Hi, I would just like to know what your training sessions are like, in particular those that do ITF taekwondo. I'm asking this because my training sessions are literally 90% patterns, 5% kicking drills and 5% sparring. Oh and we do a warm up at the beginning. But that is it. And our training routine never changes at all, so needless to say I’m getting quite bored and unenthusiastic about it. I understand that repetition is an important part of training so that the techniques are 'hard-coded' in our brains, but a bit of variation would be nice. Anyhow, please let me know what your training sessions are like. Thanks, Ben (ITF, 1st Gup).
For us, it really depends on what events are coming up If we have a grading coming up we will focus on traditional and preparation more. If we have a competition we will focus on sparring. If we have a quite period (after a grading and no comps coming up) we will have a mix of the classes over two nights A 'normal' class will consist of warmup, line work, patterns, sparring, finishing with a quick but tiring circuit. However, we will mix it up - this keeps it interesting for the students. If you are getting bored, ask some of the other students how they feel. If they are feeling the same, approach your instructor and let him know how you feel. (You instructor should welcome your feedback - I know I would) Stewart
Our training ours is much the same - it depends on the time of year. when gradings are coming up, its all grading requirements and as we are a mixed class, we all get set something different. this means line work, patterns and for some belts sparring. after gradings, we learn our new patterns. most of the time, we arrive and its something different - this week we did a load of pad work which was loads of fun but really hard work! my instructor is pretty good as we never have a class that is identical. sometimes the warm up is similar but its never the same!
Most of the time, we will focus more on kicking and punching drills than forms or sparring. As we get closer to gradings, there is a greater focus on forms and sparring. After the regular class is over, those that are in a higher program will spend more time on sparring.
Mine is basically the as NewLearner's except we try to work on sparring throughout the semester. We do forms and one-steps heavily within the last four weeks. We also mix it up, a few times we have done grappling, close combat, and just plain putting us out of our comfort zone.
Hogu drills, paddle kicking drills, and free-sparring Oh and OCCASIONALLY patterns and hapkido....yawn and OUCH haha. Seriously, hapkido HURTS!
We have to cover the grading syllabus first and foremost. So its mainly warm up, patterns, line work, pre-arranged sparring and free sparring. With some occasional self defence techniques. But each lesson is different. And there is usually something to discuss with patterns. By discuss, the instructor drills home the finer points of movements and we do them
all of our classes are at least 90 minutes, with the first 20-30 being stretching/warmups. We usually do pad work, forms, and one step for most of the class and 15-20 minutes of exercise free sparring at the end. But i do WTF so.....
Drills, drills, drills... Usually about 90 to 120 minutes. A typical class is 20 minutes of technique drills; blocks shifting fore and back, strikes etc. It makes a good warm-up as well as practice. Stretches for 5-10 minutes. Kicking drills for about 20 minutes. Katas for 20-25 minutes. Some instructors only do the low 9-11. Some try to accomodate all ranks (17 or more poomse) 10 minutes of one-step or self-defense or advanced skills training. 10-15 minutes of free sparring. (We're non-contact so skip the 5 minutes of mopping up blood and guts )
We start warming up, some push ups, sit ups and abs. It all depends on what is coming up. If we have an exam coming up we practice more patterns and traditional things. But most of the time we practice a lot of kicks, heavy bag drills, chest guard drills, focus drills, and free sparring.
I assume hogu and chest guard drills are something done in WTF schools. What are they? Would we be doing them under some other name?
the words 'hogu' and 'chest guard' mean the same. i'm sure you've seen WTF fighters wear them in competitions.
But what drills are you doing with them? I knew what a hogu is. I just can't imagine a drill for them.
well, have you ever seen a WTF cmpetition? i'm sure you have. all the stuff that they do had to be practiced first, meaning different combinations for attacks, defence, footwork etc.
Maybe I am being dense, but I still don't see what a hogu drill is. We practice combinations of kicks, footwork, etc. but nothing that anyone has called a hogu drill. Is it practice putting one on or practice kicking to the chest or? I'm not trying to be stupid here, I am just really wondering what the drill is.
Two people pad up and go through a set of combinations on the Hogu striking hard enough to score points but not aiming to kill the other guy. Some examples of drills would be: One guy stands there and gets kicked once. This is to develop the simple point scoring turning kick to make it fast an accurate. One guy stands there and the other guy back kicks him. Reasons as above. One guy retreats whilst the other throws a left and right leg turnign kick. Gets you used to hiitng a moving target. One guy steps in with a kick, the othe guy counters with a jump back kick or steps out of the way and back in again with his own kick. These develop your counter attacking ability.
So the idea is to let the person kick you in the chest so they can practice kicking a real person? Sort of a more complex thing than what we do with the kicking pad and just allowing them to lightly kick us. We use the rule on this type of drill that if you displace the person, it was too hard. Is this what you are talking about? Thanks to both of you for trying to clear it up for me.
Contact level really is agreed between the two partners in this case, obviously some kicks are never done full pelt but the basic turning kicks can be all out of both partners agree. It really is totally between the two training partners though.
Pah! Whoever listens to them? Seriously though, usually we are told to make sure we score a piojt bu the instructor BUT beyond that to agree on the contact level between ourselves.