Sharing some Quotes, Notes and other stuff Part 4

I am very happy to have learned that people actually enjoy this series so here is the last one (I think) this time around as I am running out of journal :-P When I change books again (earliest at new year) I will see if I will revive this series and share some more. I also have some older notebooks which I can also share stuff from if people are interested. Because these are notes taken from my journal these posts might look a little chaotic but that is the nature of my notes. I have an index and I am also using a method called "threading" which is a brilliant method to use when taking notes all over the place so to me this is all logical and helpful but since I am sharing bits and pieces here as they show up in the journal it might look a lot more disjointed than it really is:-P So for those of you jumping in here in part 4 I will share that I am using the Bullet Journal System as Ryder Carroll presents it. It is a clean no nonsense system, but if you google it today you will probably be swarmed with elaborate pieces of art. The original system is great, but these elaborate pieces of arts I am sure is great for those with the time and artistic sense to make them but dont look to them if you want to start journaling. In my mind they're kinda missing the point :-P Think on Taekwondo and how if you google it you will find K-pop and circus demonstrations all over the place, while the practical application of the art for self defense is something entirely different :-P  As always the things written in cursive is diretly from the journal while regular writing is me adding context or thoughts to the quotes.

Sharing some Quotes, Notes and other stuff Part 3

I have always been a fan of journaling, and I have tried keeping training journals and I have several notebooks in regards to my Martial Arts study. Back around November 2018 I started with Ryder Carroll's Bullet Journal Method which has suited me incredibly well. Now we are in September 2019 and I have written through a whole book over 200 pages and well into my second one. Ryder Carroll's original system is great and minimalistic but it can easily be adapted to any persons needs, and so for me it is my training journal, my notebook for self study (Martial Arts, Philosophy, Norse Mythology etc), my work planner, my free time planner etc wrapped into one neat book. I have become a much more productive person after starting this and if you are strugling keeping up with things I recommend looking into it. Once I moved out of my old book and into my new book I reflect by going back and looking through the last year of notes. I noticed that a lot of my Martial Arts notes might be of interest to readers of this blog, so I am sharing my martial arts related material here. Everything written in cursive is quotes directly from the book, while stuff written in plain old text is me giving some context or comment on what you are seeing. These are my notes, so things making sense to me might not make sense to you without a little embellishing :-) So without further adu we will jump straight into March 2019:

Sharing some Quotes, Notes and other stuff Part 2

In part one we saw a lot of quotes on various topics of martial arts, and notes on a theory lecture of self defense. The presentation of this stuff might be a little disjointed but I am sure everyone who enjoy this blog can find something in these posts :-) As I explained the background of this series in Part 1 you can go there to read the intro there, in this Part 2 I will simply continue on where I left off. For those who do not bother reading the intro in Part 1 (I know you are out there :-P ) the things written here in cursive writing is taken from my notes while everything written in regular writing is my comments to provide a little context etc on it :-) So without further adu lets go straight into it:

Sharing Some Notes, Quotes and other stuff Part 1

Image Source

I haven't been the best at posting lately, but I am trying to get back at it :-) Yesteday I moved from my old journal to a new one, and flipping through the book so far (November 2018- August 2019) I saw that there were a few quotes, notes, ideas, etc that readers of this blog might enjoy :-) The way I journal is based on Ryder Carrolls "The Bullet Journal-method". If you had to google that you probably found the artsy beautiful works of art, that is not the original bullet point method, it is a stripped down bare way to organise everything into one book. If you are interested in how that works check out Ryder Carrols work, do not get fuzzed on beauty, I have no decorations, colours or anything in mine. It is pure function ;-) With that out of the way let us start this sharing of everything martial art related (semi or otherwise).

Thoughts on sparring

(Ramble alert:) I have been thinking more and more on sparring and its role in taekwondo. In most
modern taekwondo dojang (taekwondojang) sparring is in reality based on competition rules. If you do more kicks than punches, if you do no grabbing, no sweeps, no low kicks etc when sparring then that is the case in your dojang wether you admit it or not. There's nothing inherent wrong in this, as long as we can freely admit it, the trouble comes when people start to equate what is essentually sport sparring with real life violence.

The ABC's Of Practical Poomsae Applications, Part 9: Explaining "Chambers"; Deung Joomeok Ap and Bakkat Chigi

Last time I said I would share how to explain "chambers" to students in a combative way, and in this
post we will be looking at that. In our previous posts I have given practical applications to a multitude of basic techniques, and if you have not already read these posts I would recommend that you read them in the order they came out. Below is direct links to the other posts in this series as well as a short comment on what technique we looked closer on.

Part 1 which you can find here, which focuses on Arae Makki, Part 2 which you can find here which focuses on Momtong An Makki, Part 3 which you can find here focusing on Eulgeul Makki, and Part 4 which you can find here that focuses on the spear hand strike, Part 5, which focuses on the knife hand guarding block and Part 6 focusing on the inward knife hand strike, Part 7 that lookesd at the outward block can be found here. Part 8 which you can find here, it focuses on the Oe Santeul Makki (one high and low block at same time from Taegeuk Pal Jang) Since I have already given applications to those techniques, I thought I should explain chambers for a couple of techniques that we have not looked at yet. This time we are looking at the chamber for Deung Jomeok Ap Chigi (back fist strike to the front) and Deung Jomeok Bakkat Chigi (Back first outward strike). The reason why I share these two is that if you explain these two chambers it "unlocks" a whole host of techniques using the same chamber but using a different striking surface. The outward knife hand strike that you will see in Horse Stance in Hansu Poomsae looks very different from the Outward Back Fist Strike in Taegeuk Chil Jang. The usage of stances is different so they are variations on a common theme, but the chamber for both technique is identical and esures more than a little overlap in my own opinion. This is one example of how teaching someone one application can open up doors to other applications in other Poomsae if the underlying principles are understood.

The ABC's Of Practical Poomsae Applications, Part 8: Oe Santeul Makki (High outward block and low block at same time)

Hi there :-) In my last post I wrote for a great length of time so I am going to contrast that with a short and (hopefully) sweet post today. In this post I am going to look at the most iconic technique of Taegeuk Pal (8) Jang; Oe Santeul Makki. The technique, template, gibon dongjak itself consists of two arm movements that are both doing the primary movement in arae makki (low block) and eulgul an palmok bakkat makki (high section outward block with the thumb side of the arm). This is one of those classical techniques that are put forward to ridicule traditional martial arts because of its seemingly unrealistic use. You see from the 1930s until recently (well even today) if you look up an application for this move in any textbook you are most likely going to see something along the lines of two persons attacking one person, one in front and the other from the back. Before we begin this post proper though I will link to the other posts so that if you are jumping in on this series you might want to read them in the order they came out.

Part 1 which you can find here, which focuses on Arae Makki, Part 2 which you can find here which focuses on Momtong An Makki, Part 3 which you can find here focusing on Eulgeul Makki, and Part 4 which you can find here that focuses on the spear hand strike, Part 5, which focuses on the knife hand guarding block and Part 6 focusing on the inward knife hand strike, Part 7 that lookesd at the outward block can be found here.

Video talk on Taekwondo History (18 min)

A Brief Taekwondo History

I’ve been very quiet on YouTube in 2019, but now I just published a talk on Taekwondo History. I kept it as brief as I could but I ended up with 18 minutes all the same. I talk about the fact that Taekwondo is fairly modern, the founding of the different Kwan and where they came from, the founding of the organisations in Korea, and end with the founding of ITF and WT(F). 

I hope you enjoy, and any Like, share or subscribe is greatly appreciated 👍🏻

ABC’s of practical poomsae applications clip (Mini-Bonus post)

It’s been very quiet on YouTube from me in 2019. That is hopefully about to change. I’ve been writing an outline for a series on Taekwondo history and I’m also thinking of making a series that mirrors the blogs ABC’s of Poomsae applications, focusing on the same material but in a video format. In the meantime here is a whopping 22 seconds of applications that demonstrates quite a few of our latest blogposts.

The ABC's Of Practical Poomsae Applications, Part 7: Bakkat Makki (Outward Block)

We are back again with Part 7 of the ABC's of Practical Poomsae Applications, this time we are going to take a long good look at the Bakkat Makki or Outward defensive technique. We are looking at the knife hand version and the closed fist version under one as the movement is the same throughout the technique. The difference is superficial as the template is the same. Before you jump in you might want to check out my thoughts on the translation on the word "makki" as I think "block" is a very limited translation of the Korean term, and especially if you look at the root word "Makda". You can click here to read an indepth article on that here, or you can get the extremly brief version that I think Makki is anything you do to stop or prevent an attack, including but not limiting to block, parry, push, lock, limb control etc.

Another thing you might want to do is to read through this series in the order it came out.  Part 1 which you can find here, which focuses on Arae Makki, Part 2 which you can find here which focuses on Momtong An Makki, Part 3 which you can find here focusing on Eulgeul Makki, and Part 4 which you can find here that focuses on the spear hand strike, Part 5, which focuses on the knife hand guarding block and Part 6 focusing on the inward knife hand strike. With that out of the way let us jump into the outward defensive technique :-)

The ABC's Of Practical Poomsae Applications, Part 6: Han Sonnal An Mok Chigi (Inward knife hand strike)

Hi there :-) I am continuing with the ABC's of Practical Poomsae Applications, this time focusing on the Han Sonnal An (Mok) Chigi or Inward Knife hand strike (to the neck). We first encounter this technique in Taegeuk Sam (3) Jang and it is the second technique that we encounter in Poomsae that is illegal in modern Olympic sparring (the first technique being the face punch in Taegeuk i (2) Jang). Some make the case that the "new" Poomsae were made strictly to drill techniques that were used in sparring, and the inward knife hand strike might indeed have been used in "dojang sparring" which did not necesarily follow the competition rules, but knife hand strikes to the neck has been "illegal" in sport competitions as far back as I can find documentation on sparring rules (the early 60s and quite possibly even earlier than that too but I lack documentation). If you are joining us "mid-series", I would advice you to read the whole thing in order if you want to learn more than this single applicaiton, the goal of this series being to provide students with a starting point in finding their own poomsae applications, by looking at individual techniques.

Here are links to the different posts: Part 1 which you can find here, which focuses on Arae Makki, Part 2 which you can find here which focuses on Momtong An Makki, Part 3 which you can find here focusing on Eulgeul Makki, and Part 4 which you can find here that focuses on the spear hand strike, Part 5, which focuses on the knife hand guarding block.

The ABC's Of Practical Poomsae Applications, Part 5: Knife hand guarding block

This has proven to be a fairly popular series judging on the traffic it garners and I am very happy about that. If you are reading through this series and you are enjoying it or finding it interesting please remember that sharing is caring ;-) If you are new to this series it would perhaps be helpful to read through the series in order if for nothing else you will get through a logical series that build upon each other in turn.  Part 1 which you can find here, which focuses on Arae Makki, Part 2 which you can find here which focuses on Momtong An Makki, Part 3 which you can find here focusing on Eulgeul Makki, and Part 4 which you can find here that focuses on the spear hand strike. With that out of the way let us turn to this weeks focus which is on the Sonnal Geudeuro Makki or knife hand guarding block.

The ABC's Of Practical Poomsae Applications, Part 4 Spear-hand thrust

We have covered multiple techniques, and talked a little about principles so far in this series. This Part 1 which you can find here, which focuses on Arae Makki, Part 2 which you can find here which focuses on Momtong An Makki, Part 3 which you can find here focusing on Eulgeul Makki in order. The reason for this is that you will learn more than "just" the applications themselves, you might be able to see the underlying principles at work. This series is written so that students relativly new to practical applications in Taekwondo can get an introduction that is technique-based rather than forms-based since we are most often learning Taekwondo as a technique-based system. We have forms, but we most often learn the individual techniques and applactions. Often the usual applications taught fails to explain the complete movement, and that is also one thing that this series is trying to give the readers; an explanation for each techniques complete movement. In this Part 4 we will be looking very narrowly at movement #2 in Taegeuk Sa (4) Jang, the spear hand thrust. That movement is unusual in the sense that you have one hand under the elbow while doing the spear hand thrust.
time we will look at a variation that builds upon the previous "lesson". If you have not done so allready I urge you to read through

The ABC's Of Practical Poomsae Applications, Part 3 Eulgeul Makki

In Part 1 we looked at how Arae Makki (often called Low Block) can be used as a wrist grab release

technique, and as a straight armbar. In Part 2 we looked at Momtong An Makki (often called inward middle section block) as a hyper extension of the elbow joint technique. In this part we will be focusing on another common basic technique or gibon donjak; Eulgeul Makki or high section defensive technique and how to use it in a situation where the opponent is grabbing our lapel and against another kind of wrist grab.

The ABC's Of Practical Poomsae Applications, Part 2 Momtong An Makki

In Part 1 which focused on Arae Makki (Low defensive technique) which you can click here to read we looked at a few principles and two applications for Arae Makki sometimes called Naryo Makki these days, and usually translated as Low Block. The applications we looked at was using the Arae Makki movement for a wrist grab release technique, and as a straight armbar. In this part we will be looking at Momtong An Makki or middle section inward moving defensive technique.

The ABC's Of Practical Poomsae Applications, Part 1 Arae Makki

When first diving into practical poomsae applications it is easy to get lost deep in the different rabbit holes out there. Modern Taekwondo is often taught as a technique based system in stead of a forms based system, and so we are used to looking at the application of a single technique at a time. What happens when the application you are taught fails to explain the whole movement or worse yet, it is un-useable in real combat, sports or otherwise? What this series will hopefully do is to give a few applications or just one application to each of the common basic techniques (gibon dongjak) that you encounter in Poomsae, which will again hopefully make the transition from a technique based to a forms based system easier to digest for taekwondo students. The applications will focus on the movement of the technique, and allthough they are lifted from different Poomsae, you will note that they are presented pretty open ended in this series. This mimics how we learn a basic technique like for instance a low block, learn that it "blocks" a front kick to your stomach for instance and then go on to learn a different technique and application. Or continuing on from the previous example, learn to follow up with your own attack using different techniques you might have learned. In this first part we will indeed be looking at the low block or arae makki, and we will look at two different applications for it. Readers that have followed me for some time will recognize these applications from Taegeuk Il (1) Jang, and if you want to see these applications within a more dynamic context, feel free to click here. If you just want a few options/ or quick applications continue reading on :-)

2018 in retrospect and where do we go from here?

Every January I write a post looking back at the year that was, and sharing a few thoughts on the year
that is yet to come. 2018 was a hard year for me, perhaps not taekwondo wise, but it did affect both my studies, training and blogging (and blog related activities). I was going to take the 3rd dan test in the end of January, but a training misshap involving a low kick put me out of training for almost a month so I will have to try again next year (in theory I can try out this summer but I know already that it will not be feasible due to other engagements at that time). I did pass my theory test required for 3rd dan, so the only thing that is left is the physical test that has to be done and passed within 3 months before grading and the actual test itself.