I had never heard of Saju Jirugi, Saju Makgi or Saju Tulgi until I got the TKD Encyclopedia set by Gen. Choi. Does you school use them for teaching white belts? Do you find any advantages over using just Chon Ji for teaching the basics and turning?

Yes we use them. Saju Tulgi isn't an official ITF one though or at least it tends to be non-examinable. Typically most schools will stick to Saju Jirugi and Saju Makgi.

I don't really know whether they offer any advantages over Chon Ji at white belt level tbh. I always saw them as a bit of a filler at that stage. I suppose the difference between them and Chon Ji is that in the 4-direction exercises you're stepping with the back leg to make the turn whereas in Chon Ji it's the front leg all the time.

Most of the time people in our school will double grade the 1st two belts so they'll learn Chon Ji straight away anyway. I suppose the saju exercises are a bit easier to learn because you only ever move one foot at a time but other than that I never saw their benefit at white belt level.

Having said that, 4 directional exercises are great when you want to practice specific techniques but don't have much room. Keeping the same "step back - step forward - turn" format, you can swap the blocks and punches and even stances for other techniques of your choosing. Can also do 4 directional kicking drills. Maybe that's why we teach them to white belts? So they have a compact framework to practice future techniques on.

Having said that, 4 directional exercises are great when you want to practice specific techniques but don't have much room. Keeping the same "step back - step forward - turn" format, you can swap the blocks and punches and even stances for other techniques of your choosing. Can also do 4 directional kicking drills. Maybe that's why we teach them to white belts? So they have a compact framework to practice future techniques on.

I never thought of it this way, but that is an excellent point, and one I'll remember now. Especially the 4 direction kicking. That'll work great in the basement where I practice at home.

Thanks, Danielle!

We use Sanju Makgi and Sanju Jirugi, they're my grading patterns for 9th Kup. Never heard of Sanju Tulgi (doesn't 'tul' just refer to a pattern, e.g. 'Do-San tul'? Either that or it's the number two in Korean )

Never heard of them before, but they look like variations on what we do during methods of exercise when the class is crowded and we have to do moves in place. Do look like good exercises to work on technique.

We use Sanju Makgi and Sanju Jirugi, they're my grading patterns for 9th Kup. Never heard of Sanju Tulgi (doesn't 'tul' just refer to a pattern, e.g. 'Do-San tul'? Either that or it's the number two in Korean )

No, not the same, that I can tell. Saju Tulgi is 4-direction thrust, used to practice the elbow strike that is done in Hwa Rang.

Tulgi = thrust

I don't think saju tulgi tends to be practiced as much as the other two.

Tulgi = thrust

I don't think saju tulgi tends to be practiced as much as the other two.

I don't even recall seeing it in the 15 volume Encyclopedia, to be honest with you. Anslow's book were the first place I saw that one.