Taekwondo Armadale

It needs to be asserted that Taekwondo can be pretty physically challenging, which could put off the older and less agile folks in Armadale from taking this up. To be honest, the most frequent participants of Taekwondo classes are children and the younger generation, but of course older individuals who are in excellent physical health can easily get involved and benefit considerably from this sport.

Taekwondo is one of the more recently developed of the martial arts, with its origins in Korea in 1945. A group of Korean martial arts devotees in Seoul established some new schools called "kwans", where they practiced a blend of martial arts techniques. In Taekwondo the main focus is on kicking, especially fast kicking strategies, jumping/spinning kicks and head-height kicks. Now Armadale Taekwondo classes comply with this tradition.

The total number of Taekwondo enthusiasts globally, now exceeds 60 million. If you want to get involved in this activity, which is now an Olympic sport, signing up for a Taekwondo class or club in Armadale is a good place to start. Whilst noone would seriously expect you to get to Olympic standard, you can certainly be one of the best Taekwondo exponents in Armadale.

While there is much to be gained by doing Taekwondo, it is the self-defence aspect that most Armadale people are interested in. This is not surprising when you consider the rising levels of violence seen in town and city centres these days. In fact one of the key principles of Taekwondo is learning to defend yourself whilst exercising self-restraint and a respect for others.

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

Your First Armadale Taekwondo Class

If you have never done Taekwondo before you may be a little concerned as to what to expect on your first lesson. There may be variations to the following, depending on which Armadale Taekwondo school you attend, but you can roughly expect; A warm up lasting fifteen to twenty minutes, a bit of technical training which will involve learning some kicks, blocking techniques, hand attacks and stances, learning some Poomse (or forms), a look at sparring including good movement, timing and attack targeting, and lastly a warm down to stretch tired muscles and relax.

Anybody who joins a Taekwondo class in Armadale must also register with British Taekwondo which is the governing body of the sport in the United Kingdom. You can find out about safe practices, first aid, news, coaching courses, clubs and members, referees and coaching, starting a new club, equality and safeguarding, events, and more on the official British Taekwondo website, or get the latest news reports on their Twitter or Facebook page.

Taekwondo Belts (Rank)

In relation to promotion, ranking and belts there is not actually any real uniformity in Taekwondo, since there are a number of styles of Taekwondo which each have their own specific system. There are however analogies and they usually consist of a couple of groupings of belts "seniors" and "juniors" represented by black and coloured belts respectively. The senior ranks usually have 9 grades and the junior, 8 to 12 ranks.

In the UK Taekwondo has a set of ranks (belts) which are referred to as "Kup", these ranks range from 10th (lowest) to 1st (highest). The Taekwondo belt order, just like many of the martial arts is indicated by a number of different colours, these colours are white, yellow, green, blue and red, with intermediary belts with stripes, specifically white with a yellow stripe, yellow with a green stripe, green with a blue stripe, blue with a red stripe and red with a black stripe. Beginners of Taekwondo in Armadale will begin with the 10th Kup (White Belt), and proceed through the various colours until they achieve the Red With Black Stripe Belt (1st Kup).

After successfully completing this challenge, Taekwondo students in Armadale are considered to be "black belt candidates" which involves them proceeding through a further nine ranks (Dans) right up until they achieve the ultimate distinction of "Black Belt". Therefore, Junior, Senior and Black Belts are the 3 principal divisions in the Taekwondo belt order in the UK. The Junior Taekwondo Belts are; White (10th), White With Yellow Stripe (9th), Yellow (8th), and Yellow With Green Stripe (7th). The Senior Taekwondo Belts are; Green (6th), Green With Blue Stripe (5th), Blue (4th), Blue With Red Stripe (3rd), Red (2nd) and Red With Black Stripe (1st). The Black Taekwondo Belts go from 1st to 9th Dan which takes a considerable number of years to successfully progress through.

Competitions

Taekwondo contests are staged all over the world in all of the diverse styles. There is normally not a whole lot of hard contact but patterns (forms), sparring and breaking. Olympic and World Taekwondo (WT) competitions comprise only sparring, in ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation) tournaments certain hand attacks are allowed to the head. Other bodies hold multi-discipline competitions.

Safety Equipment

Competitions controlled by British Taekwondo guidelines demand that various items of protective equipment be worn, these include: a groin protector, a gum shield, hand protectors, shin protectors, a blue or red head guard, forearm guards and a blue or red body guard (hogu). This is a must because of the powerful kicking movements being practiced.

The Benefits of Taekwondo

When signing up for Taekwondo classes in Armadale you will be hoping to get some benefits to make the whole enterprise worth the effort. And so let us take a look at a few of the many positive benefits that you could gain by practicing and learning Taekwondo. Improve self-esteem and concentration by heightening both physical and mental fitness, Teach self-defence strategies by coaching you to recognize scenarios where self-defence could be required, and allowing you to turn such scenarios to your advantage, Lower stress by doing deep breathing exercises, More discipline by exhaustively educating your body and mind in the techniques and principles of Taekwondo, Boost your confidence by encouraging you to succeed and to take control of your life, Supercharge stamina, flexibility and agility by way of intense cardiovascular exertion, Toughen up your body and mind via enhanced mental discipline and physical co-ordination.

Taekwondo Kicks

There are a lot of different kicking movements which are used when practicing Taekwondo. Listed here are just a few of the best known: Whip or Hook Kick (Huryeo Chagi), Roundhouse Kick (Dollyo Chagi), Back Kick (Dwo Chagi), Push Kick (Meereo Chagi), Side Kick (Yeop Chagi), Axe Kick (Naeryeo Chagi), Front Kick (Ap Chagi), Crescent Kick (Bandal Chagi). Blocks: Taekwondo "blocks", which are used to fend off the different attacks, are called Makgi. They're held in particular positions and enlist the hands with different parts of the arm. Each type of attack necessitates a particular sort of block, counter-attacks can be produced by combining a block with another punch or kick. The most used blocks (makgi) in Taekwondo include: Double Forearm Block, Single Forearm Block, Nine Block, Rising Block, Low Block, Upper Block, Knife Hand Block, Double Knife Hand Block and Palm Block.