Mikey: Seventh Month of Tae Kwon Do

This month is been a busy month for our Tae Kwon Do studies, with the black belt gradings closing in we have been running through everything that they need to know: Patterns, Theory, Step-sparing, and cardio. The black belt gradings start with a spirit test where they have to run and do exercises for a set distance which is going to be hard on many of them as cardio isn’t a focus in our lessons. It is also coming close to my grades, where I will be grading for my green-stripe belt which is pretty exciting. In this blog, We will talk about what we have been doing and go over what I am personally implementing to ensure that I can be the best that I can be at Tae Kwon Do.

Week One:

In week one our sabom(teacher) was teaching us how to properly cross our hands when transitioning from punches/blocks to other types of blocks. This was tricky at first but after sir let us do it in our own time I had worked out a little study circuit to drum it into my head as to what crosses to do for what blocks. The next part of this week was mainly focused on the little things such as sign-wave and implementing the crosses and sign-wave into our movements when changing stances. This was mainly for the younger kids in our classes but it doesn’t hurt to reinforce the basics.

“Even if you think you’ve mastered the basics, keep practicing them. Mastering the basics is the foundation for everything.” Ayanokouji Kiyotaka – Classroom of The Elite

Week Two:

We spent some time understanding the fundamentals of sidekicks and turning kicks and created a drill that tested how well we could do them and also tested my flexibility. We were then asked to watch the other people in our group of 3 offer points of improvement and adjust their techniques where necessary. We then also tested our balance and practised kicks while staying on one leg. I went a bit further with this one and stayed on my tip-toes to build my calf muscles and endurance. this was all to improve my chances of being able to move during sparring for longer and faster than anyone else.

Week Three:

This week was spent learning the 2 new three-step sparing routines while reinforcing my knowledge of the 1st and 2nd three steps. We did this over and over again until I was happy with the steps and could repeat it by myself and I could nail the basics in my own spare time.

Week Four:

This week was spent putting everything together into one sequence, from our patterns to our 3-step sparing. This was all put together and we practised in front of others with them giving us pointers on the little things that we missed. In the upcoming month, we are getting ready for grading and trying to get prepared and ready for our grading and the next step up the Tae Kwon Do ladder. Thanks for reading this and I’ll catch you next time.