CTTKDKing

My school is predominately WTF so for our color belts we practice the Tae Guk forms, but once we reach black belt we learn the Pal Guay forms as well (and Koryo as well as the other black belt forms).

I've been studying for 5 plus years under a WTF (Kukkiwon) school. While I agree there are a lot of belts (12 I believe), my instructor is one of the best in the area. It just annoys me when people generalize that "Anything tied into the Kukkiwon is likely to have some politics involved". Not true at all. Sure there are a lot of crappy instructors out there and a lot of crappy McDojo like schools, but it's wrong to generalize.

I had a discussion a few year back with Tai Chi instructor Master Mai Lee (currently located in Manchester, CT) on what chi is. I wanted to know what it really is and if there is anything to it. Her family has been teaching their own variation of Tai Chi (separate from Yang style and the other "main" styles) with documentation back for several hundred years and she says farther back then that, and she explained it to me this way. Chi is the Chinese word for life force, which in her area of China was what they literally referred to breath or breathing as (your breath is your life force). All of the Tai Chi forms and exercises are focused around increasing blood flow, flexibility, and breathing capacity. So in a sense a lot of the things described with the words life force, and energy, and whatnot that are taken into a "mystical" light are not mystical at all. When practicing these movements correctly it allows the blood to flow more freely through your joints, and muscles which can help in healing bruises faster, and even broken/fractured bones. My point is, that someone this deep into a style that focus' so heavily on chi thinks that there is almost nothing mystical about it. She refuses to teach chi strikes and hokey nonsense like that simply because it's all in the people's heads that are using it. Striking without striking and controlling your energy levels to cause levitation and all kinds of magical things is just Westerners watching too many movies. At least that's how she put it to me. Just wanted to put that out there. You do not have to agree, but I figured it'd be interesting to hear the views from a person that's got a very long lineage in the system.

My first tourney was a CT State TKD championship and I had a blast. I competed about 8 times in 3 years after that, and every time was a uniquely memorable experience. Keep at it.

The religion question is really puzzling. Actually the religion thing doesn't surprise me that much. We had a child student with divorced parents, who's father signed him up for classes in our 7-12 year old sessions. The kid loved it and was doing well especially for his age. He came 4 times in his first week and his father said he was very excited to do it every day. He'd be waiting in his uniform when his dad came home from work. The following week he was with his mother and she (being a uninformed fundamentalist Christian) was very upset about his father signign him up for TKD classes when she believed it to be evil. She believed that TKD coming from Korea automatically associated it with "Buddhism and witchcraft" (her exact words). Sadly I was there to witness the confrontation between her and my instructor. It made no difference to her that the style was not religion biased, or that my instructor is Catholic. My point is, now my instructor always asks if there is any religious problems that could arise from other family members and asks a couple questions about the family situation for child students, and explains his views on the subject before signing anyone up. He does not do it in writing like the place discussed at the beginning of this thread does and I think a lot of the other information requested is a little odd, but if you have a problem sharing it, then ask if there is any way you can sign up and not share the info you deem too personal. If not, I suggest you find a new place to train. I'm sure you can find something. Good luck.

Grecian Wrestling for 2 years and I've been doing Taekwondo for almost 5 collectively (was out of it for about 3 years right after I got my black belt, but recently have gotten back into it at my old school) and hold the rank of 1st Dan.

There's something that no one has mentioned as well. It would depend on the size and strength of the martial artist as well. Take a 250 pound 6'4" pro wrestler and put him in the ring with a 250 6'4" martial arts practitioner who's been practicing for 10-15 years and I think it's going to be a bit more even. Take that martial arts practitioner and replace him with a 150 pound 5'6" person of the same experience and I think the wrestler is going to have a big upper hand. Not saying all martial artists would win even if the size and strength were even, but I think the fight would be a lot more balanced.

LMAO

I openly discuss it if it comes up. If someone asks how I work out or something then I have no problem talking about it. I don't bring it up on my own though, because a lot of people I know would take me being a black belt as a challenge and try to mess with me. I know that's immature of them but facts of life, a lot of people are immature. I openly talk about it with family and friends though. Our instructors love when family and friends come to testing and tournaments to cheer us on. I'm 26 and he still asks if my mother, wife and sisters are going to come to championships when I compete.

I find it on the odd side to have young children in the adult class. My instructor allows it occasionally if their parent or older sibling is attending the adult or teen class, but only if they are mature enough. He watches them for a while first.

Well said. I do have to disagree that franchise schools are all bad. If started by a business man to make money then I would stay away, but my school is part of a franchise that was started by a very accredited instructor from South Korea about 15 years ago. He came to the states and opened a school in Springfield Massachusetts. My personal instructor then came to the states to work as an assistant to Master Kim. He wanted to train to be a teacher under his former master from Korea. After several years of training as an assistant head instructor, Master Kim decided to branch out and start a second school in Manchester, CT. This is the beginning of the U.S. Taekwondo franchise. This same system of obtaining quality instructors now has 2 more schools opened (one in NY, and one in Bristol, CT). I personally know one of these 2 instructors as he trained under My instructor as opposed to Master Kim in Springfield, and I would train under him in a second if I ever needed to move to his area of the state. Not the biggest franchise I know, but I think you can see my point. I think it all really depends on how the franchise was started and what the ultimate goals are of the people involved. Master Kim just wanted more schools to teach more students because he believes that everyone should be able to study martial arts. He was blessed with the opportunity to share his knowledge with the world, and then it blessed him back so that he could invest it again with other locations. His prices are reasonable and they include a lot of extra stuff (uniforms, pads, etc.). This is why I wont call a school a McDojo just because they have a franchise name. It's all about the instructors and people involved.

I concur with this. I have had to defend myself and use martial techniques once since I started training. I was happy after when I walked away in one piece, but I don't ever plan to have to use my skills in real life. I train because it's an enjoyable form of exercise that balances my life out. it's also nice after a hard day to be able to go in and beat the crap out of some targets.

You would have to try both methods and see what works for you. Having read your post, I stood up to try it, and neither one feels any stronger to me. I've always not rotated my palm, but for some the rotation might feel more natural. Doesn't for me but everyone is different.

That really stinks. I hope your work schedule changes soon so you can get back into it.

Ha ha, thanks people. I started Monday this week, and I gotta tell you, I'm sore. I go back tonight. My instructor is being awesome about it though, starting me off slow, but not too slow . Feels sooooooo good to be back in uniform.

HA HA HAAAAA!! YESSS I can so relate to this one!

Yes, this is accurate. Just make sure you don't strike with a relaxed hand it can cause you pain and even physically damage the hand. Instructors teach you to keep you hand tight the whole time so you don't accidentally forget to tighten your hand up at the last second and break you fingers. This could very easily happen to a newer person who is inexperienced.

...you know you're a martial artist when, you no longer use a saw to cut wood.

Ok, I had to put my 2 cents in on this one. A McDojo to me is any school that puts money in front of teaching practices, and any school that advances rank for the sake of advancing. Also if you can obtain a black belt in less then 2 years I'd highly recommend going elsewhere. The quality level of that training is not going to be up to snuff. That being said I don't think child black belts necessarily is a sign of a McDojo. Our school has child black belts down to about age 8, BUT, the rank is that of Junior Black Belt on the child curriculum. You cannot test for an adult black belt until you are age 16 or older. The Junior Black belt is not registered with the federation until they test for adult bb status. Achieving first Dan in my school takes an adult about 4 years (some a little longer) and the child curriculum takes about 3 to get to Junior BB. These child black belts are also only allowed to test if the instructors think they are ready. He sits down with the parents and has a discussion with them about the responsibilities of how their child needs to act around the other kids if they are allowed to test and they pass to achieve junior black belt status. There has to be a maturity about the child, and not all children can handle being an example to other kids at age 8 or 9, but the few my instructor has let do this have made him proud. If the parents think that their child can handle it and the instructor agrees then they are allowed to test. My point is I'd hate to have someone walk into our school after reading about McDojo's on here or anywhere, and think hey there are a couple child black belts, this place is a joke and walk back out. To determine if it's a McDojo or not you really have to look at the quality of the students that the school turns out. Take a trial class if it looks interesting to you and see how the class is run. Talk to some of the lower - middle ranking students and ask if they are feeling like they are being rushed from belt to belt, and most importantly sit down with the instructor and see what his focus is. If it's getting you to sign up to get you out of his office quickly then get out while you can, but if he wants to sit down and really discuss with you the school and it's teachings, then give it a shot. You might love it.

I'm excited because after a 3 year sabbatical from my TKD training I'm getting back into it. I'm so out of shape it's ridiculous but I haven't been more excited about anything in quite a while and wanted to share it with you fellow martial artists. I start next week on Monday at my old Dojang in Manchester, CT and my little sister in law (age 15) wants to do it too, so we are both signing up.

Thanks I bookmarked that. It's perfect, if their sizing is the same as other companies. Any others from other people would also still be appreciated.

OK I posted this question a little while ago in another thread, but got no response so I figured I'd try again. I'm getting back into TKD after the spring semester is up at my college (wife's present to me for Christmas this year). I've gained a lot of weight since I last studied and I was wondering if anyone knew where to get big and tall sized Taekwondo uniforms. I'm partial to the classic v-neck pullover style that's best known in WTF TKD. I was on the top end of sizes when I previously studied and would need like a size 10 to fit my current weight. I can get sleeves tailored so height isn't a big deal but I can't seem to find any. I found a couple sites that carry big sized Karate Gi's with the crossover front (classic karate uniform), but no traditional dobak's. Please help.

Yes, but my sister did the tailoring. Best bet is to call up a local taylor and ask how much sleeve and pant hemming costs. Shouldn't be too bad. I've had suits and what not altered professionally and it was never too expensive. I'm in a similar situation to you, but I'm actually in a bigger pickle because I have to get a big and tall sized uniform. Does anyone know who carries big and tall sized martial arts uniforms? I'd refer the TKD pullover style if possible, but a standard black or white karate gi would be ok as well.

I like the WTF 1st Dan form Koreo. It's easy to do, but hard to do good. Requires a lot of balance.

I trained for 4 years under Master Jin Y. Park of South Korea. He has 7 national titles in Korean for the S. Korean Military championships, and he has gotten 2 gold and 1 silver metals for the times he competed in the Phillippeans in the World Battle of Masters (I believe it was called). He doesn't talk about it much (very modest) but my assistant instructor had some awesome video footage from the Battle of masters which were full contact and very very high intensity as they were at the international level. Some 5-6000 people compete there. Very cool to see my teacher do that on video.