mattyj

against a smaller target like the side of someones legs i suppose the instep has an advantage in that it covers a greater area... not as much pressure (force/area) will be delivered though. Not sure what you mean with the tournament thing? the reason we dont use the ball of the foot in a tournament is because its dangerous and can do alot of damage....

in itf a jumping punch to the head is worth 2 points as opposed to the normal 1, so yea its a purely tournament thing. We are taught/we practice when and how jumping punches are to be used... too detailed to go into here. punches have to be thrown with a straight arm to score. in that video there arent as many punches thrown than is typical to ITF... perhaps its the korean style? ITF punching is kind of shotokan punches given a few more modern adjustments based on physics and the experience of gen. choi... so it looks a bit more 'boxing' like but is still quite different. Not sure what 'system' your talking about... we have alot of punching in tul? ITF is quite similar to WTF in stances but a little longer/more grounded.. there isnt so much of that 'switching'... we dont do the alternating leg round kicks that WTF do (that kinda hopping barrage) favouring multiple side kicks as it closes your guard... yes it is prescribed to use the lead leg more because it doesnt open your guard and is faster (in a real fight using the back leg would often be too slow and would get you destroyed) Ball of foot=self defence, Instep=tournaments (not as dangerous). The ITF round kick is sort of inbetween a muay thai kick and the 'snapping style'. The knee is brought back and 'swung' round as the supporting foot turns round so that the heel faces forward. The foot is however 'snapped' back after kicking. Not sure about the specific origins of the round kick sorry.

i dont think you should kick with the top of your foot unless its in a tournament... its not a good striking tool. ball of the foot is the way 2 go this is what were taught in itf anyway.

at 15 your really at the ideal age to start... your increased maturity allows you to understand what your learning in a way that younger students cannot.

well comparing the styles of karate ive seen done (shotokan, seido) to itf taekwondo, the mechanics arent entirely dissimilar. We have the sine-wave motion (which sets itf and itf offshoots apart from wtf/sport based tkd types) to generate power is the biggest difference. The use of this is a practical situation is more of just a 'coming down' motion than a full 'wave' as seen in patterns. Karate and ITF both have the hip drive/twist..

we do defense against weapons... the use of weapons isnt really part of tkd.

btw thats from only a little judo experience so feel free to call me wrong but it worked on many-a-giant in ballrush games when i was back in school and yea hip throw can be quite good too

sliding your right foot round the back of their right foot and pushing with your right forearm can ground much larger people than you...

people bash tkd because the stuff they see on tv and at most 'inter martial art' tournaments is sport tkd, who do alot of flashy kicks etc, which are ineffective in street situations. what they dont know/dont see is that taekwondo (as formed by general choi-aka traditional tkd) originally had military application and is not all about flashy techniques. Commercialism of martial arts is a sad, sad thing. taekwondo has just received the worst dose of it.

cool to see the kodang pattern on that site... ive never seen it because it got replaced by juche...

how dare he xma up an itf form? its just similar enough to be recognisable... theyre supposed to be traditional, but it still looks showy to me you can also look at the 'sine waved' itf way of doing that pattern here: Gae-Baek

actually yea theres the double upset punch in itf as well... id never use it in a real situation tho... unless you really wanted to screw them up (which i wouldnt really) and they were off guard.

i would never do two low or low and a high. weve been taught a twin punch to each cheekbone, cant say id use it in a usual situation, but i can see some practicality. Overall, i dont think they are all that practical.

BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! i think im going insane with all this stereotyping. man the commercialism of tkd has got to be one of the worst things in the martial arts world ever. while wtf and sport styles may be largely based on flashy and impractical techniques, traditional tkd skills actually have far more hand techniques than kicking ones( i know itf is like this), and use about a 50/50 balance in sparring. sorry i just hate seeing the same "dont do tkd, its all flashy kicks, no application" absoloutely EVERYWHERE. I wish sport tkd had been called something different so this stereotyping didnt have to happen.

id say yea anywhere upward of 12 for them to actually get something out of it in terms of real skills... then again ive seen some kids around this age who are pretty good, but theyve been at it for quite awhile. for them to truely appreciate what theyre learning, it depends on maturity level, somewhere between 14-16 id say.[/i]

since your really tall 4 ur age... id go with something like muay thai, tkd or karate. the reach will help u warning with tkd and karate... make sure what ur learning is a properly affiliated organisation, not a "master bill's bill fu karate" or some 'Mcdojo' thing like that.

No its definitely not just for tall people... being tall definitely would provide an advantage, esp with kicks. one freind that does tkd with me whos 6'5" has become incredibly proficient at fending people away with side checks... after the model of the 6'9 (eek) 2nd dan in our club who its just impossible to get within range of (he'll just start punching). you just have to be faster! im 5'11" (so just over average i guess) and me and my freind (whos one grade below me) have really good matches!

well yea ap chagi means front kick can you tell me what bandae dollyo chagi is?

I can't imagine North Korea allowing any MA except for the military. Way too Communist. they do itf

ootz!

of taekwan do? check ur profile lol

red belt in 9 months? did they let u skip a few grades becos youve done ma before?

we say "boosabum nim ke" for 1st-3rds, "sabum nim ke" for 4th-6th, and i think "saseong nim ke" for 7th-8th, cant remember 9th...never had to say it!

and yea, as someone said: only using tkd doesnt mean only kicks, i only use about 40-50% kicks in itf...

...yes... seriously: turning/roundhouse kicks to anywhere up to solar plexus, front snap kick to stomach etc.