The Martial Artists' Training Log

[Zaine]

Total hyung count: 65. That's a wrap for January. No where near 1000!

That's still awesome, Brian! Any amount of karate practice is a great amount of karate practice!

[bushido_man96]

Total hyung count: 65. That's a wrap for January. No where near 1000!

That's still awesome, Brian! Any amount of karate practice is a great amount of karate practice!

Thank you, Zaine. I think this month I will try to start learning Sanchin.

2/1/2023

Strength Training

Deadlifts: 135x5, 185x5, 255x3, 325x1, 365x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 132.5x5, 132.5x5, 132.5x5.

Lat Pull-downs: 125x10, 125x10, 125x10.

Deadlifts were a grind, more so than last week. Could have been due to poor sleep and eating. But for the most part, I kept the bar on my shins on the way up on all the reps. Next up for press, back to a plate on each side.

TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-Shirt Class: Did some stretching in The Rack; this did not help my adductor issue. Really flared it up. I did all of my black belt forms today: Choong Moo, Kwang Gae, Po Eun, Gae Baek, Se Jong, Yoo Sin, and Choong Jang. Finished up going through the first 6 three-steps.

[bushido_man96]

2/3/2023

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 260x5, 260x5, 260x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 115x1, 135x5, 135x5, 135x5.

Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 165x3, 245x2, 270x5, 270x5.

Squats don't feel really heavy yet, but I'm still fighting the bar rolling around on my back. I tried to focus on pulling the bar down, and it seemed to help some. Press went good; back to a plate on each side. Will drop the increases to 1.5 lbs per session now. Snatch deads were good, but the last rep of set 1 really slowed down. Set 2, after a rest, went good.

30 minutes on the rowing machine with my wife, doing intervals of about 45 seconds, 6 intervals total. I pretty much rested between intervals, as opposed to continue to lightly row. My hip flexors got really tired.

[bushido_man96]

2/4/2023

TKD Testing: 3:00 - 5:00 pm. Had several orange belts, and a few black belts testing today. It was going pretty well, but unfortunately, our 2nd degree pulled his hamstring while testing. I'm really hoping he didn't tear it, but time will tell.

Two of the kids that tested did pretty well. As per usual, testing tends to bring out the best in them. Still things to work on, but that's true of any low rank. We have a WT stylist in our school now, too, and she's 3rd degree in WT. She tested as a high orange belt, and as expected, showed well. She should be moving up the ranks rather quickly, I'd guess. I did get to spar a round with a first degree that was testing for 2nd rec, so that was fun.

[DarthPenguin]

2/4/2023

TKD Testing: 3:00 - 5:00 pm. Had several orange belts, and a few black belts testing today. It was going pretty well, but unfortunately, our 2nd degree pulled his hamstring while testing. I'm really hoping he didn't tear it, but time will tell.

Two of the kids that tested did pretty well. As per usual, testing tends to bring out the best in them. Still things to work on, but that's true of any low rank. We have a WT stylist in our school now, too, and she's 3rd degree in WT. She tested as a high orange belt, and as expected, showed well. She should be moving up the ranks rather quickly, I'd guess. I did get to spar a round with a first degree that was testing for 2nd rec, so that was fun.

Am curious here - is there such a large difference between IFT and WTF taekwondo that a 3rd Degree BB needs to start again? I had (incorrectly i think) always assumed it was mainly a ruleset difference so the grades would be very transferable. I pity the lower ranks that match up against her in competitions/gradings etc!!

[bushido_man96]

2/4/2023

TKD Testing: 3:00 - 5:00 pm. Had several orange belts, and a few black belts testing today. It was going pretty well, but unfortunately, our 2nd degree pulled his hamstring while testing. I'm really hoping he didn't tear it, but time will tell.

Two of the kids that tested did pretty well. As per usual, testing tends to bring out the best in them. Still things to work on, but that's true of any low rank. We have a WT stylist in our school now, too, and she's 3rd degree in WT. She tested as a high orange belt, and as expected, showed well. She should be moving up the ranks rather quickly, I'd guess. I did get to spar a round with a first degree that was testing for 2nd rec, so that was fun.

Am curious here - is there such a large difference between IFT and WTF taekwondo that a 3rd Degree BB needs to start again? I had (incorrectly i think) always assumed it was mainly a ruleset difference so the grades would be very transferable. I pity the lower ranks that match up against her in competitions/gradings etc!!

The forms curriculum is entirely different; whole new set of requirements. We don't do sine wave, so she doesn't have to learn how to do that. We also have a set of one-steps that go with each rank, and she has to learn those, too.

How fast she advances will basically just depend on how well she can keep up with the new material, and how the CI feels about jumping her in ranks.

2/6/2023

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 235x1, 265x5, 265x5, 265x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 115x1, 136.5x5, 136.5x5, 136.5x5.

Lat Pull-downs: 127.5x10, 127.5x10, 127.5x10.

Squats. The sets felt good. I used a different bar today (one I'd used in the past), and two things happened. One, I didn't have it rolling around on my back, but, two, it wanted to slip down towards my wrists as the set progressed. Not sure what I'll try next. Press was good, and the pull-downs are coming along nicely. I'm still using a pause at the bottom of the pull-downs.

TKD Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class. Helped teach again, with the two now high orange belts. I emphasized the importance of breathing in general, tightening up the abs upon technique completion, and ki-haps. Worked on lots of little technique things, and getting bodies aligned for good side kicks. I was the demo for their new form, Bo Chung. They finished learning their new one-steps.

Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Do-Kangs 1-5. After 1 and 2, students were split so the CI could teach new material. I took some others and we did Do-Kangs 3-5, then the first 6 three-steps, and then worked Ho Sin Sul. We did some basic same side and cross wrist grab releases and strikes, an arm bar, a shoulder lock into what basically is Shio Nage, and some work with a rear bear hug. We finished with some altering some one-steps and doing defenses against haymaker punches.

My knees really hurt in class tonight, and I could tell they were limiting my performance.

[DarthPenguin]

That makes a little more sense now - i wasn't aware that ITF and WTF were so different : sounds more like learning a new style of karate so starting again from white makes total sense!

For the knee pain, could the squatting same day have anything to do with it? (or does it happen on non squatting days too?). Killing it on the press though! I'm always envious of heavy presses lol

[bushido_man96]

That makes a little more sense now - i wasn't aware that ITF and WTF were so different : sounds more like learning a new style of karate so starting again from white makes total sense!

There's a lot of interesting political history between the ITF and the WTF. General Choi was basically banned from the country for a while, and started spreading his ITF around the world, while the Korean government was spearheading the startup of the WTF through the KTA.

For the knee pain, could the squatting same day have anything to do with it? (or does it happen on non squatting days too?). Killing it on the press though! I'm always envious of heavy presses lol

Squatting doesn't bother my knees. In fact, it has helped them over the past few years. TKD has been causing me knee pain for quite some time, and my left knee recently has been the one really bothering me. I spend a lot of time in the car for work, and getting in and out, putting that left leg down and basically doing partial one-leg standups and twisting out of the car doesn't help it at all.

2/7/2023

30 minutes on the treadmill with the wife (not on the same treadmill; that would be weird...).

2/8/2023

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x5, 225x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 115x1, 138x5, 138x5, 138x5.

Deadlifts: 185x5, 255x3, 325x1, 370x5.

Lat Pull-downs: 130x10, 130x10, 130x10.

Did a light squat session today, mainly to help warm things up for the deadlift. Recalling my press workout from the previous session, I misloaded my micro plates, so have to go back and fix that. In order to keep things on schedule, I put the weight where it was supposed to be today, had I done the proper weight last session. Last warmup on deadlift seemed awful, so I wasn't anticipating a fun work set. But, it went up. First 2 reps were good, 3 starts to grind, and rep 4 drifted a little. Rep 5 wasn't bad, but wasn't great.

TKD Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. T-Shirt Class: Started with a real light stretch in The Rack, but not so much to aggravate the adductor tendon. I followed that up with a twelve 30 second rounds on the standing heavy bag; I did a round of hands only in orthodox stance, then a round of hands in southpaw stance, and then a round of kicks; 1 minute rest between 30 second rounds. After that, I went through my black belt forms: Choong Moo, Kwang Gae, Poe Eun, Gae Baek, Se Jong, Yoo Sin, and Choong Jang. Had trouble with balance tonight, and once I started on forms, my left knee flared up on my again. It did NOT want to be in a left leg front stance. I think a knee wrap may be in order. And some more Biofreeze.

[DarthPenguin]

Interesting. Regarding the knee pain, a few years ago i started to get some really bad knee pain in my left knee and on the outside of my thigh just above it. This was when i was training hard at a TKD offshoot over here.

I spoke to a friend of mine who in a physio and he took a look at my mobility etc and he said that the issue was likely cause by all the jumping kicks, with my doing lots of very shallow partial squats (in essence) as part of the jumps and that it was leading to an imbalance in my leg muscles, combined with the landing impacts.

What he recommended at the time was to work on strengthening the inner parts of my things and my hip muscles and i went on a regime of lots of sumo stance deadlifts which cleared it up.

I was thinking about this the other day as i think i am going to find a spot in my routing for sumo deadlifts too as i think the hip pain i am getting with some kicks is due to a weakness in that area that i need to strengthen.

Anyway I might have just been rambling (and this might be no use) but thought it worth mentioning in case it was something that might help!

[bushido_man96]

I do full ROM deadlifts; I don't have much use for sumo deadlifts, which is really just a bastardization of the deadlift due to rules issues in powerlifting federations, allowing competitors to reduce the range of motion of the lift, and therefore lift more weight, and therefore win a competition. The wide grip bench press has a similar effect. Then, gym bros picked it up and do it often because it is A) easier, and B) allows them to say they can "deadlift" more than they can actually "deadlift." It's a lot easier to move 400 lbs 6 inches than it is to move it 2 and half feet.

Anyway, I digress...

2/10/2023

Strength Training

Squats: 45x5x2, 135x5, 185x3, 225x1, 270x5, 270x5, 270x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 95x3, 115x1, 139.5x5, 139.5x5, 139.5x5.

Snatch Grip Deadlifts: 165x3, 245x2, 275x5, 275x5.

I narrowed my grip a bit on squat, when I didn't think I'd be able to. Maybe that will take some stress off my elbows as the weight goes up. Pressing is still good, and the shoulders seem to be holding up nicely. Snatch deads went well today, but man did they feel heavy. Rep 5 was a real grinder on both sets. I think I did a good job of keeping the bar on my shins on the way up; I had a nice blood stain coming through my sweats on the inside of my right knee!

40 minutes on the treadmill with my wife.