Learning Taekwondo - A Typical Day

[BCD 1]

Taekwondo (Tae-Kwon-Do) is a martial art performed using the body's natural weapons, fist and foot. The roots of Taekwondo can be found in South Korea where the traces have been found that the art has been taught in the kingdoms since 50 BC. Taekwondo is a martial art which gives more emphasis on kicking techniques.So that was a brief introduction about Taekwondo. My intent of posting this thread was a bit more than explaining about the art. I have been learning taekwondo with other fellow mates as a juniour, and I wanted to share a typical day/process by which we are learning the art. I would also share about a couple of incidents.For most part of the time we are told that the martial arts is more of a weapon for self defense rather than a weapon for attack. We are told about the deadly kicks and how to counter them. Suppose, when confronted by a kick and there is no way behind, to counter the kick the best thing is to take the stance of side kick, that is a foot touching the knees of the other leg on ground. As told earlier, I am in the juniors batch currently with a green-blue belt. There is this seniors batch who practice after we leave the practice sheds. They are the people who hold black belts and above. Some days, competitions are arranged for these seniors (we too have it occasionally) who are put up against for matches in a ring. Watching those competitions from a distance of 5 feet is really unusual, compared to watching it on television. The seniors who looked so soft and humble a few seconds ago become so agile and swift. Their front leg is generally the most active part of the body. We mostly get to see eighty percent of kicks and the rest punches, attempt to head grabs etc. During these competitions our grandmaster is also present who would sometimes enter the ring himself and call someone from the seniors batch on the ring. Of course, who would dare to go up for a match with a person who taught them all these years? Most of them dare to go up the rings but do not dare to take a stance in front of the master.The practice sessions are held every day of the week. We generally practice the various taegeuk's and kata's. Although we are not given any manuals to follow through, instead we are made to remember these steps through repeated practice daily. Each kata typically consists of around 20 steps, starting and ending at a neutral stance. Currently at our level, we do not use any physical weapons. Everything we learn is to control our body balance and use fist and legs to the best extent possible. Seniors use a thin bamboo like stick around 2 meters of length and perform the taeguk's. They seem to consist of way more steps than usual physical based taeguk's, and also each step is of longer duration, which involves observing around all directions, performing appropriate attack or defense and then regaining control of both the body and the weapon.Apart from the daily routine practice sessions, we also have heavy exercise sessions known as "circuits". These circuit sessions are held every Sunday early in the morning. Let me tell you, after going through this rigorous session, the whole body feels 'feather light', as if we are floating above the ground. The whole body becomes so flexible and free. The hands, legs do not feel like such anymore. Instead it feels like all the body parts are in perfect unity, I can not actually explain, how this feels. You have to experience it yourself. So, talking about this circuit sessions. A single circuit includes, a 100 meters sprint back and forth (200 mts), then immediately squat for duck walks (typically 30 one way), then frog jumps while returning back, then push ups (around 20). So that is a single circuit, we repeat this whole process for about an hour and a half with "strictly" "no" breaks in between. Some times someone would just faint, and then would get back up again. There is no mercy. After this hell lot of workout we just lie on open lawn for about half an hour. Our senior tutor would usually tell us some nice incidents occurring in their shaolin. By this time all the heavy thick sweat (of week long work) would have dried off. We get freshed up and have plenty of juices and a nice breakfast. It feels you are eating delicious food for the first time (even though you wouldn't have liked it much otherwise). This workout sets straight the mood of the whole week. I feel energetic and more alert in whatever activities I do.Talking about some workouts. We do pushups on our knuckles. We are told to make sure that the only the knuckles of index and middle finger are in contact with the ground. After having performed this way for several weeks now, my knuckles have hardened up. Whenever I meet someone new, the first thing they would ask is "What are those, do you break bricks or something??".This is just a brief overview of what we carryout in our routine practice sessions of Taekwondo.

[contactskn 2]

Dear friend its a real good piece of information. My younger brother who is a chef right now in a 5 star hotel is also a taek won do black belt. But unfortunately I am very far from martial arts. My basic interest was dancing and dramatics.

[Iniyila 2]

interesting information, i have never tried taekwondo but it seems to be very useful so maybe i would. my problem with these type of sports is the special diet that you should have (i have a list of diets which these types of sports need and i got it from my sport training club). i don't know if you have any diet or no but one year ago i was wanting to learn self defense, i went to my favorite training club and they just gave me a list of what i have to eat in the first meet so i never continued it again . i have read that material arts can help body and mind to work more synchronized and it will keep you fresh for daily works so learning some of these arts are useful for normal peoples and will increase our efficiency. anyway i have problem with their diets ,because my first hobby is eating .

[BCD 1]

Talking about diet. No, I do not follow any particular diet. On Sundays, during heavy practice sessions, I make sure to have plenty of juices. Other than that there are no regulations on my eating methods. I just eat a lot, whenever I wish. I also have a fasting for a day every month, during which only fluids are taken, to give a bit of relaxation to the stomach after a month long food churning. :)I learn Taekwondo for the effect it makes on me and my weekday routines, its kind of regular exercise but more than just exercise. Actually I started learning taekwondo a few years back, probably around 3-4 years ago. I gained till the green belt. I had to leave because I had to relocate to another place. So thus I had this break of 3 years. One thing which I noticed is that the body becomes stiffer after leaving regular practice for two-three days. I used to practice in backyard to keep touch with my exercises and kata's. But I was all alone, and soon I lost the interest. It didn't feel any exciting to practice alone. I used to think of those sprint races we had in the weekend circuits, trying to bash through with full speed. Now after coming back again, I had the urge to join the academy. And so well, here I am back again, resuming regular practice. The first day I rejoined the academy I had the urge to perform usual heavy session, but my master warned to only carryout warm-ups for a week or so, otherwise we would feel pain in the joints, etc (this is common). And now, I am able to regularly practice usual sessions and it feels great.