Taekwondo Bishop's Cleeve

While not wanting to discourage any particular age group, it has to be said that Taekwondo is more suited to younger people in Bishop's Cleeve, being quite physically demanding. Its teachings of self-discipline and respect for others make it especially appropriate for children. It could prove too taxing for some older adults, but shouldn't be a problem for those who are already fit and active. People in Bishop's Cleeve who take up Taekwondo when they are young find it easy to continue when they get older. If you consider yourself among the less agile, you could try something like Tai Chi which is much softer.

Taekwondo is one of the more recently introduced of the martial arts, with its origins in Korea in 1945. Some new schools called "kwans" were established in Seoul by a group of Korean martial arts enthusiasts, incorporating a number of various martial arts techniques. The focus of Taekwondo, as it ultimately became known, is on kicking manoeuvres, in particular rapid kicking styles, turning/jumping kicks and head-height kicks. These days Bishop's Cleeve Taekwondo classes observe this tradition.

Taekwondo now has over 60 million practitioners worldwide and has become very popular in Bishop's Cleeve and throughout the UK. If you want to get involved in this activity, which is now an Olympic sport, joining a Taekwondo club or class in Bishop's Cleeve is a good place to start. While you may not aspire to Olympic competition, there is no reason why you cannot become a master of this exciting martial art and have some fun along the way.

For the men, women and children of Bishop's Cleeve who would like to learn a martial art, a major priority is the element of self-defence. Because this is a key principle of Taekwondo, it is easy to appreciate the appeal of this particular sport. With the extra bonus of learning self-restraint and having a deep-rooted respect for other people, getting involved in a local Bishop's Cleeve Taekwondo class would seem to be an easy decision.

There's a fairly good chance that your newly learned Taekwondo skills will never need to be proven in your everyday life, but it will most certainly give you peace of mind knowing that they are there should you need them.

Your First Taekwondo Lesson

If you come to a decision to register for Taekwondo training in Bishop's Cleeve, the first thing you will wish to know is what is going to happen on the initial lesson and what precisely will the trainer expect to see from you. Different Taekwondo masters in the Bishop's Cleeve area will put together differing routines for this first introductory lesson but you can expect to do a 15-20 minute warm-up to get the blood circulating and loosen your muscles, learn a few forms (Poomse), go through some technical training (blocking techniques, stances, hand attacks and kicks), do a bit of sparring, and last of all, warm-down.

If you want to join a Taekwondo club in Bishop's Cleeve, you will also have to become a member of the sport's official governing body, namely British Taekwondo. By checking out British Taekwondo's official website you will be able to discover information regarding coaching courses, safe practices, safeguarding and equality, news, coaches and competition referees, events, members and clubs, first aid, starting a new Taekwondo club, and many more Taekwondo related facts.

Taekwondo for Beginners

Trainees setting out on their Taekwondo experience in Bishop's Cleeve will initially sign up for a beginners class. Beginners classes are fantastic, as there is no pressure and everything's carried out at a slow, relaxed pace. Having fun whilst learning is the principal intention initially and trainees who are having fun tend to learn a lot quicker and absorb considerably more of what they're being shown. Even Taekwondo masters started out as naive newbies, so take that first step and you never know where you will finish up!

Taekwondo Belts (Rank)

In Taekwondo there is really no form of uniformity when it comes to ranking and belts. It's all determined by what style you are looking at, because there are so many different Taekwondo styles. However, they're generally divided into a couple of groups "junior (colour) belts and "senior" (black) belts. The junior/colour ranks range from white to red, with anything from eight to twelve levels, whilst the black/senior belts usually have 9 grades.

Rankings in Taekwondo in the UK are depicted by what are called "Kup". The highest rank is 1st Kup and the lowest rank (beginners) is 10th Kup. The Taekwondo belt order, just like the vast majority 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 in Bishop's Cleeve starting out in Taekwondo will begin with the White Belt (10th Kup), and move up through the coloured belts until they reach the Red Belt With a Black Stripe (1st Kup).

Taekwondo students in Bishop's Cleeve are called "black belt candidates" once they've worked their way through these rankings, and they will then need to proceed through an additional nine ranks (or Dans) if they plan to achieve the supreme distinction of "Black Belt" in Taekwondo. Therefore, Junior Belt, Senior Belt and Black Belt are the 3 primary divisions 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 are; 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.

Benefits to be Gained From Taekwondo

You will undoubtedly be interested to learn about precisely what sort of benefits could be obtained by attending Bishop's Cleeve Taekwondo lessons and engaging fully in its practices. You could expect to: Help with self-defence tactics by helping you to understand scenarios where self-defence might be required, and allowing you to manipulate such circumstances in your favour, Empower your body and mind by way of improved physical coordination and mental discipline, Reduced anxiety with controlled breathing, Better self-discipline by extensively schooling your mind and body in the principles and tactics of Taekwondo, Supercharge agility, flexibility and stamina by way of intensive cardiovascular work-outs, Beef up your confidence by helping you to succeed and to seize control of your life, Improve feelings of self-esteem by elevating both mental and physical fitness.