8/19/2026

Aikido: 6:15 - 7:15 pm. Loosening, basic strikes, mae geri, aikitaisos, and ukemi. Rolling was a little better, as in I didn't seem to get as dizzy from it. Some of it seems to be getting better, smoother, but I still feel like I'm crushing my shoulder on the front rolls.

For technique work we did several variations of ryotetori kotegashi, and none of them went very well at all. They are quite odd and pretty involved. I'll need a lot of work on them, as most of the variations we did are part of my testing requirements. We finished class with some kokyudosa.

8/20/2026

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:00 pm. Three warmup rounds. I moved ok, got to some good positions. Class focus is still the front headlock position, and we worked from the same game with the top player just trying to retain control. It progressed to the top player could win by a topple. Lots of grip fighting on the bottom. I tried to use posture to help, but it's tough. I need to quad-pod and move more, especially circling or back and forth. When on top, I need to stay on my toes and keep better pressure.

No free rolling today. My back was still hurting. I hate missing the free rolling sessions, but I told coach I'd rather come to 3/4 of class for three weeks than do a full class and miss the next three weeks of training.

During one of the games a wrestler decided to lock in an anaconda from the start (as opposed to how we were supposed to start). That made the entire drill suck.

8/21/2026

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:00 pm. Three warmup rounds. I broke my "don't submit anyone" rule in one of the rounds. I had the other guy in my guard and I was trying to work a triangle, and instead was able to get my leg up and over with my shin in his neck and got an armbar from here. I was just going to try to get to the position to see if I had anything, but it set pretty quick.

Played the front headlock game again, and progressed it to the top player hitting and anaconda or D'Arce choke. I did some things ok movement wise. On bottom I circled more at times, and on some I dove in deeper and secured a leg, locked my hands, pinned my hands to the ground, then tripod up and circled out (this was a move I saw the boy's wrestling coach teach once for recovering from a bad shot where the shot was from too far away and they got sprawled on). I did get tapped to an anaconda once, and I got frustrated about that. I couldn't land a submission myself, but did escape some.

I did free roll tonight, but I tried to keep the intensity down and only did three rounds. I got tapped in an armbar inside the opponent's guard. Other rounds were scramble-and-survive rounds. These young, athletic kids are just better than me.

I have to say, I was pretty frustrated again tonight. But I'm going to keep at it. Consistency over Time = Results.

8/22 - 23/2026

I'm posting this note mainly out of disappointment, because it was supposed to be our TKD school's annual women's self-defense seminar. The CI said the other instructor didn't "create an event" for it this year, and they just put up a poster, posted the poster on Facebook, and expected to get attendees by word-of-mouth. When he mentioned that as I was waiting for the first session to start. Needless to say, no on showed up. Next day, nada as well. He said he was going to be talking with the college about holding one there next year. I recommended he reach out to some sororities about setting something up. In the past with our DT club on campus we had luck with that.

8/25/2026

Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Traditional Class, and I got to be a participant today. Basics were shook up and different, to include doing some spear hand strikes, some balancing on one leg in front kick chamber (which my balance was terrible for), and some axe kicks (which I don't like, so it's good to do them). During forms I worked with the high brown belt on Choong Moo hyung. I had to go through it to remember it. We went through it several times. I did low orange and high blue one-steps.

Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. Some rounds interspersed with some partner drills. Worked reverse side kicks back and forth, then started working on the switch kick version. We did another drill where we did three of a kick in a row to "set them up" and then throw a different kick from the same chamber. We finished with a sparring round where we could tag someone in for us. Two started in the middle, and the other two were on either side of the ring. At any time someone in the ring sparring could tag someone in from the outside of the ring. There were no designated partners, and you could tag either of the people outside the ring, whoever you were closest to. It was a long round but it was fun. Towards the end of the round, when I was sparring the kids, I put my hands behind my back so I had no choice but to make myself move more to avoid attacks instead of hunkering down and blocking in one place. I was participating in these drills as well; the CI was teaching here, too. So I got a good workout tonight, but my knees are paying for it. A little stretching at the end and that was it.

8/26/2026

Range: 8:00 am - 1:30 pm. A long day at the range. We did our department qualifications on pistol, back-up, rifle, shotgun, and less-lethal impact munitions, along with our annual classroom use-of-force review.

Edited August 28Aug 28 by bushido_man96

8/27/2026

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: 6:45 - 8:15 pm. We had a guest instructor tonight, a brown belt from out west here in Kansas. He had us working from guard on bottom on a shoulder pin and worked into a Neil Knot, and then an option to work back to a triangle. He showed what he called "hacking" as a way of keeping the legs up and round in the guard and using pressure into the top player and hip movement to adjust the guard without posting a foot on the ground. I really liked that and plan to try to use it more in the future. I had to modify the Neil Knot a little due to my short stumpy legs making things difficult.

We didn't drill as much as we usually do, and got into a lot of free rolling. I brought my oldest son Kendall back to class with me tonight and am hoping he can start coming more regularly. I had a blast with him there tonight. I had to tap out working with him several times. I'm getting better at getting to guard when I get taken down. I had him work with me on some takedown stuff.

I rolled with a wrestler that has been there pretty regularly again tonight, and it went much better tonight. I managed to hit a switch and get to semi-top position in his half-guard, and I almost had an Americana set but time ran out in the round. I asked him if I almost had it, and he said "oh yeah." I didn't want to rip it and was applying it easy. I don't want to hurt anyone just to get a tap.

Another round was with another regular guy in our group, one that I had a scramble round with a few weeks back. This time I was able to stay in top position for most of the round in one form or another, and keep good pressure on. I couldn't land a sub though. He turtled up a couple of times, and his turtle was really tight. I couldn't work my hands in anywhere to try to choke, and I could feed a leg in to get control that way. I did get him toppled once and worked a lot from mount, trying to crawl up and isolate an arm for an Americana. I couldn't get one though, and his arms were so close to him I didn't think I could risk trying to set an armbar.

8/31/2026

This kicks off a pretty full week of Martial Arts.

Taekwondo: 5:30 - 6:00 pm. Taught Forms & One-Steps Class. Reviewed Chon Ji, Dan Gun, Do San hyungs, all at my count, twice each. I also did Yul Gok with low and high blue belts at my count. Then one-steps for low orange, low and high blue, and high brown belts. I worked with a low blue belt; she was learning them for the first time, so we just got through 1 and 2. I spent more time than I should have on the forms and cut the one-step time short.

Sparring Drills: 6:00 - 6:30 pm. I had them put the pads on and pair up. The attacker did a two-kick combo and the defender would use good footwork to slide back on light feet while still staying just close enough that the attacker just misses but the defender doesn't have to block. The combos I had the attackers use were: BL round kick, BL round kick; BL round kick, reverse side kick; BL round kick, any spin kick. I had them do the drill back and forth, switching from offense to defense and back again. I emphasized focusing on good footwork and good body position (balance in the stance) especially when setting the foot down after the 2nd kick, and also not stopping and settling after the 2nd kick and "ending" the drill before switching.

I also used the drill to key in on two other things: 1). not being laser-focused, but looking at the body and using peripheral vision to "see everything without looking at anything;" 2). to start recognizing the "pre-contact" cues of the offensive kicker when they start kicking: seeing things like the front foot pivot, the rear hip turning toward them, things like that. This recognition will help them seem to speed up due to perceiving things better and reacting sooner.

On a side note, I hate these half-hour "blocks" of classes that we do now. I think they are built on some misguided information. I just want more time in a class.

9/1/2026

Taekwondo: 5:45 - 6:30 pm. Taught Traditional Class. CI had an out-of-town emergency so I was covering Monday and Tuesday. Got through about 2/3 of basics. Forms and one-steps for low green, low blue, high blue, and 2nd dan. New forms are getting better.

The low green belts were very tough today. They are young kids, and they have inconsistent attendance. They weren't completing hand techniques (especially on the drawing hand side), didn't have tight fists, were kicking with loose feet, etc. They need more consistency, or, in my opinion, they shouldn't be allowed to test.

Sparring: 6:30 - 7:00 pm. I built off the drills I did on Monday:

Closed stance, FL round kicks, scoring on the chest protector with them, going back and forth like sparring. They were close enough to pick the leg up and kick without taking a step.

Open stance, attacker throws BL round kick x2, defender slides back twice just out of range, staying close enough to avoid kicks while not having to block them. No settling.

Closed stance, but with distance so attacker had to step and close distance to score, using a skipping or stepping-together round kick with the FL. Defender's job was to "see" the pre-contact cues of the stepping or skipping kick and slide back then set long enough to counter with a reverse side kick. Learning the distance.

Next week I want to use clapper pads so the defender can hit a spin hook kick counter. I may need to do some hook kicking basics to prepare the students for it. I also want to start working on side-stepping/cutting angles instead of backing up.

Had a brief stretch after class.

9/3/2026

Aikido: 8:15 - 9:45 am. Morning Class. We worked internals during aikitaisos, trying to extend to the sides, up, and down, and with striking and balancing while front kicking. This was tough for me. My balance was bad, too. Then we did an ukemi drill where we got connected with a lapel grab, and then nage would move and circle around, and uke was supposed to feel the movement through the connection and move along. We added front kicks to the drill, lightly, sensing the kick and adjusting/blocking/off-balancing.

Technique work started with that lapel grab, and we moved from static nikkyo to gokyo to yonkyo. We were to use that good connection as both uke and nage and try to use the internals concepts as well. We finished at the end by mixing and matching what we had been doing. The yonkyo technique is one of our testing requirements.

This day was a long one. I had worked the night before, and was going on two days off and needed to turn my sleep schedule around from nights to work days. So I was coasting on just an hour and a half nap by the time BJJ class rolled around. I was tired, achy, my knees hurt, and I was wiped out.

Brazilian Jiu-jitsu: 6:45 - 8:15 pm. After a few 5 minute warm-up rounds we worked on standing guard passes quite a bit. We did some quick 30-second rounds for a while, with the standing player trying to pass the legs and the bottom player just moving and trying to prevent it. I think too much about things going in a certain order. As we got to the end of these drills I found establishing a hand post on the further hip to be very helpful in finishing the pass.

I went for several live rounds, 5 minutes each. Coach caught me in bottom side control but he let me work to get out and get back to guard. I had some ok rounds; I picked up one of the guys in a fireman's carry and took a knee and very carefully dumped him; he kind of ended up working me over, though. I did get an Americana on a guy from mount; I tried to work more technique instead of just being heavy on him.

There was a new guy in class tonight, an older gentleman but I don't think as old as me, a little taller and heavier than me. He's raw though, no previous training. He gassed out quite a bit. When I was working with him I talked him through what we were working on and tried to help him out as much as I could. I tried to let him work. I let him get to a mount and he was heavy. I was able to get to a half-guard but it still sucked. He will be good to do some work against.

One of the small guys that's been there is a fighter, and he has a fight coming up this month if he gets cleared by the athletic commission. He showed a pass where he basically just goes in aggressively and puts his knee into the stomach or sternum and the shin might get the nethers, just depends. Then the knee slices off one of the legs at the hip to pass. He said it's frowned upon, but I imagine he uses it in his fights. Seems good to keep in mind, but I don't want to injure anyone either.