So I've been here in Poland for two days now. Didn't yet have a chance to do any training whatsoever. So I compensated by eating lots of food, mostly sugar and fat. Great way to begin a deload week. Anyhow, today I met Jakob, chief instructor of the Ronin TeakwonDo group here in Warsaw [ www.ronin.waw.pl ]. Spent about two hours discussing rather random martial arts related topics. Here's what I consider to be the most important topics: Don't take blackbelt gradings lightly. If you think about taking your black belt exams, aks yourself honestly: "What have I done to deserve beiing a black belt?". Jakob told me that he refused to take that exam for quite a long time, because he just didn't feel worthy of wearing a Dan. Only after he won the european championships did he decide to finally test for the black belt. A black belt should take a long time to achieve, too. Receiving a Dan grading after two years of training is a joke. Obviously, a black belt only...