NyteShades

I honestly think you need to have both, but it has to be balanced. It does you no good to throw a roundhouse to the temple if there is no power. Yet it's not going to be all that great to throw the same kick with all the power in the world if the only place you can hit is in the arm or leg. I think that anyone who is working on their flexibility should also work on weight training. If you stretch out the muscles to much then you are compromising the strength of the joints.

Kick Chick... Not to pick a fight or anything but what is your source? Everything I have ever read about the history of TKD is that it was actually created in 1955. However it was based on 2 or 3 ancient Korean arts as well as Japenese Karate. The Karate influence is the resulted in the formation of the ITF and WTF. ITF being traditional based training, while WTF is more sport oriented.

I think what Sens55 is saying, is that all you need to do to advance is show up. Then every 3 months you get a belt just to keep you coming back, weither or not you've earned that belt. Basically pay the money and every few months we'll GIVE you a new belt.

We are given the option, however if my instructor feels someone should test or they have waited forever to test he will pull them off and talk to them. At the same time if he feels you need help or should wait he'll tell you that too.

I know it's the exception. I checked out a few schools before I ever walked into my school. This is also my 3rd go around at getting my black belt. I attended one of the give me 60 bucks a month for 3 years and i'll give you a black belt type schools. And no, I will not say it's exclusively a TKD school. It's defiantly a mixed MA school. Further more, it's a family owned chain with schools all over the Front Range. But I will say that 90% of our training is in TKD (ITF based) and so far I haven't seen to many holes in the training. My point was it all depends on the school you attend and the instructor you choose.

Gardening .....farming .....same same... But thanks for the clarification

I'll agree with Black Dragon on this. My school teaches all of those aspects. Our instructors put a high emphasis on self defense training and pointing out the difference between competition sparring and street fighting. In addition to self defense we practice grappling, based on Brazilian Ju Jitsu and throws and joint locks from Judo. In addition to learning the physical aspects of Tae Kwon Do, we must learn the history of our forms, a code of ethics and know them for testing. I have faith in the Sabinum of my school as well as the head Instructor.

Ok let me clarify. From what I have read, and I'm not saying that it is 100% accurate, but during the occupation farmers were not allowed to practice the Martial Arts. So some developed forms as a way to practice their art. In other texts I've read, Tae Kwon Do is nothing more than Japenese karate but nationalized for Korea. Then again I've also heard that some of the kicks in Tae Kwon Do were also developed to knock riders of horses. Maybe this is just Myth. It's the same with weapons like the nanchucks, the sai's, and a few others. They were gardening tools that were adapted to self defense as farmers were not allowed to have weapons. However I believe it was Japenese farmers that created these times of weapons.

Chuck Norris does have a 8th dan in Tae Kwon Do, and also studied another Korean art. He was also trained in Jeet Kune Do by Bruce Lee.

Or in the case of TKD, forms were away to practice during the Japenese occupation.

Check out the article by Killer Miller called Mind Dumping. That pretty much explains meditation and the benefits.

I don't think your size matters, I have seen very large men become simply unstopable practicing TKD. However, this sounds like an ITF or WTF school. You might try and find another TKD school that doesn't adhere to either style strictly. My school for instance place a very high emphasis on self defense in both sparring and on the street. We're taught to think like that. As for your kicks, I'd recommend working on stretching excersises and weight lifting. Possibly a little kickboxing cross training to build your help flexor. I am by no means an expert, just offering some advice.