DWx

The board holders I was were referring to were actually more along these lines or what we have in class is like 2 wooden A frames with two parallel bits of wood in between with stoppers (descriptions not very good but hopefully I'll be able to find a photo). Is that type of holder any good Joesteph? I've always wondered about using them.

I have to disagree RW. Sure you'd rarely see someone do a "proper" ma move as in get into a front stance and do a certain technique whilst pulling back to the hip etc. but the training you do does build up to give you more of an advantage in a fight through developing the right body mechanics. Even if you are not in a perfect fighting stance, chances are you are probably in something that resembles one. Depending on the person you might unconsiously shift the weight more onto one leg or move the weight forward onto the balls of your feet or whatever. Still a direct by-product of your training. And I would hope it becomes instinct to block/parry or dodge an incoming attack, i.e. what you're learning from your MA training. Those sound very like MA moves to me. Low kicking (shin and groin height) are the first kicks we learn my style and aren't boxing-punches still MA even if they are not Eastern MA...

Welcome Joe and good luck

Congratulations Dobbersky

Two solutions to this, first get a standing holder. They can be a bit pricey to buy but believe me once you start using them you'll never go back. Pretty easy to make them too, I'm currently doing one myself (think there's also instructions for one in one of the Totally Taekwondo isssues). Other thing is limit the number of measures you allow people to do, particularly at testings. We allow one measure, one attempt to break. That's for gradings and at tournaments, if you don't break then its tough and you just have to deal with it. Personally I think it should be like this because people have to train so that they are breaking every hit; you don't get 13 tries to kick somebody's knee out or crack a rib etc. in SD.

No problem guys. I came across it by accident and it is pretty good so I thought I'd share. Its actually edited by Stuart Anslow of Ch'ang Hon Taekwon-do Hae Sul.

Yeah a lot of things can affect how difficult a particular board is. Best boards aren't too sappy, are taken from the outer part of the trunk (so the grain just cuts across rather than curves) and have no knots in. For stuff like gradings I advise people to inspect the boards before they attempt them. Change it if its really bad or flip it over if one side of it doesn't look too good. It does work. Whenever we're chopping up the firewood at home for our fireplace its a lot easier if theres been a couple of sunny days to dry the wood out. Its splits a lot easier if there's no moisture.

That is one way of cheating. Baking them takes out all the moisture but whats the point in doing the break if you're just going to cheat?

Welcome Nathandnd

I agree with you. There's no need to be embaressed, I've not broken at times - competed in breaking at a tournament once and managed to go high and hit the metal stand with the entire audience watching. I guess people just get into the mentality that they aren't good enough when it seems like the rest of the class have broken and they haven't. Free-standing holder (wood or metal) is the way to go. Saves on all those bust fingers when somebody misses. Also with people holding it you can't really stack up the boards too much because they physically can't get their hands around it, bricks aren't good handheld either. See this is why I think breaking should be done more. Like you said, going through the target and getting the accuracy spot on can be hit or miss, by practicing breaking you are developing those skills. Congratulations by the way Actually a little tip is not to hit it dead centre. The boards are actually weaker to impact towards the edges of the board so hit centrally vertically but on the horizontal axis aim for impact to be 2 - 5 cm in from the edge. It doesn't matter so much for side/back kicks because of the foot part used but for anything smaller (i.e. hand parts or ball of the foot), it can make a big difference in how easy the break is.

I just asked about this tonight, in that the kiddie plastic boards can be broken, reassembled, broken, etc. The use of thinner wood and moving up in thickness is a good idea, too. I guess you can double the plastic or thin wooden boards, too. One of the good things about the rebreakable boards is that you can buy a range of thicknesses. At home I have a few ranging between 1cm with foam padding to 2.5cm no padding so you can slowly work up in level. Also a lot of the manufactures can tell you how much force is required to break the joint, e.g. I know that one of the boards my school has required 150lbs of pressure to break (when it was new) and that gives you a more quantitative idea of how much force you can generate. One thing you have to remember when stacking up the boards is that its not just a case of more force needed, you also have to sustain that force over a distance to go through the lot. Same here. I think one of the biggest problems (in my school) is when practicing breaking in class, you can only have one or a handful of students have a go at a time so its a lot of waiting around and not really getting much done. Theres also the embaressment factor for some. Everytime we do it in class theres always some that dont want to have a go because everyone else is watching and "what if they don't break?". Breaking in class is just not a good use of time.

You don't need to pay someone to do that! To get that pre-worn look just tie the belt to the back of you car and go drive 30miles or so. For the really well worn look make sure you drive it through a couple of muddy fields too to make sure its really blackened with dirt. j/k

http://www.totallytkd.com/ Came across this and I have to say its probably one of the best TKD magazines I've read. All the issues are free online and they have some really good stuff in there for ITF, WTF and other TKD (although at the minute it seems to be a little ITF orientated). Loads of historical pieces too which look at some of the early pioneers. Worth checking out for anyone in TKD or a related style.

Good Luck Do you know what you have to do for the testing?

I hate doing it. The uni club I sometimes go to does it and I just feel so uncomfortable and for me it doesn't add anything more than the breathing does.

He plays better than I do Pretty amazing that he can hold the cue properly and shoot properly.

We almost exclusively do this. Very rarely do we kiai and its not a big deal in our style. We kihap in sparring drills etc. to signify you're ready but other than that its all just breath...

Congrats Kuma

Good Luck Dobbersky!

Congrats Kez!!!

Congrats Lord Yasai

Congrats JusticeZero!

From what you've described I would go with the hip position too. Rateh's advice is good. Just make sure you don't over spin and end up forward facing with your hips when doing the kick. You want to keep side on to get the foot position and angle correct but also to keep the body out of the way when striking someone. To be honest I wouldn't bother with the jumping version until you can do the standing version ok; you have to walk before you run .

Welcome Joe!

For us, regional stuff it doesn't matter, national they like it to be red or blue and for international you have to have a set of both red and blue because you can get designated either colour per match (think they want to phase this into nationals too).