DWx

What's wrong with the history? Nothing inaccurate to my knowledge here: http://www.ustw.org/history_TKD.html The term probably doesn't confer exactly the same meaning as it does in Karate. In TKD it is not necessarily the head of the organization or the style but a title granted to any 9th dan. You have to remember that Taekwondo is a very large and widely practiced martial art and just as Karate contains many sub-divisions (Shotokan, Goju-, Wado-Ryu etc.) so does Taekwondo. As a consequence we have many masters and grandmasters.

Thanks. It's a shame the report doesn't go into greater detail on some of the statistics as I'm guessing there would be a lot we could learn. It would be interesting for example to see the data with say inter-gang related violence eliminated as I would imagine this accounts for a significant part of the weapon violence. I couldn't find the equivalent for men in the report, but the statement that for women a lot of injuries inflicted are to the head, face and neck would lead me to believe we ought to concentrate on covering up and protecting that part rather than lots of escapes from wrist grabs etc. that people like to focus on. Given that a lot of violence is between people we know like family members and people we know I guess this would strengthen the case for grappling arts like Judo and BJJ. Although not always the case, a violent outburst could be a one-off due to drink, drugs or some other factor and we might not necessarily want to hurt the person, just restrain them. Multiple attacker scenarios are also not as high a priority.

Wishing you a speedy recovery Bob. It's not easy having to step away (even temporarily) from something you've dedicated your life to.

It's not a competition but it might be useful to look at what conditioning competition fighters are undertaking. What allows them to keep hitting and keep getting hit? Strength (explosive) and endurance are both necessary. One hit, one kill is a nice ideal to aim for but in reality you might have to take a few shots first and dish a few out over the course of a fight.

http://www.who.int/violence_injury_prevention/violence/status_report/2014/en/ Full report and chapters Country profiles The World Health Organization has just released a report on interpersonal violence which details types of violence experience from country to country, the risks, and what each country is doing to minimize this. Considering that this report takes into account violence between family members, partners, friends, acquaintances and strangers there are some interesting statistics: - Males account for 82% of all homicide victims and have estimated rates of homicide that are more than four times those of females (10.8 and 2.5, respectively, per 100 000). The highest estimated rates of homicide in the world are found among males aged 15–29 years (18.2 per 100 000), followed closely by males aged 30–44 years (15.7 per 100 000). Estimated rates of homicide among females range from 1.2 per 100 000 in ages 5–14 years, to 3.2 per 100 000 in the age group 15–29 years. - Approximately one in every two homicides is committed with a firearm, and one in four with a sharp instrument such as a knife (see Figure 2), although the mechanism of homicide varies markedly by region. - In 2013 WHO and others estimated that as many as 38% of female homicides globally were committed by male partners while the corresponding figure for men was 6%. - Globally, an estimated 42% of women who have been physically and/or sexually abused by a partner have experienced injuries as a result of that violence. Blunt-force injuries by an intimate partner are most commonly inflicted on the head, face and neck, followed by musculoskeletal and genital injuries. Note that this report specifically excludes self-directed violence (suicidal behaviour and self-mutilation) and collective violence (violence inflicted by larger groups such as nation states, militia groups and terrorist organizations in order to achieve political, economic or social objectives). It seems that when we discuss self defense we often gear it towards encounters with strangers, e.g. don't go to high risk areas, what to do when attacked by multiple attackers etc. however from the report the vast amount of violence is inflicted by people we already know. Males also seem to be at greater (serious) risk yet often we focus on female self defense courses. It is also interesting to read the different data on each country. For example, in the UK: 40% of homicides were by sharp force (i.e. stabbing) and only 8% were firearm related. Compare that to the USA and the numbers reverse: 68% are due to firearms and 11% by sharp force. Should I then, as a UK citizen tailor my self defense training to cater more for stabbing than for firearm defense and should an American martial artists spend more time on methods to respond to gun violence. I wonder how many of us actually tailor our training in this way rather than follow an international curriculum?

I too have trained Taekwondo since I was a kid. My flexibility sucks big time. I think some people will never naturally have it... That said I have found that a little and often as the best policy as is building up length strength in conjunction with stretching. Try the the Tricks Tutorials' guide to stretching for advice: http://www.trickstutorials.com/content/flx3.php

Welcome Kwon_Artist

I really don't know what my goals are this year.. Last year was so full-on that I think I have accomplished most of the things I've previously set down as goals over the past couple of years. Starting with a clean slate now. For now, until I think of some more: 1. learn my 3 new forms after having graded last year 2. Improve on last year's competition record, more tournaments and better results 3. I'd also like to start teaching and have my own class (but until I get my teaching license this is beyond my control).

A belated congratulations Hammer

So, the "official" version is to throw the "tracing" hand out with the side kick. Does the WTF/Kukkiwon label it as a strike, or just an assisting hand? Application I was taught was that the arm goes out with the leg in case the opponent moves in to jam the leg. The fist should hopefully still connect and even if it doesn't it is extended so you can grab or whatever. Though this makes more sense when the arm punches rather than side strikes. In ITF holding the arms in or doing something else with them doesn't really happen until 2nd dan. Can you expand on the bold Brian? (In that video would you be aiming them towards the camera rather than on the 45?). The logic behind the 45 angle in our school would be that without changing the stance, the 45 location for the strike would be the only possible place to do it. First the hand placement must finish in line with the person's B or chest line (where the badges are). If it is across towards the centre line or further, this creates tension in the shoulder and also restricts you because your arm is across your body. We would also say the arm cannot finish on the outside of the shoulders as it is too far away from your centre of gravity and there is no bodyweight behind the arm to reinforce it (outward moving strikes are different). In an L-stance (or back stance), the hips naturally sit on a 45 or half facing position, to turn them to one side or the other would force tension and wouldn't be natural or relaxed. The hips then dictate where the torso points and the hand placement is bound by that. So with the hand position fixed, add in the stance too and on the 45 degree is the only place hand can logically finish for us.

I've not got any yet but have been toying with two ideas for a long time.. The first stems from the fact that in my style of TKD, we only wrap the belt around the waist once unlike is traditional in most other martial arts. This is said to represent a concept that parallels ikken hissatsu: "Il Kyok Pil Sung - Achieve victory in a single blow (literally One Strike Certain Victory). Il Pyon Dan Shim - Serve one Master with unshakable loyalty. Oh Do Il Kwan - Pursue one goal whatsoever, once it is determined" For me it represents also acting as though you only get once chance to do something and one lifetime to make a (positive) impact Thing is though, I'm starting to think Gen. Choi coined the phrases above as I have never been able to find them written in hangul (or hanja) as if I were to have it tattooed I'd prefer it to be either written in that script or to just have some sort of pictorial representation. The other one I want but haven't as yet found a good image, is a small turtle. The ITF plaque is a turtle shell to symbolize longevity and it is in most cultures associated with this plus strength, endurance, wisdom etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_depictions_of_turtles I thought about trying to turn the Chinese character 龜 into a turtle like shape but I don't know.. (Besides, the turtle also features heavily in my two favourite book series, The Dark Tower by Stephen King and Discworld series by Terry Pratchett.) So yeah if anyone is good at illustration and design, let me know

I am actually. Taught 2nd grade for two years and now a middle school librarian. I do miss the classroom, though, which is partially why I'm trying to develop some more learning opportunities for our karate kids. Thought as much I always thought for kids some sort of homework system with tasks like you described would be a good way of encouraging additional learning outside of the dojo but when you have a rolling enrollment rather than defined semesters it would be pretty hard to track who should be doing what. Unless of course you handed each kid a homework booklet alongside their new belt and they had to complete it all prior to their next grading

Danielle, have you looked into Stuart Anslow's book From Creation to Unification? It has great sections on the histories behind the names of the ITF forms. I've read, and really enjoyed it: http://www.amazon.com/Creation-Unification-Complete-Histories-Patterns/dp/1906628556/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1418760363&sr=1-3&keywords=Stuart+Anslow+in+booksI have seen it and it's on my wishlist There is a lot of free information out there too of course as these were real figures from Korean history and not just some obscure name. I always thought it interesting though that most of the names for colour belt forms are philosophers and scholars (with a couple of freedom fighters thrown in for good measure ) whereas the forms traditionally assigned to blackbelt are named after military leaders and kings who fought on the battlefield.

^sounds like you've had some unfortunate experiences Gareth, I wouldn't wish it on anybody and I would agree that it is hard for parents and even new adult students to be aware of what the right questions are and not to just take the sensei's word. Unfortunately the industry is not regulated and often suffers because of that. Sounds like you have found somewhere to make up for your past experiences with your new Aikido teacher though

You are right in that it has changed a lot over the years. But a lot of this is due to context I think. How do you make Taekwon-Do look different from and be "better" than Karate (and Kukkiwon TKD)? Introduce this movement called sine wave. It seems many people went the route of bigger being better without fully understanding why. Now it's becoming more and more refined and we are told to tone down the movement and pull it back to something more useful rather than something that is just different. I often wonder if sine wave isn't (in some places) taken to an extreme that it was never meant to go. Something meant to be a way to demonstrate how power is generated taken to a sometimes comical extreme. I've seen (again, in some places) people trying to put sine wave in where it seems odd, awkward and out of place. Almost as if sine wave itself is the technique, instead of the kick, punch or block. This is a very good point, and at times when I watch ITF forms, I get that feeling, as well.Here's another version of Do San that I have saved to my playlists: This guy has pretty good power, but lots more sine wave, especially in the punches. In my opinion, they take way to long to set up, and the sine wave, the way it is done here, presents a huge telegraph. The sine wave also stymies combinations in the forms. When I do this form, at the beginning, its outside block, then a slight pull-back of the hip, and then punch. Then a quick adjustment step to the other side, we call it stepping "one line to two lines," and then boom, we're off. Also, the two punches after the wedging blocks and front kick are a quick combination, no pause to set up the sine wave. Combinations as such are a bit different when done with sine wave in ITF patterns. The pacing of the form is very rigidly defined so you aren't supposed to chain any moves together which aren't specified. Of course this doesn't limit what you do outside of the form in drill or line work but within it must be practiced at this tempo. The two punches after the wedging block are meant to be done in "fast motion" in ITF where I guess you could say you do 1.5x sine wave for the 2 techniques. As in the video, instead of down-up-down (punch) then down-up-down (punch), if that makes sense, you skip the first half of the second "sine wave" action. So technically speaking you don't do the relax downward phase because you don't have time and you are meant to just go straight into pulling back and firing off the second punch. We also have continuous motion and connecting motion but it's a little difficult to describe without demonstration... As is pretty much all of sine wave Got to visit the UK Brian and I can show you how we teach it in person

You are right in that it has changed a lot over the years. But a lot of this is due to context I think. How do you make Taekwon-Do look different from and be "better" than Karate (and Kukkiwon TKD)? Introduce this movement called sine wave. It seems many people went the route of bigger being better without fully understanding why. Now it's becoming more and more refined and we are told to tone down the movement and pull it back to something more useful rather than something that is just different. I often wonder if sine wave isn't (in some places) taken to an extreme that it was never meant to go. Something meant to be a way to demonstrate how power is generated taken to a sometimes comical extreme. I've seen (again, in some places) people trying to put sine wave in where it seems odd, awkward and out of place. Almost as if sine wave itself is the technique, instead of the kick, punch or block. Sure I'd agree with that. In the past even our association has been guilty of thinking bigger=better. It's a problem really and I think it stems from a couple of sources: a) masters teaching seminars and exaggerating movements for teaching points then everyone goes away thinking they must do it like this all the time and b) competitors emphasising it for aesthetics then everybody else trying to emulate them. Nowadays though there is definitely a movement towards reining the sine wave in. Competitors for example are penalised if they go overboard with it. Best way I heard it described was as "sighing with your whole body". In truth the "down" phase of sine wave is limited in what it adds to the technique and is not about dipping your knee to the floor, it is more about forcing you to relax and unlock your legs and hip. That is all. (Only time it might be a bigger movement is where you specifically need to drop lower, e. g. A circular block where you scope under the opponents leg). The "up" phase of sine wave then simply comes from bringing the feet under the body when stepping, or in the case of movements on the spot, drawing back the hip and coming slightly onto the ball of the back foot in order to drive the movement from the leg. It shouldn't be a big thing at all as anything more than this is unstable and superfluous movement. This is more like how I try to move:

I have seen my own insurance documents and saw them when I was a child and my parents signed for me.. Don't know about your club but on any form I have ever had to sign for TKD related things, there is always a box to check if the named person on the form is under age and you are signing on their behalf. 9/10 you have to state your relationship to the child and fill in some contact details. "License" is just a case of semantics, I wouldn't get too hung up on the word. As has been discussed, in most cases it is a membership fee to the club and organisation + any other yearly fee an instructor wants to include like insurance. It is just a word. Widely used practice in the UK and in other countries. Our school's license fee includes membership to my club, my national association, the BTC (UK TKD governing and insurance body) which also includes Personal Accident Insurance for injury to myself, Liability Insurance for damage of third party property, Members’ Professional Indemnity for anytime I assist in class or teach under guidance and also Tournament Insurance for competitions covered by the BTC. For a whole year the £25 my instructor charges is hardly a lot of money and I personally don't mind if my instructor is making a measly tenner off of me over the course of a whole year. It goes some way to pay his overheads on hall hire and so on.

I think most people would recognise that the parent is taking out insurance on their child and not the child taking out the policy. Throughout the whole tuition process the parent is signing their child up not the child signing for themselves.

Maybe it's because the form set I learnt, the Chang Hon (ITF) system is fairly conservative with the kicks until 2nd kup and beyond, but the ATA forms seem crazy difficult to me for a low colour belt student to do. You compare it to the 6th kup form Won Hyo from the ITF system which seems much easier on the kicking front: For example, the jump front kick moves at 0.30 and 0.49 in Songham 4, although we might learn it separately from our forms if we choose, an equivalent movement doesn't appear in the ITF form set until Ul-Gi, a 4th dan pattern. So this is obviously the same form as Do San performed at 7th kup in ITF. In his performance, the moves which stood out to me were the wedging blocks. Application-wise I have been taught this is to wedge between an attackers arms if they were to attack with a grabbing type motion i.e. grabbing your shoulders or head with both hands. His movement would not make sense for this application as his arms come across the body rather than upwards ( ). Our movement is more like up and out like .Though I found this to be an interesting take on the movement: FWIW the second half of Do San is very similar to the start of . To the bold, I'd agree. In fact that was my thoughts on watching it. As before, very similar to the Shotokan kata Heian Nidan: I will say it's also nice to see that all forms posted so far show balance between right and left side with each movement being performed with both right and left leg and hand.

You are right in that it has changed a lot over the years. But a lot of this is due to context I think. How do you make Taekwon-Do look different from and be "better" than Karate (and Kukkiwon TKD)? Introduce this movement called sine wave. It seems many people went the route of bigger being better without fully understanding why. Now it's becoming more and more refined and we are told to tone down the movement and pull it back to something more useful rather than something that is just different.

We do have quite a bit of stuff to learn alongside the practical. At each grade it's the Korean terminology for each new technique. Also we have meanings to all of our patterns (kata) as they are all named after someone or something from Korean history. For kids it's ok to just learn the meaning and the dates but with adults I would expect them to look into this more on their own time and learn more about the history and background to each. When we test for 1st dan we must write a short paper on any aspect of Taekwon-Do or Martial Arts / physical fitness then when testing for 4th dan an even longer more involved paper is expected. All dan grades also have a written paper to accompany them. I do like your idea of how to learn the Isshin Ryu patch Devin, any chance you're a school teacher?

It is weird that it should happen to all of them. You aren't wearing something else with them are you? Like a red necklace or rash guard or tracksuit top. I used to get some red staining round the collar of my dobok but put it down to the tracksuit top I was sometimes throwing on top.

This is what you should Base your decision. What do you want to learn and what do you want to get out of it? Also it is an absolute must that you go meet with the instructors, spend a bit of time in each class and get a feel for the school before you decide. How well you connect with the instructor should be a big deciding factor. With regards to price.. Seems to be in line with what I currently pay.

This is doable. I've done up to two boards myself, but I make sure to do it as a front leg kick, and I really snap it out there and back. It does sting a little, and it leaves some pretty cool red marks around the bones of the foot for a little while. I was at a grading once where one guy going for his 4th dan did what looked to me like a chopping board with his instep. It had to be at least an inch thick and made of a hardwood too. Broke it but his foot swelled up to like golf ball size.

This is spot on what my experience has been. You buy a "license" to train at a school and this includes your insurance for training at the school and at any sanctioned events. It will also typically cover membership to the governing body and anything else the instructor wants to cover with a yearly fee. Most instructors would generally prefer it if you are covered under the same insurance company as everyone else but in theory you could purchase your own policy if you then provide proof to the school. This is also correct from my experience. Instructor's can purchase a bulk set of insurance policies and then sell them on to students as and when they need to. e.g. they buy policies ABC 0001 through to ABC 0999 and then assign them to students that sign up at the club. They then notify the insurance company of the student's details each time they redeem a policy and let the student know their policy or "membership" number. We've always had handwritten slips which can be tucked into our license book (which also serves as a grading record). If you're in doubt of having had a policy at the school Gareth, you can always ask to see the details of the policy and the name of the company honouring it. Doubt it would be worth the effort arguing over it though if you don't train there any more and have no injury claims to make.