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Took a nice kick to the thumb. 5 minutes before the end of class.
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Jul 12, 2019 05:26
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And yesterday morning lol. Actually *tons* better today. I think icing it a lot Friday really helped.
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Jul 15, 2019 01:43
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I think we had a Seattle based TKD club at one of the tournaments we went to a year or so ago. We're having a club BBQ tomorrow, I'll ask the masters if they remember who/where they were from. e: Sorry, no dice on Seattle club. They were from elsewhere. slidebite fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Aug 12, 2019 |
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Aug 10, 2019 21:24
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That ended too soon. Any of you folks use "Mudo" brand gear? All my gear is Adidas (club sells that and some Drako) but I find my gloves and footpads last maybe a year before my fingers start to go through the tips of the gloves and my toes wear into the boots. Thinking of trying a set of Mudo as they're about half price compared to Adidas and if they are just a wear item and last a year, might as well spend half as much.
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Aug 30, 2019 20:05
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Trained last night and this new older gentleman was there in a red belt. I always make a point of talking to new adults and spoke briefly at the end of class. Turns out he trained back in the early 90s when my master was running classes at a local aboriginal community outreach and he really enjoyed it, but life happened and stopped coming. So now, at I'd say in his late 50s/60s, he decided to try it again which I thought was pretty cool to be honest pretty impressive His luck, our instructor last night is one who is notorious for running a very physically demanding class and she didn't really let up much (I literally had a puddle of sweat under me within 5 minutes of class starting), but the old guy did his best to keep up which was pretty cool.
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Sep 7, 2019 17:39
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Belt test today. Technically they are doing the testing this coming Friday evening for those who trained regularly over summer but I'm leaving for holidays Thursday PM so master agreed to test me after class today. Pros: *Testing before vacation instead of after, so my 2 weeks of gluttony (drinking, eating like a pig and not regularly exercising) won't be followed up with a test as soon as I get home. *Not testing in front of literally 200 people (peers, black belts, family) Cons: *Totally by myself. Nobody else testing at the same time means master and the other senior black belts that are there are Just. Watching. Me. Crowd will be way smaller, probably 3-6 people, but everyone will be critical and evaluating. I totally don't mind working in front of people, we do it every day, but still not used to everyone dropping everything and completely staring at what you and you alone. If I choke, that's when it's going to happen.
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Sep 14, 2019 16:21
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Thanks! I think it will go OK.. or at least I hope so  CommonShore posted:BTW - refresh my memory on your sport? Are you the trad TKD guy? Our testing consists of 3 parts: Pattern (belt specific) 7 sets of short prearranged sparring moves with a partner. These are belt type specific (IE: Green & blue stripe, Blue & red stripe, Red &Black stripe). For blue belt, this is called "one step" where there is 1 attack (hence 1 step) and 2+ counter moves for defence Free sparring for 60 to 90 sec. I need a partner for 2 of the 3 so a black stripe/Dan candidate buddy of mine is partnering with me. He's physically a good size match for me but being a BB candidate his sparring is defintely a notch up from mine. Been practising pretty hard for this the last month in particular knowing I wanted to test. 3 of the 7 1-step involve take downs (2 are quasi hip throws) which is not a strong point of TKD and still feels a little foreign, but I'm able to muddle through them. Assuming I get my stripe, it's the same 1-step for going full red so I'll be able to work on them some more if they're not great. I feel pretty solid on my pattern, but it is a TON of stance changes which is the explicit purpose of the pattern being as challenging as it is. I thought I had it pretty much locked down, and then the 4th dan I was with last night starting pointing out my walking stance was a little narrow, so now I'm working on widening it. Which sort of sucks at this stage 
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Sep 14, 2019 16:59
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Testing came and went. I'm sure I passed but I won't get the official news until I return from holidays early Oct. A little nerve wracking testing outside of the normal "group" testing. Handful of people there... Master, my primary 5th dan instructor, and about 7 more 3+ Dan instructors/senior BBs. Everyone was working on their stuff immediately after class and my master asked a couple to give me room as I was being graded and with that, everyone stopped what they were doing, went to the side sat and watched. Which kind of sucks because they are all watching me and every little move, nuance. And I know I am being totally critiqued/judged by all. Just did my best to not even notice them and just focus on the job at hand. After I did my pattern master came out and gave me immediate, specific feedback which was awesome. Said I did it well and no major issues, but asked me to watch my weight balance especially in my "L" stance. He could tell I didn't have the majority of my weight on my back foot (as I should in an L stance) but other than that no real negatives which was a relief. Then we did that pre-arranged 1-step sparring. It was probably about the best I've ever done it which was awesome although my partner did a great job making me look better than I was. After we did the 7th (last) one, master forward and asked me to re-do my #7 attack but for the benefit of my partner, who is a Dan candidate. He was clear that it was for his benefit and not mine which was a relief for me, as the defence on that one is probably my weakest. And then the sparring component. My partner and I have very similar sparring styles and we are both mature, not small guys so we slug it out a lot. The 90 seconds was exhausting. Afterwards, masters feedback was while I am sparring OK, I need to do more combinations. I also block more than moving out of the way of and lose the opportunity to launch a counter since I do it that way. So, after that feedback he said to spar again. Another 90 seconds. I was utterly exhausted. More feedback, wants me to be cocked and loaded with a front leg sidekick and to fire it as soon as I see my opponent get ready to attack... so we sparred again. I was so tired my side kicks were turning into turning kicks just because of the effort to get that leg up. Went for about another 45-60s and then he called it, thank god. Testing was also immediately after class which ends with 10 minutes of sparring. I was just spent and soaked. And that was it. Polite applause from the BBs and congrats from most everyone so I guess it went well. Holy poo poo am I sore today though. Little toe is almost black from a nasty bruise (no idea when I got that) and my shins are just pummelled. But, its done and I hope (knock on wood) to test again in Dec for my full red. The test will be basically identical other than needing to learn the new pattern, Toi-Gye, which is supposed to be fairly tough.
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Sep 15, 2019 19:12
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Out of curiosity, how do other disciplines treat experienced but new comers into your sport? For example, if you had a person with MMA or kickboxing training for a few years and joined your art would they start right at white, no exceptions and work up like someone that is totally new or would they be evaluated and ranked?
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Oct 12, 2019 17:15
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JaySB posted:On another note anyone and everyone should totally watch The Art Of Self Defense if you haven't yet. It's loving hilarious
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Oct 19, 2019 16:17
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The trailer is on youtube and looks like you can rent it on youtube as well. I'll probably wait until either my library gets it or it hits netflix/prime. It's still a fairly new release.
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Oct 19, 2019 17:24
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Had a good conversation after training today with my master about strength of strikes and technique with a precursor countermove/wind up (for lack of a better word) leading up to it. I am thinking of making a load-cell target to put an actual metric to strikes, but I need to wrap my head around the best way to make one. Something that can be used for punch/elbow strikes/straight kick (so straight on) but also something like a snap kick (load from bottom going up), axe kicks (top down) and side loads (like a crescent and hook kicks) - forgive me if different arts use different terminology for the kicks. I am thinking of a device that probably bolts (maybe some quick release device) with a loadcell and a digital readout that gives lb/f readouts from a strike. Anyone know of a device that exists already or am I looking at making something from scratch? If not, is there a market for such a device? slidebite fucked around with this message at 07:11 on Nov 24, 2019 |
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Nov 24, 2019 06:58
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How's the pandemic effecting your training? For us, classes themselves are largely same as normal but no hand shaking. Been doing some more distant no-contact sparring which actually isn't terrible because it lets you try things you might not normally try, but it's not all the time. 2 tournaments over the next month have been cancelled and our white/color testing next week, where all students from our satellite schools get together to be graded by the masters are instead being graded by the 4th Dan instructors at the satellite location. Also found out there is no evidence covid is spread by sweat, but of course there is potentially some spit and coughing in the groups so they are trying to play it safe.
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Mar 13, 2020 06:31
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Our satellite dojang is in a public school gym we rent 2 evenings a week. There is a good chance public schools will be closed down next week, or likely the week after. If that happens, no local training but hopefully our dedicated primary school a few miles away will stay open. In my totally selfish way, if they close the school I hope it's after testing next week. I've been training on average 4-5 times a week the past few months and wouldn't mind dialing it back a bit.. to maybe 3. LLJKSiLk posted:The illusion of action is comforting I guess...
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Mar 13, 2020 20:38
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That's an interesting story, thanks for sharing it. As someone who got into martial artslate in life (mid 40s) I was certainly under no illusion I was better than the "kids" that were there and learned to just go in with an open mind and absolutely humble yourself, especially as someone starting a very physically demanding and punishing activity in their mid 40s. Just because someone is 1/3 my age doesn't mean they can't teach me anything, because they certainly can and do. I've often wondered what it would be like growing up as the kid of a master/grand master. One of my masters has 2 young red belts presently enrolled, and they are good, and my Master is an patient and kind man, but I wonder what he would be like if his kids were fat/not athletic nor had any interest in the sport. There has to be a bit of pressure there even if the father doesn't demand they practice/enroll.
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Mar 14, 2020 15:14
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^Thanks for your background. And that's it - classes cancelled until this passes. I know I'm going to miss it - glad I went last night.
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Mar 18, 2020 00:49
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captkirk posted:Doesn't seem that weird to me for TKD. Seems like a lot of traditional martial arts like TKD or Karate do some kind of written assignment as part of black belt to pay homage to that whole "develop more than the body" schtick. We are doing a lot of online vids and will start hosting live streams for classes as well. It will be interesting to do as a lot (most?) don't have the room to really do drills in their home. I am curious to see how we do it. Our master just published an update to all members/parents advising the future of the club during the shutdown. We are in it for the long haul, but asking if people participate in the live streams/vid archives to consider paying a monthly amount, $$ up to each, to help support the club in this time as they still have all the expenses that still need to be paid like taxes, heat/power, etc. Went through pains though to say that if you are out of work or simply cannot afford it, you are still welcome to participate and nobody will be denied. One of the last original grand masters of classic TKD (CK Choi) is working directly with our master to develop online lessons. All of our tournaments are cancelled until the fall, and to be honest, until there is a vaccine/effective treatment/everyone has it by then it wouldn't surprise me at all if it lasts until next year. slidebite fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Mar 28, 2020 |
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Mar 28, 2020 01:53
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First livestream class. It was actually quite good. The master who was broadcasting didn't have the best ISP so he would drop to 1-2 FPS from time to time which sucked, but it was actually quite good and not a waste of time. Definetly better than nothing for the next month.. or two..or four..
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Mar 31, 2020 06:03
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I was doing a flying sidekick and bailed at the last second and ended up totally grabbing the 17 year old females' chest that was holding the bag (newly minted BB too) when trying to stop myself. I was horrified and apologized profusely and she just smiled and said "pfft don't worry about it." I'm easily old enough to be her father and was horrified She is super nice and chill which is awesome though.
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Apr 2, 2020 05:54
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kimbo305 posted:Area street fight manages not to go to the ground. He had some sparring experience for sure and speed and comfort doing them, but the reverse hook kick is a green belt technique for us.
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May 15, 2020 06:12
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Sure. I know I have some personal videos from tournaments I've attended. if I can't find anything freely available on the net I'll just upload one or two of those to share. Typically punches to the head are absolutely allowed and expected although some tournaments might rule a well-connected punch to the head as excessive contact in belt lower than black or black stripe. Those reverse hook kicks in high section connecting to the head will almost certainly result in a penalty for sub black belt in a tournament. I've personally seen three knockouts from that kick between sparring during belt testing and tournaments the past 2 years. I wasn't there but some poor sap at a nearby tournament a few years ago got put into a coma. It's a dangerous kick to throw during friendly sparring because someone older guys like me are not quite as fast.. and even if you judge the distance properly to just miss contact it takes nothing for the opponent to move in an few inches as you are throwing it... especially if they think they can beat the kick. And don't. Although to be fair that's a risk with every kick and how I broke my ribs last year. I know very little about WTF rules but that's the type where there is minimal hand contact at all and almost completely kicks. Like the stuff you see at the Olympics. We use hand techniques a *lot*. Especially us older males.
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May 15, 2020 23:16
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kimbo305 posted:Can you link some similar-looking ITF sparring? I know their ruleset allows head punches, but wasn't clear on how that worked out in practice. I tried to go through some of my vids, but I found I had them all on phones which I no longer use! Here is something I did find on my HDD without a ton of digging. From about a year ago. It's an ITF guy vs a Traditional guy. Not tons of punching like the older, 35+ guys but certainly some. This was an interesting tournament that a lot of competitors had a hard time adjusting to because new contact rules were brought in to try and stop a flurry of concussions which seemed to be on the rise. IIRC this was a semi final match and the competitors were starting to get a handle on what the officials would/wouldn't allow, but earlier on it was a train wreck with warnings given every 3-5 seconds due to contact. I think in one of my matches I was only 1 or 2 warnings away from a DQ. So the competitors are going out of their way, even more so than normal, to not try to connect hard and get the attention of the official - certainly no head snapping on purpose. https://youtu.be/zYzycfnXcf8
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May 16, 2020 06:25
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Yes, red ribbon guy is ITF (you can actually see ITF in small letters on the back of his dobuk). The blue ribbon guy is traditional. Jumping punches are a standard move for us, although it's not a typical go-to for me. I have to almost think about it to do it, unless my opponent is significantly taller (I'm 5'11" and typically have reach). kimbo305 posted:And by default, with the hands down. Those parts in particular seemed different for the guy in the street fight, who would not compromise his base during punches and kept his hands up. Thinking about myself, I do think I'd fall into my usual habits if I had to fight on the street. The guarding position can radically change from person to person and some of us (myself included) on the opponent. We are certainly trained hands up. Almost every drill we do we have keeping our hands up is pushed into us, regardless if it's punching or kicking. It also helps with stamina. But in free sparring particularly, as practitioners grow and get comfortable their own styles/preferences (some could argue sloppy). Some even have their arms down and almost open, mostly females for some reason. It looks really awkward and you would think not great for sparring. For example, here is a 1 dan that spars with her arms like this *all the time* and I think it looks scary as hell. BUT it works for her and she has fantastic reaction times and effectively blocks or moves out of the way all the time. We have 2 other exceptional women in our club that have stances similar to that. So I don't know if there was some emulation there or if they all came upon it independently.  For interests sake, that young woman was gauntlet sparring against a guy doing his 4th dan test, and the candidate in the blue headgear could not land a single point on her in 30 seconds, and he is one of the fastest kickers I know and cardio is off the charts. Watching good TKD it is common to have hands dropped in general just to have the ability to give you more options. In an unfortunate street fight against some old drunk guy I'd almost certainly be more hands up like video dude, and how we are formally trained. But when I free spar I typically have my leading arm down as a ready block and my back hand up to guard my face... unless it's someone that I know is a weak kicker then I might drop the other a bit too. And I try not to be planted hard to the ground, I'm on the balls of my feet moving. Video dude wasn't but some people do plant so in itself it's not unusual but probably not a good idea in a match with a good opponent.. might also be tough depending on street footwear. So I guess what I'm saying is a hands up stance like that isn't rare at all, I just might have trouble finding one just like it because most people you are seeing videos of are competing at a good skill level so they are likely to be more fluid. Coincidentally enough, class last night was almost completely hand techniques with about 80% punching and 20% blocks/moving. Focused a lot on jabs and power cross. Master asked us all to get in a parallel stance and do strong crosses, over and over, nothing else. At the end of about a minute of watching all of us he said "I'm 6'2 225lbs. Every one of you has the ability to punch me and knock me down, but it looks like only a few of you could. We're working on that tonight" and that was the rest of class. Focusing on foot, weight shifting, Non-punching hand always at your face and punching hand promptly returned after the punch. Keep in mind in our tournaments we're really not looking for knocking your block off power, that's only going to happen if there is an accident or someone is a real rear end in a top hat. They're looking for points. Here is another video from a little earlier on in that same tournament that shows a different competitor. Both are ITF guys (different clubs though) but the smaller red guy is the same from the first video. He is all over an older guy that favors his arms. The younger, faster better opponent capitalizes on the midsection being open by repeatedly giving him various body kicks for his trouble... although to be fair he moves upstairs too lol. You can see how they both start out being fairly light on their feet but blue rapidly becomes more flat footed and is just not as quick. Probably got tired quite quickly. https://youtu.be/XfrjjXsxI5g ImplicitAssembler posted:Blue wins by running away. Good example of self defense.
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May 16, 2020 17:22
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Well it's not really allowed per say as you go out of bounds. It's a warning you can only do it a couple times before you start getting point deductions. So unless you have a really big lead to burn you're only a doing it once or twice the final few seconds e: And I think once you are at -2 it's a DQ after that. slidebite fucked around with this message at 19:13 on May 16, 2020 |
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May 16, 2020 19:02
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ImplicitAssembler posted:I'm not talking about going out of bounds, I"m talking about being refusing to engage, which is clearly what he is doing. kimbo305 posted:Having the arms out has two primary benefits: quote:I think it's very true that you fight how you train, and if 95% of your live experience is from sparring / competition under a ruleset, it'll be hard to adapt a different style/strategy in an unrestricted ruleset. That said, going back to your original question about the stance of video guy, I see people in our club like that regularly (well, when we're open ), including similarly myself from time to time.
slidebite fucked around with this message at 18:45 on May 17, 2020 |
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May 17, 2020 18:41
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Sounds like where I live will be opening gyms and fitness facilities within 2 weeks. Since contact will almost certainly not be allowed we won't be able to spar, but we should still be able to do drills and patterns in the club for the first time in months which will be pretty drat welcome. Any news how the grappling/floor arts are potentially coming back?Artelier posted:Anybody have any advise for doing standing punching bags? E: As a side, anyone here do Shaun T's Insanity stuff? A group of us have been doing the Max30 4 times a week for the past month for cardio and core and I quite enjoy it. Definitely sweat my rear end off. slidebite fucked around with this message at 19:38 on Jun 5, 2020 |
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Jun 5, 2020 16:31
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kimbo305 posted:How much vertical space do you have? Enough for one of these?: The frame definitely makes noise but it's not crazy, being it's in my basement probably helps too (concrete under the carpet). Fell Fire posted:Does anyone know a good brand of resistance bands? One of the senseis at my dojo has been posting videos and it would help when following along. Mine is a "plum" brand and it is fine. I pretty much use it exclusively for working out my hamstring now.
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Jun 8, 2020 05:35
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I've been turned into a bit of a fan of Insanity Max 30 during this whole covid bullshit. A group of us do it all at the same time 4 days a week (we all skype and watch her desktop). No equipment needed, it's the right amount of time and I'm definitely in better shape now than when I was just training. Enough so that when I go back to the office and see people I get double-takes and comments. We are doing classes outside starting this week and I can't wait for the human interaction. No sparring of course, but doing group drills with space to not plow into poo poo is something I'm looking forward to.
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Jun 9, 2020 04:32
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CommonShore posted:I can't watch the video above because I don't want to register for instagram  Official word: In house classes start again Monday. No sparring or equipment, so it's going to be cardio, drills, patterns, repeat. Still looking forward to it.
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Jun 10, 2020 01:25
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Not that it's a big deal either way, but maybe try private or a different browser?
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Jun 10, 2020 04:50
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^^ I really like Joe Rogan's podcasts, but he's done a lot of questionable/batshit interviews which hover on endorsement which I can't quite get behind, so that's not super surprising. Other topic.... We do scheduled testing every 3 months, so 4 times a year. To get tested, we are graded by our masters (8th and 9th dan). Our testing regimen for senior belts (green/blue/red/black with stripes between) have a pattern component, pre-arranged sparring, and free sparring. In order to test we need to be approved to test by our primary instructors (4th+... min 20+ years experience) that we are ready to test.. in other words, we know what's expected of us and will succeed.. Our last round of testing was scheduled for mid March, literally, just as COVID was hitting the fan. We were making changes to the testing regimen right up until a couple days before testing when the pin was pulled and closed all in dojang/class stuff. I was approved and scheduled to test for my red belt before it closed tight. Our club finally reopened this week in our new protocols with a severely modified class structure, but drat, it's nice to be back in a club setting people and room to work and not worry about reverse kicking the TV or breaking a toe on the sofa. I have become quite close to several instructors and our masters over the past few years (age similarities, I'm an old gently caress) and they were struggling with practically how to test with the current environment. Our local health authorities still frown on person-person contact, so sparring and associated hands-on moves are not advised (basically barring free sparring and take downs), and we're really not sure when it'll resume.. September? Maybe not until a vaccine is in widespread use? So maybe Dec/March? A full year by then? So the masters took a step of for those of us testing this past march of differing to our instructors and if they approved us to test they are recognizing their judgement and will be promoted. So, I guess I'll be a red belt next week.  How are other clubs doing this right now? slidebite fucked around with this message at 08:44 on Jun 20, 2020 |
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Jun 20, 2020 07:31
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Lt. Shiny-sides posted:I have a student that is doing research into head injuries in combat sports. As part of her thesis she has put together this brief survey about post-sparring experiences. If anyone would be willing to give 10-20 minutes to fill it out I would be very grateful and any sharing on social media would be amazing. Thanks! Done
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Sep 7, 2020 18:33
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Well that loving sucks. Where did this happen?
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Sep 11, 2020 20:00
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I literally bought whatever walmart has in the sporting goods section and it worked fine. Taken a few kicks with it and both I and the cup survived well. Reminded me of a story though, last tournament I competed in about a year ago had mandatory (as it should) mouth and cups. A guy from my club that was competing forgot his cup and asked if he could borrow mine  I reminded him there was a small proshop and I'd be happy to spot him the $20 or whatever it was to buy one.
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Sep 18, 2020 19:25
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A typical warm up for us consists of fairly low impact, maybe running some laps, jumping jacks type stuff to get some flow, then opening the hips a bit... like low easy crescent kicks and rising kicks (think of a snap kick but not bending the knee). You can do rising kicks both front and side. Slightly increasing in height as you warm up. Don't push it - a good instructor will give modified warm ups and drills to the newbies, and especially adult males that aren't as flexible as 14 year old girls. Assuming you stick with it you will improve, but don't fool yourself, you'll always be sore to varying degrees the day after a good workout. e: Assuming you stick with it, patterns without power and speed can be good warm ups too, You won't have any yet though other than Chun-Ji which is just punches and blocks (assuming you follow the common order) Wait until you start sparring and take a turning kick to the ribs and see what sore is like the next day  Out of curiosity, which type of TKD does the school follow? slidebite fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Jun 1, 2021 |
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Jun 1, 2021 03:02
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Stretches definitely help. Probably goes without saying but since you're starting, make sure you are warm first and ease into them. I do a little bit of stretching in my warm up but most as part of the cool downs. Not familiar with ITA. TKD is so fractured and hosed up. There are even more branches than I originally thought. Our traditional school is aligned with Grandmaster CK Choi. He's technically more in with the ITF but he is closely tied to the traditional schools. I've met him a few times (been to a couple of our tournaments and partook in some of our Covid online classes) and he is an amazing human being. If you keep into TKD I highly recommend you pick up this book. Try and get the 2nd updated edition. It's a fantastic read. Gets into a lot of the history of TKD including a ton of dirty laundry and politics. It's really interesting read and my wife who doesn't even care for martial arts read it cover to cover in a day. https://www.amazon.com/Killing-Art-History-Updated-Revised/dp/1770413006/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=killing+art&qid=1622903219&sr=8-1 slidebite fucked around with this message at 15:12 on Jun 6, 2021 |
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Jun 5, 2021 15:32
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It's really a neat book. This history is certainly interesting and holy poo poo is it messy. It does not pull any punches relating to the origins of TKD. There is a lot of dark stuff, including the war history, the KCIA (Korean CIA) connections and outright corruption which basically sounds like something you'd expect with the mafia. Now that I think of it, it is actually kind of a korean mafia. A few of the bad actors re still active with the sport from what I understand. It's just an all around interesting read. The hardest part I had reading it was the names and keeping people straight with who was who, but you can get past it. It isn't all doom and gloom though, the newest chapters include GM CK Choi and some of the bright spots with his efforts. The author is a super nice chill dude too. He's done some of our clubs online COVID classes and I'm going to try my best to have a beer/coffee with him next time I make it to Toronto.
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Jun 6, 2021 15:26
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Belt test after a month? Wow. That's impressive especially to learn and perform the pattern well. What are you requirements? Good for you if you are ready though. To give you an idea, I *think* we have a 3-month minimum for white to yellow and then 6 month min after that with most taking more. [aside] Without going into super details, that's up to Black Stripe. It's a practical absolute min of 1 year from black stripe to Dan 1 and then iirc 2 year min after that. All of our dan testing requirements, especially going from black stripe to Dan 1, are quite intense and we actually contract a commitment for it, as in a written contract for 9 months. The average student does a min 5 classes per week plus fitness classes. You could technically get away with 3 classes per week for the 9-month contract but you *will* be behind for sure if you get sick, injured or take a holiday so you practically need to do 5 to account for "life." We have color belt testing 4 times per year and "most" people take a ~year to test for their next rank after white, although 6-9 months is not entirely unusual. This is especially true for the stripe ranks as it's basically just a new pattern to learn and perfect the other requirements you've already done for the full color test. We have BB tests 2x per year at most, sometimes only 1 depending on candidates.[/aside] I was *super* nervous for my white belt test. In retrospect, too nervous. I hadn't had to perform any kind of graded "test" in front of examiners, peers, students in many years. I guess large part of my nerves was that I didn't really know what to expect. IMHO testing gets a little easier on the nerves side of things after that first test since you have a better idea what to expect, but I still don't like it and get nervous to this day. I just don't enjoy the experience of being front and center with everyone, including the public watching me. But everyone is super supportive and really want you to succeed. I totally tune everyone out and just go into a tunnel-vision type thing. That was one good thing with the Covid lock down - we didn't allow the public in to observe. Only participants and immediate family for testing. Our masters give a little bit of a group talk/critique to everyone after testing. One of them is a Dan7, a super, super quiet Japanese guy who almost never says anything in the group settings. He came out and addressed nerves. He said when he tested for his white many years ago, that was the most nerve-wracking test he had. Rivaled only by his 6-dan Master test. I guess what I'm saying, it's normal to be nervous, especially for your first test because it's a new experience. That said, I am pretty sure your school wants you to succeed and if your instructor says you're ready to test, trust them that you are and you will pass. The expectations for white-yellow are generally not exactly cutting edge super high. They know you're a beginner. As long as you don't totally black out and freeze or do something batshit insane you should be fine. I've never seen or heard of anyone fail a white-yellow test in our club system. I have seen people fail their yellow and green stripe tests though, but it's generally teenagers that just don't give a gently caress. If they put in even the most basic effort they would have passed. Once you get to senior (Green+) levels, the expectations are much higher though and grow proportionally with each increase in rank. I wouldn't say failing Green+ is exactly common but, it certainly happens. Culminates with Dan testing which I'd say 50%+ don't pass the first try. Vast majority are the younger members though, mature adults have a far, far higher success rate for various reasons. Will do some checking on that History on Fire. I haven't read much about Bruce Lee and should learn more. e: Holy poo poo I needed to edit that for clarity slidebite fucked around with this message at 14:03 on Jun 10, 2021 |
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Jun 9, 2021 15:22
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Interesting, thanks for that rundown. Definitely different than us. I agree with you, they want to instill confidence and want you to pass for sure. Like I said, I don't think I've ever seen a white-yellow not pass. Although I'd like to see how bad it would have to be out of morbid curiosity. The patterns we follow are similar to the ITF regimen (actually, we're traditional so predate the ITF, so more accurately they follow our pattern set). Our testing for white-yellow is: Chon-Ji pattern. It's the entry level pattern which consists of basic upper body techniques, middle section punches, low blocks and side blocks with stance changes. Interestingly enough some schools do an intermediate yellow stripe rank which is basically a 4-directional punch set before the full pattern. Kicks to the hand - With a partner, they present their hand as a target and you kick the target with snap kick, turning kick and side kick. Funny story, when I did my test back in the day I was partnered with another adult but it was a petite female that was all of 5' tall and I am 5'11. I presented the target and she repeatedly kept kicking me in the ribs so after the 3rd time I crouched lower for self preservation. Everyone thought it was pretty funny. Sparring - 1-2 minutes of open sparing. At this level, they just literally want to see that you know some basic techniques (the ones in your pattern are fine) and you are striking to the air at a distance as they don't want to risk contact. Control is not a thing that white belts are known for. Every rank has a new pattern and sparring as part of the testing. Additionally, every full rank/belt change throws in another set of techniques called "pre-arranged" or "step" sparring. These are at their core are a prearranged set of moves which have both an attacker component and a corresponding defensive set of moves for the other person. These serve several purposes but really help the students judge distance and help to learn making changes on the fly. Yellow (up to green stripe) Basic sparring - solo techniques, mostly focused on the basic kicks, punches and slow motion technique for balance. Green (up to blue stripe) have 2-step partner sparring - 7 sets Blue (up to red stripe) have 1-step partner sparring 7 sets - includes 3 take downs Red (up to black stripe) has appointment partner sparring 5 sets - advanced techniques Memorizing these is probably my biggest liability. I can work through all the previous patterns with a bit of thought, but I have a hard time keeping the step sparring straight in my my head... added altogether it's 38 unique combinations of moves (not including basic) and they can be called in any order as you get up to the advanced belts. Some of the moves, especially 2-step attack moves, are very similar but not exactly the same. As a black stripe I am expected to know all of them at any time. During testing (or often as part of warm ups in class or to instruct junior ranks) they can call anything out of the blue. For example, they might say "2 step #6 defence" or something like that, and you do that corresponding half of the set. Or, if you're partnered you'll do the whole thing. My memory blows and I have a hard time with keeping them all straight and this is a challenge for me. Being that I am the most senior color belt in class (also in age) I am, by definition, always at the front of the class so everyone can see me and might follow my lead if they get stuck. Jokes on them because good chance that might not be a good idea. Whoops. We don't break boards as part of the formal testing until black stripe - Dan1 testing, although we do it in class with some of the senior color belts from time to time. We might bring out the re-breakable boards for the other color belts periodically but we certainly do not focus on breaking to any major extent. We usually bring them out as we get closer to testing, but many weeks or even months will go by without touching them. I'm not a fan of the practice boards as they are actually a different technique to do effectively. Black Stripe-Dan 1 also adds many more things to the testing regimen which I won't get into here. slidebite fucked around with this message at 18:29 on Jun 12, 2021 |
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Jun 12, 2021 16:36
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Not sure what your school is like but it sounds like you have some doubts on the quality of instruction? If so and you don't think it's "real" maybe consider supporting one that is? I know absolutely zilch about "tiger rock" but after my quick google it appears to be a franchise outfit. I don't mean to disrespect your club but that's a pretty big red flag to me. I suppose that doesn't mean you can't get quality instruction, but I would be cautious. I know you said they're really good with kids, but keep in mind most clubs with a kids program probably are. I only have personal experience with my club, but I have friends involved with other arts (Karate, Kung-Fu, Judo, even the local anti-covid/masking MMA/generic fighting academy that decided to open during the lockdown because they know SCIENCE better than the stupid guberment) all have kids/young member programs where the kids have fun but have legit, bonafide instruction. You might want to consider sitting in on one or two just to see what they are like and get a comparison? Regarding the braces - yeesh. That sounds like a recipe for disaster. We have a ~50 year old student that wears a pretty rigid knee brace (for additional support which ironically helps her with a straight legged hook kick properly) but a back brace? I'm not sure how that would even work. You have to bend at the waist so much in TKD and even bend back a bit for proper snap kicks and twisting kicks. Good for them wanting activity I guess but yikes. External braces can be dangerous for both students as well if you get smoked with one or you need to grab someone for a take down. I had to catch her leg mid kick and turn into a take down and it hosed my thumb up for about a month. slidebite fucked around with this message at 15:38 on Jun 13, 2021 |
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Jun 13, 2021 15:20
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