We have 2 ranks at brown belt (and every other colored belt), 2nd kyu and 1st kyu. The second kyus wear a solid and plain brown belt. When I was promoted to 1st kyu, I was given a patch to sew onto my brown belt. It’s the school’s kanji, similar to what is embroidered on one end of the black belt. There are so many ways to do rank designations, and the plethora of MA equipment companies provide no shortage of choices. This is why its so hard to determine from a forum discussion, because everyone does things a little bit differently.

This is interesting. Let's see if we can get to the root of the issue. Do you do very much punching on a heavy bag or makiwara without gloves? Working a bag with gloves on is a good practice, but I'm a firm believer of working punches without wrist wraps and/or gloves. This forces you to concentrate on how your fist/arm alignment is when you actually strike something. I don't think the fact that you've done multiple styles has much to do with why you have trouble landing these punches you've thrown. You said yourself that you've broken boards with punches, so it doesn't seem like the technical structure of the technique should be an issue. It could be that when you get amped up in a self-defense situation that your technique gets compromised due to fine motor skills falling off in such situations. To help simulate this, do some activity to get your hear rate up, and then go to work on the bag, and see if that changes things. Do keep us posted on your progress in regards to this! I find this really interesting.

Congrats!

Happy Birthday KF! So awesome that the community has been around for so long. It just goes to show that a community built on a solid foundation of principles, beginning with respect, can last a long time. Kudos, Patrick, for keeping it running smoothly for so long!

5/24/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 185x3, 220x5, 220x5, 220x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x5, 145x5, 145x5, 145x5. Power Cleans: 75x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3. LTE: 50x10, 50x10, 50x10. Barbell Curls: 70x10, 70x10, 70x10.

In our system, the stripe through the belt is the "low" rank, and a solid is a "high" rank; so we have a low orange belt rank that comes before hi orange belt rank. Check with your instructor about how the rank system works, to be sure.

5/22/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 170x3, 215x5, 215x5, 215x5. Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 80x3, 105x5, 105x5, 105x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x3, 205x1, 255x5. Barbell Rows: 115x10, 120x10, 120x10. Loaded the wrong weight on the rows for the first set, but oh well. Its just accessory work, anyways. I really felt like I was hitting the rebound out of the hole on the squats, and I haven't added the belt yet. Belt, chalk, and a hook grip on the deadlift work set felt good; focused on "chest up," and that helped get the back locked into place.

5/21/2019 MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Pre-class: went through Do-Kang 2 and Yoo Sin with some students. Basics: regular basics; again focusing on stepping back in back stances, and also tried to focus on using the hips to generate power, especially in the knife hand strikes; I found I was having balance issues kicking today, which was frustrating. Stretch: mainly split stretching, seated and not seated, working the middle and to the sides. Forms: Choong Jang; probably for the first time, it felt really good. I'm starting to find where I can string techniques together. One-steps: white belt, going through them several times, breaking things down more and more as testing draws closer. Then did three-step sparring, #1-3. Starting to get the hang of them, and not thinking about them so much. Sparring: no pads, so like a testing setting. One round of combinations with white belt, then testing sparring with an orange belt, and then with a third dan. I still focused on my lead-leg sparring strategy, doubling up kicks where possible, and using a lead leg side kick like a boxing jab. Also sat out and observed some of the kids sparring, and talked them through some strategies. While sparring the orange belt, I slowed things down and worked through strategies and tactics with him. He's a tall, big man, so I worked on things that can help him out as he develops. Post-class: did some more stretching, and worked on Yoo Sin with the third dan.

That is super helpful. If I ever find enough interest in making it worth your while, I will let you know!

5/14/2019 MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Basics: really focusing on moving backwards in back stances, as there are segments of my form that do that, and I feel like I haven't been sticking the landing into the back stances when stepping backwards. Stretch. Forms: Choong Jang. One-steps: white belt and the last of the high orange belt one-steps, and then the black belts worked on the first two of our three-step sparring. Sparring: some combinations, and then a few rounds of sparring, continuing to work on my front-leg side-on approach to sparring. Doubling up kicks is tough in spots, but its getting better. 5/15/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 95x5, 135x5, 170x3, 210x5, 210x5, 210x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 95x3, 140x5, 140x5, 140x5. Power Clean: 65x3, 110x3, 110x3, 110x3, 110x3, 110x3. LTE: 47x10, 47x10, 47x10. Barbell Curls: 67x10, 67x10, 67x10. Racking the clean is being a pain in the butt. Working on that. The bench press is coming along nicely, though, and I look forward to moving more weight, and hopefully pushing my press up along with it. MA Training TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Basics: seemed to move faster today, which wore me out a little, but that's ok. Again concentrated on stepping backwards into back stances, to help with my form. Stretch: pretty quick stretch, as class was smaller tonight, with less time spent doing forms. Forms: Choong Jang, working on the stepping backwards into back stances, also my stomps, and the spin-around I have to do after a front snap kick into a controlled front stance facing the other way. One-steps: white belt, and then worked 1-4 of our three-step sparring. Sparring: combinations only tonight, as one-steps went longer. Post-class: stretched out some more.

That would be fun, if I could figure out anyone that would be interested in it. The Aikido club here does some paired weapons practice with jo, bo, and bokken, so some of them might be into it. Our TKD school does no weapons work, so everything I've done on my own has just been dabbling in things I've read. How would a seminar work? I have no swords of my own that are suitable for any kind of practice.

Thanks for sharing the videos, Noah. The third one wouldn't play for me, but the first two were very informative. I could see very many places where I envisioned my son shooting a takedown or working some other wrestling maneuver. I think something like this can be very helpful in training.

Other than the advise already given, all I can suggest is to listen to your instructor, and work very hard to implement the methods he is trying to impart in you. Its tough to do, but try to leave your Karate-kicking style outside when you come in the door, and really focus on the MT components of kicking. Lots more follow-through, I'm guessing, and with the round kicks, you really turn your hips into them. The key here, is to really learn the MT way of kicking, and when you get proficient at it, you'll be able to see ways to work both ways of kicking into your sparring. Its all a matter of time. I will say this: its never a waste of time to learn something new.