DWx

I have t-shirts and will wear them on occasion. Less to advertise and more if they just happen to be available to wear. To be honest I prefer it when they are a good design and the MA branding is more subtle. Some schools tend to just slap their patch on the front and some Japanese calligraphy and call it a day and I wouldn't really choose to go out in something like that. Though you can get away more and more with MA stuff in public due to UFC and brands like Tapout are being worn by normal people.

To the bold type above... Nope!! Just how many MA styles have been diluted?? Many MA styles are STILL around!! Again, who's to say that YOU/I/WHOMEVER is better than their Sensei?? Well, in my case, I suppose Soke would be better to make that determination if I'm better than Dai-Soke because Soke taught Dai-Soke. My Governing Body?? NO WAY!! That would be an assumption that bears no fruit. It's not about saying you are better. It's about going into the dojo every time and working your hardest to be the best you can be. Aspire to be better. Work you hardest to be better otherwise you've already put limitations on yourself. To me saying I can never be as good as them is already constructing barriers and putting limitations on yourself. I guess this is where TKD differs as in ITF TKD our founder was explicit in that the greatest compliment a student could pay their instructor is to surpass him. In General Choi's Encyclopedia (The TKD Bible) it explicitly says: "An instructor should be eager for students to surpass him; it is the ultimate compliment for an instructor. A student should never be held back. If an instructor realizes his student has developed beyond his teaching capabilities, the student should be sent to a higher ranking instructor." It's about building on those before and aspiring to something better.

I think I'm going against the grain here... but yes, you should absolutely aspire to be better than your teacher. And as teachers you should absolutely want your students to strive to become better than you. It's not an ego thing. To me you should be inspired by your seniors and work as hard as you can to better yourself and try to bring yourself up to their level. I think I've quoted this on KF before but this from Isaac Newton seems appropriate: "If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants". To me the greatest thing you can give back to your style and honour those who taught you is to strive to make yourself better and build upon the foundation they gave you. Especially in this day and age when information can be shared so easily, you should always want to be better. Let me flip the question the other way, if you are never better than your teacher, and your students are never better than you, doesn't the art just become diluted?

Congrats Tempest

Welcome perrymour

Some good points so far. One of the flexibility tests for the splits is to stand and put your leg up on a surface at least hip height. If you can do that with both legs then there is nothing with your hip structure that will prevent you doing box splits, only your flexibility. I know it's an ad for his DVD series but this article from Elastic Steel which highlights the muscles involved: https://elasticsteel.com/blogs/the-science-of-kicking/how-to-do-a-perfect-side-kick-from-poor-side-kick-to-great-side-kick I'd also recommend this video:

Agree. That is why it helps to bring a gun. And friends with guns. Unless you're within 20ft of the knife wielder...

Great topic OneKickWonder. I think it's very prudent to think exactly about what threats are in your environment and tailor your training accordingly. There was an extensive report by the WHO a few years ago looking at causes of violent death in each country. In Europe it was definitely more knife crime or blunt force whereas in the US it was guns. As a European / Brit, the chances of me encountering a gun are much lower than a knife so it makes more sense to train for knife defense than gun defense.

I coach a TKD team where we are training kids from as young as 10 to compete on a high level in both sparring and forms. One of the things I've struggled with over the years, and no doubt many other teachers and coaches see the same thing, is working with pushy parents that think the way to make little Johnny a champion is to train them hard every day. At first these kids do well and enjoy everything that comes with success, but over time their peers catch them up and eventually surpass them. 9 times out of 10 these kids peak too young and then quit cold turkey as they burn out. This is a great article from the New York Times discussing burnout in youth sports and how to avoid it: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/well/how-to-avoid-burnout-in-youth-sports.html Early specialization in sport takes its physical toll and kids doing only one type of movement easily develop injuries and aren't given proper time to recover. Though the same can happen in adults, kids are still growing and developing so you have to give them opportunities to change it up and learn to move in different ways. Then of course is the mental burnout. Kids are more likely to stick at a sport if you aren't forcing them to go to practice everyday and turning it into a chore. Alongside their TKD training I try to encourage students to take up several other sports at the very least on a recreational level. If they have one solo sport (could be TKD), one team sport, and one coordination sport (a racquet sport, or baseball, golf etc.) then you produce a really rounded athlete. Parents think that the only way to get good at martial arts is to practice martial arts but at a young age general motor skills are more important. Spatial awareness learnt in soccer or reaction time developed in tennis is all translatable over to martial arts. At a young age I don't mind if kids want to go off and play basketball in the summer or spend their winter snowboarding; at the end of the day these are the students who come back in their teens and go on to be really good martial artists. Thoughts? How do you deal with pushy parents? How are you trying to get the best out of your youth martial artists?

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

not sure why this is even a question. Answer is obvious!

Can't remember reading that but sounds believable enough. I remember the TKD teacher at university getting us to stare into the mirror for 10 mins to practice our self defense mean face.

Prototype, whilst its great you want to improve and are coming to KF for guidance, have you asked your instructor? They might be able to provide more specific advice about what they want to see from you.

Happy Birthday Mo

A few things could be at work here. He could be doing a side snap kick, which is a totally different kick. The backwards lean of many side kicks is related to the height of the kick and the person's body style. One should not lean back in order to kick high, but when one does try to kick high, the body will end up leaning back. It is ok if your body leans back on its own when high kicking, but it is not ok to lean back in order to try to kick higher. Hopefully, that all makes sense. The kick in that picture is not subpar. From what I can tell, his kicking foot heel, knee, hip, and shoulder are all lined up, which makes for a strong kick with good body structure behind it. Another mistake I often see when people try to kick higher than they can (or just don't understand how to do the kick yet) is that they tend to bend inwards at the waist, not towards the kick, but towards the direction the front of the body is facing. This is not good, as it breaks the structure of the kick, and you end up with very little reinforcement behind it. I agree with bushido_man96's post. The other thing is that TKD has evolved and refined over the years. Today's kickers are more athletic and able.

As has been said, stances are transitional positions but I think more importantly teach how to transition between positions. It's about weight management. Might find this interesting: http://www.karatebyjesse.com/the-stances-of-karate-form-function-and-footprints/

Yes you are In all seriousness, I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with how you approach your training. It's your training after all. But to play Devil's advocate: Now I'm sure this probably isn't the case with you, but sometimes I see students not wanting to grade because they prefer to coast rather than force themselves out of their comfort zone. For example, I know of a 4th kup teenage girl who has spent 2 years(!) at that grade because she doesn't feel ready to test. By her own admission, she is scared to face the grading panel, and I half suspect she is also scared to move away from her comfort zone and step up to the next difficulty level. Sometimes a teacher needs to push their students to tackle new challenges even though they may not feel ready. That's the problem, there are a million "What Ifs?" and you cannot possibly cover all of them. Self Defense comes from the repetition of movement so that you ingrain it to your muscle memory. Volume of reps are what count and for efficient training it makes little sense to prepare for "What if my attacker somersaults in and then uses this obscure restraint he learned from the ancient monks on Mt. Everest?". You have to simplify things in training and teach concepts, not specifics. In the heat of the moment it's guaranteed you're not going to remember the answers to all the "What Ifs?". Probably being a nightmare teacher here But the bold is your answer to this one. Whilst your teacher can guide you, a lot is up to you to discover yourself. No one has the answer to everything. This is why it's good to train with other teachers of the same style and even cross train in different disciplines. Empty your cup and just train.

I still think it sounds like a normal ITF class... contrary to popular belief, it isn't all kicking. The 60/40 split is pretty realistic from the style. That said, it doesn't seem like it is meeting your expectations or what you what from a martial art. Maybe its time for a change?

Is it that bad? I've seen some ads for it lately and was seriously considering it for messing around in the house with. Would it be OK for kids do you think?

What he's doing is correct by ITF style. The arm goes out in a high punch parallel to the leg. The reason behind this is if the kick gets jammed at the chamber, the punching arm covers the ribs against counter punch but also has an opportunity to punch the opponent in the face if they come in close to jam the leg. Later at black belt level its done with the arms in guard as an alternative posture. Reason being is that at this point the kicker is supposed to be good enough that they don't get their kick stuffed and can choose what's more appropriate, punch or guard.

Looks like a big improvement on your previous post Prototype. The alignment is a lot better and looks like your flexibility has improved. Good work. I would agree with OneKickWonder in that there is small amount of over-rotation on the hip. From the still it actually looks like tight hip flexors to me. The hips need to be stacked vertically but you are slightly over rotated away from the kick. If you drive the right hip round a bit more you'd get more power into it.

Welcome to KF

Having gone through something similar recently, I think you should tell him. 6 years is a long time especially if you have been having private lessons with him and I think you at least owe him to be upfront about your intentions. After 6 years it could hurt him more if you were to leave suddenly and turn up somewhere else. What's the worst that's going to happen? If he gets angry at least you can close that chapter of your life and move on.

http://www.worldtaekwondo.org/world-taekwondo-general-assembly-approves-competition-rule-changes/ New rules have been approved for WT Taekwondo to come into force from the 2018 Youth Olympic Games: What does everyone think to the new rules? Positive thing or negative?