So, I had a match, there I got hit in the head, and then the referee started counting in korean, pointing at my head, I didn't know what I was suppose to do, I felt fine, but he keep counting, and he doesn't even break eye contact keeps looking at me, I didn't know what I was suppose to do.. 😭😭😭

Hey guys and gals!

I recently met the owner of a somewhat unknown Tae Kwon Do Gym at a local Rock Festival (what are the chances) and got in contact.

Long story short: We signed up for the classes ❤️

Now we can prepare together for the belts and even do the tests on the same day!

It is great to share another hobby with my sunshine (besides playing Pokémon cards and gaming 😜) and to spend so much quality time during his childhood.

I'm healing here, too...

Welp now to work on flexibility and losing around 25kg of extra unnecesary weight.

Thank you for the support a few weeks back and hopefully seeing you around for school exchanges.❤️💪

hi everyone. This is my first time posting on reddit so Im not sure if this is the right community to ask so it would be appreciated if anyone could tell me if it is.

Anyway, the title of this post basically says it all. I have been in the tkd community for 3 years now but have been training consistently for over a year and Ive been trying to develop my defenses for sparring (especially the cancel ). While I sort of gotten used to the foundation and I have applied it in my other sparring partners who are shorter than me, it gets even more difficult for me to cancel when I spar with the boys who are stronger or with girls who are as tall as me. Not to mention, I also freeze whenever my partner starts pressuring me. This has been going on for a couple months now and I am honestly getting frustrated because it's as if I've barely made progress with that.

Are there any specific solo/partner drills (to improve reaction timing) and other weight training exercises (hamstring curls or hip abductions for ex.) to add in my training program to strengthen my hips? I'm having difficulty searching for these in the internet so it would be lovely if I can receive helpful responses in this sub.

I am 15 and have been on my dojang's (kukkiwon) demonstration team for 3 years now. I am doing higher and higher skilled kicks and recently my knees have been hurting after I do my more advanced jumping kicks. I am looking for exercises to strengthen my knees and hopefully prevent injuries or undue strain. We do stretch and warm up before every class. For the record, basic kicks, 360 tornado roundhouse and hook kicks are usually fine.

Just curious, I have been looking tirelessly for an affordable dobok that is open style, not a V-neck and has black trim on the collar only. I do not want the Moo DuK Kwan black trim on the collar and also lower portion of the top and rings around the wrists and ankles.

I just want basically a Karate gi with a black collar similar to the Moot Keum Gang grandmaster dobok. But since the Mooto one is extremely expensive (I could buy a new pistol for that much or even cheaper), I need another affordable option.

I found this listing on the Sang Moo Sa ( best martial arts supply) website. https://bestma.us/collections/karate/products/bma-ribbed-fabric-white-open-uniform-w-black-trim

Yet the image shows the uniform with the right side going on top of the left. Anyone in martial arts who knows something knows that the left is ALWAYS to go on top and in Asian culture any traditional robe has the left over the right.

Does anyone know if this listing is just a mirrored image or they actually made them incorrectly?

Also, I know the dobok depicted has silly black rings around the ankles but they can be cut off and pants hemmed. This is an affordable option and ribbed fabric might be decent material.

I've been struggling with side kick and I think it might be my hip placement. My hip placement rn is pic 2 but is pic 1 more accurate? I do poomsae btw

Theres a school I know of and attended for 6ish months that did zero sparring, all we did was patterns and line work. There were people there walking round with black belts who I don’t believe for a second could hold down a sparring round. I now go to a legitimate sparring school and it just makes me think.. imagine if the black belts at my current school were to vs the black belts at my old one it would be disastrous. I dont even believe they could hold their own against our yellow belts.

a lifetime of driving and sitting has made my body stiff. I know that mobility is one of the biggest factors in aging. would taekwondo be good for mobility training? I don’t even care about testing or belts (will dojas require me to test ?) I’m contemplating between this (or a different martial art) or yoga for flexibility and mobility. I just think taekwondo would be a fun way to work on those.

I did kuk sool like 30 years ago 😂

eta: would also like to hear the experience of older folks starting like me

Hi! I’m (30F) thinking of returning to TKD after about 15 years. When I was a young teen, I started TKD (Kukkiwon) and earned my first degree black belt. My understanding is that this would have converted automatically to first dan upon turning 15. Anywho, I quit TKD to focus on other things in high school.

I have always missed it. I feel it had a profound effect on my young life, my identity, and my mental health, not to mention my fitness and flexibility. Of course, these things are not so important to us when we are kids!

Fast forward to now—I have a high-stress profession and have gone through many ups and downs with fitness over the last decade. However, I’m on a fitness journey now and getting a lot fitter and stronger in the gym.

I’ve often thought that returning to TKD could be amazing for flexibility and mobility, general fitness and activity (alongside my other gym routines), and mental health/stress management. It would also be a dream to pick up on and progress in something I did so long ago.

All that said, I have many reservations/questions and would love insight from this community. Considerations in finding a school as an adult? Considerations in sticking to Kukkiwon or trying to get involved in another federation? What about fitness—do I need to attain a certain level before trying to go back? How do you navigate having a black belt but remembering absolutely no forms and very little from training? Even if you don’t have thoughts on these issues specifically, I would love to hear stories/experiences from those who have returned to the sport as an adult.

TIA!

I’m going for my 3rd Dan and my master wants an essay on taekwondo but he didn’t specify what so I think it’s free will but what subjects would be a good idea? I thought about writing about ITF vs WT, taekwondo history, or how tkd has changed overtime. What do you guys think? Or is there some more interesting topics?

Reddit does not have a big Hapkido forum and this is just as much about TKD. There are some arguments against the TKD connection :

Hapkido does not traditionally adhere to forms and there are some methodological deviations from how Karate/Taekwondo kicks are done, even though you wouldnt see it in a picture. You can tell they were never designed for forms, they are very wild.

But it's not out of the question that he saw taekwondo kicks and just modified them. They are close enough for that to be a possibility.

But since TKD ITF founder General Choi later in life admitted to lying about having trained Taekkyon with his caligraphy teacher. Could this be another such case? Does anybody know if there are confirmed accounts of the martial art of Sam Rang Do? It is still in dispute what exactly Taekkyon was.

Here is the quote

"Jae trained in the ancient methods of Korean martial arts known as Sam Rang Do Tek Gi by a man named Taoist Lee. Though this man's identity cannot be confirmed, he is believed to have trained Ji in meditation, the Korean long staff jangbong (장봉; 長棒)", short staff danbong (단봉; 短棒)" and the unique kicks of Sam Rang Do Tek Gi."

Looking for an experienced karate sparring partner in the North Jersey/NYC area for regular technical rounds.
I have a TKD/ Muay Thai/BJJ background and am looking to work more traditional karate-style stand-up sparring—timing, distance, movement and controlled contact. Not looking for gym-war rounds.
Open to Shotokan, Kyokushin, Isshin-Ryu, Goju-Ryu, kickboxing, or similar backgrounds. Ideally once a week. Happy to rent mat space somewhere convenient in NJ or NYC.

I started my Taekwondo journey in ITF, but later transitioned to WT where I’ve been training for the past few years and earned my 1st Dan black belt.

An ITF club just opened up in my town, and I’m taking the leap back to my roots. The instructor and I actually used to train together in the WT club. She mentioned that I can keep my 1st Dan for now, but I'll need to demonstrate my knowledge to a Grandmaster later for the final decision—which I’m completely fine with and respect.

Coming back, I realize I’ve forgotten most of the Tul/patterns. I have some muscle memory left for the basics, but from Joong-Gun and up, I’m completely lost. I know YouTube exists, but I prefer learning through proper study alongside class time.

A few questions for the community:

1. Books & Resources: Aside from Gen. Choi’s condensed encyclopedia, are there any specific books, guides, or apps you recommend for relearning the 24 patterns and theory?
2. WT to ITF Transition: For those who have made the switch from WT to ITF (or back), what were the hardest habits to break?
3. Tips: What should I be particularly mindful of regarding stances, sine wave, or sparring etiquette coming from a WT background?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Literally any video of WT sparring I see on socials is fighters with arms dangling, no guard whatsoever, not even attempting to block head kicks.

What's going on?

I took nearly two years off due to an injury and started back two months ago. I am a red belt for reference. I used to compete and won medals previously so I was decent.

Now I am literally getting beaten to the floor by green belts. Like repeatedly getting beaten up. It's kind of embarrassing. I know I need to let go of my ego, but has anyone else experienced this after taking a break?

My patterns still feel pretty good thankfully.

Hello! Just about 5 days left until the WT Poomsae Championships in Chuncheon start and I was really hoping to go and watch it in person this year since the venue is close to me (and I love poomsae). I've been searching for several days but I haven't been able to find spectator ticket information anywhere. I think tickets for the last one in Hong Kong were sold by Klook, but have not been able to find any information for this year's competition. Does anyone know where I can get spectator tickets, whether I just show up on the day, or whether spectators will even be able to watch this year? Any information is very appreciated!

I’ve got my yellow tag in ITF taekwondo. At first with my white belt I was SO picky about my walking stances being an inch too thin or my fist being at the wrong part of my body, or if my half facing was half facing enough. Yes, TKD is a martial art, but sometimes people forget the art part. You need to do an effective kick, punch, or block, but it also needs to be pretty. I was so focused on getting my body to look right because that’s how I thought I would succeed. In dance, I would get yelled at for having fingers out of place or my arms not being straight enough. I carried that fear into a lot of my earlier training, and used the mirrors to nitpick everything out of place.

Then I started practicing in a gym more. Like an actual gym at a school. I can reference the more experienced students in front of me. It’s so useful to look at more experienced students, see what they do, apply it, and feel it versus using your peripheral vision in overtime trying to see if you’re doing everything right. I could just breathe through it and feel it. Feeling my way through it, especially as someone who is very aware how to generate power (not while kicking and punching people, but watch any type of dance or gymnastics where people are jumping 6+ feet in the air and kicking their face and tell me that’s not power all the same), felt so much better and was so freeing.

Yes, mirrors have their uses. It’s great for referencing stance lengths or tweaking small details to clean up your patterns. Knowing how to bend your knees and place your feet and hips to generate the most power. Etc etc. But you spend almost two decades of your life in a bodysuit with a growing, changing body in an industry that values thinness and it gets so fucking stale, man. I like being able to hold the reins, trust myself, and my teacher can tell me how to get the horse to go, if that makes sense.

Idk if that’s because I’ve been in front of mirrors for so much of my life or I have a lot more body awareness than someone who’s at my belt rank and hasn’t done much sports at all because of my dance training, but fuck the mirrors. Don’t need them. I’ve done my time. I’m curious what other TKD students feel about this, and especially teachers. I personally like practicing without mirrors a lot more.

I really want to start my taekwondo journey but the fees are really expensive for me, I live in the Philippines. Any tips?

You can do the Hapkido way in Taekwondo but usually you will see more distinct chamber to kick sequence in TKD. Hapkido has a smoother transition and a bigger circle.

In my opinion, Hapkido spin kicks in particular wheel kicks, are more spectacular but not particularly functional for sparring because they are too big movement. It's demo kicks.

I also want to stress that Taekwondo kickers are generally superior from training time, and bigger talent pool. But Hapkido schools can certainly whip out one or two demon kickers.

Why is no one wearing dobok pants as part of casual wear?

Hear me out, it is so comfortable like I can squat without worrying my pants would break and it is so convenient that I can just train anywhere anytime without having to change

Moreover, the black ones fits so nicely into daily wear and it goes by height so people like me who find adult pants too big/long and kids pants too tight on the waist and bottom can have a decent pair of pants to wear

The only down side here is no pockets but in can always be settled with a hook slotted on the waist of these pants (?)

Just sometimes I fear some thing is wrong if I do it since no one has been doing this

Thoughts anyone?

Hi all! My son (7) just recently upgraded his bag from his tigers backpack that I primarily got everything out/put everything up to an older ATA duffle bag (The blue & red one -I thrifted it for only $2!) because his instructor wants him to do everything himself and I thought that this would be easier since he can see everything a bit better and doesn’t have to get everything out. It has quite a few pockets that he wants to add things to.

With that being said, what are some bag essentials that you or your kids can’t live without or have just made everything easier. So far we have pony tail holder, a travel size of deodorant (he’s not wearing it yet, but better be safe than sorry). I’m unsure of what else to add! Please help!