First Tae kwon do class - am i expecting too much??

Hi everyone

I just wanted to get some thoughts on a TKD class i went along to for the first time last night, maybe i was expecting too much ! must be all the stuff i was reading online beforehand........

Was quite a small class, myself - 2 ladies, and one older guy - they were all black belts, and one young lad about 10 years old, strange as i thought i was in an Adults class?

Anyway, did some stances, and walking stances - basic kicks.
bit of punching pads, nothing too extreme.
I asked if they did sparring , she said of course, but they didnt wear all the body protection.

The class finished after an hour, which didnt feel long enough for me, i thought it would be quite a workout, but im more worn out when i go out for a 3mile run during the week !

Also i thought 2 x 1 hr lessons a week, for £45 seemed a bit steep?
Class was ok, im just not sure whether to go back, even at the end when we did some stretches, which must have lasted all of 2 minutes. sitting on the floor, i noticed none of them could touch there toes. and they all wore black belts.

Not sure, first time in a TKD class, i really want to learn the patterns and do gradings, just not sure if this class will provide what i need.


Andy

 

Sounds like a typical TKD class for this country. You won't get much different unless you join a club that is heavily into competition (i.e. sparring focused clubs will do tonnes of sparring, but there are also clubs heavily into patterns competition so they mostly do that).

The average price can be anywhere between £3 and £5 per hour. Honestly though, £45 is too high for what you're getting out of that particular club. For that price, I'd be expecting at least a dozen adults of reasonable quality. There's an old saying, you see...

"You're only as good as the people you train with."

Considering as well that it's New Year when there's typically a big influx of new students (people don't want to be fat), then those numbers are very low indeed.

Which organisation was it?

 

Hi there

Not sure i really want to say on here to be honest, just in case they are using the Forum - lol

 

I paid more for my tuition, about $113 monthly but then again, my instructor was well known in the competition scene, had quality classes, and raised quality competitors. A lot of the extra programs were also free after that tuition was paid. For that kind of a class, its a small turnout, but that is kind of weird considering the new year, usually this would be the time where there are the most people. My classes were also the same length of time, but we could train 5 days a week if we wanted to.

About them not being able to touch their toes .... neither can I. A few of the great fighters I've met aren't all that flexible, they can't go past the average on their splits, and on other stretches, can't touch their toes, but they still consistently win. I'm insanely stiff, (haha) stretching isn't something that I am good at, sadly. To take the words from Frank Gallagher in the "Bremer Detail", "I thought I was a tiger, and tigers just go out and kill things, they don't stretch beforehand." I'm still young though so that may be one of the reasons and I'm taking it for granted.

Maybe give it a bit longer, you could grow fond of it, or maybe they were taking it easy because a new guy was in the class. I usually took it easy on the class I taught when I saw a new face.

 

Think I might have found it anyway with a simple Google search

Whether or not the one I'm looking at in another tab is the same one you attended last night, do yourself a favour and join one of the bigger organisations: TAGB and UKTA for ITF-style, British Taekwondo for WTF style.

 

While there is some truth to what you say, an instructor's physical abilities can be indicative of his/her knowledge in training students to reach their full potential.

Flexibility is a MASSIVE part of taekwondo, and ideally you should be with an instructor who can show you how to improve it properly.

 

Really ????

I may go along to Thames valley TKD. Much bigger club.
I did pop in there last week, about 30 people in a circle watching this guy in the center doing punches, none of the students were in uniform though?

I baled out - stupid i know , but i was running late as well
im going to go back tuesday night

That class last night felt more like a bloody keep fit class......

 

Was that Master Whiteley's school?

 

He runs the Thames valley TKD school at Rivermead in Caversham

Thats the one i may go and try,

One from last night was another location

 

Yeah, sorry. I meant was the Thames Valley run by Master Whiteley.

My advice: Bin the one you went to last night and join Thames Valley.

 

I think you are right............................

They look like a more serious club to me.....

My only reservation was, they appear to run a Beginners class on Monday - where you get to learn the patterns, for the gradings - which i really want to do.
But icant make Mondays, only Tuesdays ( Strength and conditioning) and Thursdays. im assuming i can still pick up the patterns?

 

Yeah, I'd very much imagine so.

 

Do you train a lot out of the class ?

 

Maybe. But the better clubs I've been to had more than half a dozen people on a quiet night in the middle of the summer holidays.

Surely they would have said why it was quiet if that wasn't the "norm"?

Besides, if the club I Googled is the same one as what Mr. Android here visited last night, then... yeah. He should look elsewhere.

But, by the sounds of it, the club Android visited had none of that.

Less than a handful of fatties won't teach anybody anything, let's be honest.

And, yes, we noticed you lost the weight. Only 75 lbs left to go, right?

Your head instructor is Ralph Minott, no?

Android said he wants to learn the TKD patterns. Master Whiteley's school is one of the best in Berkshire (that I already know of and have since been able to Google since this thread opened). He has many students on the ITF England team for both sparring and patterns.

Training is only good for you if the instructor beats you to tears with a stick.*

This will work also.




* This was a joke.

 

I'd get your first 6 months in class done before you look at training on your own (at least as far as the technical stuff goes - fitness is fine).

 

Oh yeah, absolutely. Think he was first international competitor in both ITF and WTF?

Anyhoo, my point was that you're the instructor of a great instructor. And that sort of legacy will naturally produce better practitioners than smaller, independent clubs that don't have exposure to such talent.

 

Still loving my headkicks though, with me being 5'5.5 (gotta add in that .5 haha, might as well round up to 6 inches right?), and being a really dense fellow. Granted, I don't take Taekwondo as my primary martial art (though I do plan on taking it in the future when I have my car at university), it's kind of something added on to make our kicking game a bit more dynamic (Kajukenbo is pretty dry on the kicking side of things). I was flexible when I trained, then I stopped, and kind of lost it. I really should start stretching, it's such a useful thing to have.

 

Sad, but true!!