2016 in retrospect and where do we go from here?

Its been a busy few days in the new year, and suddenly we are way past the halfway mark of January.

Each year in January I sit down, look through the stats and look back at what I`ve done the last 12 months on my blog. The whole year has been a very busy one, much more so than earlier, so I have to admit that the blog has not been the priority in 2016, nor will it be a priority in 2017. That does not mean that I am stopping or that I do not have more to share, but I will probably not be able to provide 1 post pr week as I have done in the past. While 2016 has been the year with the smallest number of posts, it has also been a year with some of the more deeper articles I have published. Both the philosophical article where I look at ethics and student creeds, and the one on the relationship between sparring and forms have been some of the most well cited articles that I have posted (the finished Totally TKD Magazine articles based on these posts are even better). Likewise I have posted some video on training, and shared a lot of historical posts and applications. I will still try to provide some content every month and some months I may even be able to provide a post pr week, but I cant see myself having the time to produce 50+ posts in the foreseeable future. I do however have A LOT more to share and write, and I have several posts ready on applications from poomsae just missing the pictures, as well as a chronological jurney proving once and for all that Taekwondo has always had grappling techniques within it and everyone who disputes that will have to prove the opposite, for I have proof stating otherwise (and I am sharing it openly). That was a boring and lengthy introduction, so lets jump to the fun part :-) Looking through 2016 and tell you a little about my plans for 2017:

New traffic record in a month in 2016!

This has become almost a "tradition" on this blog, but if I keep wrinting more material I guess I will have more hits than if I would not provide more material :-) In  December 2016 we had a record high 19 982 visitors! That is just insane! The old record was from December 2015 with 7 000 visitors. Perhaps people are reading more blogs around Christmas time? The blog started as a way to organize my own thoughts, and if people were interested in my thoughts they could benifit as well. I never in my wildest imaginations expected that so many people would visit my blog in my entire lifetime, and especially in a single month! Having so many readers is both humbling and inspiring, so I will try to keep providing more of everything in 2017, but as I said in the introduction perhaps not as often as I would like.

Most read posts in 2016 (from most read to lesser):

Taekwondo Philosophy and Ethics
The importance of chambering
Dangkinun son - The pulling hand
Revamping mainstream Taekwondo to self defense
7 training precepts of Funakoshi



The posts that garnered the most comments in 2016:




Why Taekwondo history Research matter
Sword + Taekwondo = True?
Hwang Kee`s 10 precepts + important points on physical and mental training
Revamping mainstream Taekwondo to self defense
The importance of chambering

My favorite posts in 2016 (in no particular order):

Taekwondo Philosophy and Ethics
Hwang Kee`s 10 precepts + important points on physical and mental training
The relationship between sparring and forms, a Taekwondo perspective
Why Taekwondo history Research matter
The interconnectedness of Poomsae

Facebook page of the blog:

Samir (one of the blogs supporters and the semiofficial "advisor" ( ;-) ) talked me into making a facebook fan page for the blog. It would help the blog grow, and it will let you reach more people he said. He was the one who made that square at the top right on my blog so the blog page and facebook page interact (thank you again for your help Samir). In a few years and without using a dime we now have breached the 1 000 likes milestone :-D While the blog itself might not have gotten updated with new material each and every week the facebook page is very easy to just post a Picture and a quick comment. In the last few months I have posted a lot of pictures conserning the grappling inherent in Taekwondo since its earliest days, and I will continue focusing on that for some time. I also can share some quick links to interesting articles and other blogs on there, so if you are on facebook do not hessitate to visit (and if you want I am happy for every "like" I get).  The facebook page can be found on www.facebook.com/traditionaltaekwondoramblings .

So what is in store for 2017?

I will try to provide one article for Totally Taekwondo Magazine every month. I have written about 60 articles over the years for the Magazine, and I am not about to stop doing that in the foreseeable future. The rough draft is usually from a blog post, or if it is not it will be published here, but a few months later than in the Magazine.


I also plan to share a great number of applications this year, and perhaps (PERHAPS) share some video of those also. I allready have a lot of posts written on this subject, but I am missing illustrations. Taegeuk Chil Jang will be among them as I have 2 or 3 posts finished allready on that form, but missing photographs. I might also share some applications from black belt Poomsae as well. As far as I am aware I am the only blogger who shares applications rutinely (for free at least), but there is so little "faith" in Poomsae that I think I should do my part to raise awareness on this.




A long time ago in a galaxy far far away I started writing about all the different Kwan founders. I have yet to finish that series, and I have allready a half post on Yoon Byung In. I hope that I can provide with more historical posts in 2017. I allready have a chronological jurney of grappling in Taekwondo from the root arts to today where half of it is finished. Those who follow me on facebook will have seen many of the pictures already (1958-1966).


I am a huge fan of Iain Abernethy`s podcasts and my favorites are the readers quesitons. I am contemplating doing one or several "ask me anything posts" if there is any interest in such things:-)


Eventhough I might not post every week, I am sure you will not be dissapointed in 2017 if you remember to visit the blog.

What do YOU want to see in 2017?

Do not hessitate to ask questions, or to give feedback if there is anything you want to see me write about. I am easily contacted by the blogs facebook page www.facebook.com/traditionaltaekwondoramblings or you can simply drop a comment on any post and I`ll answer as soon as I can. Messages from facebook comes straight to my phone so they will get answer quicker, but I do rutinely look through blogger.com`s page to see if there are any new (and unanswered) comments. I might be busy, but I do not want to be the guy you ask a question and then never get back to you :-)

I hope to provide much more video content to this blog in the future. I have therefore set up a GoFundMe page on www.gofundme.com/traditionaltaekwondoramblings which I hope I can crowdfund a video editing software so I can make good quality videos for the blogs readers. If you want to contribute please visit the link to my GoFundMe page. Every donation helps :-)