We now write 2026, and as we say in Norway: New year - New opportunities :-) I used to be good at these kinds of posts, looking back at the old year and write about the upcoming plans. I have failed to do this for several years now :-P You got to go back to 2019 for a similar January post.
A.I. and the future of Traditional Taekwondo Ramblings
The A.I wave has hit us hard in 2025, to the point that even in martial arts media we are drowning in a.i slop, both in video, articles, blogs and I guess it is just a matter of time, books. Google has started trying to answer searches not with links going to blogs like mine, but first A.I, then sponsored pages, then "trusted pages" such as reddit and then perhaps you might find my posts. This is the current trend now, and I found myself thinking, what can Traditional Taekwondo Ramblings possibly offer people in 2025 and forward? I can not in any way shape or form compete with a.i driven blogs, and I KNOW for a FACT that there are several martial artists out there using A.I to publish articles which reads like they have written a prompt and published whatever Chatgtp had written as their own work. I make at most a few posts a month, someone using A.I can churn out 10+ articles every single day.
I confess to have used Chatgtp in a purely editiorial fashion for a few posts in 2025 and I have used A.I to make a few thumbnails, but whenever I have used chatgtp for writing I first write myself the whole text, then I ask chatgtp to clean up the language, flow and spelling errors. I then work through each paragraph going back and forth to make it just right. The end result is that I do not actually save as much time using a.i, but I do get a text that reads as an actual human being has written it.
Then it hit me: I can not compete with A.I, but I have something that A.I and A.I-heavy users do not have: Authenticity :-)
I believe people still want to read stuff written by an actual human, something not being the results of hallucinations and made up, something that while flawed looking at the writing itself, makes up for it in content and "soul". Traditional Taekwondo Ramblings started out as a the blog I wished someone else had written, and so that is how it will stay. I will write what I would have wanted to read, and one thing I just can not stand any more of is a.i slop. I do need a favor if this blog is something you enjoy; if you hear or read other peoples questions on taekwondo and you know the answer might be hiding on the blog ask them to check it out. I might not be the fastest answering comments, but I do read each and every one made on here:-)
Milestone reached:
2025 marks the year where I actually managed to go through the whoooooooole process of writing a book, I made the outline, translated source material, added my own material, edited the text (many many many times), was a model for the pictures (which I only got due to my wife being there for me), and with the help of Master Roy Rolstad (who kindly checked the ITF terminology), Master Jon Lennart (who gave me access to Kang Duk Won variants and checked some of my translations), Master Christian who provided feedback and encouragement and many many more it became a manuscript.
I then edited everything into formats that could be printed as a paperback or read on a kindle. The book: The Lost Forms of Oh Do Kwan Taekwondo Volume 1: Taegeuk 1-3 Hyeong is one of my proudest achievements :-) (It is availble on amazon, and if you already bought it thank you so much, if you liked it would you pleeeeease consider dropping a review and or some stars on amazon? and if you have not bought it yet, please do :-P
On this blog in 2025:
- We had 173 000 views
- 76 comments
- Most read post was:
- Religion and Taekwondo (1 290 views)
- Honoring the pioneers of Taekwondo; Chung Sang Sup (913 views)
- Taegeuk Poomsae, why does everybody "hate" them? (847 views)
- (only 2025 post that made the list was: Kwan Heon, Chung Do Kwan 747 views)
- I managed to write 25 blog posts, perhaps the best of which were excerpts from the book.
I started out with a "reach your goals" in January, continued with sharing the Ji Do Kwan Taegeuk 1-3 Hyeong, followed that up with a lot of Taekwondo history, then started a series on Kwan creeds which I have to pick up again because I feel that might be one of the most important works outside of the book and Patreon projects I will do in 2026. The ITF tenets (not tenants) of Taekwondo and the 5 laws of Taekwondo are very well known and documented, but you will have a very hard time finding anything good on the other styles/ schools of Taekwondo.
Patreon:
I have kept up with the blogging despite also giving attention to my Patreon, and getting a book out there. I must admit that I might have putten more of my energy over there than here in 2025.
I started taking the Patreon more seriously in 2025 and revamped it from a video tutorial training channel (which I quickly understood I did not have the means to provide with enough consistency due to logistical difficulties ) to a more hybrid video tutorial, research sharing, translations and more "Taekwondo nerd sustenance" :-) There is a good mix of public posts (open for all), free posts (you must be a member but you do not want to pay) and patron only posts (posts you will have to pay to read).
Note that I have only one tier; Taekwondo Nerd Tier which is as low as I can set it (3 USD a month). I hope that enough people find my work interesting enough that the expenses to my research can be covered. Books, prints/scans by library, computer licenses etc all cost, not to mention the time put into it :-)
In 2025 I made Patreon
Video tutorial:
- Taegeuk 1-3 Hyeong (Ji Do Kwan)
- Taegeuk 1-3 Hyeong (Oh Do Kwan/ Chung Do Kwan)
- Pyeongahn 1 (Oh Do Kwan with variations)
- Jinjeong Hyeong (Funakoshi´s Chinte Kata, a 4th Dan form in 1959)
- Chon-ji Hyeong from a Kukki Taekwondo perspective
- Tan-gun Hyeong from a Kukki Taekwondo perspective
- Hwang Kee´s list of forms anno 1958
- 5 Major Tenets of Training by Choi Hong Hi 1959 (pdf 14 pages)
- Hyeong names and lineages by Choi Hong Hi 1959 (pdf 50+ pages)
- Funakoshi-notes, transcribed from my handwritten notes
- ABC´s of Practical Poomsae Application (this one fell to the wayside)
- Lost Forms of Oh Do Kwan Taekwondo (contains almost all the introduction part of the book prior to the forms themselves).
- Finish and publish Volume 2 of Lost Forms of Oh Do Kwan Taekwondo
- Completing the Kwan Creed blog series
- Share some Pyeongahn related material (history of Pyeongahn and Anko Itosu)
- Video Tutorials for Pyeongahn 2-5 (Patreon)
- Video Tutorials for Do-San, Won-Hyo and Yul-guk (patreon)
- Booklet on the history chapter of the 1959 Taekwondo Textbook
- Booklet on "the name change" (Kong Su Do/ Tang Su Do to Taekwondo) from the 1959 Textbook (Patreon
- Booklet on the definition of Hyeong from the 1959 Textbook (Patreon).
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