bushido_man96

I've seen in Wrestling the smaller, faster guys giving my oldest son fits. Its good for him, though, because he has to focus and be more technical in order to cover the gap in the lack of speed. I would suggest keying on that, using quickness and sound technique to your advantage.

Welcome to KF! Have you researched your area for dojos yet? That would be the first step in your journey.

It does mean a lot, Bob! Glad you've enjoyed the thread. I think this was Brian's brainchild and it's been an excellent accountability tool. Thank you, Alex!! This is Brian's idea? Now, that's very cool!! I do agree that this forum is an excellent accountability tool for the MAist...after all, we are accountable for our training!! I'm glad you've been enjoying it, Bob! I enjoy reading what everyone else is doing, and it helps me stay motivated, as well. 02/12/2015 10 minutes of work on Taegeuk 1, with focus on the walking stances, especially the width of them. I'm trying to get closer and closer to ending on the starting point. Wrestling: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Did lots of stance work with movement, staying low with a good base. My legs got tired! Also worked stand-ups. 02/16/2015 Wrestling: 6:00 - 7:00 pm. Stance work, double leg takedowns, stand-ups.

I think issues like this will continue to be the norm as opposed to changing anytime soon. But I wouldn't say the result you got was because it was an ATA school. Rather, it was because it was that ATA school. I imagine some others would be willing to host a seminar.

I'm an instructor at my school, so for me, its a place to go help and teach people what I enjoy doing. Hopefully along the way, I'm able to become a resource for them.

Its nice to see some break downs like this. I especially like to see the use of the low kicks. I look forward to seeing more.

In truth WTF should maybe call theirs a front stance as "ap" 앞 translates as front. Not sure what "gunnun" means exactly, but pretty sure that doesn't mean "walking". I had a book somewhere on the Korean language and terminology, will see if I can dig it out. If you feel comfortable sharing maybe post a video? I can try to put a video together of me doing those four forms. The more I practice now, the more I think that perhaps my front stance is too wide, as well. But, I like to have a wider stance, as I feel more stable, and like I get good power generation from it. More nice looking techniques. I'd like to see some pre-application form segment, to see if he is taking some of these combinations from the form segments, or if they are just various moves thrown together from the forms. I know I've been off a bit, but don't worry, I'll be kicking up the third dan comparisons hopefully this week!

Thanks for the review here, Alex. It sounds like it would be a good addition to a weapon's text library. In other FMA works, I've see that there is a crossover between open hand and weapon techniques. Does this work make mention of any open hand work at all?

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community. I received this book, Taekwondo: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Korean Art of Self-Defense by Master Kevin Hornsey, for free from Tuttle Publishing, who contacted Patrick with the offer. Part One: Introducing Taekwondo Part one of Master Hornsey's book begins with a very brief synopsis on Taekwondo history. He doesn't delve hardly at all into the actual history of Taekwondo, but states that the earliest martial art forms in Korea had different names, were passed down secretly and only after the Japanese occupation ended did these arts enjoy revival. This is about as in-depth as the history section gets, other than a set of bullet points listing dates of interest in regards to the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF). Master Hornsey doesn't mention anything in regards to General Choi, Hong Hi's influence of Taekwondo or its roots in karate experiences in Japan. In my opinion, the author probably shouldn't have bothered at all with this section, as it doesn't provide any helpful information, other than some highlights of the WTF's international influences. Master Hornsey next goes into what Taekwondo is: the physical and spiritual benefits of its practice, like developing self-control, spirit, self-confidence, etc. Master Hornsey spends time in the book discussing the development of the spiritual aspects of Taekwondo and how learning traits such as courtesy, modesty, loyalty and humility help promote peace and happiness in the student. For those readers that enjoy some of the more intrinsic aspects of martial arts study, Master Hornsey does a nice job of elaborating on that aspect and tends to retain this theme throughout his book. One of sections that I found very beneficial is the section Master Hornsey spends on finding a school and instructor. He discusses the importance of researching the schools available to a prospective student and details points such as finding governing bodies that can point a student towards a school or show a student what schools are in the student's area. Master Hornsey gives good advice on seeking out the head instructors of the area schools and provides a general idea of what to expect in the conversation. He also advises watching a class while making sure to note the size of the class and what the instructor emphasizes, in addition to speaking to other students about the class. Master Hornsey provides a bullet point section highlighting good questions to ask an instructor. He follows with a section discussing Taekwondo school etiquette, discipline and conduct and describes the grading system as it pertains to his school. Part Two: Training In part two of the book, Master Hornsey delves into the physical training aspect of Taekwondo and leads into this by discussing how factors such as age, natural ability, the student's ability to practice and the student's instructor all have an effect on advancement. Hornsey discusses a typical class format and what to expect in class. He touches on warm-ups and basics, partner work, advanced techniques and cool-down. After the training section introduction, Master Hornsey has sections that detail warming-up exercises, stretching and drilling. In the drilling section, he covers aspects important to performing good Taekwondo techniques, such as hip action, moving and footwork. He follows with basic techniques, which include stances, target areas, blocks, strikes and kicks. Hornsey goes into detailed sections of each with photos and descriptions. The photos are large and clear (and in color) and use arrow graphics to show the direction of travel of the techniques, direction of hip rotation and striking/contact points. He covers a nice selection of blocking, striking and kicking techniques, as well as a nice variety of basic, intermediate and advanced techniques. This section of the book is very helpful in its descriptions, and the format of the photography is nicely laid out. The large color photos are great, and the arrow graphics provide good technical detail. After the technique descriptions, Master Hornsey lays out three of the WTF forms in the book: Taegeuk 1, 4 and 8. The layout at this point in the book gets a bit choppy, in my opinion. Each form section begins with a description of the form in the header, but this description stays in the header, with the form photos and explanations laid out on the rest of the page. In order to read the entire form description, you have to flip over the other pages of the form descriptions to finish it and then go back and read over the form photos and descriptions. Another issue I have with the form descriptions layout is that when the form turns, he shows one picture of the turn and then all the techniques are shown from a front view. This is nice for showing the technique, but can be confusing for someone who is not familiar with the forms themselves. However, I don't think Master Hornsey wanted this to be a book on forms, nor were these three forms the main focus of the book, so other works would be much better to cite for forms references. I will reiterate, though, that the descriptions are good and the pictures are clear and large enough to discern detail in the techniques. By choosing to demonstrate these three forms in the book, he shows a basic, intermediate and advanced form of Taekwondo to the reader, providing a look into what advancing in Taekwondo has to offer. Part Three: Taking it Further Master Hornsey finishes the book with part three, a section on sparring and self defense. This section is an overview of what a student can expect in Taekwondo sparring, and he lays out some partner drills showing some sparring concepts. Hornsey does the same with self defense scenarios, using the same picture and description format that is used throughout the book. The section is decent; not exhaustive, but giving some nice examples of what Taekwondo has to offer. In conclusion, I think Master Hornsey's book is a nice choice for a student who is looking at beginning a journey in Taekwondo through a WTF affiliated school. Master Hornsey gives good, sound advice in regards to taking steps in locating a school and speaking with an instructor, detailing what to expect in a class and has a great section describing different techniques that can be found in Taekwondo. He spends a good amount of time discussing the intrinsic aspects of Taekwondo study, which appeals to many students more than just the physical aspects. The book is well written and, other than the few layout points I mentioned earlier, flows very well. I think it would be a good book to use as a beginner resource for a beginner student in WTF Taekwondo. Buy the book: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk (KarateForums.com receives a small commission on any sales generated through these links).

Thanks for the description here, Iceman. I had read somewhere in one of my books that the insides of the heels were supposed to be on the same line. Either way, I was doing the stance about shoulder width apart, which was way too much, although much more comfortable to me. I did a session of forms work last week focusing on Taegeuk 1 only, and narrowed the stance considerably, and that really helped me out with the form line. I was getting much closer to ending on my starting spot. This is kind of a funny point for me, seeing what the ITF calls a walking stance, and what the WTF calls a walking stance, and in my styles of practice, I've never used a stance referred to as a walking stance. The ITF walking stance is what I've always called a front stance. I think with Chon Ji, I'm losing something in the turns, like you mention. Perhaps my pivot foot is slipping some. It ends pretty close, but I can't seem to get it to land right on.

Thanks for the tips, guys. I was trying to get him to bump with the hips more to help him through it. I will keep this in mind the next time we work it.

I'm sorry to hear about your sister, Bob, and I'll be praying for her recovery. I think its a good thing that you have the ability to go help her, and I think your students understand that this is what defines you. A student couldn't really ask for a better example.

Thanks for this review. I know that nutrition is a point in my life that I fall short in, as I'm sure many others do. This sounds like a good read for the serious Martial Artist.

I think that finding a different school might be the way to go. You can try to approach him and let him know that you have no interest in anything outside of a professional relationship, but in the end, this may make things uncomfortable, especially if he doesn't let up. I think the best idea is to walk away, and find a different place to train.

I agree with this, 100%. I learned from an early age from my dad, but, not for very long. I eventually joined a school, and it went from there. If my kids ever decide they want do TKD with me, I'll bring them in. But I won't make them do it. I have both of my boys in Wrestling, and I help them there as much as possible (probably too much at times), but its their thing, while TKD is my thing.

Great advise here so far. Keep things moving, keep it fun, and I wouldn't go for an hour with that young an age. Around 30 - 45 minutes is where you will see good attention out of that age group. This gives you enough time to do around 3 drills that focus on the topic of the day.

That's a good point, Bob. Also important to stance training is the transitioning from stance to stance. Make sure not to just sit in stances and work them. Move from stance to stance to get the feel for how to do so smoothly and comfortably.

Aha...Thanks, Brian. I'll look for that much closer!! Thanks, Bob. This weekend, we will be in Dodge City for Gun Smoke Nationals. It looks like Kendall only has 3 in his bracket, and one is a national placer. But Kenneth is in a novice division with 7 wrestlers. So it should be a fun day!Ok, here is Kenneth's next tournament, the Ellis Novice, 01/18/2015. Match 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nrsvD1xfag I think Kenneth wrestled this kid once before, but lost. He opens up with a tackle for a takedown, but once down, he has trouble keeping his weight on top and holding them down, so they tend to get up rather easy. You will have to excuse the shaky video, Kendall was the filmographer on this expedition. You can here is coaching commentary, as well. I wonder who he gets that from, anyway. Anyway, he rolls around most of the first period, but keeps fighting through it, and manages to do some rolling to keep from getting pinned. He starts the 2nd period with a takedown attempt, but instead of shooting, he bends over and grabs for the knee, which doesn't work out well for him. He fights off another pin attempt, and does eventually reverse, but he keeps a funny hold on the kid, and doesn't really get into good position. He starts 3rd period on bottom, and his stand-up attempt gets stifled, but the kid pulls him down onto him, and if he would turn into him, he would probably start getting some points, but he's still figuring it all out. He does eventually get free, but gets into just grabbing and pulling the kid, onto him, instead of pushing and driving. Towards the very end of the match, he gets pinned. The upside, though, is that he did score some points, and kept moving for the most part. Score was 9-13 before the pin. Match 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjE8Hh6ni5w He gets taken down early, and fights off a pin. He bellied out some off the takedown, but not enough, and gave up the back points. After he got rolled over with the half-Nelson, I don't know how he wasn't pinned sooner, but it took a while for them to call it. Still learning. Match 3: Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dusBC9t8QJc Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9bN6KYRQUQ This one was pretty quick, but this little guy was pretty darn good. Aggressive, and pretty good with his body positioning, too. Once on his back, he didn't try to fight it off at all. After the pin, they started again, with pretty much the same result. But, after all said and done, they did give him a 4th place medal.

It would be like training wall sits for an extended period of time. If you do that, guage it off that. Some stances will be more taxing, as well. A sitting stance will hit both legs well, where a back stance will focus on one leg more. Play with a timer and see how you do.

NOTE: if you go back to page 3, I've added Jee Sang to the list of forms for 4th gup discussion, if you are interested in see that form. I also added in Taegeuk 2 on the 2nd gup discussion...I didn't realize I had left it out... So, just an update here, I've been spending the last month or so practicing all 4 of the white belt forms here, Chon Ji, Taegeuk and Palgwe 1, and Songham 1 (and reviewing the one-steps). Here are some observations I have so far.... 1. Very few of my forms end on the same spot. Songham 1 is very close. Palgwe 1 gets close, but Chon Ji is off some, but I don't do any footwork adjustment; I just step from stance to stance. Taegeuk 1 doesn't even get close to being on the same spot. I think it must have something to do with the walking stances. I think I make them too long and too wide. 2. I don't like the walking stances. I think I make them too long and wide, and if I narrow them up, I don't feel like I have a very comfortable base. But I am going to try to focus on this more now.

I think I recall reading about this in Gillis' book, A Killing Art. So much going on there, its really too bad that some forms actually got caught up in that mess. But, it gives more forms for me to look at, so I'm the winner! I thought the kick looked pretty good, Danielle. You made good contact to break both boards, so kudos to you! Yours looked like a good split, too. Mine won't look near that good. It will look more like a side kick to one side, with a trail leg to the other. Can you do full side splits to get that extension?

Everyone's got different ideas on bunkai, so it just depends on the practitioner and instructors. If you are looking for some resources to start with, here are a few I like: Bunkai-Jutsu: The Practical Application of Karate Kata, by Iain Abernethy: http://www.amazon.com/Bunkai-Jutsu-Practical-Application-Karate-Kata-ebook/dp/B00A79N8OO/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423767286&sr=1-1&keywords=bunkai+jutsu The Way of Kata: A Comprehensive Guide to Deciphering Martial Arts Applications, by Lawrence A. Kane and Kris Wilder: http://www.amazon.com/Way-Kata-Comprehensive-Deciphering-Applications/dp/1594390584/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1423767407&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Way+Of+Kata Abernethy's work is more specific, showing particular applications to particular moves that he teaches from the kata's he practices. Kane and Wilder's work is more of a book on guiding principles to follow to help you "find" the best applications you can to the moves in your kata's, whatever they may be.

Bob, I post up the bracket of the tournament the boys are doing that day. It just depends on which one you saw, I guess. I take a picture of the bracket and post it, and then give updates throughout the day.

We were working this the other day, and a guy I was working with kept getting his feet wrapped up underneath me when he would reverse, like he was still in a guard or something. I wasn't sure what he was doing wrong. Any thoughts on that? I didn't seem to be having that problem.

Looks like a good book, Danielle. I do enjoy reading Kane and Wilder, and none of their works have disappointed me yet. I will keep this one in mind, as well. Sounds like a must-read for any instructor. I recently finished the book Taekwondo Poomsae: The Fighting Scrolls, by Kingsley Umoh. This book was a bit, different, for my tastes. Its published by Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Co, which is one I've not heard of, but, I don't mind trying something out that looks a bit different. I caught wind of this book after reading an article in TotallyTKD Magazine by this same author, and thought I would check out his book. He uses some different writing styles throughout the book, some in a story telling mode, others in a more factual and research type mode, so it can seem kind of random at times. He starts out with chapters on Yin and Yang (Um/Yang in Korean) philosophies, and relates this into the way the applications of the Taegeuk and Palgwe forms work, according to his study. Chapters 3-5 focus on Taegeuk and Palgwe forms applications, with interesting comparison and contrasts for the opposing Taegeuks or Palgwe forms. For example, chapter 3 poses the self-defense question, "Response to an attack from the front," and then presents applications. If he uses applications from Taegeuk Il Jang, he poses an application for the opposite form on the Taegeuk, Taegeuk Pal Jang. One application he refers to as Um/Yin, and the other as Yang. Its an interesting take on the approach. After these initial chapters, things get different, at least to me. Chapters 6 and 7 are on Taoist Ki Energy Theory, and Modern Ki Energy Theory, respectively. From there, he goes into the black belt forms, and delves even more deeply into Ki energy, talking about drawing it in, storing it, etc. Kingsley is a medical doctor, and it appears that in this book, he tries to use his medical knowledge to justify the existence of ki energy, and how it is used, stored, and strengthened. When he gets into the black belt forms, each chapter seems to have a different approach and subject in the matter of ki energy usage, and I have to admit that it got tough for me to keep reading through it. I just don't buy into the ki energy thought process he presents in the book, but I am sure there are some practitioners out there that would really like to delve into it. The author has various drawings throughout the work, but I see no sources for them, so I think they are his own work. He does draw up quite a bit of anatomy along with his ki discussions, but I know so little about it that I don't know what to think about them, let alone offer an opinion. Now, the applications themselves, are interesting studies. It will be interesting to work with some of them. They take a different approach than the application of the Taegeuk forms undertaken by Simon O'Neill in The Taegeuk Cipher, so if you would like a different take on some applications, its a good source to look into for variety. He also includes Palgwe applications, the first of which I've seen in any book. Unfortunately, the pictures are small, like they are in O'Neill's work, making interpretation a bit difficult. The descriptions of the applications can be somewhat vague at times, as well, but the move count he uses for the forms matches those I've seen in manuals I have, such as Lee/Kim's Complete Taekwondo Poomsae. If you are not a WTF student, then having a resource such as this to refer the forms can be helpful when deciphering what the pictures are getting at. This book is a toss-up. I guess it depends on what you like to read about. If you are looking for a source that really gets into some of the Taegeuk philosophy, and the channeling of ki energy, then you may enjoy this book. If you want some application ideas to work with, then this will help get you started. If you don't like what you see in the book, it will at least get you thinking about how and what you would do differently, which is a good thing, for sure, for anyone's training. I think the quality of the book could have been a bit better, and the obscure publishing company name may raise some eyebrows as to the quality of the work. I say, check it out for yourself, and make your own judgments about it. http://www.amazon.com/Taekwondo-Poomsae-Fighting-Philosophy-Applications/dp/1612048013/ref=sr_1_sc_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1423766140&sr=8-3-spell&keywords=The+Taeguek+Cipher