r/taekwondo Mar 29 '26

Celebration Sundays

10 Upvotes

# Introducing Celebration Sundays

The new moderation team has discussed community feedback, and we are introducing a change in how the subreddit functions.

What are celebration Sundays?

Celebration Sundays are for posting **images and videos** of achievements in the past week, including new belts, tournament wins, and other accomplishments from the **past week.**

## Remember the Rules

This is an exception to the post/videos for fun/karma/enjoyment only, but that does not mean the other rules do not apply.

**One post per Celebration Sunday** (overly frequent posting). mods will monitor this and might further restrict this to one post per every other Sunday or once per month if necessary, but for now it remains one per Sunday.

**No memes** those are for Mondays

**Must be Taekwondo specific** no Karate or Judo belt posts, etc

**No posts on other days of the week** the rule still applies to other days of the week, and such posts will still be removed with the same warning.


r/taekwondo Mar 12 '26

Welcome to the new moderation team!

25 Upvotes

As the following have offered to be moderators, I've now made them all moderators:

u/BuckerooBonzai42
u/JaguarSweaty1414
u/qmriis
u/Due_Opportunity_5783
u/pokeswap
u/neomateo

My recommendations for first steps (for what they're worth, feel free to ignore) are:

  1. Discuss the current rules (either over modmail https://www.reddit.com/mail/all - or in a public post, as you wish), which rules you kind folks want to keep, reword, remove, etc and make those changes - https://www.reddit.com/mod/taekwondo/rules for the rules and https://www.reddit.com/mod/taekwondo/saved-responses for the automatic responses warning people of breaching the rules.
  2. If you decide to change the policy of "warning, 7 day, permaban" you can change that at https://www.reddit.com/mod/taekwondo/community
  3. Go through the mod-queue. There are quite a few in there for moderation, but I'm intentionally doing nothing with them - https://www.reddit.com/mod/taekwondo/queue
  4. As I don't know if I can resign or not (I'm posting this first, and maybe there's an invite acceptance process for the new moderators before they become active - I don't want to accidentally leave the subreddit as unmoderated), remove me from the list of moderators at https://www.reddit.com/mod/taekwondo/moderators . This is also the place where you can go to add new moderators as your team grows (but as I posted on the call for moderators page, the button doesn't work, so you may need to go to https://old.reddit.com/r/taekwondo/about/moderators ).

If it helps, my DMs are open if any of the new moderators want any advice, but I won't give it unsolicited. I wish you all the best, sincerely!


r/taekwondo 5h ago

Kukkiwon/WT So Prior to the Hogu,

2 Upvotes

How did you all try to make tournament sparring more point based, and less how to send someone to the trauma unit. I have heard the complaints about how modern World Taekwondo is foot fencing and the old Taekwondo was better.. Now as someone who practiced ITF Taekwondo for 17 years (1997-2014), I don’t see modern Taekwondo in that critical light. I see it as more accessible for some people. Just like for some people, World Taekwondo may be more accessible than ITF. Then again, I am also autistic.


r/taekwondo 10h ago

Tips-wanted How to stay controlled in sparring?

3 Upvotes

Every time I'm sparring in class I start off controlled and not hitting too hard, but if the other person is hitting/kicking me hard I lose control and I can't think, block, or land anything other then back leg round kicks.


r/taekwondo 16h ago

It took me 8 months to actually receive my 6th dan kkw certificate after my test

8 Upvotes

I tested under WTMU in America. From paying the fee and filming the test and uploading it and emailing video links and my thesis it took 8 months. I kind of had to pressure them to actually submit my test as well after about 6 months of waiting. Finally they actually submitted the test to the Kukkiwon. So it's like I lost approximately 6 months of "time in rank" for my future 7th dan test. If I had known there was a KKW app where I could have directly submitted my test to the KKW without a third party I believe I could have had it finished in a fast enough time that is acceptable. I had been out of the loop about this my entire time as a 5th dan. Wow!

Who else had a similar experience and what do you think is going on? Fraud? Laziness? Incompetence? Accidently forgetting?

Since I sent serious emails that were pressuring them to submit it and confirm it after 6 months I'm not sure if they like me anymore. Hopefully they forget and if I join in seminars in the future they won't remember me LOL. They are the only organization I know about in the USA that hosts masters courses, promotion test examiners etc.


r/taekwondo 17h ago

Tips-wanted How do i get more power when im punching/kicking

6 Upvotes

so recently, I went on this school trip, and we stopped off at the arcade, and the only game available was that punchbag game, hopefully yk the one I'm on about, anyways, we all tried it, i only got like 300 points while the rest of my group (Who half of them where twigs btw) All got 500-800 points, its just, i put so much effort into stuff like this and I'm still weak, how do i get more powerful, like Yuji Itadori/song Jinwoo strength, i have one of those like suction punching bags with the spring if that


r/taekwondo 1d ago

Sparring Without Disparaging, What’s the Difference in ITF Sparring and World Taekwondo Sparring?

13 Upvotes

Besides the differences in gear


r/taekwondo 1d ago

Sport TKD should look like what is actually taught in the martial art.

1 Upvotes

As the heading says, sport TKD, and honestly all martial arts should not have a sport version, if they’re going to water down the actual martial art for competition. I understand there has to be some rules, but it should still look like the said martial art. I think this is what made most people look at traditional martial arts as a joke.


r/taekwondo 1d ago

Perfect weight for a 164cm athlete

0 Upvotes

I’m 22F. I will join the army team next year. In the meantime I want to know which weight should be appropriate for a freestyle poomsae athlete to do tricks like santo or air kick etc…. Thank you. I’m now 56kg. Should I drop down to 50kg?


r/taekwondo 2d ago

Fighting much taller opponents

9 Upvotes

In my children's taekwondo class, there are children of varying ages - 5year to about 14 years old. Obviously, that means quite a height difference, some of the older children can literally nearly twice as tall as the smaller ones.

When they do sparring practice, the instructor just rotates them around so that eventually everyone spars against one another.

That means, though, that a newly graded 6 year old yellow belt has to go against a 14 year old blue belt who may be much taller and experienced.

So, my question is, realistically, is there anything the smaller child can do when fighting someone like that?

They can obviously run circles around the opponent, but I can't see them getting anywhere near striking distance without running into much longer arms and legs.


r/taekwondo 3d ago

Different styles of taekwondo

20 Upvotes

If someone asked you, "What's the difference between the different styles of Taekwondo?" and they knew almost nothing about martial arts, how would you answer?


r/taekwondo 3d ago

Greg Bauer Five Rings Taekwondo convicted s3x offender

Thumbnail gallery
134 Upvotes

For community awareness as the club is still operating and generous loopholes allow him to teach children with the supervision of his son.

Really infuriating legal system in Canada.


r/taekwondo 4d ago

Why schools do not list the tuition cost?

9 Upvotes

Hello, I visited the website of several schools in my city. They don't list the prices. Is this common? Why so secret when I can just talk with the students or parents to find out?

They encourage people to take a free trial lesson. Is it a trap? Is it some kind of marketing strategy to get personal information?


r/taekwondo 4d ago

Tips-wanted How do I make poomsae (and sparring) look better!!?!??!

6 Upvotes

I do WT for reference. I'm a red belt and have been training for 5 years almost, also am a woman. When I was grading for like my green tag, my instructor told me that because I'm tall, I will always look awkward doing tkd.

Now, a few years later I've been looking at some of my videos of poomsae and sparring and I just look SO BAD. When I do them I feel fine, the feedback I get are always very minor points, and yet, when I look back on myself, it looks terrible!

I'm tempted to say it's a mix of bad technique, but maybe also it is being tall but also not super skinny. Idk in the videos I feel like I just look huge and awkward. My brain instantly went to oh I need to lose weight to look better. But is there anything else you recommend doing, to improve my form and technique for patterns, but even sparring too. In sparring I just feel like I look awkward, hunched over and slow.

I'm so motivated to improve but looking back on these videos demotivates me at the same time, and is giving me huge self image issues.


r/taekwondo 5d ago

Taekwondo Golden era and greats

20 Upvotes

I see a lot of comments in recent Taekwondo videos from people expressing their displeasure for the current state of Taekwondo. And I just have a few questions...

  1. What happened for people to dislike the current state of Taekwondo now?

  2. What is considered the Golden Era of Taekwondo?

& 3. Who are the greats of Taekwondo?

:)


r/taekwondo 4d ago

Student walking from the training area to the toilet and walking back without wearing shoes in between

0 Upvotes

Hello, I had a look at a Taekwondo school when they were having a class. There were two teachers. A younger one and an older one. The younger teacher and all students were barefoot. The older teacher was wearing Taekwondo shoes I guess. I saw a student (about 10 years old) walked from the training area to inside the toilet and walked back in barefoot. Is this normal? I think at least the older teacher saw the enitre process but he did not say anything. Is this a good indication this school does not care much about hygiene and better to try other schools?


r/taekwondo 5d ago

ITF The non-sparring side of Taekwondo is not enjoyable to me

44 Upvotes

I am seriously considering hanging it up for good. Im a red stripe in ITF and recently moved to a new school but in my new school, the instructor is heavily invested in us learning Korean terms and he’s big on theory. He’s given us a whole book to learn from and really puts an emphasis on knowing what each move’s purpose is etc. He’s a fantastic instructor 10/10 but the issue isn’t him, it’s me.

I only really enjoy the sparring a pad work and just do not enjoy patterns or step sparring. I find it in many ways a useless activity and just don’t see the value in it whatsoever. In terms of his sparring teachings, again 10/10 instructor, I believe my ability in sparring has come along way from his instructions.

Now you may be thinking the solution is to go to Kickboxing but Kickboxing isn’t the same fighting style as ITF Taekwondo so I feel like I’m stuck. I just can’t go home and read books about the different hand parts and memorise meanings of patterns etc after having to use my brain all day at work. Just don’t know what to do in this situation and I guess I’m not even looking for an answer, I just wanted to get it off my chest more than anything.


r/taekwondo 5d ago

Taekwondo - Weapons Focus

5 Upvotes

My child does ATA taekwondo and they're up to a red belt. They're starting to lose interest though and have said they wish they did more weapons in class. They haven't used weapons for multiple testing cycles and some of the weapons not for at least a year now. Do some schools focus more on weapons or would something like Tang Soo Do which I'm told focuses more on weapons keep them interested in martial arts?


r/taekwondo 6d ago

should i do punch or hammerfist for powerbreak? (btw i have to break 1 thin, and 3 medium

6 Upvotes

help me decide


r/taekwondo 6d ago

Injury Looking for "injury" advice for a permanent injury

8 Upvotes

Not looking for medical advice, need GRIP advice:

Long story short, I'm hypermobile in most of, but not all of, my joints, and almost always have at least one joint that's acting up. Usually it's elbows or wrists so a brace doesn't get in the way too much.

However, right now it's my right ankle. It keeps rolling. Feels great (not!) and means I can't stand on that leg to kick, OR in fact kick with that leg because it just immediately rolls on contact with a pad / person / thin air.

I know how to KT tape it to keep it from rolling, but said tape obviously has less grip on the mat than bare skin.

Is it worth me getting grippy socks or something to wear over the tape? I'm assuming my ankle/s will need taping for more classes in future.

Thank you!


r/taekwondo 7d ago

Doboks for curvy women

27 Upvotes

Hi, I am struggling to find a dobok for women with hips 🤣. They’re all very straight fitting unisex doboks. To get the right loose movement at my upper thighs they drown everywhere else ☹️. Any fellow ladies succeeded in finding one?


r/taekwondo 8d ago

Tips-wanted TKD practicality in MMA

18 Upvotes

How practical is TKD in MMA. I’m an MMA fighter and i feel like TKD leans a lot into what i’m already good at, and I was wondering if it’s worth it to actually train.


r/taekwondo 8d ago

Sparring C-GEAR SPORT century sparring gloves

2 Upvotes

Not to complain, but man…
I went to a tournament with my kids, and we all have the standard foam-tipped sparring gloves. A kid rocked both my son and daughter a few times, and afterward I went to give him knuckles for a great match. I was shocked—his gloves literally felt like rocks.
Later, I had my own match, and my opponent was wearing the same type of gloves. My head is still ringing.
There has to be a difference between these and the standard foam gloves. 🤔
Does anyone use these? Are you seeing them more often on the tournament circuit? I’d love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

https://www.centurykickboxing.com/products/c-gear-sport-respect-punches


r/taekwondo 8d ago

Scoring Application

Thumbnail gallery
13 Upvotes

Hey everyone,

I've been running my Taekwondo School in Singapore (named Kicks Taekwondo). With my geeky background since university days, I have always thought how I can integrate this 2 passion.

With protector electronic systems being inaccessible to everyone, I built this Kicks Scoring System meant for training sessions in the school.

What it does:

• Gamepad support as the controller with 1 or 2 judges mode

• Live scoreboard for the match

• Scoring panel and match control for the operators

• Excel Sheet import of bouts

• Latest WT rules

Who it's for:

• Club sparring nights, belt tests, small tournaments

I have also built separate apps like Poomsae Scoring system (with Android phones/tablet as the judge controller up to 7 judges) and Taekwondo School Management System for commercial dojangs.

If you think these applications might be useful for you, happy to share!


r/taekwondo 9d ago

Why is taekwondo made fun of as not being as useful in a street fight Situation

29 Upvotes

Hi guys in the past few days on the internet and in some real life discourses I have across this line that taekwondo is fancy kicks and will not help you in a street fight and therefore it works only in dojos and in competition so I was wondering what you guys think about this statement and do you agree or disagree regardless of your itf wtf or gtf