mattyj

yup

ya in our organisation it takes about 45-50 years to reach 9th...

best. post. ever.

well i dont know about you, but in our tkd classes we actually do alot more hand work than foot work, and there are many many more hand techniques than kicking ones... and this being itf, eric tkd may have a similar experience, ive seen some ninjitsu joint locks etc and alot of our self defense techniques are along the same lines, but less complicated... having said this yes it still sounds like a dramatic change.

started itf march '01 blue belt (4th gup) since nov '04

WTF TKD can be very spectacular in that they do alot of flying kicks etc More traditional karate (and definitely more traditional TKD eg ITF) matches can be very spectacular too. K1 can also be. BLAH! everything!

fixed

actually, yea your right. the sine wave was only introduced more recently. The movements were a bit more 'seperated' than traditional karate style. I guess the itf style was something developed over gen. choi's life.

this is true

about the 'old school' footage... theres a dvd 'taekwon-do pioneers' that has the original tkd masters (itf/kta) in some really old footage, heres a sample: sample. if your that interested then its well worth it.. did you check out suska's demo on that sonkal praha site? hes incredible blindfolded flying reverse turning kicking that can of a guys head who looks to be about 8 inches taller than him... its ridiculously awesome!

thats...very...interesting... those patterns are being done in a very odd (sorry i should say different) way... almost like karate katas.. check these videos out for comparison: ITF Patterns these guys arent the creme de la creme but its done in the usual itf fashion...

in itf it only goes as high as 9th... even the founder of taekwondo itself general choi hong hi only placed himself as a 9th dan. i think theres about 4-5 9th dans alive today in the organisation... 4th dan - 'stripes'/'messer' 7th dan - master 9th dan - grandmaster

Yup hes good 2...

i seriously doubt it altough i have no experience in okinawan... i have that problem with the sitting aswell (i cant go forward very far without arching my back while sitting and having my legs spread apart) and i do fine in itf taekwondo... which contains quite a few strenuous kicks (even if not as many as more flashier styles see: wtf )

Well taekwondo (although not named this at the time) started as Choi Hong Hi's personal style which he adapted from shotokan karate, taekyon and various other styles. He taught this to soldiers under his command etc It eventually (mid 20th century) became 'taekwon do' and the governing body was the KTA (Korean Taekwondo Association). The South Korean government wanted taekwondo to become a national sport, but Choi thought this would ruin its integrity as a martial art. Choi refused and the korean governent 'suggested' that he leaved the country. He left for Vienna and set up ITF (the International Taekwondo Federation) which is the same ITF you see today (now the HQ is in Canada). The South Korean government set up WTF (the World Taekwondo Federation) as the official South Korean 'sport'... this is what you see at the olympics. These are your two main styles... ITF, the more traditional taekwondo how gen. choi designed it (practice the chang hon patterns/tul) and WTF.. The more sport based Olympic style tkd. Theres a whole bunch of spring offs from both but the most commercialised spring offs that get the most media coverage are generally based on a more 'WTF' styling.

No. This video is all very flashy... the boards they break are so thin its ridiculous. Cool in a jazzy way, not in a practical way.

yes, sadly, many people have died competing in the olympics of tae kwon do. http://smilies.jeeptalk.org/contrib/sally/lol.gif that guy didnt die :| no ones died competing in wtf at the olympics ignoring the fact that he didnt die, its kind of sick that you say you love the part where you thought he died...

lol! thats awesome!

yes you dont see a turning kick (round kick) until hwa rang but you learn it at yellow belt. in most cases (not everyone starts off athletically gifted) students arent ready to perform jumping kicks by the third form, thats so mcdojo/flash orientated... alright kids, first lesson! flying butterfly kicks! i dont see how patterns are defined by how many/how early kicks are performed... especially at gup levels. id rather spend more time learning the basic techniques well than move on to flying kicks by the third form! itf patterns were designed by gen. choi with technique in mind, not 'XMA' style flash. watch this video and youll see what i mean: video.

this may be true in alot or most of tkd forms, but in the 'original' tkd (ie as general choi the founder designed it), itf, and in alot of more traditional forms of tkd, punches are allowed to the face, so you dont see so much of the low guarding, cos ud just get smashed.

eek ive seen that video... its depressing. that was the worst performance ive ever seen... how can someone like that be called a 'taekwondo rep'.. thats just wrong.

in WTF you have to wear chest pads... i know you probably dont know but i hate the generalisation of Taekwondo "all sport, chest guards, all high flying kicks, impractical". For the initial question, you may want to look at an ITF or traditional based taekwondo form, and see how that grabs you. It incorporates alot of Shotokan and is based on Taekwondo's founder's original methods, not the sport crap you see today. As with everything though, you have to find a good, 'traditional' style instructor. It doesnt suffer from "mcdojo" syndrome either because the strict affiliation (ie instructors dont usually make excessive profits - atleast not where i live).

ITF taekwondo- Suffers from the stereotype of being all fast, high, and spinning kicks, which is prevalent in some (mainly sport) styles of taekwondo. tkd is seen as more a kicking based martial art then any other martial art, this infact is not true, there is alot of difference in the emphasis on kicking between different styles, and it is less than arts such as Taekyon. its a combination between speed, power and momentum. your taught both to use speed as a determining factor in power, but also using momentum and using body weight (eg in sine wave movements) as techniques that are all speed and have no weight behind them do not create sufficient power. in itf, its taught that particularly in a self defence scenario, techniques must be delivered powerfully and accurately, and that techniques delivered with half-assed power are not worth performing thanx all

taekwondo as designed by general choi hong hi (now the ITF) was yes, originally used for military purposes and taught to soldiers. unfortunately, taekwondo today (although there are alot of styles that stick to general choi's original intention), through commercialism and far too many rip off 'mcdojo' styles, has became less street worthy and far too flashy to be considered 'lethal' compared to karate. it has become what is largely known as 'sport tkd' and the name 'taekwondo' gets a bad rep for it. Traditional tkd through good teaching can be very lethal.