Taekwondo Sutton Coldfield

It should be said that Taekwondo can be quite physically demanding, which might put off the less nimble and more elderly people in Sutton Coldfield from taking this up. To be fair, the most frequent people participating in Taekwondo classes are children and younger people, but obviously older individuals who are in decent physical condition can easily get involved and benefit from this activity.

Taekwondo is one of the more recently created of the martial arts, with its beginnings in Korea in 1945. A number of Korean martial arts specialists in Seoul established some schools known as "kwans", combining various martial arts practices. Taekwondo, which was ultimately called, primarily entails high-kicking manoeuvres, particularly head kicks, fast kicking styles and jumping/spinning kicks.

With over sixty million fitness enthusiasts participating in Taekwondo sessions all around the globe, this has certainly become an extremely popular and worthwhile activity, and if you really master the sport you might possibly one day be eligible for the Olympic Games, of which it has been an integral part ever since the 2000 Sydney Games.

The thing about Taekwondo that seems to most appeal to people in Sutton Coldfield is the self-defence aspect of it. And its not surprising that this is on people's list of priorities when you consider the rising levels of violence seen these days in town and city centres throught the United Kingdom. However, exercising self-restraint and a respect for others goes hand in hand with the self-defence principles of Taekwondo.

These self-defence techniques may sooner or later come in useful in your day to day life, though it's much more likely that you will only be using them within a supervised class setting. Yet it is a reassuring feeling knowing that you can always defend yourself when you need to.

Your First Taekwondo Lesson

For those of you who have never done Taekwondo before, you will no doubt be interested to know what to expect from your first class. There may be variations to the following, depending on which Sutton Coldfield Taekwondo school you attend, but you can roughly expect; A fifteen to twenty minute warm up, a bit of technical training which will involve learning some kicks, blocks, stances and hand attacks, learning some forms (or Poomse), a look at sparring including movement, timing and the targeting of attacks, and lastly a warm down to relax and stretch tired muscles.

If you want to sign up to a Taekwondo club in Sutton Coldfield, you'll also have to register with the sport's official regulating body, namely British Taekwondo. You can find out about news, establishing a new Taekwondo club, health and safety, first aid, safeguarding and equality, members and clubs, events, referees and coaching, coaching courses, and more on the official British Taekwondo website, and find the latest news stories on their Twitter or Facebook page.

Taekwondo Forms

Taekwondo forms (also known as patterns or Poomse) are characterised by specified aspects such as technique, direction and stance. From the start you are going to get to grips with some of the standard forms, and in order to move through the various levels (belts) you will have to master some more complicated ones.

Taekwondo Belts (Rank)

With there being a number of styles of Taekwondo there's never been any uniform arrangement for assigning belts (ranks). What exists however is fairly similar and involves 2 belt groupings "junior" and "senior" ("colour" and "black"), each of these groupings is divided into levels, 8 to 12 colours in the case of juniors and 9 "blacks" for seniors.

In the UK there are a series of ranks in Taekwondo which are generally known as "Kup". The lowest is Tenth Kup and the highest rank is First Kup. If you're interested in 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 "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. The 10th Kup (White Belt) is what Taekwondo beginners in Sutton Coldfield will begin with, they can then proceed through the different colours, eventually reaching the Red Belt With a Black Stripe (1st Kup), after about three to four years of training and lessons.

After succeeding with this challenge, Taekwondo students in Sutton Coldfield are considered to be "black belt candidates" which sees them progressing through a further 9 ranks (Dans) until they eventually achieve the distinction of "Black Belt" status. Therefore, putting it simply, there are 3 primary sections in the Taekwondo belt order, namely Junior Belt, Senior Belt and Black Belt. 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 can take a considerable number of years to successfully progress through. (Tags: Taekwondo Belts Sutton Coldfield, Belt Order Taekwondo, Taekwondo Ranks Sutton Coldfield, Taekwondo Belt Order).

The Benefits of Taekwondo

There are of course, a lot of benefits to be had from doing Taekwondo, and here are just some that could be appealing to you: Enhance self-esteem and concentration by raising your physical and mental fitness, Supercharge agility, stamina and flexibility by way of strenuous cardiovascular effort, Develop discipline by methodically schooling your mind and body in the strategies and doctrines of Taekwondo, Strengthen your mind and body through accelerated mental discipline and physical co-ordination, Teach you self-defence by showing you how to understand occasions where self-defence could be required, and allowing you to control these kinds of circumstances in your favour, Reduces anxiety with controlled breathing, Grow in confidence by encouraging you to succeed and to seize control of your life.

The Main Taekwondo Kicks

Kicks play a key role in Taekwondo, here are a small selection of the more basic ones: Side Kick, Axe Kick, Hook or Whip Kick, Front Kick, Crescent Kick, Back Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Push Kick. Taekwondo Blocks: Taekwondo "blocks", that are used to defend against the various attacking movements, are called Makgi. They are held in various positions and employ the hands with different parts of the arm. Each type of attack necessitates a particular style of block, counter-attacks can be produced by integrating a block with another punch or kick. The most used blocks used in Taekwondo include: Rising Block, Double Knife Hand Block, Low Block, Upper Block, Palm Block, Single Forearm Block, Knife Hand Block, Double Forearm Block and Nine Block.