No Excuses

Not only do active children and adults benefit from martial arts training, the elderly and physically challenged can thrive as well. Martial arts is all about using your strengths against your opponent's weaknesses. Each martial artist will have their own style based on their strengths, and will adapt their technique depending on the weaknesses of their opponent. Martial artists include paraplegics, the blind, and 90 year old grandmothers. Allow no excuse to stop you from indulging in martial arts training. It offers increased confidence, better health, and mental harmony.

Quality not Quantity

There is a wide variety of tae kwon do and other martial arts schools to choose from. A common mistake martial artists make is to latch on to a school that does not suit their needs. Big schools offer large facilities and plenty of varied partners, but can often neglect the individual lost in a sea of students. Small schools offer individualized attention in a more intimate setting, but might not have all the fancy equipment. Each martial arts student must ask themself why they are studying the martial arts. If the answer is to be part of a large social setting with other martial artists, then a larger school is a better choice. If the answer is to hone your martial arts skills, then you would benefit from the personal attention of a small school. The bottom line is that it come down to quality instruction. Good instructors train quality students. You are not getting quality instruction if you are left alone with someone without a black belt to supervise you. Only black belts are qualified to teach. If a school tells you otherwise, go somewhere else.

Martial Arts Wandering

The study of martial arts should ideally be done under the tutelage of a single qualified master. However, in today's modern society people move, schools close, and students get bored.
A lifelong student of martial arts may need to transition to several different martial arts programs in their lifetime. This can be incredibly difficult if you study a somewhat obscure martial art like hapkido. There are very few hapkido schools, so finding one when you move is a challenge. This is why tae kwon do is a good martial art to study if you plan to move a lot. No martial art is more pervasive in America today. The two largest factions of tae kwon do are the World Taekwondo Federation and the International Taekwon-do Federation. Their systems are somewhat standardized. If you study WTF or ITF tae kwon do, you should be able to find another school teaching pretty much the same way in another city. Your rank will also transfer to the new school. This allows you to continue your studies unabated.

What's in a Name?

I am often asked the differences between tae kwon do, taekwondo, taekwon-do, tang soo do, moo duk kwon, jhoon rhee, etc. They are all descended from Korean martial arts masters developing their own styles following World War II. These masters were influenced by Japanese karate, but decided to take their arts in their own direction. This evolution continued as tae kwon do spread to American and around the world. You might find several martial arts schools in your neighborhood teaching a variety of these styles. They are all essentially teaching the same thing. They may have different forms, techniques, and belt systems, but at the end of the day it is all about punching and kicking. This tae kwon do topic page strives to encompass ideas from all these styles and freely exchange ideas without judgement. It also strives to reach out to cousin martial arts such as karate, hapkido, and MMA. Tae kwon do sits somewhere between karate and hapkido/MMA on the martial arts evolutionary scale. Whatever you decide to study, make sure that it suits your interests. Also remember that you can study more than one style. Perhaps someday you will start your own martial art.

Karate Is Back

When Lyoto Machida won the UFC Light Heavyweight championship two weeks ago, he declared that "karate is back." Machida's martial arts training started at the age of 3 with instruction from his father, a shotokan master. Machita later branched out to sumo, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and eventually mixed martial arts. He rose to the top of the UFC using a combination of his skills, but his technique remains dominated by the karate style he learned as a child. Tae kwon do and karate are closely related martial arts. You can see elements of these styles as you watch Machida fight. He is elusive. Machida never stands directly in front of an opponent, so rarely gets hit. He moves laterally with ease and strikes unexpectedly with remarkable precision. This karate style has frustrated opponents used to pounding opponents into submission. The UFC has long been dominated by submission specialists and heavy handed ground and pounders. Karate and TKD have long been written off as impractical for mixed martial arts. Machina is rewriting the qualifications for a mixed martial arts champion.

Tae Kwon Do Evolving

An 18-year-old second dan named Dakota Srigley just won the ITF tae kwon do Canadian nationals. When asked about his aspirations, Srigley stated that he plans a career in mixed martial arts.
This on top of his next project, appearing in an upcoming movie starring Pierce Brosnan and Uma Thurman. This points out an interesting trend in martial arts. Students are seeing tae kwon do as a springboard to other things. Any actor who wants to be an action star needs to know how to fight. Many actors study tae kwon do strictly for career development. Mixed martial arts is all the rage these days. Kids watch MMA fights on TV then head to the Dojang to try them out. Many move on to other martial arts when they realize that tae kwon do wont help them with their ground game. If this trend continues, it wont take long for the tae kwon do schools to adapt. We will see more hybrid programs and fewer pure tae kwon do schools. Could this be what TKD is evolving into?

The Evolution of Mixed Martial Arts

It was inevitable. Mixed martial arts is evolving beyond its original design. MMA is itself a hybrid. The grand plan was to take the best from all martial arts and pit them against each other in a winner take all free for all. It was a brilliant idea that spread across the world beyond every ones expectations. What eventually happened is MMA developed its own identity. It was no longer specialists in different areas competing against each other. The modern MMA competitor must have a well rounded game. They must be good standing up, on the ground and in between. MMA fighters quickly figured out what worked and what didn't. They all developed fast hands, safe low kicks and devastating tap out maneuvers. The fighters all started looking the same. Mixed martial arts became a unique martial art in itself. Schools devoted specifically to MMA are popping up all over the world. This is a mixed blessing for the sport. The fighters are certainly better trained and more professional. The elite competitors are world class athletes. However, all out free for all slug fests are increasingly rare. MMA was founded on the promise of action. The fans still demand it. Professional MMA fighters, worried about their records, are now playing it safe. They are reluctant to throw spectacular yet risky techniques. Instead they walk around their opponent waiting for them to make a mistake. It is common to hear fans booing when cautious fighters dance around each other for three rounds or try to "kill the clock" when they are ahead. Hopefully this is small setback for the sport of MMA. Rule changes are needed to reinvigorate the sport. Penalties for stalling should be severe and fighters should be docked points if they ignore warnings. Perhaps fighters should be put down on the mat when there is a stand up stalemate. This makes sense since they are stood up when there is a stalemate on the mat. In summary, MMA needs to evolve to survive in the same way it evolved into life.
*** Kent Ninomiya ***