Micro Post; Martial ART

The word "art" has two meanings in English (Thank you teacher Ron):

1: Noun which is the most common way to use the word expressing aestaetics works of art or
2: Verb to be skilled at something.

In the word Martial Art I believe the second usage is the true meaning, but sometimes you see something so good and so beautifull you stop breathing and are just in pure awe of what you see. The hairs at the back of your neck rises, your peripheral vision ceases to exist and all your imagination and focus is drawn into the thing you see.

I had that kind of moment when I watched the clip I share below. It was simply perfection, poetry in movement and never before has the two meanings of "art" been so closely related.

Facebook page launched

Traditional Taekwondo Ramblings is getting more and more popular. I thought when I started writing that I would Write in English so I could comunicate With anyone who was interested in what I wrote but primarely I wrote because it was/ is a great way to gather and organise my thoughts and increase my Learning experience. After blogging since 2011 I have gone from a few hits a day to 200 hits a day and this has slowly but surely increased day by day since I started. Launching a facebook page for the blog is a logical step to comunicate better With the Readers of the blog since it is a lot easier to ask questions that are not directly related to the posts they are Reading but which they want answers to nonetheless and it will be easier to share interesting content both from me and to me:-) I do not have all the answers (never said I did) but I do love questions as they force me to think. Indeed many posts on this blog is the direct result of a question asked from a student or fellow practisioner.

If you want to see the facebook page (not much content there at the moment but there will be soon) and give me a private Message or share some interesting visit http://www.facebook.com/traditionaltaekwondoramblings/ and if you like this blog give me a "like" in there;-)

Thanks to Samir for helping me setting it up and for designing the background picture (included in this post and now proudly displayed at the top of this blog as well)

Best regards from Ørjan.

Reccomended Reading Part 4

We have so far looked closely on Kukkiwon Textbook (2005), Choi Hong Hi`s Taekwondo Korean art of Self defense (1965) and Sihak Henry Cho`s Secrets of Korean Karate Tae Kwon Do (1968).
This time I would like to bring another early Taekwondo Master into the forefront before leaving "Taekwondo" for a while. The books so far on this list are all "Taekwondo books" but of course there are books not considered "Taekwondo" that I would also like to include in this list. Taekwondo is highly eclectic in its make up, being built on the foundation of several different Kwan (Schools) each having different roots. The books I want to reccommend in this post is actually written by the 2nd Kwanjang (headmaster) of one of those Schools; The Chung Do Kwan.

Micro Post; This months quote:

This month I would like to share a quote from the Taekwondo Study Group I belong to. A question was asked about "boxing punches" and techniques in Taekwondo which spurred a great discussion on bio mechanics etc. Simon O`Neill had a great comment on the bio mechanics of punching which I would like to share with this blogs readers.

On differences between bio-mechanics used in boxing vs Taekwondo punching:

"It is not so much where you chamber as much as

what part you mainly use to generate power from 

(shoulders or hips) and what you do with your feet meanwhile.

 

 

Often the differences between boxing punches and taekwondo punches is said to be boxing punches from the guard and Taekwondo from the hips but that is really a big simplification. The real difference is as Simon says in such a short quote much more to do with structure, and where you are generating power from. Obviously boxing also uses their hips, but they rely a lot more on shoulders for power generation than in taekwondo basic technique.

Micro Post; Upward Elbow Strike Application

Jeff Rosser is a name you are going to hear a lot more about on this blog in the future. Hopefully you will also hear more about it outside of this blog as well. He is currently in the procsess of publishing his book on elbow strikes and applications and if you have followed Totally Taekwondo Magazine and read his articles you will know that this book is not simply about basic elbow strikes but a very sophisticated use of elbows in striking, locks etc. He recently filmed a few applications during a workshop he held in Korea and shared them via the study group I belong to on Facebook. I found the videos so excellent that I thought I should share them here as well because practical applications of Taekwondo technique no matter if they are linked back to our forms or not is still practical application of technique. Elbows are especially often neglected or overlooked in our studies of Taekwondo so I hope you enjoy these videos as much as I did. If it Works you should be able to view a playlist With three videos at the time of writing, if not let me know and I will provide a link to the others seperatly:-)







In a few months I hope that I will get the chance to review his book and provide an interview with him so stay tuned:-)

Did the originators of KTA forms know their stuff or were they ignorant? (FACTS VS BELIEF!)

Taekwondo never made use
of the Pulling hand because they never
learned practical applications from Karate?
What is this I am seeing?
(Picture from a Tae Kwon Do book)

Ramble alert; You have been warned! (This is not a serious article but a long rant instead)

Lately I was accused of being a revisionist (someone who alter or warps history to his own needs/views) when it comes to Taekwondo and especially so in my view that perhaps the founders and the originators of KTA poomsae knew more than we give them credit for. My study of history is
something I have done to make sense of a system that sometimes simply does not makes sense in a purely kick block punch paradigm and history no matter how you look at it tells us flat out that Taekwondo was never meant to be only kick block punch when looking at its arsenal.

Reccomended Reading Part 3:

Taekwondo does not contain
elbow strikes??

This is the third installmant in this series. I am not sure how long I will keep this series going but at least 10 books worth for the time being:-) In the first post I reccomended Kukkiwon Textbook as that is my primary system (I would say the only system:p ) I study, the 2nd was Choi Hong Hi`s 1965
book for historical reasons along With a good showcasing of what made early Taekwondo so feared and respected as a Martial Art and not only a sport. This time I want to look at old school Taekwondo applied Ji Do Kwan style!