DWx

Very true. But not for the reasons people think. A better saying might be: "The will to win is useless without the will to prepare." How often have you skipped a practice or only did very little at practice because... any reason that wasn't an actual physical injury? All of those add up. And the people who can make themselves continue to put in the effort day-in and day-out, for whatever reason, are the ones that, as they say, git gud. They are also the ones that have the discipline to stick to a diet and make weight for competition. It all adds up. It's not any one thing. But the combination of psychological factors that effect your preparation for fighting that add up to that 90% mark. This is a really good point. The battle is about getting yourself to training and pushing yourself.

Ok so I figured everyone would agree that the mind is a very important aspect, whether we are talking fighting for self defence or as a combat sport. But is the 90% figure accurate? Is it really such a large part or are we dismissing the physicality of the fight? If fighting is mostly mental why do we go to the gym and train so hard?

My instructor has a permanent venue so has classes 6 days out of 7 (Sunday's off). They split out the classes by "Warriors" which is under 7s, Beginner (up to 4th kup), Advanced (3rd kup upwards and blackbelts). Then they also run a junior sparring class and senior sparring class, and fitness classes aimed at the general public.

"Fighting is 90% mental" Plenty of fighters have said this but how true is it?

They split away in 1983. Pre-sine wave, post-knee spring.

Thanks Bob. Things moved so fast at the start and I made really quick progress. Now I'm about 4 months later progress is a lot slower and easy to forget how far I've come with it. Ok so since my last update: Day 124: check in with physio to see how I'm getting on. Have been working hard in the gym and am probably 80% of the way back to where I was strength-wise. Physio happy with my progress and did some more stretching of my arm. Less than 5 degrees bend now. Day 126: 2nd time seeing my surgeon (+students). Did some basic strength tests and discussed my plans for return to full TKD training. Happy with my progress but still got to keep on stretching it as much as I can. Can continue to do strength work and now work towards more free weights. Aiming for a full return to TKD for March / April time and will meet with him again in May to see how it's going. Day 129: national squad training again. Limited training but getting back into the swing of sparring drills and pad work with the team. Not back at normal training yet but keeping my hand in by teaching forms and sparring drills. Day 140 (last Thursday): physio appointment. Review of where I am strength-wise. Advised to keep working on strength at the gym and to begin doing skill work again. Not much more they can do for me now as it'd just down to me. Discharged from the physio though I can still call up or make an appointment if I need to. So all in all things are going pretty well. Rehabilitation is definitely a learning process as though there is plenty of information about rehabbing a Tommy John for baseball, there are limited studies on other athletes or martial artists recovering from this op. I'm having to figure out what works and what doesn't work as we go along.

If in doubt, see a doctor. I had a training partner break their big toe and they had to have it cast for a few weeks to recover.

I used to believe that true, until I thought about it, and realised it's just yet more brainwashing. Think about it's value in psychological terms. What are we teaching when we ask students to smash a stationary object that is being held still by often several of our friends? How does that help develop the self defence mindset? Then think about other aspects of training that help develop self confidence. In sparring we have a moving, resisting opponent trying to hit us. At first it's scary. Over time it becomes less so, as you learn that you can move as well as anyone, judge distance, and land strikes against resistance. Of course in sparring, unless it's full contact, we don't kick full force like we do in breaking, so we could say that breaking gives us that opportunity. But so does pad work. You could say you need to know that in a self defence situation, you need to know that you can and will kick with enough force to disable an attacker temporarily. There's 2 problems with using board breaking to help with that. One is that a pre cut breaking board or an inch of soft pine tells us nothing of our power, and secondly, if you're full of adrenaline because you're under attack for real, you won't hold back. So when we analyse the pros and cons, we find that at best, most of the time it looks good and makes a satisfying noise. At worst it teaches you to kick stationary restrained objects possibly bruising or breaking your foot just to win the approval of a panel that have only asked you to do it because that's the way it's always been done and they've never questioned it. I see breaking and sparring as two parts of the whole. Breaking tests focus and raw power, if all the elements don't come together at the same moment you won't break. It's as simple as that. Even pad work can't give that feedback as a technique can feel powerful but can be less than perfect. Sparring tests timing and strategy which you won't get from breaking true, but equally you can't hit your training partners full force during sparring. Both are sides of the same coin.

What works for some doesn't work for others. That's why you have to be adaptable adjust to the student. I prefer detail as long as it's concise. But too brief an explanation which glosses over detail is far worse for me than someone over-explaining.

It's a tough one. I've had my fair share of mental and physical burnouts and seen plenty of students go through it. For me it's when it starts to become a chore rather than something I look forward to. When I feel too tired either mentally or physically, it's good to stop, take some time off and refocus. Maybe even change up my routine or go do some other physical activity for a while.

You do find it elsewhere though. Just not by the same name. e.g. Jack Dempsey's Falling Step in boxing Jack dempseys fallit step is not sine wave. And to those Sine wave supporters like yourself claiming that it has been exaggerated in recent time, check out general chois own demonstrations of it on youtube. He is rocking up and down as if its the Titanic. Extremely bouncy instructional. Can I ask why you train ITF then if you don't like it? Maybe a different style might be more suitable?

So they don't even do knee spring? They teach classical hip twerk as originally taught in ITF?

I was just about to post the same. It really does depend on who your audience is: general public or fellow martial artists? Intricate wrist locks and joint manipulations aren't going to interest the average Joe. Some of the best demos I've seen, even as a Martial Artist, tend to have an element of flash or acting, they tell a story. I've seen TKD demos with "helpless" female defending herself against the bad guys, Aikido demos where the kids take on a group of thugs etc. Got to capture the imagination especially if it's at a festival and there's a lot of other stuff that can grab their attention. I know some on the forum might not like this for the theatrics, but this self-defense demo is one of my favorite to watch for the entertainment factor: They pulled one of the non-TKD audience members out to particpate and tell a story with the fight.

Happy Birthday Devin!

Welcome to the forums

Coming from a TKD background bunkai was an alien concept to me. We very much take our applications at face value and concentrate on principles of power and leverage which can then be applied to any movement. In my style we have 24 forms in total and I "know" 21 of them. That is to say I can go through the movement patterns but I'm still very much learning and honing them.

You do find it elsewhere though. Just not by the same name. e.g. Jack Dempsey's Falling Step in boxing

Loads of groups in the UK who don't do sine wave but practice Chang Hon. Off the top of my head the biggest is probably TAGB (part of Taekwondo International under Grandmaster CK Choi). We also have smaller groups like the GTI and many independent schools who do Chang Hon but don't do dinner wave. For international groups there's Hee Il Cho's AIMAA.

Sounds like you were learning fundamental movements for Dan Gun / Won Hyo... Typical ITF class to me. It's not all about kicking and to be honest the curriculum has minimal kicks until 1st kup. Less than 10% of the moves in the patterns are kicks until you get higher up and even then you're not going to focus on them every session. If you want more kicks you might have to think about changing style as it's not going to be much different at any other ITF club.

A new addition to my library which I can't recommend enough: The Fighter's Mind: Inside the Mental Game by Sam Sheridan I got this on audiobook to listen to in the car thinking it would an easy listen.. It's so good that within a day I bought the print version too. The book examines what separates true fighters from the rest of us and Sheridan interviews legendary trainers like Freddie Roach and Greg Jackson and fighters like Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, and Marcelo Garcia. Each chapter looks at a different person and he talks to guys training Muay Thai in Thailand, BJJ with the Gracies, UFC fighters, college wrestlers etc. but also talks to soldiers and ultra-marathon runners to see what allows them to push through the pain and train like they do. I found it really interesting for not only my own mindset when training and competing, but also as a coach and how to get the best out of my fighters. Would definitely recommend. Another book that I've had for a while but that I've found myself picking up recently: The Strength and Conditioning Bible by Nick Grantham Nick is a former TKD fighter who used to be on the England squad before going on to become strength and conditioning coach for various sports teams in the UK including professional football teams and GB Olympic Taekwondo and Judo. I bought this book after Nick got involved with our squad again and I went on a course ran by him focusing on Youth Athletic Development. The first 3 parts of the book covers some strength and conditioning theories and effective programme design for athletes and the final part (last half of the book) details various stretches and strength exercises broken down by body part or movement type. Really useful introduction to effective strength and conditioning and handy reference for exercises (including bodyweight, dumbbell and barbell).

I think it depends on the individual as to what they feel comfortable in. I know if you work from home the advice is always to dress up as if you are going into an office, supposed to make you perform better. Same is probably true here. For me I don't think I have ever trained at home in full dobok (gi). I might wear the pants with a tshirt sometimes to train but only because they are easy to move in.

Another demo took place today. Photos and coverage: http://www.atimes.com/article/force-vs-finesse-north-south-korea-trade-taekwondo/

I was debating whether to post this on the Korean section but I think it has greater significance outside of Taekwondo. Just like Karate, Taekwondo has multiple sub-styles each with their own subtleties. The most widely known style is that practiced by the WT (previously WTF) and is closely linked to South Korea. The other main style ITF is more closely allied with North Korea. As you may have no doubt read in the news, at this year's Winter Olympics, North and South Korea will field a joint Korean team and compete together under one flag. As part of this collaboration together, both the WT and ITF Taekwondo demonstration teams will perform 4 times over the course of the Games with the first demo held today as part of the Opening ceremony. This follows a demonstration by both teams at the WT World Championships in South Korea last year and in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2015 (both were also due to perform at the ITF championships in Pyongyang but this was not realised). Great to see sport and Martial Arts crossing borders. http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/pyeongchang2018/2018/02/09/7201000000AEN20180209010500315.html

Not sure about bats, but for boards we just go to the timber merchants and ask them to cut us 12" X 12" X 1" pine and then plane it flat. Then we buy London bricks, blocks, tiles etc. from the local builder's yards. Never heard of people doing balsa? Can't imagine it would pose much of a challenge.

He made a factual claim. Show me where in the ITF encyclopedia it states which direction the side kick should travel. I would refer you to pages 25 to 33 of volume 4 of the encyclopedia which details the side kick extensively. My sources also include the various ITF IIC and ITS courses I've been on including with the current technical director of the ITF. Your welcome to take my advice or leave it. You asked about your kick from an ITF a perspective and I have given mine. For what it's worth I have won international medals in patterns, sparring and breaking and am currently national coach for my country. If you were one of my squad I'd be giving you the same advice. As it stands your kick is not technical by ITF standards.