7/21/2026

Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class, which I taught again. Regular basics. Forms/one-steps for low orange, low/high green, low blue, middle brown, 2nd dan and 3rd dan.

Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. No drills, just sparring rounds. I did a round where I told them I wanted to see everyone throw a spin kick counter at least once, and then 2 more rounds where I told them they had to throw a repeat kick of some kind and a spinning counter. We finished with some footwork drills.

I told my low orange belt gal that I wanted her to stop stomping/slapping her feet into the floor when transitioning between stances. It's slowing her techniques and stops her from gaining an rhythm. She's too heavy on the foot that is stepping forward. I told her to think more like regular walking when moving between stances.

On 7/22/2026 at 12:42 AM, bushido_man96 said:

I told my low orange belt gal that I wanted her to stop stomping/slapping her feet into the floor when transitioning between stances. It's slowing her techniques and stops her from gaining a rhythm. She's too heavy on the foot that is stepping forward. I told her to think more like regular walking when moving between stances.

When did she start doing that and where did she pick that up from?!?

Edited July 23Jul 23 by sensei8

On 7/23/2026 at 5:49 PM, sensei8 said:

When did she start doing that and where did she pick that up from?!?

A lot of our students tend to be rather heavy footed when stepping forward into front stances. Honestly, it was one of the first things I noticed when I went to watch a class there for the first time. It comes from watching high rank instructors do it in basics and demonstrating it. Step heavy, like a "power step," to add power when striking. This orange belt girl told me her dad told her it "adds power." I told her it can, under the right circumstances. But her circumstances aren't right. We do have some forms were there are stomps associated with some stepping and striking, but not a lot. And it's never something I joined in with the others in the school/organization doing. I like to control my steps with a little more finesse and let the power come from the hips and driving off the back foot.

7/23/2026

Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Taught Traditional Class. During basics, I hammered rechamber on kicks and hand/foot timing on hand techniques when landing. Forms/one-steps for white, low orange, high green, low blue, middle brown, 2nd dan and 3rd dan. I did one-steps with the middle brown belt. We worked on spin heel kicks and foot placement for setting up the kicking combinations in the one-steps. I also helped her work on the round kick targets. When they start adding in the spins, they tend to change the way they are kicking regardless of the person that is the target in front of them.

Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Lots of drills. I had attacker do a skipping round kick to score (making contact), and they switched doing that back and forth. Getting moving and feeling the contact. Then a round of skipping round kick/spin side kick combination. Then rounds of skipping round kick, two punches, and finishing with a BL round kick. Finished the class with some sparring floor drills, doing combinations based off what we did in the drills above. I let them experiment with some different spinning kicks in their combinations.

Our orange belt girl really focused on not stomping the floor when stepping in stances. When she gets that under control, we should be able to start adding more for her to focus on.

7/28/2026

Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Taught Traditional Class. Prior to class, I went through Choi Yong hyung about 3 times. Balance still sucks. I did the first half of basics along with the students. The other 5th dan jumped into class and worked out. Basics flew by, and I even added stepping hook kicks into the side kick section for the higher ranks. Forms/one-steps for white, high green, low blue, middle brown, 2nd dan, 3rd dan, and me and the other 5th dan did our form together.

Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. We just lined up and sparred today, like the good ol days. My back was feeling better, so I jumped in to spar for the first time in probably 3 months. Myself, a 2nd dan, and a 3rd dan were in class, and we all got to spar each other at least once. It was good. I tried to focus on countering when my partner's kicking leg was setting down, but but I often ended up trying to counter during the rechamber, and it got stuck a few times. I've got to keep working on the footwork and combinations, maybe square up a little more and see if it helps my balance.

7/30/2026

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:15 pm. Three warmup rounds. Got in some good positions and held them. Moved from mount to side control and back a few times.

We spent time drilling the front headlock position and working on guillotine, anacondas, D'Arce chokes, and a Navy ride, and transitioning between them, or from one to the next. It was a lot of information. Then we went to closed guard and did some drills were the goal was to prevent the top player from posturing up and maintain it. Next we worked on a hip bump sweep, and progressed the drill to where the bottom player could win by containing the posture or using the sweep. We finished by doing a flow in guard from triangle to armbar to Omo plata.

No free rolling, but that's ok because my back was still hurting anyway.

7/31/2026

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:15 pm. Three warmup rounds, moving through positions. I found a few sub opportunities along the way, and I would just enter the technique, but not set it for a sub.

More guard play today. Which is good for me, because I end up there a lot. We played the game where the guard player controls the posture for a 3 count, or pulled the hip bump sweep, then switched roles. Then we progressed it to starting to set up the sweep and switching to a Kimura instead, or a guillotine if they decided to barrel forward into us and forcing us back down. From the guillotine position we could get a hook with our outside foot and flip them over and transition to the D'Arce of anaconda chokes we did the day before. I liked this series, and although I may not have all the sub options down, I feel good about the sweep into the Kimura

We did do some live rolling tonight. I got 4 rounds in I think. I got tapped once on an ankle lock. As we were going I saw an opportunity to get into the leg entanglements and decided to just give it a try. I thought I had an opportunity for a kneebar, but when I sat back into it I didn't have my partner's movement restricted enough. We ended up scrambling around and he set the ankle lock while I was looking for one on him, and I didn't start to turn in time. There was a newer student there that I could hit submissions on, but otherwise, I was just surviving.

8/4/2026

Strength Training

Leg Press: 245x5, 265x5, 285x5, 305x5, 335x5.

Press: 45x5x2, 65x5, 75x5, 85x5, 95x5, 105x5.

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

I did a little bit of stretching prior to lifting to try to help loosen up my back a little. Still have back pain.

Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Taught Traditional Class. Regular basics, and I focused on making sure kicks followed the same track out and back, and having good rechamber position, and not dropping the leg after kicking. Forms/one-steps for low/high orange, high green, low blue, and middle brown belt. I did one-steps with the middle brown belt.

High orange - a young kid, doing very well. She does the form with confidence and is ready to test.

High green - we had 4 of them tonight! All middle school/young high school. They stayed in sync very well and they are all looking good. I hope this group of kids keeps growing together. Overall very good and they are ready to test.

Low blue - another young kid, and he's really looking pretty sharp now. He used to go 100 miles a minute, super high energy. We got him to slow everything down a little bit and it's helped him bring his techniques and balance under control, resulting in smoother being faster. Slowing down a touch has actually helped his power. He's ready to test.

Middle brown - an adult, and she has the form down and is doing well, and is ready to go.

Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Instead of sparring, we pulled out the standing bags and worked on some kicks. I had them start close to the bag, slide away a stance length, like a retreat, and then throw a back leg kick. We did this front kicks, round kicks, reverse side kicks, reverse hook/heel kicks, and then 360 degree round kicks, ratcheting up the difficulty on the kicks as we went. At the end, I started introducing the next step, which is doing these kicks as "switch-away" kicks, where the slide back and kick is combined. I will drill those next week. 30 minutes is not enough time for this segment of "class."

On 8/4/2026 at 7:24 AM, bushido_man96 said:

More guard play today. Which is good for me, because I end up there a lot. We played the game where the guard player controls the posture for a 3 count, or pulled the hip bump sweep, then switched roles. Then we progressed it to starting to set up the sweep and switching to a Kimura instead, or a guillotine if they decided to barrel forward into us and forcing us back down. From the guillotine position we could get a hook with our outside foot and flip them over and transition to the D'Arce of anaconda chokes we did the day before. I liked this series, and although I may not have all the sub options down, I feel good about the sweep into the Kimura

Sounds like a good session - the newer people do help a lot too, is good mentally to finally be able to get stuff on folk rather than just being smashed! (though typically the next round is with someone better and you get smashed lol). Interesting description of the sweep into Kimura - isn't a chain i have worked in years but when i did i used to do it the other way round: eg plant opponents right arm (on my left side) and start to get the 'kimura grip' with my right arm and then when they defended the kimura i used that to do the sweep

On 7/29/2026 at 12:32 AM, bushido_man96 said:

A lot of our students tend to be rather heavy footed when stepping forward into front stances. Honestly, it was one of the first things I noticed when I went to watch a class there for the first time. It comes from watching high rank instructors do it in basics and demonstrating it. Step heavy, like a "power step," to add power when striking. This orange belt girl told me her dad told her it "adds power." I told her it can, under the right circumstances. But her circumstances aren't right. We do have some forms were there are stomps associated with some stepping and striking, but not a lot. And it's never something I joined in with the others in the school/organization doing. I like to control my steps with a little more finesse and let the power come from the hips and driving off the back foot.

You’ve a plan to retrain her away from the bad habits?!?