Taekwondo Garswood

Taekwondo is generally a lot more physically demanding than for instance Tai Chi, so unless you are pretty fit and agile you may prefer to partake in something a bit gentler to improve your fitness in Garswood. Children are definitely an ideal participants for Taekwondo classes in Garswood, with lots of fast movements taking place and plenty of high kicking.

Taekwondo is a martial art that mainly involves kicking manoeuvres and moves, in particular spinning/jumping kicks, head kicks and rapid kicking styles. It started in Seoul, in southern Korea during the 1940's, when a number of martial arts specialists established schools known as "kwans", which merged various martial arts practices.

Taekwondo has become really popular in Garswood and all across the globe, with over sixty million participants worldwide. Signing up for a local Garswood Taekwondo club or class is an excellent way to get involved in this sport which has even been a part of the Olympic Games since the Sydney Games in 2000. While you may not aspire to Olympic competition, there is no reason why you shouldn't become a maestro of this challenging martial art and have a bit of fun along the way.

For the people of Garswood who want to learn a martial art, a top priority is the element of self-defence. As this is a pivotal concept of Taekwondo, it is easy to see the appeal of this particular sport. With the additional benefit of developing self-restraint and having a deep respect for others, signing up for a local Garswood Taekwondo class would seem to be a no brainer.

These self-defence techniques may at some point prove to be useful in your everyday life, though it is more likely that you'll only be testing them within a regulated class environment. However it's a nice feeling knowing that you'll always be in a position to defend yourself if you need to.

Your First Lesson

If you make your mind up to register for a Taekwondo class in Garswood, the first thing you will want to know is what is going to transpire on the first class and exactly what will the coach be expecting of you. Different Taekwondo masters in Garswood will devise differing routines for this initial introductory lesson but you can count on doing a 15 minute warm-up to get the blood flowing and loosen your muscles, learn some basic Poomse (forms, cover some practical training (blocks, stances, kicks and hand attacks), do a bit of sparring, and last but not least, warm-down.

British Taekwondo is the official governing body of the sport within the British Isles, and membership of this organization is compulsory if you would like to sign up with any Taekwondo class in Garswood or nearby. By visiting the British Taekwondo website you will be able to read facts about equality and safeguarding, establishing a new Taekwondo club, health and safety, coaching courses, clubs and members, events, first aid, coaches and tournament referees, news, and a lot more Taekwondo related facts.

Taekwondo Belts (Rank)

In relation to promotion, ranking and belts there isn't actually any real uniformity in Taekwondo, as there are many different styles of Taekwondo which each have their own unique system. There are however parallels and they generally comprise a couple of groups of belts "seniors" and "juniors" represented by black and coloured belts respectively. The senior levels generally have 9 ranks and the junior, eight to twelve levels.

In the UK there are a sequence of ranks in Taekwondo which are referred to as "Kup". The lowest (beginners) rank is 10th Kup and the highest is 1st Kup. If you are curious about the Taekwondo belt order, it's as follows, and is portrayed by a range of colours i.e. white, yellow, green, blue and red, with "in-between" 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 Garswood will start out with the White Belt (Tenth Kup), and advance through the different coloured belts until they accomplish the Red With Black Stripe Belt (First Kup)

Taekwondo trainees in Garswood become "black belt candidates" once they've successfully completed this process, and they will then be faced with moving through a further nine ranks (or Dans) if they plan to achieve the greatest distinction Taekwondo Black Belt. Thus, the Taekwondo belt order can be grouped into 3 sections; Junior, Senior and Black Belts. 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 will take a considerable number of years to progress through. (Tags: Taekwondo Black Belts, Taekwondo Belts Garswood, Taekwondo Belt Order, Taekwondo Ranks Garswood).

Taekwondo Kicks

Taekwondo is possibly best known for its fast-moving kicking manoeuvres, listed here are some of the standard kicks you'll learn as a rookie: Roundhouse Kick, Push Kick, Front Kick, Axe Kick, Side Kick, Hook or Whip Kick, Back Kick, Crescent Kick. Blocks: Taekwondo "blocks", which are used to fend off the different attacks, are known as Makgi. Held in diverse positions, they engage the hands and sections of the arm. Certain attacks require specified blocks, but blocks can also be changed into counter-attacks by the combination of retaliatory kicks or punches. The key "blocks" (makgi) include: Low Block, Palm Block, Single Forearm Block, Double Forearm Block, Double Knife Hand Block, Nine Block, Upper Block, Knife Hand Block and Rising Block.

Taekwondo Competitions and Tournaments

A typical Taekwondo competition includes breaking, patterns and sparring, where the Olympics is concerned only sparring is included. That being said there may also be a few extraordinary categories in certain competitions such as self-defence and team demonstrations. WT tournaments are strictly soft-contact affairs, whilst International Taekwon-Do Federation tournaments permit some hand attacks to the head. There are also several multi-discipline contests.

Safety Gear

British Taekwondo competitions require specific safety gear to be worn to safeguard competitors from injury due to the powerful kicks that occur. This safety equipment includes: a blue/red head guard, forearm protectors, a groin protector, a mouth protector, blue or red body armour (hogu), hand protectors and shin protectors.