The Martial Artists' Training Log

[bushido_man96]

9/20/2023

TKD Class: T-Shirt Class: 6:45 - 7:15 pm. A shortened class for me; I was running late with all the errands I had after getting off work late, and dipped out a touch early due to having some more errands to run after class and before getting home to make supper. I did spend the time learning Do-Kang 6, going over it in it's entirety several times. A little bit of stretching in The Rack after that, and I was done. Got pretty tired doing those sets; I'm pretty out of shape right now.

[bushido_man96]

9/26/2023

Aikido: Weapons Class: 5:00 - 6:00 pm. We worked with the bokken today, which was a lot different from the jo. It was just me and the instructor, so a great one-on-one session. He started by showing me an actual katana, and the details of drawing and sheathing it (trickier than I realized), then we got into the actual lesson. We worked on the 5 guards: Chudan, Jodan, Gedan, Hasso-no-kamae, and Waki-gamae. We worked on the positions of the arms and elbows, posture, and stance. The stance is very different to me, but I'm getting used to it. We also did a few sword thrusts (tsuki, I believe), one stepping slightly off-line with the lead foot and thrusting, and another stepping off-line with the left (rear) leg and then thrusting. We also worked on shomen-uchi and yokomen-uchi.

TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. We opened class with a review of three-steps, and I got through 1-9, which as pretty good. After getting through 1-6, my and my partner worked 6-9 repeatedly, and I feel like I've got them down now. Just have to keep up the practice. I opted not to spar in the back half of the class. Perhaps I'll feel better about it next week.

[DarthPenguin]

Glad to hear you are feeling a bit better and able to get back to training

The weapons class sounds fun too - do you have a prior background in Aikido or are you coming at it fresh?

[bushido_man96]

Very little. Several years ago, when I had a bit more time on my hands, I did join the Aikido club, attended classes, and even tested once. Things happened and I fell out of it. Right now, the class times meet up with my TKD class times, and as much as I'd like to go to classes 5 days a week, I just don't have the time to do so. But when he mentioned this class and it's time, I decided to jump on it. I did have quite a bit of time in Combat Hapkido, along with rank, so not all of the material is foreign to me.

I do enjoy going to that class and wearing a white belt, though.

[DarthPenguin]

Aikido is one style i have never tried, glad to hear you are enjoying it though

totally agree on the white belt though- it is very refreshing to put it back on i have found though I do always try to be fair and make it obvious i have some prior experience (if relevant) - I still remember when i was trying some judo and i went with a friend of mine from a striking style we both did. I mentioned that i had trained in bjj for several years at that point so i was fine with jumping into newaza. My friend had never grappled in his life and got smashed for a couple of weeks until they realised we trained together in something totally different!

[bushido_man96]

Aikido is one style i have never tried, glad to hear you are enjoying it though

totally agree on the white belt though- it is very refreshing to put it back on i have found though I do always try to be fair and make it obvious i have some prior experience (if relevant) - I still remember when i was trying some judo and i went with a friend of mine from a striking style we both did. I mentioned that i had trained in bjj for several years at that point so i was fine with jumping into newaza. My friend had never grappled in his life and got smashed for a couple of weeks until they realised we trained together in something totally different!

The Aikido sensei and I know each other pretty well; while he was climbing the ranks in Aikido, he also took our TKD classes as offered by the college for credit hours. He's well aware of my rank and experience, as I am of his. He mentioned while we were training that he was moving me along in some aspects, due to my already advanced training. I thought this was kind of cool. I also feel comfortable asking him to back things off and be more basic if I feel the need to.

9/27/2023

TKD Class: T-Shirt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Some pre-class stretching in The Rack, along with some pre-class kicking, focusing on my technique and base foot pivoting, especiall for the side kick. After getting through all six Do-Kangs, I decided to work on side kick board breaking. We have a board holder we can attach to something, along with rebreakable boards that attach to it magnetically. Unfortunately, the only thing to tie the apparatus to is a Wavemaster sanding bag. This is less than ideal, as that damn thing likes to move around a lot. It makes clean breaking a challenge, as do the rebreakable boards. I did some step-behind side kicks on each leg, 2 boards then moving up to 3. Next, I tried back leg side kicks, and that was just a mess. I couldn't tell if I was breaking, or if they were breaking on the rebound at times. I tried spin side kicks after that; left spin side went just fine, but the right leg was all over the place. Targeting was way off, not getting spun enough. Need to practice this more. With the bag flying all over the place like it was, I used another bag right behind it to try to stabilize it a bit. It helped some, but not much. However, I will probably continue to frustrate myself by working on it again next week, too.

[bushido_man96]

10/2/2023

Aikido: Weapons Class: 5:00 - 6:00 pm. We did bokken kata 1 and jo kata 1 (but we did jo kata on the opposite side as well). The Sensei did some explanations of a few things, but he took what he called the "Eastern approach" to teaching; basically, a lot of watching the instructor and repeating, and getting quite a few reps in. Due to his nature, he did break down a few things here and there, but for the most part, I spent the time trying to mimic his movements. We did the forms all by count, which helped, and there was another black belt in the class to watch as well. The last few we did were done more in sections as opposed to a proper count, but still done piecemeal, which helped me follow along. In all honesty, I kind of enjoyed this approach to class, and I really think a solid hour of doing just one of the katas would be very beneficial in just getting the base movements down. Using the class the next week to start breaking things down and getting into the nuances would be awesome. I really enjoyed this class.

TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Pre-class, I warmed up with Chon Ji, Dan Gun, Bo Chung, Do San, and Won Hwo hyungs. For warmup, one of the other students did some pretesting items, so me and the other black belt went through some random floor drills I pulled off the top of my head, and finished with a forearm conditioning drill. After that, we did what the CI likes to call "Ho Sin Sul sparring." We basically have all legal targets, grabs are allowed, etc. We don't go full speed (although we tend to speed up at times), and we start with one person going on the offensive first, and then it's counter and attack, then it kind of goes free-form after that. It gets interesting. If we get to far into getting tangled up, we reset and start again. I did pretty well, for the most part, protecting myself and countering and trying to move. My movement could be a little better, especially when it comes to checking kicks. The one time I got myself into a bad situation was when I foolishly decided to try a spin side kick, and gave up my back, and body locked and probably would have been taken down. So lesson learned, which confirmed what I already knew. For it's limitations, there are still some good things to be learned from this kind of sparring.

[DarthPenguin]

sounds like a couple of really productive sessions! The side spin kick sounds useful also - sometimes these kind of reality checks are good (plus better in a training environment to a real fight).

Reminds me of a discussion i had with someone years ago : our usual training was semi contact but someone asked me if i was willing to do a few full contact rounds. We were similar belt levels (so that was fine) but he was a LOT smaller than me. Checked with him if he wanted to do it but he was adamant. Then after he complained that i basically just through front kicks, jabs, the odd straight and the odd low roundhouse. Was annoyed that i wasn't trying spin kicks etc. I pointed out to him that the reach difference meant i could do the techniques i chose with zero risk to myself as he couldn't reach me. Asked him why he thought that in an actual fight i would expose my self to any risk with no benefit. Was like a light went on in his head!

[bushido_man96]

That sounds like a great training experience, too. It's funny what can change when the rules change. The KISS principle really does ring true.

10/3/2023

Knife Training Course: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm. This was a one-day law enforcement focused knife training course. The course opened with some classroom time, covering use of force, legal concerns, and the like, along with watching some videos of knife attacks that happened to officers on-duty. The instructor finished the classroom portion with a cutting demonstration on a thick roast on a stick. He showed what a sharp 3 1/2" blade could do, your typical tactical folder.

After the classroom stuff was over, we moved to the meat of the class. We did unarmed knife defense, knife vs knife defense, and some disarms. Lots of drilling and lots of reps. It all had a very Filipino base to it, which was a lot of fun, and I'd had some work with some of the principles years back with a buddy of mine that had worked in another DT system. We trained with blunt folders, and my right arm is scraped and bruised from the wrist up to the biceps. I asked about some differences in dealing with longer blades, and the instructor provided me with some longer blunt blades (fixed blades) to work with my partners with, which I enjoyed even more. He had some book recommendations, too, so I'll be adding to my MA library soon. This was a very new concept to me, and I had an absolute blast at this class. If he comes back next year, I'll sign up for the training again.

[bushido_man96]

10/4/2023

TKD Class: T-Shirt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. I warmed up with all 5 Do-Kangs, and then rolled out the heavy bag, strapped on the rebreakable board holder, and went back to work. I started with just one grey board, doing punches. I got it with the right hand, but not the left. Went down to a blue board the left hand and got it. Kind of the same deal with knife hand strikes. On reverse knife hand strike, I got one blue board on each hand. For kicks, I did back leg round kicks and spin heel kicks, using one grey board for each kick, both sides.

One of the many things I don't like about this rebreakable board setup is that I can't rotate the boards between having the crease going horizontal or vertical; it's always vertical. Round kicks I prefer to have the grain vertical, as well as front kicks. I did not like the way the right leg round kick felt on contact with the board being horizontal.