DWx

Thanks for the detailed explanation sensei8! On seeing the descriptions it looks like we do some of these already, albeit by different names. For example instead of "Red Light, Green Light" I yell freeze and they have to freeze frame where they are but correct.

So we just did our first COVID grading in-person but following social distancing. We had been due to run our grading in March when the pandemic kicked off, in fact Britain went into lockdown two days before the grading date. Having taught online all summer and been back in-person since August, it was time to move everyone on. This pandemic could last another 6 to 12 months and all the students have more than done their time and met the requirements, we just can't do paired work. Lowest grades were easy as they only test with fundamentals and very basic forms. But for a good proportion there is a sparring element, breaking, and self defence component. So we kinda had to run it as a halfway house between what some would do for Online grading and a full grading. Fundamentals and forms were as normal. "Sparring", both step and sport sparring, was done at distance. It sounds stupid but they had to keep a 2m gap between them and "spar". This allowed us to make a reasonable assesment of their movement, timing, understanding etc. even though they weren't hitting each other. Breaking and self defence were out of the window as there wasn't a way for us to test this. If this goes on much longer I will need to invest in a stand for the boards so students can break with social distancing. Not my preferred way to run a grading but if we don't move people on they will stagnate.

Not Karate but we have a similar position in Taekwon-Do which appears in Kwang Gae and several other patterns. We call it hanulson - heaven hand: For us it is just a posture, looking to the heavens. Not occult and I certainly wouldn't have thought so for a traditional Okinawan kata.

This is pretty much what we want to do. How many would you have in a class? (and how many adults?)

So it kinda will be. The plan is a rotating curriculum over 2 years with a students progressing on to the next belt every 3 months regardless of what order they do the 3-month modules in. To graduate the program and move on to the Junior curriculum they have to do each module over the full two years. There will be 3 things per module to learn: some Korean, a physical skill (e.g. balance, basic punches or stances), and a life skill (teamwork, leadership etc.) But I don't want to teach our actual beginner curriculum to this age group as feel we'll get better results in the long term developing more general physical and mental skills before moving them on.

Just going back through old threads looking for inspiration and came back to this. Have to say JR, point number 4 here has really mirrored my experience to date with one of the students I spoke about in my original post. "N" is a high functioning autistic child and over the last year or say I'd say I've gotten pretty good at determining when his meltdowns are going to happen. He gets really frustrated when he thinks he can't do something or he gets something wrong. Unfortunately he is constantly comparing himself to the blackbelts and not his own peers (both in age and belt level), always thinking he should do better. The no emotion, matter of fact route tends to work with him if I catch him early enough but I have to be careful how I phrase things as he can latch on to the smallest of things and focus. We are getting to the point now though that I can ask him to do challenging things. I try to sandwich the difficult skill between two easier skills to leave him on a high rather than focused on the bad stuff. Apart from that he's a dream to teach and just does exactly what you tell him to do.

Just looking back through some old threads... sensei8 are you able to elaborate on some of your drills above?

Yes it'll loosely be Martial Arts inspired movements but on the whole the goal is general motor skills and coordination etc. A few kicks and punches thrown in an "belts" (not the same colours as our regular curriculum, at the moment the plan is for white belts with various colour tags). We already have some younger ones start the main Taekwon-Do programme and they do fine, albeit mover slower up the ranks. I just feel like a dedicated program would yield better long term results.

Only just started watching this but I'm obsessed! Can't wait for season 3. Do you think this will inspire the next generation of Karate Kids? My enquiries for beginner classes are through the roof at the moment

Congratulations aurik!

That's a bit extreme before you start training. What's his rationale? Or is it a bit of gate keeping? I guess just build up longer and longer periods holding the stance, work leg strength via weighted squats, lunges, deadlifts etc.

The youngest students we take at my school are age 5 or 6, once they have started at school, they can join our children's class. However we get a lot of enquiries for younger kids to join and I've been thinking about introducing a Martial Arts style class for the younger ones. We'd then also raise the age for our real-Taekwon-Do classes up to age 7 or 8. Now the early years program wouldn't be actual Taekwon-Do but would be focused on gross-motor skills, fitness, moral skills (courtesy, integrity etc.) with a few very basic stances and techniques thrown in. Does anyone do anything similar? What do you include in your program? I don't want to be a daycare service but ideally this would give younger children a taste of Taekwon-Do and set them up strength and flexibility-wise before joining the main classes.

Not sure on brands you have over in the States but I don't think there is much difference between most store vitamins. They all should give you recommendations on the pack for how many to take and when. If you have any specific questions feel free to message me as my sister is a pharmacist here in the UK and I can ask her what she thinks. Solid post!! Yes, and thank you....if I've any specific questions I'll forward them to you, Danielle...like this one... What's the difference between 5K and 50K IU?? What is a IU?? If my Urologist wanted me to have 50K IU, he would've written a prescription when he wrote the BICALUTAMIDE prescription. Here in the USA, a prescription has to be written for a 50K IU. I'll ask my Urologist tomorrow morning, for sure. IU is just a unit of measure, like lb or g, but its defined per substances. 50K IU would be a high dose... I presume of vitamin D?

Not sure on brands you have over in the States but I don't think there is much difference between most store vitamins. They all should give you recommendations on the pack for how many to take and when. If you have any specific questions feel free to message me as my sister is a pharmacist here in the UK and I can ask her what she thinks.

Stay strong Bob. Best of luck with your fight, and stay positive.

Sounds like you are running a tight ship. The mask one I debate back and forth. Non-students like parents must wear one if they are to stay and watch (they are only allowed to observe if there is a specific need). The original WHO guidance was not to wear a masks during sport as sweat would make it wet increasing the growth of bacteria: I also think, especially with the kids, it encourages them to touch their face more as they'll be constantly fiddling with the mask.

I keep seeing this type of training tool pop up on my Instagram. I think there are a fair few MMA fighters using it. It looks like it is basically using resistance bands for training but having the benefit of not having to hand someone hold them or anchor them. Though I would echo JR's comment about the resistance being in the wrong direction. Sometimes we use resistance bands at training but you always have to align the band in the same plane as the movement.

Sounds great. Though over time I've come to the mindset that workouts don't always have to be physically exhausting to be beneficial. I'd have probably preferred the first trainer myself but then I spend a lot of time with my guys doing muscle activation and stability and mobility exercises. Sounds the the fight gym guy is going to work you hard though which is also good if you want to improve general fitness and strength. Best of luck

I think it depends school to school. I've been at schools where the most senior student (sunbae) in class is responsible for organising the students, bowing everyone in, warm ups etc. I do something similar in my school though generally the sunbae is a higher grade colour belt or a blackbelt I've asked to come along to assist me.

Depends what you're after. Sang H Kim as already recommended by bushido_man96 is good. And you wouldn't go wrong with Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz. Nowadays there are plenty of resources on YouTube and also lots of good references outside of Martial Arts too. Think Yoga, dancing, cheer etc. all these require flexibility too and lots of content out there.

Welcome MAD Mike

Best of luck Bob. Thinking of you.

Not sure what it's like in your area, but over here instructors must have liability insurance to teach.

Congratulations! How did the testing go?

I have a friend thats desperate to retire and buy a plot of land somewhere to do something similar. She wants to have people come stay for a week and do lots of different fitness activities, yoga lessons, and various other well-being activities.