Taekwondo Bovey Tracey

Taekwondo is typically a lot more physically demanding than for example Tai Chi, so unless you're pretty nimble and fit you may prefer to find something a bit gentler to boost your fitness in Bovey Tracey. Children and younger people are clearly the perfect participants for Taekwondo classes in Bovey Tracey, with lots of fast paced movements going on and plenty of high kicking.

Based mostly around kicking moves and manoeuvres like fast kicking strategies, head kicks and turning/jumping kicks, Taekwondo was developed from the techniques of various martial arts, by a group of Seoul martial arts experts in new schools known as "Kwans" during the 1940's and 1950's. These "Kwans" were given the names Songmu Kwan, Changmu Kwan, Jido Kwan, Mooduk Kwan and Chungdo Kwan.

With over sixty million students globally and quite a few in Bovey Tracey, Taekwondo has become really popular. Joining your local Taekwondo class or club in Bovey Tracey is an easy way to get involved with this activity which is now an Olympic sport. While reaching Olympic standard may be aiming a bit high, there is no reason why you cannot become a Taekwondo master.

For a lot of people in Bovey Tracey, it is the self-defence element of Taekwondo that has the most appeal. And in these times of increased violence, especially in town and city centres, it really is little surprise that this features high up on people's priority lists. It is a primary factor of Taekwondo that you're able to gain more confidence in your ability to defend yourself and at the same time learn to respect those around you and learn self-restraint.

There's a fairly good likelihood that your newly mastered Taekwondo skills will never have to be tested in your day to day life, but it will unquestionably give you reassurance knowing that they are there should you ever be in need of them.

What to Expect From Your First Lesson

Different Taekwondo schools in the Bovey Tracey area will have different viewpoints on what pupils should be covering on their initial class, however to give you an idea of what you should expect most first Taekwondo classes will involve a warm-up, a bit of sparring, learning Poomse (forms), an introduction to blocks, kicks, stances and hand attacks (technical training) and a final warm-down to stretch weary muscles and get the body back to a state of balance.

If you want to join a Taekwondo class in Bovey Tracey, you will also have to register with the sport's governing body, namely British Taekwondo. You can read about members and clubs, starting a new Taekwondo club, health and safety, news, coaching courses, coaches and competition referees, first aid, equality and safeguarding, events, and more on British Taekwondo's website, or find out the latest news on their Facebook or Twitter page.

The 8 Basic Taekwondo Kicks

There are lots of different Taekwondo kicks, here are just a few of them: Push Kick (Meereo Chagi), Axe Kick (Naeryeo Chagi), Back Kick (Dwo Chagi), Front Kick (Ap Chagi), Roundhouse Kick (Dollyo Chagi), Side Kick (Yeop Chagi), Hook or Whip Kick (Huryeo Chagi), Crescent Kick (Bandal Chagi). Taekwondo Blocks: To stop and deflect an inbound Taekwondo attack, "blocks" (known as Makgi) are used. Engaging the hands and different sections of the arm, they are held in specific positions. Certain attacks necessitate specified blocks, but blocks can also be transformed into counter-attacking manoeuvres by linking reciprocal punches or kicks. The most used blocks (makgi) include: Palm Block, Single Forearm Block, Rising Block, Double Knife Hand Block, Upper Block, Double Forearm Block, Knife Hand Block, Nine Block and Low Block.

Taekwondo - The Benefits

You'll probably be fascinated to learn about precisely what type of benefits might be achieved by taking part in Bovey Tracey Taekwondo lessons and engaging fully in its activities. You could expect to: Teach self-defence strategies by helping you understand instances where self-defence may be required, and allowing you to manipulate these types of scenarios in your favour, Reduced stress using advanced breath control, Build up confidence by motivating you to succeed and to take control of your life, Empower your body and mind via increased mental discipline and physical co-ordination, Greater self-discipline by comprehensively schooling your mind and body in the strategies and concepts of Taekwondo, Enhance feelings of self-esteem by raising your mental and physical health, Augment flexibility, agility and stamina by means of intensive cardiovascular effort.

Taekwondo Competitions and Tournaments

Taekwondo competitions are held internationally in all of the various styles. There's usually not a lot of hard contact but breaking, patterns and sparring. Olympic and World Taekwondo (WT) tournaments consist only of sparring, in ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation) tournaments specified hand attacks are permitted to the head. Other organizations hold multi-discipline competitions.

Taekwondo Belts (Promotion)

Since there are many different styles of Taekwondo there's never been any recognised arrangement for assigning belts (levels). What exists is however fairly similar and is made up of a couple of belt groups "senior" and "junior" (black and colour), each of these groupings is split into ranks, eight to twelve colours in the case of juniors and nine for the seniors.

Ranks in Taekwondo in the UK are depicted by what are called "Kup". The highest rank is First Kup and the lowest rank is Tenth Kup. As with most of the martial arts, the Taekwondo belt order is denoted by a range of different colours, so the ranks can be easily identified. These colours are white, yellow, green, blue and red, with transitional belts with stripes in-between, 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. Beginner students of Taekwondo in Bovey Tracey will commence with the White Belt (Tenth Kup), and move up through the colours until they attain the Red Belt With a Black Stripe (First Kup)

Taekwondo trainees in Bovey Tracey become known as "black belt candidates" once they've worked their way through these rankings, and they will then be faced with proceeding through an additional nine ranks (or Dans) if they want to achieve the consummate accolade of "Black Belt" in Taekwondo. So, the bottom line is, there are three main groups in the Taekwondo belt order, that is Junior Belt, Senior Belt and Black Belt. The Junior Taekwondo Belts are; 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 takes a considerable number of years to successfully progress through.

Taekwondo Patterns (Forms)

Mastering Tae kwon do necessitates getting to grips with a number of techniques and disciplines and one of the key elements of Taekwondo is its forms (also called patterns or Poomse). These are types of direction, stance and technique which have to be memorized in order for pupils to move through the different dans (belts/grades).