Went To A TKD Class Tonight

[Lupin1]

So I know I told all of you this past summer that the only martial arts schools out here were TKD and I wasn't sure about it, but I finally got up the motivation to drive the 40 minutes each way over to check out the school tonight.

It was.... interesting... My first impression was that it wasn't a very quality school. All we did for the entire 45 minutes was cardio stuff. There wasn't much attention paid to the technique as long as you did it fast. It was an amazing workout and being out of shape the way I am, part of me wants to join for the work out alone and I miss having people to train with regularly. But I'm still not sure. They said they mix it up between cardio workouts, kata, sparring, and technique practice, so maybe I shouldn't judge it yet and they have a good enough spread among the belts that I can tell it's not a belt factory, but some things still set off the alarms in my head-- the head instructor had a black belt with pink embroidering, they actually yelled the word "kiai" when they kiai-ed and did it for every technique, they had a little store that had everything you could want with their logo on it, etc.

So I'm torn. I'll definitely go back Wednesday and Friday since I have a week "free trial" before I have to commit to anything and even if I do decide to go further, there's no contracts, so I can pay my $60 a month and quit whenever, but it's just completely different from what I'm used to and I can see a lot of flaws in it. I guess my biggest question I have to answer is if it's worth driving the 40 miles each way three times a week.

Edit-- Oh, and they also wore gis instead of doboks, which I thought was a little funny, but I don't know enough about TKD to be able to make any judgments from it. Maybe it's normal...

[jason ainley]

Hi

Taekwon-do is very fragmented these days, with many independant schools teaching watered down versions of the style.

I would check the training & grading syllabus to see if it contains the fundamentals, all the patterns , step sparring, free sparring and destruction and self defence that all the large federations teach.

It would be better to find a step by step beginners only class that focus on basics and develop technique rather than just doing things fast.

Jason

[bushido_man96]

In my TKD experiences, I've never worn the V-neck dobok, but have always worn a "gi" that was called a dobok.

The school may not be a great one, either. See how the forms classes go, and let us know how the week trial ends up.

[DWx]

ITF schools also wear more gi-like doboks instead of the V-neck style and numerous other schools may choose to wear gis instead so I wouldn't worry about that.

It doesn't sound too great but maybe check out a couple more classes to see the one you attended was normal for the school.

[Adamo]

I wore the dobok that has the V-neck, but that of course shouldn't stop you by any means. Maybe it's more functional for them that way.

I started off with TaeKwonDo myself. If I saw a video or pictures, I could critique, but other then that I can't say much.

The cardio is very common for TaeKwonDo. My previous school spent 25 minutes on conditioning. I loved doing it because it got people into better shape. Wonderful idea for the philosophy behind the martial arts which is to live a better life. It's great for sparring as well otherwise you'll be huffing and puffing. With the school I attended, we had about 45 minutes after that to work on techniques.

Here's something I would highly recommend you pay attention to. It's very common amongst TaeKwonDo practitioners due to poor instruction. Pay attention to their hand positioning while kicking. It pains me to see a proud black belt kick like it's perfect. I can't tell you how many times I see peoples hands drop or go elsewhere other then on guard. This is why so many TaeKwonDo stylists get their butt knocked down when competing.

Did you like what you saw with the black belts?

Another thing is the round house kick. For whatever reason, a lot of schools don't teach the students to rotate their foot when performing the roundhouse kick. They merely leave their foot on the ground in the same position which causes them to barely turn, put unnecessary pressure on their body, and produces a weak kick.

When I look at the hand positioning, skill level of the black belts, and feet positioning of their kicks, that tells me a lot about the school. There's other things as well but I'd have to see them in action.

[Lupin1]

Here's something I would highly recommend you pay attention to. It's very common amongst TaeKwonDo practitioners due to poor instruction. Pay attention to their hand positioning while kicking. It pains me to see a proud black belt kick like it's perfect. I can't tell you how many times I see peoples hands drop or go elsewhere other then on guard. This is why so many TaeKwonDo stylists get their butt knocked down when competing.

There were a lot of people moving their hands around while kicking, but the instructor was calling them out on it and telling them to stop "trying to fly away" and keep their hands in position, so they're good on that one.

Did you like what you saw with the black belts?

Their black belts were ok. There weren't too many of them and no ridiculously young ones. They weren't flapping all over the place, although I have to say I'm not all that impressed with their kata (there was no strength to the movements or any sense of purpose to them-- they looked like they were just dancing from position to position). Pretty much they're not amazing but not as horrible as some black belts I've seen. Pretty good for a McDojo (and I am convinced this school is a McDojo. But it's the only martial arts school in a two hour drive, so I'm willing to put up with it while remembering to take everything with a grain of salt).

Another thing is the round house kick. For whatever reason, a lot of schools don't teach the students to rotate their foot when performing the roundhouse kick. They merely leave their foot on the ground in the same position which causes them to barely turn, put unnecessary pressure on their body, and produces a weak kick.

I haven't noticed anything with that yet. I've been doing the roudhouse kick the way I've been taught (which is rotating the front foot) and no one's said anything to me about it. I'll try to watch what everyone else is doing more closely tomorrow.

So yeah, like I said, I'm convinced this school is a McDojo and I'm not expecting to learn much effective martial arts from it. We were doing partner work the other day and we were doing monkey techniques where the attacker would just stick a punch out there six inches from their partner and the partner would practice blocks against it while the other people just moved their arm back into position after each block for the person to do the next one. How you learn effect blocks that way, I have no idea. I didn't say anything about it, but when the instructor was teaching me the sequence her exact words were "Doesn't that look cool?". So, yeah. I'm not too impressed with the school, but I'm doing it mainly for the exercise and I'm sure I will get at least something out of it-- I'm hoping to get better at kicking (they are fairly decent at that) and hopefully I'll learn some sparring (my Isshinryu school doesn't spar and I've always wanted to try it).

[Adamo]

Good to know that they are enforcing hand position during kicks. They have at least one good thing going for them.

That's another poor sign as well. A lot of schools don't teach the forms well enough. A lot of local competitions have students going through the motions. No power, no determination, nothing. As a previous assistant instructor, I demanded students throw everything with grace and power. My instructor would begin to sweat after 2 forms. You ought to do yours with power and determination and see how the instructor reacts. I wonder how the instructor does it themselves.

You're right on that. Pivot that front foot for power. For whatever reason, a lot of people don't do that.

Nice to know you are keeping a critical eye. Most people don't swallow that pill and admit to being at a McDojo but good for you for getting the best out of it.

[bushido_man96]

I see a lot of the hands flapping around in Olympic-type TKD matches. Instead of concerning themselves with blocking, they worry more about countering off the attack. It also appears to me they use the hand movement to facilitate the movements of the kicks, but I'm not sure of that is the case or not.

[Adamo]

Bushido_man, I know what you are talking about. This always drove me crazy when I saw Olympic Taekwondo stylists drop their hands all the time. It looks dumb in my opinion. But this is where I think we have to be honest with ourselves. I find it hard to consider majority of TaeKwonDo schools practical for fighting/self defense. If we label it as a martial art sport, then it makes more sense.

[Lupin1]

So I'm not sure if I'm going to go back there or not. I told myself I'd try it for a month and the month isn't quite up yet, but frankly I'm getting a bit sick of it. Today the teacher totally dissed my Isshinryu school and I bit my tounge, but I really don't want to go back there. First she tried to change my fist to some weak excuse for a fist and told me if I punched anyone with an Isshinryu fist, especially vertically, I'd break my hand. I wanted to tell her Isshinryu practitioners have been beating on Makiwara and other people with that fist for decades without breaking anything, but I didn't say anything. And then she started dissing on my school because we don't spar (insurance won't let us-- plus many traditional Okinawan schools don't) and pretty much implied I shouldn't be a green belt because I've only sparred once or twice. She asked how we could know that what we learned worked if we didn't spar and I wanted to make some jab about point sparring not exactly being the most realistic fighting in the world and then make a point about how when they do partner work they stop their punches six inches from their partner whereas we actually try to hit each other, but again I didn't say anything.

So yeah. I'm not all that sure I'm going to go back there. It might look a little weird because I just got my uniform today (they wear black and all I had was a white, but my Isshinryu school will let me wear the black one there, so I can still use it), but I'm still not sure.