Infinite Recursion

Indeed, I'm a very lucky man. We went fishing recently... talk about a good break in the routine.

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"There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root."

DaWei

Forget the martial arts, the marital arts are better .

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Jessehk

b-dum bum cha!

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a thing

Nothing here.

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big_k105

I did Tae Kwon Do for a year or 2, but then we moved and they didn't have it were I lived then. But right now I am in a Beginners Curling league, as my way to get away from the computer. but it was only 4 weeks long. I might get into the real league for next winter. but I don't know right now. I have thought about getting into some martial arts but I don't have the money or time right now. so maybe some time later

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grumpy

I hold a 1st Dan with ITF taekwondo (the "traditional" style, which focuses on self-defence), and 2nd dan with WTF taekwondo (the "olympic" style, which focuses on tournament). I'm out with a knee injury (it happened during training in January, but the underlying cause was not training), and am instructing at the moment.

Like any martial art (I did Judo a few years back) there is the mix of good and bad. The determinate of a good class is the quality of the instructor: how much s/he knows, if they are systematic in teaching (not everyone who reaches senior grade is cut out to teach), etc etc. The attitude of other students in class also is a factor (ie avoid meatheads, and find people you're comfortable with), but a good instructor can influence that.

I personally train for the fitness, both physical and mental (I have an office job). The most common injuries in taekwondo are knees and lower back, both because of the emphasis on higher kicks and because students tend to aim for height and speed before they have worked up clear technique and control --- therefore a good instructor will discretely rein students in. If you want self-defence, find a traditional (ITF based) school. Unfortunately, ITF appears to be dying out because WTF is the politically acceptable style in Korea.

Soulstorm

I did Tae Kwon Do for 2 years, but I quit for the sake of being able to train whenever I like.

Tae Kwon Do is an offensive martial art. It is based on the idea of "the best defense is offence". You really have to try hard to become even mediocre at Tae Kwon Do. And be prepared to work with your legs. Tae Kwon Do features only the basic defensive techniques with the arms, and only the basic punches: Straight High and straight medium. While in kicks, you not only have 4 basic attacks, (Straight High, Straight Medium, Kick with the emphasis on hitting the opponent when you actually LOWER your leg, medium and high kicks on the side) but you will also need to do them while in the air many times. As you progress, you will need to combine all those techniques into performing "combos" (reminds you of the videogames, huh?) so that you can attack always. If you are on the defensive for too long, you are in for an inevitable loss.

I don't remember what WTF and ITF are, I was too young to remember.

Tae Kwon Do, as many other martial art for this style require the body to be thin and flexible. That may take you years to accomplish to the level it is required.

That's why many people are thinking about Kick Boxing. You don't need to be thin and flexible, and it is a generally easy-to-learn martial art. You will get at an average level in less time compared to martial arts like karate or tae-kwon do, but in the long term, Kick Boxing reaches its limit, while in other martial arts, the more you train, the more capabilities you have.

I initially started to take Tae Kwon Do classes for my psychological attitude. You know, perhaps the best thing martial arts give you is a better idea of yourself, and they help you have more confidence in all aspects of your life, not only fighting. I gave up tae kwon do because I didn't want my body to become thin and flexible. I wanted it to be big with muscles, so I followed a different kind of exercise, other than martial arts. It still relaxes me when I train for tae kwon do alone, though.

The choice is yours.

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grumpy

Soulstorm, from your description, I suspect you did WTF style taekwondo. Your description is based on the sort of training kids and young teenagers usually experience with WTF taekwondo. People who train longer find there are a lot more than 4 basic kicks, and a lot more in terms of handwork than a few punches or knife hand strikes.

ITF = International Taekwondo Federation. Started by General Choi in the 50s (IIRC). Based on an older style called Tae Kyon, but the real trigger for creating Taekwondo was pulling together some sense of national identity after the Japanese occupation earlier this century. Some irony in that, as technically Taekwondo has a lot in common with Shotokan Karate (more kicking more often, but the same techniques). For example, the Chon-ji forms are derived from Shotokan kata. If you did patterns with names like Chon-Ji, Tan-Gun, To-San, Won Hyo, then you learnt ITF.

WTF = World Taekwondo Federation. It dates from the early 70s if I remember right. It was originally a traditional focus, but has been focused on Olympic tournament over the last decade or so (and is sanctioned in Korea as the only official taekwondo). If you did WTF in its early days, you would have learn patterns with names like Palgue Il Jang, Palgue Ye Jang, etc. If you did WTF more recently, you would have learnt Tae Geuk patterns (Tae Geuk Il Jang, etc).

In terms of individual techniques, ITF and WTF are largely the same. It is the application of those techniques that are different. ITF tends to focus more on power of delivery, and sacrifices some repetition speed to do it. WTF tends to focus on speed of delivery and transition between techniques, but sacrifices power (i.e. knock down power) to achieve it. At more senior grades (eg from 2nd kup [or gup] and dan grades) the differences between ITF and WTF are not that great. And the training involves more handwork, and also grappling and stick work.

Tournament style sparring in WTF taekwondo requires one to be lightweight and fast. The nature of tournament rules means it is easier to score points by being light and fast than by working up power. Other aspects of both ITF and WTF (particularly self-defence, breaking boards) do not require that.

Soulstorm

Indeed. That's why I was careful to state that when I did tae kwon do, I was very young, and I only attended classes for 2 years, which practically, means nothing in martial arts. such as this.

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Infinite Recursion

Thanks for the info guys. I find it interestering that so many people among us participated in such events.

On tuesday, I went and sat in on three of their classes. First thing I noticed, the place was jammed full with people. Everyone respected everyone else, instructors were on hand to help people through certain parts of the process, etc. Overall, it seemed like a great place to be... especially since they claimed that they were moving into a bigger building in November.

However, I will not be participating... mainly because of two things I observed while there:

1) There was a small kid who was "goofing off" most of the time during his class and didn't seem like he knew what was going on, yet he "leveled up" and obtained the next color belt that night... It appeared as if they just moved him up to get him out of the way for new members or something.

2) I stuck around for the Blackbelt Club and Weapons events, in which I was fairly impressed. However, I stuck around too long and watched one older blackbelt try to help another student with some moves and the blackbelt forgot how to carry out the procedure and referred to one of the instructors for assistance, and the instructor did not seem to know either.

In retrospect, it seemed like a great place to be. After making a pros and cons list, the cons beat the pros 11 to 3... which all of the benefits from attending Tae Kwon Do could be obtained doing other activities.

I suppose I will stick with the alternative and carry around my .40 for defense.

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