Learning by teaching

In many years now I have been teaching Taekwondo as well as studying it. I have found that one of the best ways to learn Taekwondo is by teaching it. And many of my most important "learnings" has come by teaching kids.

The Pillars of Taekwondo Training Part One; "Basic Techniques"

In an earlier post I mentioned "The pillars of Taekwondo training". I defined them as Basic techniques, Forms training, sparring, self defense and breaking.(The post I am reffering to can be read by clicking here:)This has long been the format of what is usually labeled "Traditional Taekwondo" and I thought that I should write a little more indepth about each "pillar" this time. In this the first part in this rant I will look closer on the first one (and many will undoubtfully say the most boring one:-p ) namely "Basic Techniques".

Get some function in your form!

The famous "Crane Technique".
"When done right no can defend"
(Quote from the film)

One thing that I seem to keep comming back to when writing this blog is Poomsae. I admitt that this part of my training is something that has fascinated me from the beginning and that I choose a TMA (Traditional Martial Art) because I wanted to learn fighting (I was confused as of what Self defense was) and Poomsae. It was mystical, mythical and excotic all at once and I wanted to be able to defend myself like "Daniel San" from Karate Kid:) I even wanted to learn the mythical "crane technique":-D Looking back it is all very funny but back then I took my studies very seriously. I can not recount how many times I have done my Poomsae over and over again.. I still do them everywhere I go, if I have nothing else to do or I am simply waiting for somthing (or someone) I can easily dish out a Taegeuk form or three:) One thing that fascinates me these days are that there are so many people out there who practise these forms every single day but who does not know or have any idea of what the movements mean. To all these people: "This post is dedicated to all of you:-D"

Muyedobotongji The oldest KMA manual part 2




 

This is part two of the article regarding Korean martial arts`s oldest manual. If you have not read part one yet I strongly suggest that you read that first before starting to read this part:) It can be read by clicking here

Enjoy:

There are a great deal of myths and misconceptions regarding this book and one of the most common is that the unarmed fighting section shows Taekwondo (or insert your KMA here) and is therefore evidence of Taekwondo (or insert your KMA here) being an ancient fighting art.

Muyedobotongji The oldest KMA manual.

Part one



Illustration on unarmed fighting from
the manual

Muyedobotongji (Muye Dobo Tongji) is a martial arts manual dating back to 1791 and is the Korean martial arts answer to Karate`s Bubishi. I wrote an article about the manual called "Debunking the Muye Dobo Tongji" and it was published in Totally Taekwondo Magazine issue 2. In the article I explain the history of the manual (its sources are much older than 1790s), the motivations of writing the manual, the sources of the manual, how it has affected modern KMA, what the manual contains and shedding some light on the myths and misconceptions sourrounding the manual. It is a long article so I have divided it in two parts.

Strategy and tactics. Whats the difference???

This is an article that I wrote a while back for Totally Taekwondo Magazine. I have included it here on my blog since I think that to have a clear understanding of what strategy and tactics really are can be helpfull for the Taekwondoin ("in" means people or person in Korean) This is especially true for teaching of Ho Shin Sul (Self defense). After reading this article try and ask yourself if you are an instructor: "Do I teach my martial arts strategy to my students or do I teach them a bunch of tactics?" And if you are a student: "Do I learn to master my martial arts strategy or do I learn a bunch of tactics??" A seperate post on what I think Taekwondo`s strategy is will be covered in the future:)