| Product: |
Tae Kwon Do |
| Date: |
15/03/03 (263 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: most powerful kicks in martial arts, creates self control, premotes fitness and quality of life
Disadvantages: you will need a average level of fitness
Tae kwon do for beginners
I was graded on my first belt in tae kwon a few weeks ago and I thought that it would be useful if I wrote a review for all the people who think ? Ive always wanted to do some kind of martial art, but never get round to it?. I chose to do tae kwon do because it is one of the more common martial arts and therefore more accessible to most people. It is also not quite as commercial as karate and judo, which you hear about all the time, that is also one of the reasons I chose tkd because it is a little bit different to the two of these.
If you are totally new to martial arts I shall tell you the basics of these 3 most popular martial arts. Judo is derived form ju jitsu and it is seen as a highly sophisticated form of wrestling due to its concentration on grappling techniques. Judo is Japanese for the way of softness. Karate is more focused on complete unarmed combat, with focusing on more blows form the hands and feet compared to grappling techniques, even though there are still a considerable amount of grabs and holds in karate. Karate means - empty hand. Tae kwon do means way of the foot and fist. Tae kwon do concentrates less on hand to hand combat but specialises in flying kicks and knowledge of vital points in the body to be effective. A fact that may sway you towards tae kwon do is that it is known to have the most powerful kicks in all of the martial arts.
Of course as everybody tells you, martial arts are not just to hold the ability to kick somebody?s ass when the time comes. But it becomes a way of life. This is because all martial arts teach discipline and self-control. This can be especially seen the five tenets of tae kwon do, which are Courtesy, Integrity, Perseverance, Self Control, Indomitable Spirit. These are the five main aspects of life that a good tae kwon do student must obey to. If you are worried about getting your head kicked in at tae kwon do classes, as I did when I first decided that I wo
uld join one, then don?t worry. This never happens. At your normal tae kwon do class it is strictly non-contact until certain events such as learning new grappling techniques and some kinds of sparring. There is no event like ?go and kick your partner till he bruises,? so discard this concern.
Because tae kwon do is a popular martial art it should not be difficult for you to be able to find a school in your area. Obviously I feel that there are some restraints to whether you would be good at martial arts, firstly you should obviously be enthusiastic about the sport but also you should have some kind of physical fitness for tae kwon do, not necessarily for the lower belts but as you progress it would be difficult for an unfit person. This is because, as I said earlier, tae kwon do is predominantly kicks that demands a certain level of flexibility and strength to be effective against an opponent. If you are not the most fit person, then personally I would recommend a different mar6tial art such as judo due to its concentration of grappling and holds which require less flexibility because they just need the knowledge of changing the weight in your body to different areas to be able to throw someone considerable larger than you to the ground.
For the first grading you will just be asked to perform relatively simple task such as reverse and obverse punches, the four directional punch ? one of the first moves that you will learn, perform ten pressups, a few more kicks, and to answer some tae kwon do terminology such as the Korean names for punch, kick, stance etc. All of this is quite easy as most people who take this first grading pass. It takes around 4 1.2 years for a person to become black belt at a specific martial art, because it takes around 4 months for each grading to take place and as there are ten belts that you must earn to become a black belt, it takes a high amount of dedication for a black belt to be earnt.
I hope that this revie
w on tae kwon do for beginners has helped you decide whether you would want to be part of a martial art in the future. If you are looking for more martial arts information, then just watch this space as I will soon be writing one about the many different kinds of martial arts, for the people who are interested a getting a better understanding of the basics of the many forms of martial arts
Thanks for reading my opinion of tae kwon do for beginners.
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