Taekwondo

Anyone practice it?

Starting at white belt again, was in the yellow stripes once, but I think I had a hip injury which made me stop for some years.

Officially I only made it to a blue belt, but knowledge and skill wise, I was at red belt.
I never had the chance to keep moving up thanks to life grtting in the way.
I'd do it again, but i would ratger learn something new than go back and relearn everything.

I train in Taekwondo, too- mainly of the WTF/Olympic sort. I'm a first degree getting back more and more into it after a hiatus. Out of curiosity, which sort of Taekwondo do you guys do- ITF, WTF?

haha.. I still remember how me and my fren saying we're in the WTF category.. ya.. I used to train alot during my school's days.. but stop after getting a medal at a local competition due to college.. but it was a pretty fun memory

[color=#2e1a6b]I got my Black Belt when I was 12. honestly, I don't think the dojo I trained at was very tough, but my age might have contributed to that

Don't you have to be 16 (or adult) to be able to get black? Normally when you are a bout to gain the black belt (1st dan) as a minor ,they give you a belt that's completely striped red/black to show that your body is ready for black but your mind is still too young to understand the material. And this is applicable for all taekwondo types...

I myself have a yellow belt with blue stripe but I'm doing it for a very long time now and my skill is at red belt lvl, I just don't care about the belt color. I want my body to get time to adjust to my skill level, so I train every day and go to trainings 4 times a week to improve as much as possible. So that when I succeed my exam, I know I deserved the new belt color in the way that my techniques are performed flawless.

I made it to blue belt, afterwards things kept piling on and there wasn't any more free time.

I would like to go back someday, but having to learn everything again doesn't appeal to me so much.

I made it to purple belt then i stopped because it was getting in the way of my school schedule, it was great and it gave me amazing leg flexibility. If you wanna start you really need to LOVE kicking, because that's 90% of it, and you have to be comfortable with their philosophy.

My late stepfather was in the Army and we moved after I got my Green Belt in Rhee Taekwondo. I was also doing Year 11 and 12 (High School) so I stopped and have generally been too busy with work in recent years. I was going to take up Karate (I had done some as a kid and being close to where I live) but broke off a bone fragment of my knee in a fall and have been off work due to having 3 Knee Operations over the last 15 months. I think I might try getting back into shape first before stating any Martial Arts any time soon.

I had a Yellow Belt with Green Stripe in Goju Kai Karate when I was 8 but we moved after the grading as well.

I made it to Brown. The amount of time I spent I could have gotten to be a Black with two stripes but I got too busy. I don't care of it though. In my opinion my training was disgustingly easy. If I were to start up again I would pick a different dojo. I was the "prodigy" but I moved.

Realize this is a rather late post on my part (sorry), but I figured I can weigh in on this-

For TKD, or at least the WTF variant (I'm in the dark regarding ITF, much less ATA which I will refuse to say anything else about)- you are right about dan ranks, you must be at least 16 to be considered a 'dan.' For those who are 15 and under who grade and pass, they are awarded with 'pum' (or 'poom') instead- this is usually denoted with a bi-colored red/black belt. For those 15 and under, they can be awarded up to 3rd pum- though if they advance during their next grading and are already at least 16, they'll be awarded dan.

I used to do Taekwondo in elementary and middle school, but I quit after 6th grade. I was able to get to purple belt, and I was close to getting my brown belt but I was already tired of it by then. I really enjoyed learning the katas and techniques, but I hated sparring since I'm a pacifist; therefore, I sucked at it. I don't even know how I made it to purple considering the fact that I couldn't bring myself to strike my opponent seriously.

From what I've read in the previous posts, It sounds like some taekwondo schools have a different color ranking system than my school, but mine went like this: White -> Yellow -> Green -> Purple -> Brown -> Black

Yes. Mine went as so: White>Orange>Yellow> Camouflage>Green>Purple>Blue>Brown>Red>Red & Black>Black. I just looked at my belts right now (up to brown) and damn are those things are dusty. Then again, they have been on top of my bookshelf for five years or so now.

I'm very interested in trying. My hippy friend kept on trying to get me to do it last year.

We're WTF, but we have a ranking system of:
White | Yellow 1,2,3 stripe | Blue 1,2,3 stripe | Red 1,2,3 stripe | Sho dam bo (Red with black tape wrapped around your white stripes) | Black Belt 1st Dan....so on so forth.



If you like Martial Arts that use your legs mainly, should go for it. Although you'll be doing a lot of stretching. May want to stay away if that's not your thing.

Then in that case i might need to do it because my legs seriously need exercise. I can barely kick above chest height....And i'm not even fat.

I'll just say this, I'm a black belt, master is trying to get my geared up to test for 1st degree. I've been practicing at one school since I was 9 and it closed when I was around 11 1/2, my current school I've been with since 15 to current.

I've never really practiced it. I am not flexible enough to do high kicks. Although my dad and uncles did it for many years. I believe my uncle got to 2nd dan before he quit.

Taekwondo was my very first martial art. I practiced the WTF-style though I ended at red. I always remember being frustrated not being able to kick as high or as fast as the other guys, but that was actually a drive to make me improve. Honestly, I can't vouch to learn it if you just want to learn to defend yourself because it is a very physically demanding martial art to be able to use effectively. Unless you're confident enough to take the challenge, you might want to expand your barriers. Nevertheless, it serves as a great base though. I got my guts from competition and a discipline that can't be obtained elsewhere.

Went to blue tie, Then I tried out Judo for a few years. Now I'm thinking of picking it up again, I need something to make me move.