(no subject)
Feb. 18th, 2007 10:28 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darren_strangerYesterday i went to another taekwondo seminar, this one run by Mr Kang the national poomsae coach.
It was at Hansu tkd in Ormond, and it was quite a pleasant trip down there - i haven't been to those inner SE suburbs for ages, and it reminded me that we're long overdue for a visit down to Prahran, St Kilda or maybe somewhere like Brighton Beach (after all, it's still only $2.50 to travel anywhere on a Sunday). The club itself is nice - like a big old garage opposite the station, with a rollerdoor facing the street painted with taekwondo images, a little office / change room beside it and a big matted area behind, with kick bags, mitts etc and lots of posters describing the meaning of various patterns, taekwondo philosophy and other inspirational quotes. Quite a pleasant atmosphere to train in.
Warm-ups gave me some serious flexibility-envy, and trying to keep up with Mr Kang was a losing battle. He did do a lot of those old fashioned warm up stretches - the kind that i'm sure helped ruin my back in the '80s - with bouncing and jerking and other things we try to avoid in our own classes, so i spent a lot of the time consciously avoiding the more dodgy actions while trying not to be obvious about it. I'm aware of my own limitations and know that i would barely be walking today if i'd done all of those things.
The training itself was pretty intense, five hours spent mostly in front or back stance, doing blocks and kicks over and over, or poomsae themselves, with a ten minute break every hour or so. On a 38 degree day, with no air conditioning and just the roller doors open each side, i found that the heat didn't seem to matter. Just like i'd noticed in January, it didn't feel any hotter training in that than if it had been somewhere in the 20s. I suspect that maybe it's because the body just reaches it's own working temperature regardless of the outside temperature - either so hot on the inside that the surrounding air makes little difference, or just reaching a self-regulating 'cruising' temperature moderated with all that sweat coming off. Plenty of water and electrolyte-laden sports drinks, however, were essential. There was something also appealing about training in a street-level dojang, with people walking past the open roller door and another looking out onto a back alley. Perhaps it's to from times in the past that i've walked past other dojangs/dojos, seen people training and wanted to be in the class, and this time i was. The breeze was nice too, even if the air was hot.
Aside from the workout, the information was good - Mr Kang is big on explaining why something should be this way not that, or things like the differences in sparring kicks for speed and poomsae kicks for power (aiming for the old 'one hit, fight over' principle), the timing of the slow-fast part of a technique (one-two-three!) or how a block travels in an arc because you don't know exactly where the attack is coming in, while a strike travels straight because you want to minimise the chance for it to be blocked. His accent was hard to follow, but he got his point across most of the time.
That said, i can't remember too many specific technical points from the day - it was more the overall principles that seemed to be clarified for me, plus the odd bit of specific information, such as the palm block starting with palm out instead of up (an idea i never liked, but that seems to work a little better with the amount of body twist he put into it).
There was also a neat little exercise for measuring out the basic stances: Starting in moa seogi, turn left toes out to 90 degrees, then straighten the heel and bring forward to parallel = naranhi seogi. Turn left foot out again to 90 degrees = wen seogi. Turn right heel out 30 degrees from lateral = ap seogi. Turn right toes 90 degrees from lateral, bend knees = dwit gubi. Turn left heel 90 degrees from lateral then bring parallel = juchum seogi. Turn left toes out 90 degrees and right heel out to 30 degrees from lateral = ap gubi. (Note - there's none of this 22.5 degrees for ap seogi etc stuff any more - it's all either 90 or 30. "Everything same now in taekwondo.")
In poomsae, we covered the Taegeuks from 4 through 7 (was supposed to be up to 8 but we ran out of time while discussing differences with Mr No's seminar last week, which is a whole 'nother story). Today's session covers the black belt patterns up to Sipjin, but i agreed with Elaine that i'd only go to one day and we'd spend the other together, so i'm passing that up. Still, i think i got good value from yesterday, for general understanding and appreciation of why things are so.
It was at Hansu tkd in Ormond, and it was quite a pleasant trip down there - i haven't been to those inner SE suburbs for ages, and it reminded me that we're long overdue for a visit down to Prahran, St Kilda or maybe somewhere like Brighton Beach (after all, it's still only $2.50 to travel anywhere on a Sunday). The club itself is nice - like a big old garage opposite the station, with a rollerdoor facing the street painted with taekwondo images, a little office / change room beside it and a big matted area behind, with kick bags, mitts etc and lots of posters describing the meaning of various patterns, taekwondo philosophy and other inspirational quotes. Quite a pleasant atmosphere to train in.
Warm-ups gave me some serious flexibility-envy, and trying to keep up with Mr Kang was a losing battle. He did do a lot of those old fashioned warm up stretches - the kind that i'm sure helped ruin my back in the '80s - with bouncing and jerking and other things we try to avoid in our own classes, so i spent a lot of the time consciously avoiding the more dodgy actions while trying not to be obvious about it. I'm aware of my own limitations and know that i would barely be walking today if i'd done all of those things.
The training itself was pretty intense, five hours spent mostly in front or back stance, doing blocks and kicks over and over, or poomsae themselves, with a ten minute break every hour or so. On a 38 degree day, with no air conditioning and just the roller doors open each side, i found that the heat didn't seem to matter. Just like i'd noticed in January, it didn't feel any hotter training in that than if it had been somewhere in the 20s. I suspect that maybe it's because the body just reaches it's own working temperature regardless of the outside temperature - either so hot on the inside that the surrounding air makes little difference, or just reaching a self-regulating 'cruising' temperature moderated with all that sweat coming off. Plenty of water and electrolyte-laden sports drinks, however, were essential. There was something also appealing about training in a street-level dojang, with people walking past the open roller door and another looking out onto a back alley. Perhaps it's to from times in the past that i've walked past other dojangs/dojos, seen people training and wanted to be in the class, and this time i was. The breeze was nice too, even if the air was hot.
Aside from the workout, the information was good - Mr Kang is big on explaining why something should be this way not that, or things like the differences in sparring kicks for speed and poomsae kicks for power (aiming for the old 'one hit, fight over' principle), the timing of the slow-fast part of a technique (one-two-three!) or how a block travels in an arc because you don't know exactly where the attack is coming in, while a strike travels straight because you want to minimise the chance for it to be blocked. His accent was hard to follow, but he got his point across most of the time.
That said, i can't remember too many specific technical points from the day - it was more the overall principles that seemed to be clarified for me, plus the odd bit of specific information, such as the palm block starting with palm out instead of up (an idea i never liked, but that seems to work a little better with the amount of body twist he put into it).
There was also a neat little exercise for measuring out the basic stances: Starting in moa seogi, turn left toes out to 90 degrees, then straighten the heel and bring forward to parallel = naranhi seogi. Turn left foot out again to 90 degrees = wen seogi. Turn right heel out 30 degrees from lateral = ap seogi. Turn right toes 90 degrees from lateral, bend knees = dwit gubi. Turn left heel 90 degrees from lateral then bring parallel = juchum seogi. Turn left toes out 90 degrees and right heel out to 30 degrees from lateral = ap gubi. (Note - there's none of this 22.5 degrees for ap seogi etc stuff any more - it's all either 90 or 30. "Everything same now in taekwondo.")
In poomsae, we covered the Taegeuks from 4 through 7 (was supposed to be up to 8 but we ran out of time while discussing differences with Mr No's seminar last week, which is a whole 'nother story). Today's session covers the black belt patterns up to Sipjin, but i agreed with Elaine that i'd only go to one day and we'd spend the other together, so i'm passing that up. Still, i think i got good value from yesterday, for general understanding and appreciation of why things are so.
