Taekwondo Watford

Taekwondo is generally much more demanding physically than for example Tai Chi, so unless you're pretty nimble and fit you might prefer to find something a little bit gentler to improve your fitness levels in Watford. Younger children are definitely the perfect participants for Taekwondo classes in Watford, with a lot of fast paced movements taking place and a great deal of high kicking.

With its origins in 1940's Korea, Taekwondo is certainly one of the more recently created of the martial arts and entails mostly kicking moves such as head-height kicks, fast kicking styles and jumping/spinning kicks. It started when schools known as "kwans" were founded by a bunch of Korean martial arts specialists in Seoul, South Korea.

With more than 60 million fitness enthusiasts engaged in Taekwondo classes all over the world, this has unquestionably become a popular activity, and if you become really good at the martial art you might even one day qualify for the Olympic Games, of which it has been a part ever since the Sydney Games in the year 2000.

People in Watford take up Taekwondo for numerous purposes but it is the self-defence aspect that appeals to most. This is no great surprise when you take into account the rising levels of violence seen in town centres nowadays. The ability to defend yourself and at the same time respecting others and exercising self-restraint is one of the key principles of Taekwondo.

While its good to know that you can defend yourself any time you need to, you should be hoping that you never need to test this outside of your local Taekwondo club environment.

Your First Taekwondo Class

If you have booked your first class but haven't attempted Taekwondo before, you may be wondering what to expect. This will vary from school to school but will generally include some or all of the following. An initial warm up lasting 15 to 20 minutes, a little technical training which will involve learning some blocking techniques, stances, hand attacks and kicks, an introduction to some Poomse (or forms), a few ideas on sparring including movement, timing and the targeting of attacks, and to round off a warm down to prevent muscle spasms and cramping,

Anybody wanting to join a Taekwondo class in Watford must also become a member of British Taekwondo which is the governing body of the sport in the UK. You can find a lot of information on members and clubs, first aid, safe practices, beginning a new Taekwondo club, events, coaches and competition referees, coaching courses, news, safeguarding and equality, and more, by going to British Taekwondo's website.

Taekwondo Kicks

One of the main elements of Taekwondo is kicking, here is a small selection of the basic kicks: Whip or Hook Kick, Axe Kick, Crescent Kick, Side Kick, Back Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Front Kick, Push Kick. Taekwondo Blocks: To divert and stop an inbound attack, "blocks" (called Makgi) are implemented. Using the hands and different areas of the arm, they are held in diverse positions. Certain attacks call for particular "blocks", but blocks can also be changed into counter-attacks by linking retaliatory punches or kicks. The primary blocks include: Nine Block, Knife Hand Block, Double Forearm Block, Low Block, Upper Block, Rising Block, Double Knife Hand Block, Palm Block and Single Forearm Block.

Taekwondo Belts (Promotion)

In the art of taekwondo there is not really any kind of uniformity with regards to grades and belts. It's all determined by what style you are reviewing, as there are such a lot of Taekwondo rules and styles. However, they are typically separated into two groups "junior (colour) belts and "senior" (black) belts. The junior/colour rankings consist of white to red, with from 8 to 12 grades, while the black/senior belts generally have 9 levels.

Rankings in Taekwondo in the UK are depicted by what are called "Kup". The highest rank is First Kup and the lowest (beginners) is Tenth Kup. The Taekwondo belt order, similar to many 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 of Taekwondo in Watford will commence with the 10th Kup (White Belt), and proceed through the various coloured belts until they achieve the Red With Black Stripe Belt (1st Kup).

After successfully completing this challenge, Taekwondo students in Watford are considered as "black belt candidates" which requires them to move through another nine ranks (Dans) until they achieve the ultimate distinction of "Black Belt" status. Therefore, the bottom line is, there are 3 primary groups in the Taekwondo belt order, namely Junior, Senior and Black Belts. The Taekwondo Belts in the Junior division comprise; 10th (White), 9th (White With Yellow Stripe), 8th (Yellow), and 7th (Yellow With Green Stripe). The Taekwondo Belts in the Senior division comprise; 6th (Green), 5th (Green With Blue Stripe), 4th (Blue), 3rd ( Blue With Red Stripe), 2nd (Red), and 1st (Red With Black Stripe). The Taekwondo Belts in the Black group go from 1st to 9th Dan, a qualification process which will take many years.

Summary

So, what are you looking to get from doing Taekwondo? Well, that's an excellent question, and the answer to that will be different for individual people. Most participants will purely wish to gain more confidence, meet new people and improve their levels of fitness. We're definitely not all going to scale the dizzy heights of Jade Jones or Lutalo Muhammad, though maybe you will, who knows?