Sunday, January 31, 2016

The Five Tenets of Taekwondo, Understanding This Code of Conduct

The tenets of Taekwondo are at the very the root of the art. They focus on the positive development of the whole person to become a positive influence on those close to them and their community.

The tenets of Taekwondo should serve as a guide to behavior for those who study and practice Taekwondo. Serving as the creed of this martial art, it is recommended that these personal traits be taught and memorized.

Tenets of Taekwondo

Courtesy - To conduct training in an orderly manner and to assist in building a student's noble character the following fundamentals should be practiced:

Bow to the flag, instructors and fellow students.

Address the instructor as Sir or Ma'am.

Be early for class.

Be polite to one another.

Behave according to etiquette.

Encourage a sense of justice and humanity.

Respect others possessions.

Handle situations with fairness and sincerity.

Promote a spirit of mutual concessions.

Integrity - A student must be able to distinguish between right and wrong. One must have a healthy conscience and listen to it. One should live by moral principles

Perseverance - Patience and tenacity make perseverance. One must patiently pursue and tireless work toward his/her goal. Confucius said, "One who is impatient in trivial matters can seldom achieve success in matters of great importance." Many of the techniques of Taekwondo require frequent practice. Many hours may be spent attempting to perfect a kick or poomse (form).

Self Control - Self control should be exercised in the dojang and in all aspects of one's life. To loss control while sparring could have disastrous consequences, causing one's opponent injury. Self control is necessary in real life self defense situations, as well. One must control oneself, first, before he/she can take control of a threatening situation.

Indomitable Spirit - The indomitable spirit is modest and honest. It doe not tolerate injustice, and will face the offenders without hesitation or fear, regardless of who or how many it may be. Confucius said, "It is an act of cowardice to fail to speak out against injustice."

The Student Oath

I shall observe the tenets of Taekwondo

I shall respect the instructors and seniors

I shall never misuse Taekwondo

I shall be a champion of freedom and justice

I shall build a more peaceful world

Ten Commandments of Taekwndo

Be loyal to your country

Honor your parents

Be faithful to your spouse

Be on good terms with your siblings

Be loyal to your friends

Be respectful of your elders

Respect and trust your teachers

Never take life unjustly

Never retreat in battle

Finish what you start

Taekwondo is an honorable martial art, which can benefit its students by challenging them physically and mentally as well as helping them to develop character.

Su Ericksen is a first degree TaeKwonDo black belt and has taught self defense workshops. She lives in the Midwest with her family and works at a large medical center in the cardiology clinic.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Su_Ericksen/243743

5 Great Tips to Help You Take Care of Your Taekwondo Uniform

The Taekwondo uniform, or dobok, has its own style which makes it unique to this particular discipline. Taekwondo is a type of martial arts that finds its origins in Korea and was put to use with the special forces group called the Hwarang. Through evolutions of several amalgamations of styles, Taekwondo mades its appearance. Now, one of the most practiced of the martial arts in the world, Taekwondo is also one of the only two martial arts to be in the Olympic games.

As with any type of martial arts, the way that you take care of your dobok is of vital importance. There is a lot of tradition that is involved with the martial arts and this does not stop with the Taekwondo uniform. Everything from the size that you buy to the way that you wash it are all important for when you show up at the dojang, or dojo, ready to practice, teach, or test.

Choose The Right Size for Your Outfit

Unlike many other clothes, the dobok is not sized in a small, medium, or large. They can be sized in centimeters which corresponds to your height, or with a number from 00 to 7. Each one though are dependent upon height, weight, and waist size. Choosing the right size is very important as it will dictate how well you will do in your practice. Pants that are too long will cause you to step on the hems and lose your balance. Tops that are too tight will not allow you to move with fluidity or ease.

Choose the Right Color for Your Martial Arts Outfit

One of the many mistakes that people make when purchasing their Taekwondo uniform is to buy different colors. Most schools require that beginning students wear all white doboks without any adornment at all. Of course, this is up to the sensei, and some allowances are made for wearing t-shirts. Colored, or those with black trim around the collars, are reserved for those who are black belts or on the verge of completing their test.

Wearing Your Uniform in the Correct Manner

Besides purchasing the right uniform for you, great care must also be taken in the way that you wear your dobok. The pants are put on with the label on the front inside. There is usually ties available for you to tighten your pants to a comfortable size. The top goes on much like a t-shirt, but with a little twist. There is an elastic that goes around your waist to a button under a flap to pull the back in tight. Make sure that the elastic is hidden by your top and not hanging down.

Sew Badges With Care on Your Taekwondo Uniform

After going to tournaments, or just showing off your school, you may want to sew a patch onto your uniform. Always make sure that the patch is sewn on the left side of your dobok and with small stitches. The last thing your sensei wants to see is a badly sewn patch in the wrong place.

Take Great Care When Washing Your Taekwondo Dobok

After each practice session make sure to wash your uniform. Use cold water on a gentle cycle and immediately hang it to dry. Once dry you should always iron your uniform to ensure there are no wrinkles.

Margaret Dicks 5th Dan began Taekwondo training in the early '70's. With husband, Master Trevor Dicks 7th Dan, she runs the Pacific International Taekwondo school, specializing in teaching children and adults traditional Taekwondo. She also runs an online store selling to individuals and small clubs, focusing on supplying good quality uniforms and equipment at reasonable prices.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/7214214

Taekwondo Athlete Nutrition

Taekwondo athletes choose to compete in a weight category which is lower than their normal weight simply because it provides them with more advantage. They have longer lower limbs which will give them better chances to strike and hit the opponent thus earning them a point. It also makes their movement swifter because of their lighter weight. However, there are certain athletes who undergo drastic measures just to achieve a rapid amount of weight loss.

Rapid decrease in weight done through fluid restriction, severe food deprivation, excessive exercise, use of laxatives and diuretics and even regular use of sauna will bring more harm to the body of Taekwondo athletes rather than good. It is a must that athletes should be fit before their tournament so they can properly execute their blocks, kicks and strikes.

These require maximum nutrition potential which can only be acquired through right combination of food and training. It is never wise to deter from eating nutritiously rich carbohydrate foods like pasta, whole grain cereals, rice, fruits and vegetables. The intake of protein rich food like lean meat, fish, chicken, beans and legumes holds vital nutrients that will help the body repair broken muscles and bones. What must be done instead of drastic weight loss regimen for these Taekwondo athletes is identification of the weight group category which they intend to enter on an earlier phase so they can safely plan their diet months before the tournament.

A training diet is not evil if and only if it can be planned accordingly. There is nothing wrong in trimming down on one's weight but to do it in a flash will produce detrimental effects to the body. Nutritionists and heath experts suggest that Taekwondo athletes maintain a weight within 2-3 kilogram of their competition weight so they can minimize nutritional strategies which can drastically affect their body movements and coordination. Nevertheless, the following are helpful tips which Taekwondo athletes would wish to follow two to three days before their tournament.

A. Avoid excessive salt consumption which you typically get from processed foods and chips.

B. Instead of fasting days before the competition, it is wiser to eat low residue foods 12 to 24 hours before the competition. You may try eating white breads, liquid meal replacements, fiber cereals and even Power bars so your body can still have enough energy to use on the tournament.

C. During the actual tournament or after the weigh-in, it is best to hydrate your body by drinking enough fluids.

D. If you feel nervous and you find it difficult to eat a regular meal before the competition then it will help if you can eat a liquid based snack just to guarantee there will be enough nutrients supplied to different parts of your body.

E. After the tournament, immediately eat a light snack composed of 50 to 100 grams of carbohydrates because this will help promote muscle repair and will also initiate a faster recovery process. These set of snacks can either be two cereal bars, a roll with banana filling or jam, three pieces of fruit, a 200g of carton of yoghurt combined with a cereal bar or a 250 to 300ml low fat fruit smoothie.

Follow all the latest news on "Today's Taekwondo" the first online magazine dedicated to the Sport of Taekwondo.

Todays Taekwondo

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Brendan_Mark_Smith/1070262

Top Reasons for Joining Taekwondo Classes

Thinking of enrolling yourself into Taekwondo Classes? If you are then this would be one of the best decisions that you can make for yourself for a whole lot of reasons! While most people are usually driven by the main objective of feeling healthier and more confident when they opt for taekwondo classes, it is natural for every person's training motive to vary from the other. This point of conflict in training goals brings us to the best part about Taekwondo as this martial art form comes with multi-fold benefits and goals.

Here are the five best reasons why Taekwondo is popularly chosen by people from all across the world:

• Physical Fitness - The majority of people who enroll themselves into taekwondo classes are mainly driven by the motive to become fit and healthy. Taekwondo is one of the best ways to up your endurance levels, achieve high fitness levels as well as attain total body strength in a very healthy way. This martial art form mainly uses kicks and punches both of which are made up of countless techniques and styles. Each style of kick or punch involves the whole body and takes repetitive and controlled movement to perfect which in turn builds high muscle strength and tones the body in a very healthy manner.

• Self Defense Skills - Nowadays Taekwondo classes have become especially popular in cities and towns across the world as martial art schools have started offering training programs that have been tailored for teaching and effective self defense techniques. You can now easily find taekwondo classes that are exclusively customized for teaching men, women, children and the elderly how to defend themselves using traditional and powerful martial art techniques. The best part about enrolling in taekwondo styled self defense classes is that they are suitable for people of all endurance levels and built as the techniques focus on maximizing core strength and using the attackers force against them.

• Creative Expression - The teaching of Taekwondo is based on a holistic mind, body and spirit development which is why it is a great activity for children. Kids as young as five year olds love attending Taekwondo classes as it is a great and fun way of creative expression and helps children to become more mentally focused and emotionally balanced. Over the last few years more and more schools have also started including taekwondo classes as part of their curriculum because of the multiple benefits that it offers to young children.

All Taekwondo classes focus on the mind, body and spirit connection which is intrinsic to the success of any personal health motive be it on a physical or a mental level. While this form of martial art has always been well-known in the field of competitive sports it has more and more relevance in today's scenario where we all need to reconnect with traditional teaching practices to help create more balance in our internal and external worlds. By learning the basic life skills and values through Taekwondo classes we not only become more fit and healthy but also acquire a deeper insight into our emotional and spiritual world which makes practicing this martial art form a truly dynamic experience!

Trevor Dicks 7th Dan is the founder of Pacific International Taekwondo (Aust) and Pacific Sun (NZ). He teaches people of all ages and from all walks of life, from confidential training for high profile individuals to regular classes for children and adults. For more information on Taekwondo classes visit http://www.pacificinternationaltaekwondo.com.au/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Trevor_Dicks/1195687

Why Taekwondo Is So Popular ?

First, let me set the scene. I am not a Taekwondo Master. Nor even a Black Belt. In fact, I don't have a belt at all. Indeed, I have never had a Taekwondo belt. So why, you are entitled to ask, am I writing an article about Taekwondo?

The reason is simple. In my day job at a leading UK team building company, a surprisingly large number of our wider event team members over the years are Taekwondo practitioners. Most of them are of black belt status and two of them have actually got on their martial arts CV that they have represented England. The reason for this is simple. One of the two is our Client Services Manager and she has roped in some of her Taekwondo friends. Basically, I feel qualified to write this through multiple third-party connections.

So here is what I have gleaned from them. In keeping with the majority if not all martial arts, Taekwondo offers a mixture of activity, self defence and approach to life in general - a philosophy if you will. One factor that mas made it so popular around the world and far from its Korean roots is that it is a very social activity, bringing together people from all walks of life and even generations. While it is an Olympic sport involving experts and watched by millions, it is also a very participative activity that can be enjoyed by all. The tenets of the art encourage camaraderie and even teamwork, so there's a link to my day job there!

So what is it? Well, it is a martial art that originated in Korea. Its literal translation is "the way of the foot and the fist", with Tae meaning to break with the foot, Kwon meaning the same but with the fist and Do supplying the way. Interestingly, it was born in the same year as me. 1955. It is certainly wearing its years better than me! Choi Hong Hi, a South Korean General and martial arts expert. I gather that Choi is something of a controversial figure within Taekwondo and not all factions view him as its creator, but I'm going with the local flow here.

When I say it was born in 1955, that isn't strictly true. It gained its name then, but actually it has been around for well over a thousand years. Back in that day it was called Taek-Kyon. Basically, the people who unified Korea from the original three kingdoms that existed managed to do so largely by force and the force in question had Taek-Kyon at its disposal. The martial art helped the relatively young (by age of its members) army of the Hwarang-Do unify Korea. Once they had achieved this, they began to spread the word and get people across the kingdom engaged with the marital art.

It survived a near extinction event when the Japanese occupied Korea in Yi Dynasty times shortly after the turn of the 20th Century (1910 to be precise) and really took off once the occupation ended in the mid 1940s.

As I write, Taekwondo is enjoyed in an organised fashion by people in almost 70 different countries. Including this one, of course. And if the spirit and camaraderie of my colleagues here is anything to go by, it isn't going away any time soon. So in answer to the question I raise in the title, it seems to me to be a martial art for all that engenders a great spirit among those who practice it together. Even those who have never taken a lesson in their lives can benefit from that if they know people who are already into it.

A team building specialist who works with a team that includes many a person who enjoy Taekwondo kicks [http://www.taekwondo-kicks.com/tkd-information/korean-terminology/kicks/] and other moves.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Alan_Hunt/22808