DarthPenguin

Have once again been horrendously remiss in updating this! Kept training through most of December and even added in some regular runs (which i hate!) Won't bother with updates for missing period and will start with this week! Monday 5th January Lifting Session Back squat 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 83kg x 5 83kg x 5 83kg x 5 83kg x 5 Had tested indicative max at end of January. did a few reps with 110kg and it flew up out of the hole but slowed down a lot at a sticking point nearer the top. From looking into it this is likely weak glutes / hamstrings so i will try to work on that too which should also help my kick height. Bench press 20kg x 5 40kg x 3 60kg x 2 68kg x 5 68kg x 5 68kg x 5 68kg x 5 Again i tested this end jan. Can just get 100kg for 1 rep and it is proper maximum but i also have a very marked sticking point near the top of the lift so need to strengthen triceps. Romanian Deadlift 60kg x 5 60kg x 5 60kg x 5 60kg x 5 Starting these pretty light but will be double overhand with no straps to also work on grip. This should help work on hamstrings / glutes Assisted pull up with 25kg band 5 reps 5 reps 5 reps pleased with these - have already really reduced the amount of band assistance from when i first started on them will build to 3 x 10 then reduce banding until i get to bw Standing military press 30kg x 10 30kg x 10 30kg x 10 Again went light for these. Partly to work on SE as the weight flies up for first 6 reps or so then my shoulder start to fatigue a bit so i need to work on that and increase their work capacity which should carry over well to my martial arts training Close grip bench press 50kg x 10 50kg x 10 50kg x 10 adding these in to work on triceps strength E-Z bar biceps curl 26kg x 8 26kg x 8 26kg x 8 Overall good first lifting session of 2026, i was pleased!

Thanks for taking the time to pull together the detailed write up! As others have said the issues / questions you have raised are not new ones and are ones that many people have and reach their own conclusion on. I would be surprised if your current instructor hasn't had similar thoughts at some point in his personal journey and come up with his own answer to them - have you tried discussing it with him? It could be an issue for you of "you don't know what you don't know". Giving some personal examples: i was away from karate for an extremely long time, and only actually returned as my son wanted to train in it. So i went back, returned myself to white belt and started training. One thing i noticed straight away is that while i was away i had fallen into the camp of "they have lots of useless silly stances", when i came back i came to the realisation that the stances (in my view) are more of a type of body conditioning / stretching and a way of honing your body. When we do kumite we immediately shorten stances and go back to a more "kickboxing style" stance. My other experiences had then led me to a greater appreciation of what i am being taught. I have also over the years come across many people who have the idea that they are going to ignore conventional training because they want to focus on "self defence and what actually works in a fight". Usually when i look into it more or try to spar with them etc. they couldn't fight their way out a wet paper bag. They will focus on lots of silly partner drills with a compliant partner and believe that if someone comes at them then they will miraculously be able to protect themselves from the knife etc.. There are obviously exceptions to this rule. I had a former instructor who used to like teaching knife defenses by covering a plastic blade in some paint and that showed you the cuts or stab wounds you would have received which was very eye opening - he used to be ultra practical and tell you that in reality you will be cut/stabbed in that situation so don't get into it or worst case pick where you will be cut! It sounds like you had a decent Krav Maga school (which will have been good) but i must admit i am always a bit sceptical of them as from prior experience the style often seemed to boil down to "kick them in the balls", which while effective is hard to drill and practice! If you are wanting to boil everything down to self defence then fair enough but i would build a decision tree with some questions and take it from there. I would start with: do you want to protect yourself in a way that minimises the risk of your going to jail? If no, then tbh get some weapons and build skill in using them and improvised ones; if yes then next step is what type of situation do you think you would be in? Someone aggressive starting a fight in a bar / location or are you in a more dangerous area where you might be attacked by someone with a weapon? etc. etc. For me, when i asked those questions and follow ups (plus making allowances for age etc as i am 46) i came to a set of conclusions and i train Shotokan, Judo and BJJ together now. I also try to see where i can blend the styles together eg if someone closes range in karate kumite maybe i could use one of a few judo throws there and the one i use might be picked as it segues into a bjj technique i like etc. In my view, when it comes to self defence you need to focus on gross repeatable motor patterns since those are more likely to be repeatable under high stress situations. You also need to pick things that work for you and suit your body type e.g. i am 6'4 and about 230lb (in US units) so i will be suited to different techniques to someone who is 5'10 and 160lb. If i was to pick (from scratch) what i would want to learn to defend myself in my early 20s i would pick up 3 styles (one for stand up striking, one to deal with clinch range and one for on the ground) and would choose Muay Thai (you learn to judge distance, take a hit, deliver a hit and amazing conditioning), Judo (better judo schools in the UK than wrestling plus in public people wear clothes but if in the USA might opt for wrestling) and for the ground work BJJ. Learn all 3 to a black belt (or equivalent) level and you should be able to protect yourself in most situations, having applied your techniques on resisting similarly sized or bigger opponents. IF worried about weapons then add in some Kobudo. If you want to start (in essence) teaching your own style then, being blunt, you need to acquire rank in the component styles you are using as a building block. Not because rank in itself confers any validity but it does confirm that a skilled practitioner of that style has independently determined your skill level in that style to be X level. If i looked into a non mainstream style and was told it was self defence focused and made up by the instructor i would heavily scrutinise the instructors credentials: i would expect multiple dan ranks in traditional styles; a amateur/pro fighting record that can be verified; a law enforcement/ military background that i think would have conferred the skills. Eg if i saw one from an individual who said they were a Kru rank in Muay Thai, 3rd Dan Judo, BJJ Black Belt then i would take them seriously (or something like professional bodyguard in dangerous location X for high profile individuals - with evidence). If i saw "have trained in martial arts since i was little, lots of breaks, not achieved Dan rank in any but i have done lots of research etc." then i wouldn't even bother looking into it further as i would want some independent validation of skills. Likely a little harsh of me i know but just being honest!

Very fair point - while i loathe him he deserves respect for getting in there by a live puncher in Joshua. I genuinely don't think Joshua went at him full bore (i still believe he might have killed him if he did) but taking punches from a boxer like Joshua takes serious guts. He deserves a lot of praise for his bottle and courage if nothing else

Good topic and i totally agree, resolutions need to be trackable, actionable and realistic. I also find that applying some kind of penalty for not achieving them is also helpful (eg in prior years i would set goals and if not met by time X i owed someone else £50/£100)! My Martial Arts resolutions / goals are: Sit Shotokan Shodan with very strong attempt For this the goal is to sit it once in March and if needed resit in August. Not making the goal passing it (even though that is obviously the intention) since passing is out of my control to an extent but i want to do so. If i don't manage to pass it in March (which i hope i will since i have spent 1.5yrs at 1st Kyu making sure i am ready for it) then i want to make sure i smash it later this year Get to Judo 4th Kyu This one i am putting the grade as the more continuous assessment of the lower judo grades means i have a little more control over it and it isn't an assessment that i need to wait 3/6 mths to resit if needed Get a stripe on my bjj belt! Again this is being put as the continuous assessment makes it more achievable. I also want this as a target so i will have something to aim for / work on to demonstrate i am becoming less bad! Improve my kicking height, ideally to shoulder height for yoko geri and mawashi geri. Will do this by working flexibility plus strengthening hips, glutes etc which is the issue i think (ties into fitness section too) Fitness related goals Lifting manage to bench 105kg x 2 reps, current 1rm is 100kg and it is very much a real maximum manage to squat 140kg x 1. Think this is doable as when i recently testing i did 110kg and it flew up out of the hold and hit a sticking point 3/4 up which showed up glute/hamstring weakness so is fixable. Legs themselves could likely manage more weight set of 5 pull ups - currently can't do 1 but working on it and have been doing assisted reps and the level of assistance has been coming down a lot so i think it is doable general fitness run for 5k relatively easily have started a little running (which i hate but i think is worth doing), managed up to 3k so far though HR is on border or Zone 2 and 3. Want it to be a consistent low Zone 2 for full 5k.

Yeah that is true, there is no reason to assume that one or the other would improve at a faster rate. Though i would say that what i put into parentheses is also equally applicable towards training at any martial arts club. All true but i think this also applies equally to any martial arts club. Nothing stopping the child playing the long game and training at a regular club. Long term martial arts training doesn't make someone a decent person by default - first example that pops into my head is Rousimar Palhares (there are other issues with him too i know) who basically liked to injure people and did it a lot with leg locks. This likely varies from country to country. I am in Scotland and there is no wrestling taught as part of school here (or indeed in most of the UK). Typically PE here is football/soccer; rugby; basketball; gymnastics; badminton. If anyone wanted to learn a martial art of any kind (including wrestling) it is done outside school. At risk of shifting the focus of the discussion, learning the rules of the sport does not in my view make it useless for self defence. I remember our judo coach showing us all Uranage with the comment "if anyone ever starts on you in a bar and you can't avoid it then uranage them through a table - will put them down". I have always inherently disagreed with the assumption that the untrained/"self defence trained" fighter will use all kind of dirty tricks etc. but the trained individual magically loses the ability to do so. I remember watching an excellent video with the well known BJJ instructor Draculino demonstrating a triangle choke with the person being choked permitted to bite etc. The bite didnt work - he also pointed out that if they can bite him he could put his thumbs through both of their eyes as their head is trapped! While the focus of the sport in judo is definitely competition and sport, hitting the ground hard hurts a lot. For self defence, in my view, one of the best ways to protect yourself is to down your opponent and get away. Slamming someone to the ground hard, when most assailants will not have great Ukemi (and tbh on concrete even if you do it will still hurt a tonne) will in most instances give you the time to get away safely.

There are a few other points here that I think may be relevant: often kids aren't really aware of the consequences of violence and the harm it could cause to others so there is a chance that them all training would make the kids aware of the potential for harm and make them show more reserve (though the opposite may also be true and it makes people realise how much damage they could do!) Opening it up to all kids doesn't mean that all the kids have to retain the right to be trained. If kids demonstrate that they fail to meet certain acceptance criteria for the training (eg bullying people etc.) then they could be stopped from attending the lesson/s Not everyone will progress / learn at an equal rate. So even if the bully is being trained too then there is no guarantee they will improve at the same rate as the others (though again the opposite is also true). Teaching at school would remove the choice of styles from the parents to an extent. Eg for myself my son started Judo at 4. He really wanted to (and loves it) plus i personally think it is the best "foundational style" for a kid due to teaching the kids how to fall safely etc. plus the really well structured pathway for teaching from very young ages all the way to adulthood. He later added some Shotokan and he has told me he wants to try Kyokushin too and learn some mma (he is 9 currently so i told him he needs to be a little older first. Would i have liked it if the school just decided that he had to learn Muay Thai at age X? Probably not, it is a fantastic style but i would prefer him to try it when he is in his teens at least (and through his own choice). Also how would the school choose the style? Could see this causing plenty of issues too!

there is sometimes a way round this - years ago a friend of mine was brought in by a school (happened to be a private one) to teach two of their pupils martial arts during PE lessons. He was their instructor in their regular club and they were allowed to choose whatever thing they wished to do in PE providing it was a sport they could demonstrate a genuine interest in etc. He taught them during the day a couple of times a week and was given discretion over what he taught etc and his assessment. Gradings were still the usual route. I am aware this is very much the exception though - would be extremely hard to tailor it to a school situation generally

Very true - this season might decide it! Shame about Mahomes injury too - hopefully he comes back at 100%. He is easily one of the best QBs i have ever seen tbh and will be deep in the GOAT conversation when he eventually retires i think. For Allen, the key difference for me this season is Cook has been great. When the Bills had the better defences they always lacked a running game from anyone but Allen which hurt then in the playoffs etc i think. Now there is much better balance

Is an interesting idea but it does depend on the purpose of the testing. I could see how it might work well for more skilled practitioners who are attempting to demonstrate 'mastery' of some skills. If there were some constraints set such as : need to perform a combination of a minimum of X strikes of which Y need to be kicks etc. and have a few similar constraints then it might be an interesting idea. Could run alongside the usual testing of perform this kata etc. Sorta reminds me of a style i did in the past where for grading you were also required to perform a prior grades pattern/kata but with free direction, which meant you had to change the directions and could adjust the techniques a little (eg make a kick a jumping variant or more complex one - so could replace a roundhouse with a 360 roundhouse but still had to move into the next technique smoothly). Was good for really bedding down the patterns in your muscle memory i thought

As a Bills fan i must admit i would like to see the Chiefs eliminated! Remove any chance of "playoff Mahomes" causing an issue!

Yeah thats true - i hadn't factored in senior grades! Yeah i think it is a personal choice. Originally i had graded under Kawazoe Sensei but i had left karate 25+ years ago (though have trained in other styles in the interim). I thought it was appropriate to return as a white belt since in my view it would take multiple years to regain skills to an appropriate level to match belt, so why not get regraded instead over that time period then would be no doubt i was at whatever my current belt level was skill wise: am now grading under Sensei F Brennan so am pretty sure that one will hold up in most places too - back to 1st kyu now and hoping to sit Shodan under him early next year

This one shocked me when i saw it - do they genuinely think that a 4yrs retired Rivers is better than anyone else available? Apparently his familiarity in the system as he worked in that offence for years is part of the reason behind it

Is an interesting one, as i can see both of your points. My view is that if you are in the same style, from a valid school then you keep your belt e.g. i am under the kugb in the UK, if i moved to JKA, JSKA, JKS etc. i would expect to be exactly the same rank as they are all Shotokan. Every person i know who has done this has kept their belt - the potentially giving up rank in the same style seems to be a USA thing (i say this as someone who did actually give up their rank in Shotokan and start again from white belt as i had been away from it for an extremely long time!). With rank in another style with transferable skills then you are still a white belt in the new style, though i found it bad form not to tell people you had previous training (it is usually pretty obvious to everyone anyway). I have trained in a few styles over the years and when i was in that situation i usually just told someone i am Rank X in this style which has crossover of Y and then i learnt the syllabus as a white belt but usually did any kumite/sparring with the more experienced people. Competition was fair game as tbh nowadays a lot of people have cross training anyway! For BJJ at my school Judo BB start at white too and they usually take a year or so to grade to Blue (obviously varies depending on the individual). Everyone knows who they are and people just roll with them mroe normally than they would with a fresh white belt. Conversely when i started to add in judo i told them i train BJJ (albeit i am not the best!) and it means that for Newaza i typically go with the Brown / Black belts and for Tachiwaza i stay with grade or the higher ranks are gentle. If i was to enter competition i would enter at my judo rank. I had a judo friend who was a bit put out as at the time he was a Judo Brown and only needed 10pts or so for Shodan and when he entered a BJJ comp he had to enter at White - i also remember a Judo 6th Dan several years ago who was made to enter at Blue!

All true, would be a massive risk. If Dak was on mid tier money then fair enough they could likely balance it out (that in essence is the whole point of a salary cap after all). But (i think) he gets top tier money and i don't think he is on that level personally so i think they are overpaying for him. In my head the top tier is Mahomes, Allen, Jackson and Burrow and he shouldn't be on what they are on. While i know the QB is always highly paid due to the job he just isn't that level and i think he has been in the league long enough to know how good he is. He actually reminds me a little of Romo in that way: a good QB but not quite great enough to win a SB without a lot of help, and Dak takes enough money that it is hard to get a strong enough supporting cast around him to provide that help

All valid points, though in my mind it is similar to the Bucs letting Dungy go and picking up Gruden to get them over the hump for the superbowl. Or the Packers transitioning from Favre to Rodgers (Favre was still a quality QB), the 49ers from Montana (who was still good at the Chiefs) to Steve Young etc. Having a decent but not great QB in Dak means the Cowboys can draft a decent QB (not the np.1 pick obviously) with a tonne of upside and coach them in their system for a year or two and then give them the keys. Ideally like Jordan Love at the Packers. Or if they get crazy lucky they get someone like Purdy (or Brady back in the day) who is drafted low, doesn't cost much, but is good enough to play and then lets them spend money on the other parts of the team. Could also make the argument that sometimes (in North American sports - it doesn't really apply to European sports without salary caps) a rebuild is what is needed to improve the team. Consistently finishing with a decent record and mid to late round draft pics means the foundations don't really improve. A rebuild where they tank for a year or two and draft some top talent has been proven to work in Basebell (and the NBA to an extent). It is a risk but it gives the potential of a top tier talent, plus the Cowboys are such a big name and Jones is usually a willing spender to worst case they can always get in a decent free agent or two if worried! I do agree that jettisoning Dak is a big risk but i personally think it is the only way the Cowboys will win the SB in the near future (this is going to come back to haunt me i know!)