DWx

I'm hoping to go down tomorrow to go see some of it, not had much of a chance to watch this week. Funny enough, about the slug fest, that's exactly what my instructor said last night It's slightly different group to the one I'm part of and in ours we get penalised for continuously slugging away with the hands. The tactics seem to be to use one or two legs to go in and then use the hands.

The only thing really required to compete in the Olympics is being a member of the WTF. And the hard core North Korean ITFers will not likely ever, ever decide to do that.A black belt I know in the ATA once competed at the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA for TKD competition, and won the Colorado state championship in his weight class. He was I think an ATA 3rd degree at the time, but paid WTF dues so he could compete. I'm sure there are some other requirements that need to be met that I'm not thinking of, black belt rank being one of them, but that's about the extent of it. Yeah that's about it. There's also the issue of reprogramming yourself to fight within the rules. It can be done though. Aaron Cook (who narrowly missed out on making the GB team) was ITF but made the swap and IIRC Jade Jones, our gold medallist used to do TAGB (ITF offshoot) and made the switch. Leading up to the Olympics, British TKD had a programme called Fighting Chance which auditioned fighters from other TKD styles and similar styles like kickboxing to join the squad. A couple of my friends tried out and one got down to the last 20 or so. Didn't go any further though because she couldn't stop sparring "wrong".

Not that I don't agree with you, but sometimes it is worth reigning in the power a bit in order to practice the technique (as in the action itself) alone. Starting slower with correct form is more beneficial in the long run than a mediocre technique that you do quickly and with throwing all your mass into it. In the long run, you can start adding in the speed and everything else and it'll be easier to utilise your mass.

With respect, I think that's what a lot of people who don't break say as a way to justify them not doing it. Boards most certainly do hit back (impulse) and especially if you don't break, all that power goes straight back up your arm. You could say (like bushido_man96 said), makiwara don't hit back. Thin air doesn't hit back (forms practice). Pads don't hit back. You can't train full power on your classmates all the time and even then you aren't looking to actually break their bones or cause internal damage. Boards do serve a purpose in that they will show you if you don't understand the technique, know how to generate speed and use mass, that you haven't conditioned properly, that you don't understand distancing and that you can't overcome the psychological barrier of "Oh #!@"£$, that's a solid bit of wood there, hope it doesn't hurt me!".

Great post. I am a big fan of breaking. Every striking technique you do (hand or foot) should be able to break at least one 3/4" pine board. Even some of your blocks should be able to do it. Like you said, it's not about the fact that you now have a board in front of you, it's about proving you understand every component of the technique and can execute it so. Pad work and kicking each other only gets you so far IMO. Boards show that every part of your technique is correct and that you're conditioned for the technique and that you're accurate. There's no way it will break if you don't have all of those factors. I can understand where the girl got a bit scared though It does freak me out sometimes when my instructor puts more boards up or uses a harder re-breakable board. I always do better when I don't know how much I'm trying to break because I don't try to force the extra effort in and make my technique go all funny. I actually find that if you put something in front of the board to trick yourself into thinking it's nothing it usually works and that's what I do when teaching breaking. Bit difficult with re-breakable boards because you need to see the line to be able to hit it, but you can line a child's or really weak board in front so that's what the breaker sees. Or if it's wood, I sometimes hang a cloth over the front or put a teardrop pad in front. Or even just making the student go and put some trainers on or a sparring pad. I find it helps psychologically . One of the other things I do with kids / more timid adults, is to get some paper and have them "break" that. If you don't have that piercing action the paper won't be torn in two but also it's not going to hurt you. Then you can progress and gradually increase the grade and then move onto child boards then adult boards. One thing I'm not so much of a fan of is the multiple measuring for the technique. We've always done it: one measure, one break. You measure to get your distance then compose yourself and break. You have one chance to do it. Kinda aspiring to ikken hissatsu. You only need one rep to line the kick or punch up as once you're in the correct position, it's a bit overkill. I think sometimes, when people keep doing the reps, it's because they're afraid and they're trying to convince themselves their technique is good and that they can go through it.

I don't actually know which team did the WTF one. I don't think it was the Korean Tigers and am unsure whether it was the WTF team or the British WTF team. The ITF one is the North Koreans (DPRK). Those guys are insane with the amount of training they do and in all the stunt fighting half the time they actually hit each other not just fake it

One thing I will say is that the wood was very thin. Not that the techniques they were doing weren't impressive but I'd have liked to see at least 3/5" boards TBH I preferred the ITF one but I think that has a lot to do with what they chose to demonstrate and who the audience was. The WTF demo was a lot shorter and they were mainly doing the big flashy kicks for the public to watch. The ITF demo was at the joint ITF Euros / International Martial Games so they were performing for martial artists and also had much longer to do a demo. Probably due to time but the WTF was also mostly breaking whereas in the ITF one they always do stunt/self-defense fighting which is awesome to see. This was the ITF one I was at:

I was there for that match. Crowd was going insane for the Gabon fighter; Brits like an underdog Was probably the best fight of the night out of all the ones I saw. This was an amazing shot: Because of the protest by the Italian coach, we got to see it on the big screens over and over again from all angles I agree about the 1st round head kick, I thought that kicks still had to have some power or a "trembling shock" to score? I think one of the reasons they don't seem to do much is because they're waiting for the other person to make a mistake so they can react. A lot of high level fights are pretty boring IMO because they don't do anything. I actually prefer watching mid-level fighters fight as a lot more seems to happen. Although it slows it down from a spectator point of view, I actually like the review system. At least you can protest a decision or the points awarded. They don't have that in my style. BTW I'd forgotten I had this, but I took a little bit of footage of the WTF demo team when they performed: Can now say I've seen both the WTF and ITF teams live

Oh I agree politics is definitely the major factor; having the Olympics in Seoul (vs the North) did a lot for WTF TKD in getting it in the Olympics in the first place. And politics is a major barrier to any significant change. Maybe "brutal" was the wrong word and that was a stupid comment but it's what ITF-ers like to say . I don't imagine it'll change any time soon due to politics and under current rules it is very difficult for ITF fighters to have any success without drastically toning down what they do. IMO the only change that might ever happen would be to make it open to non-WTF fighters but even then, the ruleset drastically limits other fighters. WRT to my comment, I was talking about the lack of strikes: ITFers can use ridgehands, backfists etc. face punches, lack of body protector/headguard.

Really great old documentary on some of boxing's greats:

Heh yeah I know that but I felt bad being one of the slowest in the group so I really pushed to get up there! Was a training weekend between a couple of schools and there was no-way was I going to embarrass my instructor by being last up the hill... guess that didn't go according to plan This is what we were sprinting up: http://goo.gl/maps/K9gxI

I've just started on the 3rd video. Pretty interesting seeing things from the perspective of the fighters themselves. Though crazy how young they start them for full-contact pro fights.

There's an ITF TKD open World Cup in Brighton starting tomorrow until Sunday. In case anyone is interested they'll be live streaming the event here: http://www.itfworldcup2012.com/live-streaming Should be really good to watch considering the best of the best fighters from all orgs will be there. They're doing patterns, sparring, breaking, pre-arranged technical sparring demos and special technique. Worth watching if you want to see some of the other side of TKD (non-Olympic TKD).

Congrats DoctorQui

I don't think it'll ever happen sadly. Tae Kwon Do beat us to it. If I were you, I wouldn't want it to happen. I have a love/hate relationship with Olympic TKD. Amazing opportunity for the exposure and getting TKD well known and more people introduced to the style. But on the other hand, the popularity has led to watered down TKD and sport rules have dragged it away from traditional TKD. Don't think they'd let Kyokushin anyway, you guys hit too hard Lots of people want ITF TKD to replace WTF at the Olympics or at least do a joint competition but from what I hear (don't know whether it's true or not) ITF is too brutal to be accepted. No way they'd let Kyokushin in then!

I can understand that they might get along but surely if you're the same organisation it shouldn't be a problem. If he did stop you from watching, I'd just take my kid out of the class; instructor can lose the business as I wouldn't want to be associated with someone like that anyway. Just out of interest is there a reason why you train at the separate schools instead of both at the same school or is it just because they have a kids class for your son to go to?

Welcome Jon

Great videos guys

Looks very similar to a TKD 360 hook kick and the variants which are also seen a lot in tricking. You might have better luck looking for that on YouTube. However in line with what everyone else has said, nail the standing version first before trying to get the jump. Interesting to see you guys do it with a double leg take-off whereas in TKD it's more common to cycle the legs through the air to get the rotation. Anyway, as you are doing the double legged take-off, work on lots of plyometric leg exercises to get a good jump. Things like tuck jumps, squats, squat jumps, leaps etc. Then work on the 360 spin portion making sure that it's the hips which are doing the spinning and that the torso remains upright throughout. After that you can practice doing a half kick where you come round with the kicking knee up but not extended then onto the full kick. In the video you linked to, makes me uncomfortable to see the kick executed that close to the target. Maybe a shoulder width further back and with better extension of the hips to just lengthen the kick out a bit. But perhaps that's a stylistic thing

Interesting video series behind the scenes at Phuket Top Team in Thailand following a 13 yr old boy and a veteran fighter/trainer. Worth watching: part 1 part 2 part 3 part 4

Brilliant vid:

I posted this on another thread about the olympics but all the events are now on the IOC YouTube account http://www.youtube.com/user/olympic Highly recommend watching the men's heavyweight finals.

So many variables. I would consider it but whether I'd actually do it or not depends on the situation. Head kicks are risky because you've got a greater risk of losing your balance, they require greater flexibility, more accuracy etc. But they're also kicks that can be done at a closer range and can cause a lot of damage if they connect. So it just depends. Back kick and side kick are flashy? They're TKD bread and butter techniques. Yes I'd consider using them especially something like a side kick down onto someone's knee or side (stomping) kick straight down on someone's hip. Yes

Was the first time for me. Have never had that happen before. Been bad enough that I literally couldn't stand before but never had to throw up before. Felt immediately better afterwards and we went on a 10K run across the dunes..

it's simply because of this: If you encounter a six year old second Dan black belt with a uniform covered in patches whose structure is dodgy and consists of flaily acrobatics, and you ask "What style do you do?" they are, by far, most likely to answer "TKD". Not to say that there aren't other arts that have schools like that, or that all schools do that, but they've generated a large portion of the horror stories that plague us all.nail on the head! This is exactly the problem with tkd, public opinion. Tkd is a very legitimate art, but today it is more known for its flashy patches, camo belts, and almost gymnastic kicks, therefore its true potential has been masked by the methods of some schools. However in its origin tkd was as serious as any art out there, but it has lost a lot of that to the mainstream, and the Olympics. It may be possible for you to find a traditional school, but you would most likely have to look very hard. You don't have to look very hard at all for good TKD. I think the flashy TKD is probably easier to find because those type of schools also tend to be good at marketing it but school's that teach effective TKD are hardly hidden away down the back streets and in people's basements.