wingedMonkey

Ki-Hyun Do who taught at Indiana University Bloomington in 1986-7 He teaches now in Seoul and the website to the school is: http://www.taekyun.org/ Youtube video of him is here : He appears here. I think this is from 1970?: http://youtube.com/watch?v=94_chalilh0 He is the third guy in this Taekkyun masters video: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZxCeXzk4GP8

yea, a lot of them tried to do that even though TKD was put together by Gen. Choi's committee so it actually is a pretty modern martial art. Taekkyun on the other hand has had a master that actually preserved it. I want to go train with that guys pupil in Seol Korea soon.

well the whole point of having ground fighting is to make yourself well rounded, not because its popular in MMA. If you look back into the original Taekkyun that spawned TKD and many other Korean martial arts, it had locks, takedowns, grappling, as well as stand up fighting.

Well, yea i'm not talking about the instructors, i'm literally talking about the styles even though TKD styles seem more in harmony than karate styles are or even kungfu. Tkd styles seem to have more in common than not, thats why i use references from all the tkd styles, but ATA has certain things that make it pretty awesome, like kicking with the ball of your foot instead of instep, practicing punching from boxing more, and now including ground fighting.

Well, you are correct about that, ATA is extremely into money but the style is the best taekwondo style i've seen in my life. (my opinion) I've practiced ITF and WTF which are somewhat similar. I still use their stuff as reference though.

Yeah, lol I remember him and his pal saying they were taught by this secret monk on a mountain and when they researched the stuff no one could come up with anything they were saying. After that I believe they kinda stopped mentioning that stuff.

Yeah, the guy who made Hwa Rang Do was kinda odd in doing that.

we learn all the basic locks and holds in grappling like the americana and stuff like that.

Okay so..i've been in ATA for about a year now and must say i like this style much more than any other TKD style I have studied. soo.. 1. The school I am at let three TSD people keep their black belt status, a girl formerly from WTF keep her red belt status, and other karate/kungfu people be green/purple/blue belts depending on their abilities. Although they allow people to do this, you will have to work EXTRA hard to learn the ATA forms, sparring drills, and basically the techniques. 2. The bad rap is just a myth, there are 1st and second degree kids but it takes them about 4 years to get their first degree blackbelt. And there are age requirements too. I believe you must be 15 or 16 (I don't remember right now) to be a 3rd degree, 18 or 21 to be 4th and obviously after that you will be much older. 3. We actually learn forms(to create muscle memory), sparring(to give the whole combat feel), and self-defense techniques dealing with joint locks/pressure points/drops or throws. Recently, it has also been announced that 3rd degree blackbelts will need to do ground fighting sparring during their graduations as well. Right now we do ground fighting on Saturdays after normal TKD practice. 4. This is my opinion...If your friend has the authority to give you the black belt I would say, DEFINITELY finish, but after that I would really recommend going to ATA. That way you can try and enter as a black belt and have more time to learn the color belt and black belt forms.

oh and i really didn't mean anything mean by it sorry... its just i'm SUPER traditional and into history when it comes to Tae Kwon Do.

From my research I did for presentations in college I learned that Taekkyon was completely unique, now Tae Kwon Do was influenced by many other styles but now directly to Shotokan. It was mainly a lot of schools combining together into an organization. TSD was actually a group that didn't want to join the rest. Now both of these have deep roots from Taekkyon because that is where most of the kicks originated and which was the martial art used by the Hwarang during the Three Kingdoms era of Korea.

Just concentrate on everything you have learned and how you know your stuff, and kinda put everyone else out of the picture.

ATA used to do it quite recently too but started implementing equipment for the safety of the students

I am soooo planning a trip to Korea hopefully some time next year, and I want to be able to show up in Seoul and practice some Taekkyun with Do, Ki Hyun.

I think this too may be too strenuous on your body if you are just starting martial arts, although I'll agree with the whole take a ground and a standing martial art. Also like others said on the defensive part, it's all about how much time you put into your training and how serious you take it. As a green belt myself in TKD, some black belts already have trouble sparring me but that is because I train extensively and very seriously. Good luck to you though and if I had plenty of free time and nothing to worry about I would take all three too !!!

Man, that is sooo freaking true...people have always wondered where i get certain kicks and i tell them, dude they are Traditional Tae Kwon Do techniques and I think only like second degrees and above have been like, oh yea, i've heard of that. It kinda hurts me on the inside since I love Tae Kwon Do so much.

I'm just trying to say that it's not the ONLY source of protein out there. A lot of people I know say that you need meat for protein. You can get it from tofu, beans, nuts, and veggies as well. If you're not vegan you can also get them from eggs, cheese and milk. We are omnivores, designed to be able to be on both sides of the fence. I agree, we are meant to eat both, that is why it is most efficient to eat a good balance, Ying and Yang.

Meat gives you the most energy, protien, and fat needed for extreme atheletes, I love meat. The only thing that freaks me out is that Shaolin Monks are vegetarians, they train sooo much but only eat rice and vegetables, its crazy!

I believe the reason for lots of Tae Kwon Do schools now emphazising in punching a lot in training is because they got a bad rap for concentrating on kicking and yet now want to show people that hey, you can punch if you are in Tae Kwon Do.

Exactly, all it is, is that you don't recognize the attack, but as a martial artist you should train yourself to be prepared for any style. A lot of the kicks from Taekkyun are obviously in Tae Kwon Do and I have also noticed more advanced students have even more kicks from Taekkyon. For instance the normal kicking they do in Taekkyun is called a Twist Kick i believe, and is usually used by 3rd degrees and up because its so hard to twist your knee outward. I mainly use the rythmic stepping also.

Look up the final fu, jonathan phan actually uses it. Its pretty funny to see the other guy get nervous and confused.

I love Taekkyun sooo much that I incorporated lots of its techniques in my sparring for Tae Kwon Do. It drastically improved my game, its also funny to see people kinda freak out when they see you going slow, so they attack, but then you do the explosive quick attacks of Taekkyun.

I'm in ATA and we don't really try to show our best moves.., It's just free-sparring so the judges could see how much you've learned during that belt.

That's why I LOVE ATA's style, punching is allowed and your taught to always block, its a really bad idea to kick yet not have your hands up. Too bad ATA concerns itself too much with money when they have an awesome style..probably the best i've ever studied of tkd..

Yea, those are definitly awesome videos and I would suggest for everyone to see all of them, well, up to #14.