The Martial Artists' Training Log

[DarthPenguin]

The BJJ sounds good! The fact you have a Black belt friend you can ask too will likely help a lot as they can give you excellent answers to any issues.

The finishers thing is always interesting as it takes a long time. It is one thing i noticed has changed a lot though when i was away from it for years to when i went back. Older school it was very much you will spend a year getting crushed then you will be able to escape and get to neutral more then after months you might be able to get dominant position then after long time you will be able to start getting submissions etc etc. Nowadays everyone seems to expect to be able to finish people not long after starting!

Working on takedowns sounds like a sound start though! Once your son gets used to the BJJ way of doing things too he will be an absolute monster with his wrestling!

[sensei8]

Your workout ethics are something to be very proud of, Brian. I know that I am proud of all that you've done; nothing to shake a stick out, that's for sure. Keep it up, Brian!!

[bushido_man96]

Thank you both, DP and Bob! I really appreciate the kind words!

8/14/2024

TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. Worked in with the traditional class again, and there were a few more students in attendance.

Basics: still having some balance issues, especially with kicking combinations. I'm not jumping very much on the jump kicks; knees don't like it. I can a little better when the right leg is the kicking leg on the #3 jump front kicks.

Forms: Dan Gun, Do San, Yul Gok, and Hwa Rang. Good reviews for me, and good to get some extra work in.

One-steps: I helped with these, on low-green belt and blue/brown belt. We had a blue belt working with a low green belt, and the blue belt needed a little help with the green belt one-steps, which is not good. I told him if he is going to be the higher rank, he shouldn't be asking the green belt for help on the one-steps he's supposed to showing her how to do. The green belt needed to focus on "pushing" out her side kicks and pivoting properly in order to get things going straight.

Sparring: Watched and critiqued and offered advice. Again, the blue belt kid needed to work on putting things together and to not do his techniques slowly. He had good height on his kicks, but if he doesn't try to speed things up he'll never get them to the targets.

I kind of liked doing half the class with the students and then being in more of a teaching aspect the second half. I miss teaching full classes.

BJJ Class: 7:00 - 8:30 pm. I'd been fighting a sinus infection for most of the week, and that affected my performance in class for sure. But I still got through it.

1. Kazushi drill, getting a 2-on-1 or 1 and a collar tie, and the objective was to get arms around the waist. Use push/pull, arm drags, snaps, whatever we could think of to get to the waist.

3 minutes.

2. Similar kazushi drill, but the goal this time was to get a foot behind one of their feet to then destabilize and get a takedown.

3 minutes x2.

3. Top/bottom drill: top person's goal was to get an arm or head and arm isolated and break them down. Bottom person's goal was to get out or get to guard.

3 minutes.

I need to just get better at scrambling.

4. Same as the previous drill, but the top person's goal was to get to an arm-in guillotine, an Anaconda, or a D'Arce choke. Bottom person still trying to get out or get to guard.

3 minutes.

This last drill was interesting in trying to get to the submissions. I started to figure it out a bit. I was struggling to get air today, and that didn't help things at all, but it was still fun. Both of boys came to this class, and it was fun to work with both of them.

The instructor allowed time to free roll afterwards, but I didn't partake. My boys spent time working on the submissions, as they were having trouble setting them up. I helped with that a little and watched.

[bushido_man96]

8/18/2024

Strength Training

Leg Press: 45x10, 135x10, 185x5, 225x3, 270x5, 270x5, 270x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 110x5, 110x5, 110x5.

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

Triceps Push-downs: 55x15, 55x15, 55x15.

The last set of leg press really hurt my knees. They did not like that set. I put the belt back on for pressing.

[bushido_man96]

8/19/2024

TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. No Aikido class today, so I made a point to get to more TKD.

Basics: Better balance today, especially in the kicking combinations.

Forms: Dan Gun, Hwa Rang x2, Choong Jang.

One-steps: Helped with blue/brown belt one-steps, mainly in getting them to flow the techniques together better.

Sparring: Only two students in the class besides me, so both of us black belts sparred each of the kids once. The little brown belt went all-out, and he was charging in just a punching away. I let him work and tried to get him to add more kicks after using his punches, especially coming up the backside to my head. Sparring the orange belt was typical for that rank; techniques thrown too far away, getting the body out of position, and not much for combinations. I had him focus on fixing his stance and body position as he moved around so he wasn't presenting a big target to the front.

Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. Nothing to strenuous today. We went over more of the itinerary for the upcoming women's self-defense seminar. We were mainly clarifying some drilling points and how we're going to approach things, what order, etc.

[bushido_man96]

8/20/2024

Teaching Evaluation/Vetting Session: 2:00 - 3:00 pm. This was for a person who wants to teach for a TKD Club on our college campus. There is a "Traditional Martial Arts Alliance," and a few of us watch those with interest in teaching a club to make sure they are a safe instructor and know their stuff. There were not many students that showed, so we jumped into the class and went along, evaluating from there.

The gal that was teaching was a 1st dan through the WTF (now referred to as WT, but I don't know that flags anything). However, it didn't really go very well. She didn't really break anything down and didn't really explain anything very much. I felt like the class needed more structure and focus; a direction. I wouldn't recommend her to teach at this point. At least not on her own. She mentioned monthly testing cycles, which was a red flag for me. She also mentioned stripe tests (getting stripes on the belt to demonstrate certain requirements have been met), but I was confused as to whether this would be done in the same 1-month cycle, or if it would stripe test in one month, and then belt test the next month.

After bowing in, we started off with some basic punching from sitting stance (or horse stance or middle stance). From there she moved to down blocks, and then a "set" that was down block, inside block, forward backfist. Again, she didn't really elaborate very well on how to do these blocks and strikes. She did have some direction on where to start the hands for the down blocks, but for the other techniques she was much more vague.

Next she talked about the pattern of the forms, the Tae Guk patterns, and started by having us walk through the footwork/stances of the form only, stepping, turning, etc where it was required. After a few of the step-throughs, she added techniques, and we got through maybe half of Tae Guk 1. She showed it, but didn't elaborate on technique, or the targets of the techniques; head, body, groin, etc. She showed us, but didn't give a "how" to the techniques.

After the form work, we lined up on one side of the mats and did kicking up and down the floor, front kicks first, then round kicks. Again, there was little explanation of detail. I had to ask about the striking tool being used.

That would have been the end of the session, only about 30 minutes. Aikido sensei asked a few questions and asked her to work us through some more stuff, so we did a drill with kicking paddles. She demonstrated a downward hammer fist strike, which she stated in her old school white belts would do as a board break at testing. She started giving some technique feedback as she went around to watch the groups perform. I was using my hips to generate power in the technique. She said I should not twist so much, and the power should come from my arm. It's a good thing the session ended shortly thereafter, because I was pretty much done by that point.

My observation was that she was not a good instructor...yet. Everyone has to start somewhere, and everyone can improve. She would benefit from being an assistant to an experienced instructor who could delegate some tasks to her in order to gain more teaching experience. She would also benefit from having a good lesson plan ready to go. It wouldn't have to be terribly elaborate; focus on a few hand techniques in stances, a kick or two, some time on the form, and then some clean-up at the end. But she didn't seem to have a plan. The only stance she showed in the class was the WT walking stance. I would have liked to see how she taught a front stance or a back stance. She did "show" a sitting stance, but the direction she gave did not give me any sense of how a student should do the stance. She slid her left foot out twice, and said "here, here, and then bend the knees."

I do admit that I'm at a disadvantage in that I've probably done TKD longer than she's been alive and therefore have a standard set in my head for instructors. She will teach another session next week, and I'm going back to evaluate again. The other instructor involved has already cast his vote, and he may not show up for the next session. I'd like to see her come in with a lesson plan and present a copy for us to look at. Then I could ask questions about what, how, etc. I'd also like to see her just perform her material; her colored belt forms and her black belt form. That might help answer the rest of my questions, as well.

Strength Training

Leg Press: 45x10, 135x10, 185x5, 225x3, 275x5, 275x5, 275x5.

Bench Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x5, 115x5, 115x5, 115x5.

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

Triceps Push-downs: 57.5x15, 57.5x17. 57.5x10.

Leg press didn't bother my knees today. Last set of bench was a little better on the shoulder.

[DarthPenguin]

8/20/2024

She demonstrated a downward hammer fist strike, which she stated in her old school white belts would do as a board break at testing. She started giving some technique feedback as she went around to watch the groups perform. I was using my hips to generate power in the technique. She said I should not twist so much, and the power should come from my arm. It's a good thing the session ended shortly thereafter, because I was pretty much done by that point.

.

I had to read that twice - a 1st dan at TKD (which is usually very rigid in the respect portion etc.) told a 4th dan their technique is incorrect like that? That seems like quite an ego! Ignoring the fact that the advice you were given in pretty much the opposite of any style i can think of (ignoring differences like power comes from the fee / from the hips etc.) they are usually all "more than just your arm". I would have thought if she had a question that she would have phrased it like "interesting, you perform that strike differently than i am used to, my sensei teaches it like (her way), i am curious as to the difference".

[bushido_man96]

8/20/2024

She demonstrated a downward hammer fist strike, which she stated in her old school white belts would do as a board break at testing. She started giving some technique feedback as she went around to watch the groups perform. I was using my hips to generate power in the technique. She said I should not twist so much, and the power should come from my arm. It's a good thing the session ended shortly thereafter, because I was pretty much done by that point.

.

I had to read that twice - a 1st dan at TKD (which is usually very rigid in the respect portion etc.) told a 4th dan their technique is incorrect like that? That seems like quite an ego! Ignoring the fact that the advice you were given in pretty much the opposite of any style i can think of (ignoring differences like power comes from the fee / from the hips etc.) they are usually all "more than just your arm". I would have thought if she had a question that she would have phrased it like "interesting, you perform that strike differently than i am used to, my sensei teaches it like (her way), i am curious as to the difference".

I didn't let the fact that she was giving feedback bother me too much; after all, she was trying to teach and I wasn't there to show her how good I am. I am usually willing to listen to a piece of advice. But in this case, it was not a good move on her part. I didn't tell her my rank prior to the class, as I didn't want it to be an issue. I bit my tongue, which I probably shouldn't have done, but I let it go. Either way, we'll see if next week goes any better.

8/21/2024

TKD Class: Traditional Class: 5:30 - 6:30 pm. Just me and the middle brown belt kid today.

Basics: short and sweet. Pretty abbreviated so we could spend a lot of time on forms work.

Forms: Toi Gye and Won Hyo hyungs, and then we went through all colored belt forms up to his rank, so 9 more forms in total.

One-steps: the brown belt was left to go through all of his one-steps; I watched and stretched. He sputtered out of the gate, but after a reminder, he took off and had all the one-steps down.

T-shirt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. I spent this time working on testing material. I did Do-Gon 6, which sucked. It winded me really good. I did Choong Jang, Yoo Sin, and Se Jong hyungs, and also three-steps 1-12. I finished out the class working with the CI and his daughter on some more of the women's self-defense seminar material. I was really plugged up and congested today, so I didn't feel great going through material.

[bushido_man96]

8/26/2024

Aikido Class: Weapons Class: 5:00 - 6:00 pm. Jo warmups: high-4, low-4, then we got into jo owase. This was fun. We did owase 1, 2, and 3, and each one started with the same foot movement for the defense. After crossing tips, the attacker would initiate his attack by "taking the line," which you can feel down the jo if you're paying attention. When you feel the line being taken, it's time to react. I liked the sensitivity aspect of the movements. We did the owase for quite a while, then moved on to bokken. We did some block/strike drills similar to like what the owase were for the jo. When doing the yokomenuchi strike, I tried to work on making it as vertical as possible without turning it into a shomenuchi strike. Then for just a minute the sensei talked about "cutting the cut," and we messed with it just a very little bit.

TKD Class: Black Belt Class: 6:30 - 7:30 pm. I started off with a few low rank forms. I did Chon Ji and also my old ATA white belt form, then did Dan Gun and the ATA orange belt form (surprised I remembered it). Then me and the other 4th dan did Do-Gons 1-6. #6 we did the way he said we'd probably do it at the HQ school for pre-test, which was done with a partner in front of you, starting out like a one-step. I didn't think I'd like it at first. So the attacker stepped forward with a punch to attack, I did the initial block/strike series, and then went into the combinations. The attacker then just backed up and kept distance. It wasn't too bad to do it this way. It gave me more focus with the footwork and it also broke it all up to make it a lot less tiring. After getting through all that, I stretched a little and class was over.

[bushido_man96]

8/27/2024

TKD Class/Teaching Evaluation Session 2: 2:00 - 3:00 pm. This session went much better, as she came in with a lesson plan and had some focus. She still needs to get some more teaching experience, but the best way to get it is to do it, along with some supervision, which I think we've got put in place for her. Her class focus was on front kicks.

Warmup: basic calisthenics: jumping jacks, pushups, sit-ups, rolling the head, rolling the shoulders, and then some basic stretching.

Focus: front kicks, including jump front kicks. She did a drill where we just picked up our leg into the chamber position and put it down 5 times from a basic fighting stance. Then we switched to the other side (back leg each time). After that, we did the same drill, but instead of putting the leg back down behind, where it started, we set down feet parallel and shuffled the other foot back, then repeated the process. It was a good way to incorporate some footwork into the drill. We repeated the drill, adding the full front kick. She seemed to want to focus on the initial chamber position for the time being, which was ok. Next we did back leg front kicks as a floor drill, around the outside edge of the mats, in a single line. We went around twice going each direction. Lots of reps, and my hips got fatigued, which was ok. We went around once each way again, this time doing the jump front kick or a combination of the two. I explained to her later in review that drills like that offer lots of time to watch for and throw out minor corrections to the students.

Sparring: not sparring per se, but a sparring-based drill for the front kicks and jump front kicks. She had us start in sparring stances, and the drill was to slide forward, execute a back leg front kick, land forward, then slide back. I liked the idea behind the drill, to get students used to seeing footwork and using it. Later, jump front kick was added to the drill. Partners went back and forth with each other, so they got movement and reps.

Pad kicking: she finished up doing front kicks on paddles. Instead of doing it with partners, she held the paddle for each of us one at a time. We only did 5 per leg, so it didn't take long, as there were only 5 of us in the class. She needs some instruction on holding and angling the pad properly for the kicks the students are doing, but it was a minor thing, and I adjusted the angle for when I did my kicks.

After all that, we had her demonstrate Tae Guek 1 and 2, and she did the portion of her black belt form she knew, Koryo. I was not impressed with her form performance. She had no power and ran the techniques together in spots. On a testing panel, I probably wouldn't pass her. It was very much going through the motions, and there was no "emotional content."

Post-class, the three of us met and had a pow-wow, talked out what we saw better and what still needed improvement, and decided that if she was amenable to having the 3rd dan that was there with us do a team-teaching approach with him there to mentor her, we'd be ok with her giving it a try for this semester (remember, college club). I believe she can get better at teaching with the proper guidance and helpful advice from an experienced eye. She was very amenable to this suggestion, and looks forward to it. We plan to re-evaluate down the road.

Strength Training

Leg Press: 45x10, 135x10, 185x5, 225x3, 280x5, 280x5, 280x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 85x3, 120x5, 120x5, 120x5.

Lat Pull-downs: 132.5x10, 132.5x10, 132.5x10.