bushido_man96

The major trend seems to be "7 years old." Lots of kids that age have trouble focusing on something, or with the concept of putting in work to get rewards down the road. Unfortunately, I think a new breed of parents have trouble understanding that, too, and here we are. I'd say far and away you're doing really well, and the future looks bright! Getting adults into classes is tough. Many don't want to do much after they finish work for the day, and feel that those days of being an athlete are behind them. Those that do get started tend to commit for at least a year, I've found.

KISS is the way to go, for sure. For kids, I'd probably teach them how to break away from various holds and grabs, using distraction techniques at the same time, and then using their lungs to call for help, draw attention to themselves, and use their feet to get away. I'd keep it very simple.

Do you have enough funds saved up to run the dojo sans profit for about three months? When I was in school (some years ago now, so take that for what it's worth), this was the suggested norm; being able to run your business for three months out of your own pocket, and then hopefully afterwards your profits start to take over and pay for running itself. Congrats on starting your own dojo! You're going to do great!

In the second video you list, I think the best footwork drill out of it was the first one. Most practical for moving while fighting. The rest are just what is described in the video, "sports fitness." Just moving for the sake of moving, really. Some of the cone movements seem to have some value, too. The last video was a good one. Showed application and explained it well. Looks worthwhile to learn, and I'd be interested in street applications.

So what's next?

8/28/2019 Strength Training Warm-up: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 med ball throws, 5 med ball slams. Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 225x3, 275x3, 285x3. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 115x5, 135x3, 165x1, 192.5x5, 192.5x5, 192.5x5. Power Snatch: 75x2, 100x2, 100x2, 100x2. 9/4/2019 Strength Training Warm-up: 5 box jumps, 5 med ball throws, 5 med ball slams. Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 225x3, 275x1, 295x5, 295x5, 295x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5. Barbell Rows: 95x5, 115x8, 135x8, 135x8, 135x8. Lat Pull-downs: 120x8, 120x8, 120x8. Stretch: kick stretches, quads.

What I'd been told when I first started my MA career was a 10% rule: 10% of the people you start training with will end up testing to black belt with you. After that, 10% of those that made 1st dan with you will hit 2nd dan with you...and so on. I've found over the course of my career, that rate is probably about right, if it's not a bit high. That's not an exact representative number, but I've found some truth in it.

Bob, I may not have been clear in my response. My meaning was pertaining to these drills that we are discussing. Perhaps there's a better way to train than with the traditional step-sparring scenarios.

8/23/2019 Strength Training Warm-ups: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws, 5 medicine ball slams. Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 225x3, 265x1, 300x3, 300x3, 300x3. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 275x1, 295x5. With the kids going back to school, my schedule has really gone to the pot, and I've not been able to consistently train three days a week like I want to. So I'm plodding along with the squats, trying to maintain some level of strength right now. 8/26/2019 MA Training TKD Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Do-kangs 1-4, three-steps 1-4, and we started on Ho Sin Sul. Brief stretch after class; my hip flexor area kept cramping up on me.

It's a good question. Maybe there isn't any?....

Most don't. But, I do think that it can be worthwhile in putting yourself out there to find perhaps a few new students that will come in and put in the work. I do think there are those who do gain some value from these types of seminars, and who knows if you might end up teaching someone one thing they remember that saves their life or changes the course of things for them just enough to make a difference. To me, it isn't about the money. Every one that I've been a part of has been offered for free. It's about teaching awareness and simple, effective responses to common attacks or situations. And then stressing how important it is to continue to train...

8/21/2019 Strength Training Warm-up: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws, 5 medicine ball slams. Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 225x3, 265x1, 295x3, 305x3, 305x3. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 115x5, 135x3, 165x1, 190x5, 190x5, 190x5. Power Snatch: 65x2, 75x3, 95x3, 95x3. Stretch: kick stretches and hamstrings. With school starting up, the schedule is getting crazy. Lots of running kids back and forth to stuff, and more inconsistency when it comes to lifting. In order to try to keep the intensity up on my squats, I've cut the sets of 5 to 3, but am still struggling with the missed time. I've decided to switch to the power snatch from the power clean. I may get back to the clean, but I prefer the snatch as I don't have to mess with the rack position of the clean, and I like the longer pull. MA Training Taught TKD Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. Basics, forms, one-steps, and sparring. Mainly spent time harping on the kids about how the next testing is their testing, and not my testing, and they have to start really pushing themselves to improve, and not wait for instructors to get after them. Taking ownership of their training. Kicking Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. We got through about 4 and half stations of kicking on the powerlines and paddles. I made sure to control myself on the axe kicks again, and I'm not having as much trouble with the muscles pulling. Been spending time breaking down the crescent kicks and hook kicks, too.

Oooh, this is a good conversation. Thanks for starting this one off, Wastelander! I'll preface this by saying that one-step sparring (which is what we call these drills; step-sparring) is a part of the curriculum all the way up through our colored belt ranks. Each rank has it's own set; usually 5 for the lower grade, and an additional 3 for the higher grade. The colored belt are one attack only, and then a series of defenses. I have pretty mixed feelings on most of these one-steps. For the most part, I chalk them up to skill development exercises that teach how to put combinations of moves together, and learn how to target these techniques, control these techniques, and learn distance. Now, the downside is the formalized style of declaring attacks and then blocking. I do feel it is a good introductory method of learning to recognize an oncoming attack from a less-than-advantageous ready position, learning how to react to said attacks, and then developing a proper response to said attacks. Proper focusing when performing the blocks and attacks will show the student if they blocked properly and if they are at a proper distance to actually contact with counter attacks. However, the downfall of this process is that it continues in this manner, all the way up to the black belt level, only with more complicated ways of punching and kicking. The formalized way of attacking and defending is still present. This is the downfall. I truly feel that it is important to move beyond the formalized way of setting these drills up, and using different attacks that might be more common out in the world. After all, if we as instructors are going to train a series of responses, it's pretty important that we are sure these responses will work. To that end, I've found that (at least with some of the lower level one-steps in our system) these drills can be adjusted to work to that end. I move from the down block and kihap ready to a more aggressive, posturing stance for the attacker. The defender moves from the hands-at-the-sides ready position to a more staggered stance with the hands up in a "fence" position. From there, the defense techniques are executed in a less formal and structured manner, but still done as proper techniques with the goal being to end the assault. As much as I've enjoyed working these things out on my own, it isn't done in class, and I feel that not many of the more advanced one-steps are as adaptable as some of the lower ranking ones are. Now, with all that said, as black belts, we've begun doing three-step sparring, and these steps have become requirements for black belt testings now. I unfortunately see flaws in them, and wonder quite a bit about how much they help. Of the steps we've done so far, the attacks are all face level straight punches while advancing forward. What is newer is the inclusion of some joint manipulations to restrain the attacker and facilitate some kicking, but the problem is that the attacker is probably not going to just leave an arm hanging out to be manipulated after being punched three times. I do think there are some useful concepts that can be taken away from these drills, but some considerable time has to be spent to decipher it all, find what will work, or what works better for certain situations, and move forward from there.

Time to keep you posted!! I can now kick muay thai style well... with my left leg For some reason doing it with my right leg is harder. I'm getting better, but I am not quite there yet with my right side. It's funny, I am right handed, but for martial arts or sports I definitely favor my left side. Could be that you feel more comfortable balanced on your dominant side leg.

8/14/2019 Strength Training Warm-ups: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws, 5 medicine ball slams. Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 256x1, 320x5, 320x5, 320x5. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 115x5, 135x3, 165x1, 197.5x5, 197.5x5, 197.5x5. Power Cleans: 115x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3, 115x3. Stretch: kick stretches and quads. MA Training Taught TKD Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. Basics, forms, one-steps. Hit on some key points on our step-over side kicks and the hop-side kicks, and the importance of getting the body lined up properly to execute a proper side kick. Kicking Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Another decent class, working three stations on the powerlines and three stations on the paddles, with probably getting around 300-500 kicks in total. And I made sure not to really pull down too hard on the axe kicks, and my leg did not suffer for it. Stretch after class. 8/16/2019 Strength Training Warm-ups: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball chest passes, 5 medicine ball slams. Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 225x3, 265x1, 295x1, 325x5, 325x5, 325x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 142.5x5, 142.5x5, 142.5x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 275x1, 305x5. Stretch: kick stretches and quads.

I'm looking forward to the Black Widow movie coming out. All I've seen has pointed towards Taskmaster being the main villain, which should be fun.

I'm three episodes in now, and I'm enjoying it. The action is good, and there's a little mysticism to it, but I think it's handled well, and not to blown out. Most of the action is MA-centered, which I like, and the story is decent so for. Well worth a watch.

I think in the years prior to the use of gloves in Western Boxing, I do believe the two styles had much in common, especially in regards to the use of trapping motions and what not. The evolution of Boxing, however, has made it very difficult to see any of these connections.

I'm glad it got your attention, JazzKicker. I highly recommend picking it up and reading it. Twice. I've got both editions, and have read them both. And worth it each time.

Congratulations!

Oh, yeah, Patrick, me and the boys don't miss a Marvel movie. You make a good point about the Hulk maybe getting too powerful, and I get that, but they could still do a good representation of his abilities without relegating him to being second-rate. I truly hope that Ruffalo signs on for some more movies, and with the more powerful enemies that are coming into the MCU, they start to allow the Hulk to open up to more of what he is capable of. You were right about Maw, he did kind of get his end quickly. But, did you notice in Endgame that it seemed like most of the Black Order survived until Tony's snap?

Nice. Simple and effective.

8/9/2019 Strength Training Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 265x1, 315x1. Bench Press: 45x5x2, 115x5, 135x3, 165x1, 195x5, 195x5, 195x5. Well, best laid plans...since the hamstring pull in kicking class, I didn't trust myself under the bar with my work sets on squat. I did one heavy single, and called it. Bending over and just getting into deadlift position put strain on the pull, so I skipped it. I skipped the warm-ups, too, for fear of the explosive movements ripping the hamstring up. 8/12/2019 Strength Training Warm-ups: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws, 5 medicine ball slams. Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 265x1, 315x5, 315x5, 315x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 140x5, 140x5, 140x5. Deadlifts: 135x5, 205x3, 225x1, 265x1, 300x5. Stretch: kick stretches, toe touches, quads. MA Training Taught TKD Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. Basics: pointing out getting side kicks chambered properly, and overall breaking things down for lower ranks. Forms: quite a bit of time on forms, learning the new ones, being week one post-testing. One-steps: learning newest one-steps. Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Do-kangs 1-4, Three-steps 1-3. So, today was a day of highs and lows. I felt great about my strength training session, hitting 315 for 3x5, and getting deadlift back up to 300 for 5. But today was a rough one for my knees; they had been hurting most of the day, and when it came time for Black Belt Class, my performance was not nearly as good as it was last week. But, I fought through it, finished it out, and hit the NSAIDS after class. Perhaps next week will be better all-around.

8/7/2019 Strength Training Warm-up: 5 broad jumps, 5 box jumps, 5 medicine ball throws, 5 medicine ball slams. Squats: 45x5, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 265x1, 310x5, 310x5, 310x5. Press: 45x5x2, 75x5, 95x3, 115x1, 137.5x5, 137.5x5, 137.5x5. Stretch: kick stretches, leg swings, arms and shoulders. MA Training TKD Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. I assisted in teaching this class. One of our third dans is going to be taking on some teaching, and I was initially planning on training in this class, but instead just leant a helping hand so the third dan can get some teaching experience. Kicking Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Another class that's been resurrected. This is a pretty informal class, where we pull out the Powerline bags and do several stations of kicking. We usually pair up on the bags, and do 5 of each kick back and forth, then switch and do the other leg, and then move onto the next kicking exercise, which is about four different kicking drills per "station." We also do some kicking drills using the paddles. Things were going really well, until I pulled my hamstring doing axe kicks on the paddles (I hate axe kicks). I wasn't doing the kicks very high, either, but the pulling down of the kick aggravated my right hamstring. This happened towards the end of the class, so I had a good workout in up to that point. Stretched afterwards. I skipped my pulling exercise in weights, the deadlifts, today. I did my lifting prior to class, and with the initial thought that I would be actively working out in two classes, didn't want to put the extra strain on my hamstrings (which didn't help in the end, anyways). If all is well on Friday, I'll deadlift then.

Like the saying goes... The family that trains together, stays together!! More like, "The family that trains together, is more likely to kick each other in the head."