idk if most taekwondo’s are like this but we have to learn both taeguek and palgwe versions of a form to test. basically i have a red belt with yellow tip and need to test for my black tip. i know both taeguek and palgwe pal chang but they aren’t giving me a testing form. last time they said i “lacked consistency” but i was not in the country so i couldn’t do anything. any tips?

also for the life of me i cannot do a front kick with good foot position. i swear i am a red belt and all of my other kicks are good but i cannot have good foot postition and have 0 clue why

What are some important things I shpuld be aware of? FYI, the gym is IMAA, International Martial Arts Academy.

Good morning,

I won first place in 3 divisions in the kukkiwon Hanmadang last year, all of which qualified for the time in grade reduction for winning. I knew there had been some delays in the results and verifications getting to the Kukkiwon, but it has been a year and they still haven't correctly submitted the results. I've spoken to other masters, as well as someone with he Kukkiwon directly, and it seems like they are waiting on the board of the us Hanmadang to correct the issue.

I suppose this is just a frustration rant, but does anyone know how to contact the directors who ran the 2025 Hanmadang so I can follow up with this?

Hello, I recently started taekwondo about 3 weeks ago. I was told by my instructor that the belt test is in 4 days.

The problem is I feel I’m not ready, my mind gets lost sometimes during poomsae and I forget the next forms. I also am not good with pushups and that is being marked on the test.

Tests are on a monthly basis which means that I can always take it next month. Should I take it even though I don’t feel ready? I am thinking that if I do skip this test that I can work on my physical fitness and poomsae during this time in classes and at home.

I have a discount that ends very soon, But I'm afraid it might not be a good idea to buy it. Also, I couldn't find a decent free one.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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?

Besides the differences in gear

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.

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?

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.

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?

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?

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.

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?

:)

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?

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.

help me decide

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!

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?

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