Taekwondo Darlington

Taekwondo is typically a lot more physically demanding than for example Tai Chi, so unless you are pretty nimble and fit you might prefer to find something a bit gentler to improve your fitness in Darlington. Younger children are definitely the perfect participants for Taekwondo classes in Darlington, with lots of fast paced movements going on and a great deal of high kicking.

Taekwondo is one of the more recently created of the martial arts, with its early beginnings in Korea, South-East Asia in 1945. A group of Korean martial arts specialists in Seoul founded some schools known as "kwans", merging a variety of martial arts techniques. Taekwondo, which it eventually became known as, mainly involves high-kicking manoeuvres, especially fast kicking methods, spinning/jumping kicks and head-height kicks.

Ever since the Sydney Olympic Games in the year 2000, Taekwondo has been an Olympic sport. This has added to its popularity throughout the world with some 60 million people routinely attending classes. And it's by enrolling in a Taekwondo class or club that you are able to start your adventure of mastering this unique activity.

For many people in Darlington, it is the self-defence aspect of Taekwondo that has the most appeal. And in these times of increased violence, especially in city and town centres, it's little surprise that this features high up on people's list of priorities. It is a primary factor of Taekwondo that you are able to become more confident in your capability to defend yourself and at the same time learn to respect others and learn self-restraint.

While it will give you peace of mind knowing that you have these self-defence skills tucked away inside you, the likelihood is that you'll never have to test them outside of an organized Taekwondo class.

Your First Taekwondo Class

If you've just booked your very first Taekwondo class, you will be wondering what to expect. The following will give you an example, but this will vary depending on which Darlington school you go to. A 15-20 minute warm up to loosen muscles and increase your heart rate, a bit of technical training comprising some blocking techniques, stances, hand attacks and kicks, some work on forms or patterns (Poomse in Korean), a look at sparring including good movement, timing and attack targeting, and lastly a warm down to stretch muscles and relax.

Everyone who is a member of a Taekwondo class in Darlington or anywhere else in the British Isles, is also required to join British Taekwondo, which is the regulating body of the sport. You will be able to learn about equality and safeguarding, coaches and referees, health and safety, news, clubs and members, coaching courses, events, first aid, starting a new club, and more on the official British Taekwondo website, and find out the latest news on their Facebook or Twitter page.

The Benefits of Taekwondo

There are of course, a lot of benefits to be had from practicing Taekwondo, and the following are just a few that may be appealing to you: Empower your mind and body by means of improved physical coordination and mental discipline, Enhance self-esteem by heightening both mental and physical fitness, Beef up your confidence by pushing you to succeed and to take control of your life, More self-discipline by methodically training your body and mind in the techniques and principles of Taekwondo, Help with self-defence by helping you to realize instances where self-defence could be needed, and allowing you to control such circumstances to your advantage, Lower anxiety and stress using advanced breath control, Improve stamina, agility and flexibility by way of intensive cardiovascular effort.

Taekwondo Forms (Poomse)

Perfecting Tae kwon do necessitates learning a number of techniques and one of the key aspects of Taekwondo is its forms (also known as Poomse or patterns). These are sequences of stance, technique and direction which have to be memorized in order for pupils to progress through the various dans (belts/grades).

Taekwondo Belts

In regards to belts, promotion and ranking there is not actually any uniformity in Taekwondo, as there are a number of styles of Taekwondo which each have their own system in place. There are however parallels and they normally consist of 2 groupings of belts "juniors" and "seniors" represented by coloured and black belts respectively. The senior grades generally have 9 ranks and the junior, between 8 and 12 ranks.

Ranks in Taekwondo in the UK are symbolized by what are called "Kup". The top rank is 1st Kup and the lowest rank (beginners) is 10th Kup. The Taekwondo belt order, like the vast majority of the martial arts is portrayed by a number of different colours, these colours are white, yellow, green, blue and red, with intermediate belts with stripes, namely 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 in Darlington starting out in Taekwondo will commence with the White Belt (10th Kup), and advance through the coloured belts until they reach the 1st Kup (Red With Black Stripe Belt).

When this training regime has been completed, Darlington Taekwondo trainees become "black belt candidates", and they then have to earn a further nine Dans if they are to become a Taekwondo "Black Belt", which of course is the supreme distinction. Therefore, Junior, Senior and Black Belt are the three main classifications 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 comprise; 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 can take a number of years to progress through.

To Summarize

We cannot all be like Jade Jones or Lutalo Muhammad, and I guess that we don't all want to be. Taekwondo is not purely about Olympic medals and National Championships. Most of us are happy to make new friends, meet different people and improve our levels of fitness, and that is how it should be. Yet, as with most things in life, what you get from it will depend on what you put into it. Good luck!