Taekwondo Johnstone

Because Taekwondo has fairly high physical requirements, it's possibly more suited to the younger people of Johnstone. That's not to say that older individuals can't be involved in this popular activity, but just that there might be other martial arts which are more suited to the less agile of us. Tai Chi is a perfect illustration.

Based primarily around high-kicking moves and manoeuvres like rapid kicking styles, spinning/jumping kicks and head-height kicks, Taekwondo was developed from the practices of various diverse martial arts, by a group of Seoul martial arts specialists in new schools known as "Kwans" during the nineteen forties and fifties. These "Kwans" had the names Songmu Kwan, Chungdo Kwan, Jido Kwan, Mooduk Kwan and Changmu Kwan.

The number of Taekwondo practitioners globally, now exceeds 60 million. If you want to get involved in this activity, which is now an Olympic sport, heading along to a Taekwondo class or club in Johnstone is a good place to start. While reaching Olympic standard may be beyond you, there isn't any reason why you can't become a Taekwondo master.

The thing about Taekwondo that seems to most interest people in Johnstone is the self-defence aspect of it. And its no great surprise that this is on people's list of priorities when you consider the rising amounts of violence seen nowadays in city centres throughout Britain. The ability to defend yourself and at the same time respecting others and exercising self-restraint is one of the key benefits of Taekwondo.

Your eagerly mastered Taekwondo skills will likely never need to be proven outside of an organized Taekwondo class, however being aware that you've got them will instill you with confidence.

What to Expect From Your First Lesson

If you have never done Taekwondo before, you may be a little anxious as to what can be expected on your very first lesson. This will vary from school to school but will generally comprise some or all of these. A 15-20 minute warm up to loosen muscles and increase the heart rate, a bit of practical training including learning some stances, blocks, hand attacks and kicks, studying a few forms, an overview of sparring including movement, attack timing and timing, and finally a warm down to relax and stretch weary muscles.

British Taekwondo is the regulating body of the sport within Britain, and membership of this organisation is mandatory if you would like to sign up with any Taekwondo club in Johnstone or nearby. You can find lots of details about safeguarding and equality, first aid, starting a new Taekwondo club, referees and coaching, news, safe practices, coaching courses, events, members and clubs, and more, by dropping by at British Taekwondo's official website.

Taekwondo Safety Gear

Tournaments regulated by British Taekwondo rules demand that various pieces of protective equipment be worn, these include: shin guards, a mouth guard, hand guards, a groin guard, forearm protectors, a blue/red body guard (hogu) and a red or blue head protector. This is a must on account of the powerful kicking attacks being employed.

Competitions

There are a wide variety of tournaments and competitions in Taekwondo involving all the different styles. They mostly consist of breaking, patterns (forms) and sparring with little or no "hard contact". ITF contests don't allow excessive contact but do allow hand attacks to the head. World Taekwondo and Olympic competitions only allow sparring. Multi-style contests also take place.

Taekwondo Belts (Rank)

In Taekwondo there is really no form of standardization with regards to grades and belts. It's all depending on which style you're looking at, because there are so many different Taekwondo rules and styles. However, they are typically split into a couple of groupings "junior" or "colour" belts and "senior" or "black" belts. The colour/junior rankings consist of white to red, with from eight to twelve levels, whilst the senior/black belts generally have 9 rankings.

In the UK there are a series of ranks (belts) in Taekwondo that are generally known as "Kup". The lowest rank is Tenth Kup and the highest is First Kup. If you are eager to know the Taekwondo belt order, it is as follows, and is portrayed by a number of colours i.e. white, yellow, green, blue and red, with intermediate 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 Johnstone will begin with the White Belt (10th Kup), and proceed through the different coloured belts until they accomplish the Red Belt With a Black Stripe (1st Kup).

After this has been completed, Taekwondo students in Johnstone become "black belt candidates" which entails them proceeding through a further nine ranks (Dans) up until they achieve the ultimate accolade of "Black Belt". So, Junior, Senior and Black Belts are the three main classifications in the Taekwondo belt order in the UK. The Junior Taekwondo Belts comprise; 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 takes a number of years to successfully progress through. (Tags: Taekwondo Belt Order, Taekwondo Ranks Johnstone, Taekwondo Belts Johnstone, Taekwondo Black Belts).

Taekwondo Forms

Forms are a key element of Taekwondo and are crucial if you are to excel at this captivating sporting activity. Some basic Taekwondo forms need to be grasped from the beginning and more complex forms will have to be perfected in order to move through the various levels. A Taekwondo form is distinguished by various facets such as direction, technique and stance.