The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

I did pass, Bob. 

[bushido_man96]

12/16/2024

Aikido Class:  8:30 - 9:30 am.  Morning class.  After our warmups and stretching/aikitaisos, we got to work more on testing material.  The first technique I did was shomenuchi kokyonage.  I need to get better at the balance breaking aspect of this technique.  Sensei gave me a few good pointers, the most important one is staying relaxed when I hook the hands on, especially the one that goes up to the head/neck area.  From there, I tried to focus more on a "drop" than a pull or a yank back on the uke.  From the drop, pulling the head to the chest becomes easier.  I started to see improvement.

Next was shomenuchi iriminage.  This one was a bit of a challenge.  In the kokyonage, the pull was down.  In this iriminage version, the pull is around, and then feeding their head into the crook of the elbow, and keep using a tenkan turn to get them off balance, then throw them down.  The control of the head in the crook of the elbow and pointing the elbow up at the right time seems to be a key.

On top of performing the techniques, I'm still worrying about how my head will respond to getting taken down.  I did take a couple of falls, and things went ok throughout the day.  That was a nice relief.

[bushido_man96]

12/26/2024

TKD:  I went to the gym with the kids and spent some time in the dojang trying to learn my new hyung from a video sent to us by one of our seniors.  I got about half of it down I would say.  I was working it off and on, and going into the gym to help the kids with their strength training.

12/27/2024

TKD:  Went back to the gym and did some more work on the new hyung.  I got through it all once, and worked on sections of it, too.  Feeling better about it.  There's a few trick balance parts that are tripping me up.  I may try some visualization work with these sections.  New form is Choi Yong.

[bushido_man96]

12/31/2024

Did some solo work on the new TKD form, Choi Yong, for about a half hour.

Aikido Winter Camp Session:  3:00 - 6:00 pm.  The camp had been going all week, but as I had been working afternoons and then switching to night shift, I wasn't able to make many sessions.  Not feeling good most of the time doesn't help, either.  But I made this session, and had a good time.  There was a focus on tai-sabaki.  We were doing a technique where the attacker would run to you and grab one wrist and circle around to grab the other, as if to apply a double chicken-wing from behind.  We'd use the body movement and it set up a sankyo lock quite nicely, and that's the one I went to most of the time when we were doing it dynamically.  We slowed it down and did it from stationary, and, worked it to a kotegashi application.  This one took some work, and some feeling around to get into the right position, but it started to come together pretty well.  We finished with some drills designed to get students ready for randori.

[bushido_man96]

1/8/2025

TKD Class:  Traditional Class:  5:30 - 6:30 pm.  I taught this class.  Got through basics, and for forms went through Dan Goon, Won Hyo, Choong Moo, and Yoo Sin.  Got through one-steps and then worked a sparring drill with the students.  Offensive student would do a switch-foot round kick a few times and made contact with the chest protector.  After each student getting reps on that, I had the defending student throw a spin side kick counter.  Next time I'll parse the drill out a bit more to make it more progressive.

[bushido_man96]

1/13/2025

TKD Class:  Traditional Class:  5:30 - 6:30 pm.  This class went ok.  Felt good to get out and do some moving.  Basics:  for our jump front snap kick section, we added a jump round kick and a hop side kick to it.  I like this variation.  I supervised students doing Won Hyo and Choong Moo hyungs.  For one-steps, I went through low orange belt, and did continuous attacks for white/orange belt for a high brown belt.  I supervised some sparring after that.

Black Belt Class:  6:30 - 7:30 pm.  Helped a second dan with some stance and movement work.  He's recently recovered from a knee injury.  I went through my 5th dan form, Choi Yong, 4 times, once at speed.

[bushido_man96]

1/15/2025

TKD Class:  Traditional Class:  5:30 - 6:30 pm.  I joined in this class; 3rd dan did the teaching.  He does a good job.  Basics was all the regular basics.  Forms; supervised Won Hyo hyung, gave some more technical advice for power on some hand techniques, keeping the hand and hip back in order to land with power into the strikes.  For one-steps, I worked through with low orange, green, blue and brown belt.  I helped the students work on lots of technique work and foot placement.  After class was over, I did about 10 minutes of floor stretching and went through Choi Yong 3 times.

[bushido_man96]

1/16/2025

TKD Class:  Beginners Class:  5:45 - 6:30 pm.  Took it pretty easy today, as my head was not feeling good.  Basics were very paced out to help newer students pick up on nuances better.  I stretched while the few students did their forms.  I did white belt one-steps, and after helping with a ridge hand strike, it started a conversation with the other instructors about when/how to rotate the wrist during the strike.

Traditional Class:  6:30 - 7:30 pm.  Basics with the advanced jumping kicks, another brief stretch, then some work on Choi Yong hyung.  Green belt one-steps, with lots of breakdown of angles and footwork.  Oversaw some sparring.

[bushido_man96]

1/20/2025

TKD Class:  Traditional Class:  5:30 - 6:30 pm.  Basics - paced myself.  I was feeling light-headed, and my knees were also really sore.  I tried to focus on my balance.  While students were doing forms, I stretched out, as there were only a few in the class.  I watched our CI perform Choi Yong at his request, and then I went through it once myself.  I still struggle with balance a bit here and there, and there is are two spots where there is a repeat kick, back leg round kick to a side kick.  The adjustment is taking some time.  I tried to put some "oomph" into the form, and I got a little dizzy at the end.  One-steps - green belt one steps, which are always good to work on.  I worked with the student on using proper footwork/placement to set up the techniques.  Sparring - I worked with an orange belt kid, mainly trying to get him to tie strings of techniques together so he wasn't throwing just one at a time.

Black Belt Class:  6:30 - 7:30 pm.  Forms - Choi Yong, Choong Jang, Yoo Sin, and Se Jong.  Three-steps 1-12.

[bushido_man96]

1/22/2025

TKD Class:  Traditional Class:  5:30 - 6:30 pm.  Taught this class.  Basics - went with the usual basics, except for the jump front snap kicks, I had the intermediate and advanced students do jump front snap/jump round/hop side kick combination.  Forms were Dan Gun (low orange), Won Hyo (high green), Choong Moo (high brown), and Yoo Sin (3rd dan).  One-steps - low orange and green belt.  Had plenty of time to get some sparring in, and had the students work on a side kick defense drill:  offensive partner does a step-together or hop side kick, and the defender moves to either the back side or the front side, at a 45ish degree angle forward and counters.  Pros and cons to each:  Moving back side of the kick cuts off a lot of weapons for the kicker to bring to bear; they must turn and face the defensive partner first, or try to spin.  This is great in self-defense because you have their back.  In sparring, it limits point opportunities.  Stepping to the front side of the kick allows the student to do what I call "cross the T," which puts the kicker's body fully front-on to the defender, who is side on (their bodies kind of form a T).  Defensive partner can then go on the offensive with lots of targets.  Bad thing is that the attacker has all their tools to bring to bear.

Open Class:  6:30 - 7:15 pm.  Choi Yong hyung x3, Gae Baek hyung x2.  Brief floor stretch.  There was a mother/daughter combo that showed up for some self-defense lessons, and the other two instructors were working with them.