AnonymousCoward

Yes, I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree. Taekwon-Do is heavily based on Shotokan Karate rather than ancient Korean arts. My understanding is that General Choi studied Shotokan to Nidan (2nd Dan level) after leaving Korea and even taught Karate to his captors whilst awaiting execution by the Japanese. One of my instructors trained in Shotokan Karate for many years and said that some of the techniques in the hyung are taken directly from Karate, sometimes in the wrong order. It is also based on Korean Tae Kyon which was taught to General Choi by his Caligraphy teacher when he was younger because he was getting bullied. There's also some southern Kung Fu influence which you can spot if you're into bunkai (don't know the Korean word for it). I wouldn't say that Taekwon-Do was 2000 years old... more like 50... However, it's lineage is. Back to the question of unused techniques, then I would agree that most Taekwon-Do schools do not teach the advanced techniques in the patterns to lower grades and totally miss out the conditioning too, avoiding the makiwara, finger toughening box and sometimes the heavy bag. It is my understanding that hyungs are designed to train a movement and not techniques and that each move in a hyung has multiple applications - striking / blocking, throwing, restraint or pressure point attacks. So I think that to change the existing 24 / 25 patterns of Taekwon-Do and call your art Taekwon-Do is unforgivable.

Yes, I too use a PDA for everything but I have a PocketPC one rather than a PalmOS one. I had a handspring Visor whilst I was at university and it was great for taking notes and stuff. My instructor has a Compaq iPAQ and uses his to maintain a register / take notes on some students. I have a Dell Axim PDA (I think they cost about $200 in the US) and it's great. I have all 24 of the Taekwon-Do hyung on there in MPEG 1 format so that I can use PocketMPEG to view them (I have a 256MB SD card for it). It has a full colour screen and sound, so it's pretty good for watching video clips. It also has a version of Internet Explorer on there so you can view web pages and so on. I also have a stash of Kyokushin clips and other stuff and at the moment, I'm working on OCR'ing the entire Taekwon-Do encyclopedia and converting it into web pages since on the Taekwon-Do encylopedia CD rom set, it's just scanned in pictures of each page of the encyclopedia - but it's quite a task, I only have the first 12 or 13 chapters completed. Now that General Choi has passed away, there seems to be some confusion over who owns the copyright to the Encyclopedia... but I think I should be able to get the whole thing to fit on a PDA easily. I've also converted the videos of General Choi on the encyclopedia from quicktime over to MPEG for use on my PDA, not that I'm particularly interested in what he has to say though! Just because I can! Some PDA's have CompactFlash slots or SD slots so that you can load up your digital cameras memory into the PDA to look at the photos / videos you've just made. You can then share the photos around those who have PDA's using IR / Bluetooth or 802.11b if your PDA supports it. I don't use it to store workout notes or anything, just so that I can study hyung on the way to training.

I'm unsure what you mean by Korean karate, since Korean karate is (I think called Soo Bak Gi, but I may have my terminology mixed up - my Korean is terrible), but if you are referring to Taekwon-Do the following information may be helpful. It was my understanding that Taekwon-Do was spread in the US partly by it's inclusion in military training at the West Point Military academy during the time of the Korean war (1950's) and also by General Choi as he was the Korean Ambassador to the US and hosted Taekwon-Do demonstrations in the US. I believe he also taught Taekwon-Do privately to members of the US government. The Korean army fought alongside the US in Vietnam in exchange for cash I believe. At this time, Taekwon-Do and other martial arts were taught to US soldiers by the Koreans which must have also spread Taekwon-Do. A search for Taekwon-Do West Point in Google should throw up information on the spread of Taekwon-Do throughout the US. http://www.ukta.com/general.html There is also lots of information on the development of Taekwon-Do in the Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do which you might find interesting. I'm sorry about the lack of specific information in my reply, but I don't have my encylopedia to hand, but I will try and provide more information on the development of TKD in the US if you are interested. I'm sure there are plenty of other people who can help, if only to point out my bad Korean terminology or point you to other websites.

If she's standing on one leg hopping at you with kicks, then I would axe kick her leg - go for the thigh. If it's constantly chambered, then one might argue that it's above the belt or you can pass it off as attempting an axe kick to her torso. That will put her off from hopping around on one leg - I hate people who do that. As the kick is a thrusting kick, I'd try and move around your opponent rather than allowing your self to get pushed back off the mat. A technique I use is to move around the back of side kick (so you are behind the heel of your opponents striking limb) and throw their leg out of the way (or maybe just 'strike' the back of the shin with the forearms so it hurts and puts them off using the side kick again) so that their back is open (think the two step sparring number which ends with an upset kick to the cocsyx) - this then puts you in an advantageous position. I hope that's clear... Good luck...

If you have a look at this thread, there's a discussion on how to bounce: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=8052 I wrote this reply about sine wave: If you look at the hyung as performed by the Taekwondo stylists on the Legacy CDROM set (they were chosen by Gen. Choi to perform the hyung) you will see that the sine wave motion is very slight indeed and I would probably consider that the students he chose were performing the patterns as he intended. Compared side by side to the sine wave motion performed by the ITU (http://www.taekwondo.to/patterns.htm) you will see that they do giant sine waves! I personally use a small sine wave in order to drop my (considerable) body weight at the point of impact, once the foot hits the ground. Along with the hip twist and small striking area, you can get a fair amount of power...

In the UK some Ed Parker Kenpo schools also teach the knife and escrima sticks...

Yes but if you drink some drinks you wake up the next day with a sore head wishing you'd drunk orange juice...

I think that it matters how hard you train and how long you spend training hard in the dojang. As far as I am concerned, the belts just give a rough indicator of the wearers skill level. If a student attends twice as many training sessions as another student in the same time frame, then although he may not have been studying for as long in terms of time, in terms of time spent in the dojang he will have been training for longer. On the other hand, another student where I train turns up to every single training session, but he doesn't train hard. When the instructor demonstrates a move and asks us to try it out, once he's done it twice he stands around talking rather than practising and has no focus, he doesn't push himself during aerobic excercises and feigns injury when he feels tired. So, should he grade at the same time as the student who trains twice as hard? People at my dojang have speeded along the grades faster than me because of their superior fitness or experience of other martial arts. It's no big deal, good for them. Understanding of the art doesn't come overnight and although my understanding of the art has come from spending a lot of time thinking about it outside the dojang, at such a low level I don't think skipping a few belts is a big deal... I skipped my first belt as my instructor felt that I was ready. All that was involved in the first belt were some basic punches and kicks anyway, but I agree with others that it is right for the instructor to tell the student they are ready. Mind you, if the instructor feels they are ready, why not just promote them without grading (and paying for the privilidge) - If I had a school that is what I would do.

Maybe that was to protect the 100 men as opposed to his shins... I'm going to have to try and get a copy of one of those videos, especially the Filho ones. Don't the rules state that you either player has to score two points and then the next player joins. You only have to beat 50% of them too don't you? I don't know a lot about Kyokushin, but that's what I thought the rules were...

Franisco Filho is my favourite K-1 fighter. His technique is fantastic as is his spirit and sportsmanship. Did you know he's also a vegetarian?

That's a very humble answer which you should be congratulated on... John G is right to point out that some TKD schools follow a martial arts path. You might not know that the General includes several throwing techniques in the Taekwon-Do encyclopedia which although are "trained often" are recomended for use when you don't want to harm your attacker too much! Off the top of my head, the techinques are the hip throw and wheel throw (from Judo?), as well as a move from a headlock where you pick up the leg of your assailant and drop your weight on them, some sweeps and other techniques which you might not readily associate with Taekwon-Do. You also might not know that the Hosin Sool (Self Defence) section of a TKD class will generally borrow techniques from other martial arts styles as well as those proscribed in the encylopedia of TKD. I train with people whose backgrounds include kickboxing, Shotokan, Kyokushin, Wing Chun, Hung Guar, Judo and other martial arts and all are encouraged to share their knowledge. The instructors themselves are well rounded having experience of Shotokan, Jui Jitsu, Muay Thai, Escrima and more. All knowledge is applied in this section of the class. The General also stated that it is important for Instructors to allow their students to visit other schools and to gain experience. He was confident that his students would return when ready. In this vein my school hosts seminars where practitioners of other martial arts are invited to practically demonstrate their art. I attended a great BJJ seminar which I really enjoyed and learned a lot from - arm bars, rear naked choke, some take downs, a gi choke, a fanstastic low leg savate kick... Anyhow, I digress. My personal frustration with TKD comes mainly because I can't train as often as I would like (only 2-3 times a week) and my club trains during the week in a hall with a hard wooden floor and no mats. Only on weekends can I spar with takedowns and throws and only if I can find a willing sparring partner (only two people will spar NHB with me) - most distressing! If the-way-is-noway is unhappy with his / her school then he / she should check out another. A TKD instrcutor should not be concerned as long as the student is following the rules within his / her dojang. But enough with the TKD bashing - there's plenty of watered down schools in many martial arts... Have a nice weekend!

PeteT from the ITF board had this suggestion involving drywall:

Has anyone read "Master of the Blade" by Richard Ryan? I would recommend it as a book on knife fighting, but it makes a depressing read for those who wish to defend against knife attacks. I've only had a knife pulled on me twice and refused to fight each time, but each time the would be attacker held it out at the centre of his body in a hatchet grip in order to intimidate. I just calmed him down the first time (I'd already disarmed him once - he was armed with an iron bar too) because we'd been fighting hand to hand for a few minutes and he'd got quite a beating, I don't think he could have carried on much longer. The second time I just handed over my cash as it was money orientated - I handed over the princely sum of five pounds (about $8 USD) and it was enough to make him go, I was carrying a laptop, PDA and mobile phone at the time, but I had chosen my bag carefully so he didn't have a clue what was in it and I certainly wasn't going to tell him. The laptop was weighing me down considerably, I don't think running would have been an option. I talked to him for a few minutes telling him that I wasn't going to give him any money but he was jumpy and unpredictable. I could have probably took him out - he was young and unskilled, but it wasn't worth the risk... Unfortunately, both of these incidents happened before I started my training, in fact, getting mugged was why I started training in the first place. Maybe now both events would have panned out differently... but they turned out pretty good both times since I'm still alive and unhurt. In terms of the weapons used, the first was a small 3 - 4" lock knife (he would have probably damaged his hand more than me) and the second an approximately 5" fixed blade knife. I don't think either blade was sharp enough to cut effectively through a thick-ish coat. Perhaps untrained people are more interested in stabbing techniques? No specific techniques in this posting, but thought that you might get something from my experience. What knife experiences has everyone else had?

There are a lot of excercises to stretch the leg, each one affecting different groups of muscles. Like John said, you will be taught them during your TKD training and I would recommend that you follow the teachings of your instructor if you have no experience of stretching because if you push yourself too far you can injure yourself and prevent yourself from training. When I first started, I was desperate to be able to kick head height and rushed it, tearing some tissue in my leg. I was back to square one! With stretching, it's important to stop before the point of pain as this can force your muscles to contract - you want to relax into the stretch and not push it. My personal favourites: Sitting with my back on the floor, buttocks touching the wall and letting my legs fall open. Then falling asleep... Once you are at a certain point, you may want to wear shoes whilst doing this to get more stretch and then move on to 1kg ankle weights. With a partner, stand against / near a wall. Move into a fully extended side kick position and ask your partner to lift your leg. Keep in the position and ask your partner to stop when it feels tight. If you are flexible your partner may need to put your foot on his / her head or lift with their arms. Once you are at the point where you feel a lot of resistance, push down against your partner with all the strength in your extended leg muscles for around 10 seconds then relax. Then get your partner to lift your leg higher - you should be able to go substantially farther. There is a front snap kick version of this too which does well for your axe kick. Sit on the floor with your legs open as far as they will go. Position your hips forward. Then, ask a partner to sit opposite you and push your legs out with their feet up until you feel uncomfortable. You may find it beneficial for them to hold onto your arms or spare belt. Next, try to touch your torso to each leg (not your head) then try and place your elbows on the floor. You should feel quite a stretch. As with all of these excercises, the most important thing is to relax - if it hurts (too much - twinges of pain etc.) rather than being uncomfortable (you'd rather not be in that position, maybe having a cuppa and watching Eastenders) then you've probably gone too far. Good luck with your training.

One of the chaps I train with can break breeze blocks (spelling?) with his punches. He recommends working on fingerip pushups - starting off on five fingers - those hand gripper things and using a bucket full of beans (not baked beans) and striking it with a spearhand and punches. When you are OK with this, he recommends moving onto sand. He also recommends heavy bag work and makiwara. According to him, the idea is basically to increase the density of the fist. I'm just passing this on, this isn't from first hand experience. I think that if you apply surgical spirit to an area it hardens it up... but I haven't tried it.

I believe you might be talking about a spinning turning kick, which is similar to a spinning hook kick except that the leg is only slightly bent on impact, which makes it slightly slower than a hook kick, but more powerful. The attacking tool is the heel of the foot. Unfortunately however, I don't have any suggestions on improving Rich_2k3's technique other than making sure that the supporting foot is pointed away enough and is far enough past your rear foot. To Shotokan_Fighter: You would want to spin in order to create power from the torque of your hips, like if you wind up an elastic band and then release it. If you work on wearing your opponent down or distracting them, you can find plenty of time to execute the technique. I think it is important to use techniques which attack from different directions and different angles in order to confuse your opponent and make them move their guard around to get them to expose a clear target. To execute a spinning back kick, from a boxing stance with your left foot forward, your front leg would move to the right, past your other foot and be pointed up to 180 degrees away from your opponent (pointed backwards) - you would then be in a position to lift your rear leg and use the torque from your hip position to slam your opponent with your rear leg. I saw a great knockout using this technique in the K-1, it was aimed at the outside of the leg and the guy on the receiving end just crumpled. Can't remember who it was though...

I have been training in Taekwon-Do for around two years now and also have certain frustrations with the emphasis on sport techniques as I took martial arts classes in order to learn to fight, not to take part in competitions or receive belts. However, you can learn a lot about distancing timing and tactics from sport sparring which will be of use in a fight. Like you, I'm fairly large (16st [95 kilos] and 6ft 2") and I too like to have a ruckus - I spar with more able classmates no holds barred but the classes' general sparring incorporates backfists, ridge hands and punches to the head. You should definitely talk to your instructor about setting up a sparring session where the rules can be decided by the participants on a bout by bout basis, our club calls it "progressive sparring". There's also nothing stopping you from hiring out a sports hall and holding your own sparring club as long as you have adaquete insurance (and I would have a first aider on site). You could open it up to practitioners of other martial arts too but you would need to foster the right atmosphere so that things don't get out of hand. Taekwon-Do isn't just about fighting though, it's a martial art which is supposed to foster nationalism, promote a peaceful way of life (and to promote Korea in general ) and encourage all it's practitioners to behave responsibly. General Choi (in the encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do) says that when he was growing up, Karate (which he was said to have acheived a Nidan [2nd Dan] grade in Shotokan) was seen as something which gangsters and unskilled labourers got involved in and he wanted to avoid that in Taekwon-Do and create a martial art for people of different ages and physical capabilities. With that in mind I get the feeling that it is supposed to be a martial art for the educated / gentrified so maybe smashing someone's face to pieces with your elbow from the mount might not fit the bill! I myself am looking to continue with TKD because I feel it still has a lot to offer me but I would also like to cross-train at a combat orientated Jui Jitsu club. If you don't get any joy out of your instructor for making the classes more like what you want. Then try another club - vote with your feet. Good luck with your training...

I got these links from Paul Rock on the ITF message board and they're pretty good: Original Message Content: http://sonkal.taekwondo.cz/index-en.html On the bottom of the page, the junior worlds from P.R. Also there are some matches of Tomaz Barada. Watch them also http://members.authentictkd.com.au/ There are several good matches here. http://www.hosin.nl/HTML2/tkd_stuff_main.html A bit of training (If the last vid on the page works it is great) I can't get the old stuff from one of the sites though, the download keeps timing out. I think it's their server rather than my connection, since I have a 2mb line...

I'm reasonably tall (6 ft 2) and reasonably heavy (92kg) and I used to have trouble when sparring with less experienced people sometimes. It sounds like your sparring partners aren't that experienced. Good sparring in the dojang should allow both the practioners get to try out techniques that they maybe wouldn't use in a competition or fight because it's too risky or they're unsure of the technique. It's good to see that you have a relaxed attitude to sparring i.e. congratulating your partners good technique and (hopefully) warning them of their weaknesses too. When I'm sparring with a smaller / shorter partner - or someone who is less skilled, I try and match the sparring to their abilities. It would be unfair of me to attack with a wild spinning hook kick to the head if I knew that they had no chance at all of defending it. I like to push my partners boundaries, but not dominate them, if I'm totally dominating, then they aren't learning anything. (Of course, if they raise the bar, then follow!) It sounds like they're going a bit hard on a yellow belt - which means that you must be pretty good... so take comfort in that. If I was you, I wouldn't dwell upon the problems other people have dealing with your skill and physical attributes and try and let it go. You shouldn't seek their approval or acknowledgement - you won't always find approval from other people and if you do, it won't make you into a better person, or a better martial artist. Only hard work and honest self-evaluation of will do that. I sometimes spar to work on blocking, or sometimes spar only with my weak side. I take a few hits and would appear to "lose", but who cares - my technique is improving through practise. On shotokan planet, there is a great article about sparring techniques: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/tactics/01_emotion.html I'm saying pretty much the same as Martial_Artist, but in a more prolix fashion, so I'll call it a day. Relax and enjoy your training - it takes everyone a different amount of time to get where they want to go but it sounds like you're on the right path.

Thanks for the reply. Has anyone here actually performed a finger tip break?

I reckon that the belt systems are determined by the stocks of the nearest martial arts shop! My club: white, orange, yellow, purple, green, brown, blue, blue w/red, red, red w/black, black

Where I am from (a fairly rough area) in the UK, I have been involved in or witnessed a number of incidents involving various weapons. Since we don't have so many handguns in the UK (since there is a total ban on all handguns and gun laws are really strict), people have to be more inventive. My friends and I have been attacked or threatened with a large number of different weapons: iron bars, screwdriver, knives (switchblade and balisong), rocks, air pistols, blow darts(!?), spanners, a kobutan, brass knuckles, glass bottles, a crossbow and a hammer etc. My own preference in terms of weaponry is a full drinks can. I used it once by accident when I was attacked by a gang and I think that it is ideal as a weapon. I used a palm heel strike to my would be assailants face with the can in my palm. I broke his nose and left him with a clearly visible ring where the can hit his face - as he hit the deck, his friends were shocked and this allowed me the time to escape and get help for my friends. I called the Police and told them what I had done and they let me get into the car and go find my friends who had been left behind (getting beaten up). We found some of the people who had attacked us and it turned out that the Police knew exactly who they were and that they had a history of violence - I was warned that they could press charges of assault against me, but nothing came of it which was lucky. So a soft drink can is great! It is not recognisable as a weapon, since it is quite OK to carry a can around with you and I can attest to it's effectiveness. I read somewhere that the Ninja apparently wore iron rings on their wrists which could be slipped over the knuckles for extra kick to their punches and palm strikes, which might be worth considering. I haven't found any jewellery suitable for this purpose however a lot of "scallies" wear large signet rings, and if you get hit with those, you can end up with a clear imprint of the ring in your face where you wouldn't usually be bruised - which they love to brag about. Another weapon worth considering is a set of keys held poking through the fist which can also be thrown at the attacker as a distraction. By the very fact that I am participating in this conversation about self defence weapons could be construed (to the general populous) that I am premeditating using weapons in a violent situation. I make it clear that using weapons is not something that I ever wish to do - it is certainly morally questionable if there are alternatives. I own only training weapons (rubber, plastic or wood) and will keep it that way. In the book "Master of the Blade" by Richard Ryan he remarks that while the 7" fixed blade combat knife with an embossed skull and crossbows "Death Dealer" logo might look great in the shop; when you're in court protesting your use of the knife was in self defence and it's held up for all to see, then it might not look so great. I think this is an attitude which we should all have. Just think what other people would think of you! I bought the book looking for ideas on knife defences (trying to get into the head of the knife carrier) - some of you gun toters should have a read of it, it's quite a good book! All I'm trying to say is that, as martial artists, a number of people already look upon us as dangerous and unpredictable (uncontrollable) so in my opinion, it's best not to scare them further and attract a strong reaction from the law by carrying or using weapons which have no purpose other than to be weapons. In effect, I'm going to systematize the office stapler for combat - in a couple of hundred years everyone will be doing stapler katas! Just my two pence worth

I'm interested in the use of the finger tip. As a weapon in fighting, it's effective without the brute strength required to break six tiles but I'd like it to be more effective. How does one get the strength in the fingers to perform such a break, what excercises can be recommended? How is the finger strengthening box constructed? Does anyone here have experience of the finger tip break? Cheers All...

Just as a note: If you look at the hyung as performed by the Taekwondo stylists on the Legacy CDROM set (they were chosen by Gen. Choi to perform the hyung) you will see that the sine wave motion is very slight indeed and I would probably consider that the students he chose were performing the patterns as he intended. Compared side by side to the sine wave motion performed by the ITU (http://www.taekwondo.to/patterns.htm) you will see that they do giant sine waves! I personally use a small sine wave in order to drop my (considerable) body weight at the point of impact, once the foot hits the ground. Along with the hip twist and small striking area, you can get a fair amount of power...

I'm in favour of the decriminilisation of cannabis, being a user since I was 15. I've tried a number of other drugs including LSD, cocaine, amphetamine, ketamine, ecstacy and heroin over the years and in the time of my experimentation have passed school exams, college exams and then university exams and held a steady job for years. Only when I started martial arts did I give up drugs (with the exception of space cakes - marijuana laced cookies and so on) because I felt that it was impeding my performance. Through my experiences with drugs I've seen a lot of unpleasant things - Not everyone comes out of hard drug use OK, some of my friends have had trouble with psychosis, others with self mutilation, some with addiction and some with violence, but these were not the result of smoking cannabis, rather emotional problems assisted by hard drug abuse. If drugs weren't there, maybe they would be alcoholics, maybe they would do something else, I don't know. The one thing is that I've never seen is anyone get violent on cannabis, it's just not that sort of high. As the joke goes, the most annoying thing a pot smoker will do is hold up the queue at the 24 hour garage. I just disagree with the fact that I, as a tax paying citizen, don't have the legal right to sit in my house and get stoned on marijuana. Most of the drug criminilisation laws in the UK were passed in times of war or were reactionary laws - America, and increasingly the UK, see a lot of reactionary laws passed - such as the three strikes law introduced after a man with three previous convictions murdered a young girl. Cocaine was banned in the First World War after Generals were concerened about the effect it was having on their troops, before that, Cocaine suspended in Alchohol (Laudenum) was sold in every corner shop, and the Victorians poisoned themselves with arsenic to get high. LSD was banned in the seventies to combat punk culture. All I can say is that from my experience, cannabis users are friendly, often intelligent people. Often young professionals or labourers who like to smoke a joint when they get in from a hard day at work. These people don't want to spend their money at a dealers' house or get involved with the law. Why not let these people spend their money legally? In the UK, cannabis will shortly be demoted to a Class C drug basically because almost everyone in the UK has tried cannabis and thinks it's harmless, including many members of the government who smoked pot at university. This will mean that is still illegal to use it "in public", but basically all you will get is a caution - if the police can be bothered to arrest you. Three cautions and you will be up in front of the beak (magistrate), but still the penalties are low for posession (less than 5 grams) although dealers will still face court action. In the area where I live, quiet dealers are left alone by the police, who know exactly who they are. But if there's any trouble, they get busted quick which I think is a nice approach to community policing. I'm in favour of decriminilisation as a step towards legalisation and have emailed my MP to inform him of my views, which he also agrees with. I think it's right to remove the criminality and stigma from a harmless drug and to save money on policing and court costs prosecuting an individual for a victimless crime. As far as legalising other drugs, I'm not in favour, since I feel that many other drugs are very dangerous, especially heroin, crack and LSD and should be severly limited in their availability. I think LSD is only for the very responsible drug user as you can do yourself serious long term damage. It's time for costructive debate on the issue I feel. By the way, fields and fields of help are grown in the UK, and if you smoke it, you only get a headache!