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.