Taekwondo Leiston

It has to be said that Taekwondo can be quite demanding physically, which might unnerve the older and less nimble folks in Leiston from getting involved. To be completely fair, the most common people participating in Taekwondo classes are children and the younger generation, but obviously older individuals who are in good physical health can easily participate and benefit from this sport.

Taekwondo is a martial art that mainly consists of kicking moves and manoeuvres, in particular jumping/turning kicks, head-height kicks and fast kicking strategies. It started in Seoul, in southern Korea in the 1940's, when a group of martial arts specialists founded schools called "kwans", which blended various martial arts practices.

Nowadays an Olympic sport, Taekwondo has more than sixty million followers worldwide, and even though you may not have any aspirations to be an Olympic Games sportsman, you are still able to join a Taekwondo club or class to learn what will no doubt prove to be a fascinating and worthwhile pastime.

For many people in Leiston, it's the self-defence aspect of Taekwondo which has the most appeal. And in these days of increasing violence, especially in city and town 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 are able to become more confident in your capability to defend yourself and at the same time learn to respect other people and practice self-restraint.

Your newly mastered Taekwondo skills will more than likely never have to be put to the test outside the regulated environment of an organized Taekwondo class, however being aware that you've got them will give you peace of mind.

Your First Leiston Taekwondo Class

If Taekwondo is not something that you have ever tried before, you'll likely be curious about what you should expect from your very first lesson if you decide to join. Different Taekwondo schools in the Leiston area have different thoughts on this but in brief; you'll participate in a fifteen to twenty minute warm-up, you'll do a bit of technical training, you will learn some forms (patterns), you'll practice sparring strategies and finally you will do a warm-down to get your body back into a relaxed state again.

The body regulating Taekwondo in Great Britain is British Taekwondo and any individual wanting to join a Taekwondo club in Leiston must also become a member of British Taekwondo. You will be able to learn about health and safety, coaches and tournament referees, events, coaching courses, first aid, starting a new club, members and clubs, safeguarding and equality, news, and more on British Taekwondo's official website, and find the latest news stories on their Twitter or Facebook page.

The Benefits of Taekwondo

When you are enrolling in Taekwondo classes in Leiston you will be aiming to get a few benefits to make the whole enterprise worth the effort. And so we should examine some of the positive benefits that you may gain from learning and doing Taekwondo. Increase stamina, flexibility and agility through strenuous cardiovascular effort, Improve your self-esteem by maximizing your mental and physical powers, Strengthen your body and mind via accelerated physical coordination and mental discipline, Beef up your confidence by inspiring you to seize control of your life and succeed, Lower stress and anxiety using advanced breath control, More self-discipline by exhaustively schooling your mind and body in the doctrines and techniques of Taekwondo, Teach you self-defence techniques by helping you understand circumstances where self-defence might be required, and allowing you to turn these scenarios in your favour.

Taekwondo Belts

In relation to belts, ranking and promotion there's not actually any real standardization in Taekwondo, since there are a number of styles of Taekwondo which each have their own specific system. There are however similarities and they usually consist of two groupings of belts "juniors" and "seniors" symbolized by coloured and black belts respectively. The senior grades generally have nine tiers and the junior, eight to twelve levels.

In the UK Taekwondo has a sequence of ranks (belts) that are generally known as "Kup", these ranks go from Tenth (lowest) to First (highest). The Taekwondo belt order, just like most of the martial arts is portrayed by a range of different colours, these colours are white, yellow, green, blue and red, with intermediary 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 White Belt (10th Kup) is what Taekwondo rookies in Leiston will commence with, they can then progress through the colours, finally achieving the Red With Black Stripe Belt (1st Kup), after around 3-4 years of dedicated training.

Once this training regime has been completed, Leiston Taekwondo trainees advance to "black belt candidates", and they then need to progress through a further 9 ranks if they are to become a Taekwondo "Black Belt", which is the supreme distinction in this sport. Therefore, to put it simply, there are three primary sections in the Taekwondo belt order, namely Junior, Senior and Black Belt. The Taekwondo Belts in the Junior division are; 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 range from 1st to 9th Dan, a qualification process which will take many years. (Tags: Taekwondo Belt Order, Taekwondo Belts Leiston, Taekwondo Black Belts, Taekwondo Ranks Leiston).

Tournaments

Competitions and tournaments are a significant element of the Taekwondo experience, and all of the various styles across the world hold tournaments where Taekwondo masters gather together to battle it out. Hard contact is hardly ever allowed in any of these tournaments which primarily incorporate patterns (forms), sparring and breaking. Sparring only is permitted in Olympic and World Taekwondo tournaments, while some hand attacks are permitted in ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation) events.

The Taekwondo Kicks

Some of the best known Taekwondo kicks you'll learn early on include: Push Kick, Hook or Whip Kick, Crescent Kick, Roundhouse Kick, Side Kick, Axe Kick, Front Kick, Back Kick. Taekwondo Blocks: To stop and avert an inbound Taekwondo attack, blocks (known as Makgi) are implemented. They are held in various positions and use the hand with different sections of the arm. Specific attacks require specified blocks, but "blocks" can also be turned into counter-attacks by the combination of retaliatory kicks or punches. The most important blocks include: Single Forearm Block, Double Forearm Block, Palm Block, Nine Block, Upper Block, Knife Hand Block, Rising Block, Low Block and Double Knife Hand Block.

Taekwondo Patterns (Forms)

Mastering the art of Taekwondo necessitates learning many disciplines and one of the key aspects of Taekwondo is its forms (also called patterns or Poomse). These are sequences of stance, technique and direction which need to be memorized in order for pupils to move through the various dans (belts/grades).