bushido_man96

Indeed. I fully agree with this. Akin to, "Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth." I think Mike Tyson said something along those lines.

Thanks, guys.

Thanks for the thoughts and opinions so far, everyone. Great input!

I have always done variations of the second version, along with break falls, which do make noise.

Here are a few of his matches so far this year: This one was the first match we had with the big kid that slammed him, after the slamming incident: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpN8VzFEAyo&list=HL1360299574 Here is one at another tourney, the following week, against same kid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mikHsUVKMHk&list=PLon1GNgZPzV7auEhp4xObbl6WkFdGZrEQ&index=3 Will work to get some more up for you guys!

Sounds like a fun class, JCavin. I probably would have puked after the burpees. Tallgeese, sorry about the shoulder. Mine still hurts from surgery. 2/6/2013 Solo workout at home. Yoo Sin Se Jong Ge Baek x2 Po Eun x2 Kwang Gae x2 Do-Kang 1 Do-Kang 2 Repeat round kicks, mid/hi x10 (20 total kicks). Repeat round kicks, hi/mid x10 (20 total kicks). Stretch

Un Yong Kim may not have had any MA experience, but he did surround himself with some knowledgeable MAists to put together the WTF, which brought in a lot of former ITF masters, if I recall. As for all the "science" behind the moves in the Encyclopedia, I think there can be some argument there. TKD's parent art is Shotokan, and there were lots of similarities in the moves prior to sine wave usage. Choi did make a lot of changes in how to move in ITF forms, I think mainly to make it look different from Shotokan and to distance himself from that. I don't blame him for that, and I don't think its wrong that he did it. Nor do I think there is any more sound science behind the movements of ITF TKD and the movements of other styles, like Shotokan, WTF, Capoeira, or other styles.

That is the set that the ITF uses but there a lot of non-ITF groups who will also study them. This the association? http://www.world-taekwondo.com Seems to be affiliated with the Kukkiwon so WTF? Anyway good luck with your TKD journey Glad you found a good school. Seems we have a bit of a mystery here then. JCavin will have to keep us posted!

I never thought of it this way, but that is an excellent point, and one I'll remember now. Especially the 4 direction kicking. That'll work great in the basement where I practice at home. Thanks, Danielle!

I learn in sequence combinations. So for me, understanding how one technique sets up the next is important in why the form is put together the way it is.

I believe there is truth to this. I can't remember which kata it is that has the 3 backwards jumps in it to make it end on the same spot, but I fail to see any practicality involved with the maneuver, and it seems pointless to do it just to get it back to the same spot.

I found the same list in Encyclopedia of Taekwon-do, vol 1, pp 154-155. And I understand this, as well. Gen. Choi did design the forms to be such that they did start and end in the same spot. I don't know how or why the changes came around for the way we do these forms (although I have some suspicions...), but the footwork differences don't always allow for us to end on up the same spot. I've watched a lot of ITF patterns on YouTube, and I see this rhythm in the way they do it. We don't use those rhythms, but tend to make more combinations, and the forms tend to flow faster in general. But, I think that this standard can hold true for any type of rhythm, so long as it seems logical. You nailed it here. Like I said, I think I looked too far into the semantics, and you really cleared this up for me. Spot on.

Zoodles, thank you thank you for chiming in! Love the videos. This one is great at showing the finesse of longsword. This is the half-swording that I've never really seen, but read about. Thank you for this one. Lots of similar techniques that I've seen in Combat Hapkido and CQC techniques. These were great! Lots of similarities I see in Wrestling. Thanks again, Zoodles! Lastly, here's a video I stumbled across, showing some sparring between bokken and longsword. It doesn't really show one guy whipping the other. You see two guys with some pretty similar skill levels having a pretty even match. It appears to me that both guys get some good techniques in.

Being OK based, Bob, you might have some luck in finding some ARMA study groups near you. I'd do a search and look around; universities tend to be a place to check, but there are others, as well. Right. They were both well trained in great combative systems, and both types of weapons were well made. The two were more equal than most people realize.

Thanks for the thoughts, Bob.

Congrats, and well deserved!

Sounds like you did well, and its great that you come out of testing with a new rank, as well as ideas of what you want to improve on, and how to do so. Very nice job, and congrats! Thanks for sharing this experience with us.

I had never heard of Saju Jirugi, Saju Makgi or Saju Tulgi until I got the TKD Encyclopedia set by Gen. Choi. Does you school use them for teaching white belts? Do you find any advantages over using just Chon Ji for teaching the basics and turning?

That's cool to hear. I'm glad it was a good, positive experience for you. I believe the WTA is the World Taekwondo Association, and I think it may be an off-shoot of WTF stuff, but not for sure. An internet search didn't reveal much. Good luck with it and keep us posted!

Yep, good and bad. I can't believe you got actually "tossed out" like that! Nuts! I'm glad you got a good experience to balance it out. I'm the kind of guy that if I heard you did a different style, I'd be like, "cool, so we do this, how do you do it?" And just start learning....

Thanks, guys. Watching practice at times frustrates me, though. He stands up straight waaaaay too much, and at times just dances around instead of shooting a take down. But, I keep working with him. Too much instructor in me, I guess.

All good points. So, what I think we have here, as opposed to an efficiency vs effectiveness argument, is instead a rating scale of techniques in general, based on their efficiency and effectiveness.A jab is efficient, for sure; fast, straight line, recover quick for defense. But as far as effectiveness, its damage capability isn't as high as that of a hook punch, usually. So, we have a scale to put the techniques on, and we see which way the scale leans more, I guess.

The way I see it, as much as any one of us try to imitate what an instructor teaches us for years and years, we can only become so much like that person, as we cannot become that person entirely. We're all a bit different, and so our experiences are a bit different than those we learn from. We all end up spicing the MAs in our own way.

I think this would be tough, without sacrificing power in the technique. Instead, I think making that hand work into a trap or as a feint for the next hand would be better.

Boy, I can try! Its been a while since I've done some reading, although I have some books I need to get through, for sure! Aside from what I can offer, the user called Zoodles who was here a while back could probably offer lots of good stuff, as he actually gets to practice it. One of the major things I've seen with Medieval Combat, are the misconceptions people have, compared to like, the Samurai of Japan. There are those who would be inclined to believe that the Japanese Samurai were such superior warriors that they would have been able to easily conquer Medieval Europe's fighting knights, but that's just not the case. The standard Medieval longsword was fairly light, not likely more than 4 lbs. The blades were well balanced and were sharp. Medieval Combat was made up of very concise systems, with renowned masters of the time doing the teaching and drilling. Empty hand tactics were a part of it, as well. Another thing not readily known by those who don't practice it or research it is that the systems usually transitioned very well across to other weapons. Quarterstaff work transitioned very well into sword work, as well as pole arm tactics. Grappling was always a popular system for hand-to-hand, and many techniques not unlike those found in Aiki-jujutsu can be found in Medieval manuals. There was a big thread that floated around a long time ago about Medieval Knights vs Japanese Samurai, and reading through it you can see how the romanticization of both the Samurai (which got the better) and the Knight (which got the worse, in my opinion) affect the answer people would give, based on story books and movies and not actual research and application. I'll try to find it and post the link here. I hope that helps sate your thirst for now. I would always recommend checking out https://www.thearma.org for any other questions. That site is a treasure trove. I look forward to the input of others! Thanks for asking, Bob!