Taekwondo Macclesfield

It should be said that Taekwondo can be fairly challenging physically, which may intimidate the less agile and more elderly folks in Macclesfield from becoming involved. To be truthful, the most frequent people participating in Taekwondo classes are kids and younger people, but certainly older people who're in decent physical condition can easily participate and benefit considerably from this activity.

Based primarily around kicking moves and manoeuvres like head kicks, rapid kicking techniques and jumping/turning kicks, Taekwondo was created from the practices of various diverse martial arts, by a number of Seoul martial arts specialists in new schools known as "Kwans" in the 1940's and 1950's. These "Kwans" had the names Mooduk Kwan, Jido Kwan, Songmu Kwan, Chungdo Kwan and Changmu Kwan.

Taekwondo has grown to become extremely popular in Macclesfield and all around the world, with more than 60 million practitioners worldwide. Getting started with a local Macclesfield Taekwondo club or class is a great way to become involved in this sporting activity which has even featured in the Olympic Games ever since the Sydney Games in 2000. Whilst you may not have any aspirations to be involved in Olympic competition, there's no reason why you should not become an expert at this thrilling martial art and have a bit of fun along the way.

For a lot of people in Macclesfield, it is the self-defence element of Taekwondo which holds the most appeal. And in these times of ever increasing violence, especially in town and city centres, it's little surprise that this aspect sits high on people's priority lists. It is a key factor of Taekwondo that you are able to gain more confidence in your capacity to defend yourself while at the same time learning to respect others and learn self-restraint.

Although it will give you peace of mind knowing that you have those self-defence skills tucked away inside you, the likelihood is that you will never have to use them outside of an organised Taekwondo class.

What to Expect From Your First Class

Different Taekwondo clubs in and around Macclesfield will have different thoughts on what pupils should cover on their first class, but to give you an understanding of what you should expect most first Taekwondo lessons will involve a warm-up, a bit of sparring, learning Poomse (forms), an introduction to blocks, kicks, hand attacks and stances (practical training) and a warm-down to relax tired muscles and return the body to a state of harmony.

Everyone who's a member of a Taekwondo club in Macclesfield or anywhere else in the UK, is also required to join British Taekwondo, which is the official regulating body of the sport. By going to British Taekwondo's website you will be able to discover info regarding starting a new club, coaching courses, first aid, equality and safeguarding, clubs and members, safe practices, news, events, referees and coaching, and lots more Taekwondo related facts.

The 8 Basic Taekwondo Kicks

Taekwondo is well known for its powerful kicking manoeuvres, here are the standard ones: Front Kick, Side Kick, Axe Kick, Hook or Whip Kick, Crescent Kick, Back Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Push Kick. Taekwondo Blocks: Taekwondo "blocks", which are used to defend against the various attacks, are known as Makgi. Employing the hand and different areas of the arm, they're held in particular positions. Every block can be merged with a kick or punch to produce a counter-attacking manoeuvre, and each is meant for a particular attack. The main blocks include: Knife Hand Block, Upper Block, Single Forearm Block, Palm Block, Rising Block, Double Knife Hand Block, Double Forearm Block, Low Block and Nine Block.

Taekwondo Belts (Ranking)

Because there are many different disciplines of Taekwondo there's never been any uniform system for allocating belts (levels). What does exist is however pretty similar and involves a couple of belt groups "senior" and "junior" (black and colour), each one of these groupings is split into levels, 8 to 12 colours in the case of juniors and 9 "blacks" for seniors.

Beginners Classes

As with any activity or sport we've got to start somewhere, and Taekwondo's no different. Even the best Macclesfield Taekwondo exponents were total rookies at one point. So, what should you expect as a total novice at Taekwondo? Beginner classes should give their students enough training to give them the fundamentals and enable them to gain self-confidence as they progress. The perfect beginners class needs to be fun as well as educational, when students are having fun they're far more engaged and are going to learn much faster.

Taekwondo Safety Gear

British Taekwondo matches require specific safety equipment to be worn to safeguard competitors from getting injured as a result of the formidable kicking that occurs. This safety gear includes: red or blue trunk armour (hogu), shin pads, a mouth protector, hand protectors, a groin protector, forearm guards and a blue/red head protector.