Starting Olymipc Taekwondo

Hey everyone, its been a while since I updated last. I hope that this new post is of interest. I have recently started another martial arts style, Olympic Taekwondo. Olympic Taekwondo is regulated by the WTF, World Taekwondo Federation. As I have started to take classes it has become apparent that this type of Taekwondo does not focus on self-defense. It is almost exclusively focused on tournament competition. This is not necessarily good or bad, but it is different than the martial arts I have tried before. I first started this style through the ASU Taekwondo club. This is a competitive Taekwondo club that competes in the collegiate games for Arizona State University.

Olympic Taekwondo is known for its fast and flashy kicks, and its inclusion as a martial art in the Olympic games. Training in Olympic Taekwondo has really changed how I look at the usefulness of kicks in self defense. Most of the styles I have trained in have kicks, but, Taekwondo is based primarily around kicks. The kicks in Taekwondo are streamlined to be as quick and powerful as possible. This is because of the method of sparring.

Sparring in WTF Taekwondo at the black belt level is done electronically. No - its not virtual reality or some sci-fi craziness. Actually, their gear has pressure sensors in it, along with the foot pads, so that when a kick happens, it only counts as a point if its done correctly and has enough power in it. This takes a lot of the random chance that enters into a sparring match due to poor judging.

So far, WTF Taekwondo has proved to be an enjoyable and challenging martial art in its own right. And while it is not focused on self-defense I thoroughly enjoy training in it.

Until Next time
Mr. Waaler

Final Presentation

Hello Readers,
     Its been a long time, but, here it is, my final presentation. Now, for each style of martial arts I named some advantages and disadvantages, but we must remember as martial artists that these disadvantages are overcome by being a practitioner for a long peroid of time. The disadvantages are there mainly for beginining students. The original presentation was in power point and I presented it at Barrett the Honors college at ASU to my fellow students and my Teachers. The presentation is located in the new page, named power point. Please check it out!
Thank You
Mr. Waaler

The End is Inevitable

This Post marks the end of my senior project, The Effectiveness of the Martial Arts. As with all things it has come to an end, but, I am told every end is a new beginning so I look forward optimistically. It has been wonderful participating in this independent research project - studying and training in not only something I care about deeply, but also a field of study that is ancient. I am sure that the first cavemen had their own system of martial arts to defend themselves from whatever threats they would face. I want to thank all the instructors and schools who allowed me to come and train with them over the course of my project. Sempai Erno, Sensei Poage, Mr. Barto, Mr. Jirov, Mr. Moylan, and Mr. C as my instructors and the Kyokushin Karate school, The Peaceful Warrior Martial Arts and Healing Center, Reality Defense Training, The Koncrete Gym, Z Ultimate Self-Defense and of course Depalma's Team USA Martial Arts as the schools I Visited. I thank Mr. Nishan for being my project advisor from school and also my school for allowing me such an opportunity to learn. I would like to thank all of my readers, even though I started the project for school I finished it for all of you. I will attempt to upload my finished presentation to my blog so everyone can check it out, look for it at the end of May. Thank You,

Mr. Waaler

Z Ultimate Martial Arts

Today I was lucky enough to be able to visit the Z Ultimate Self-Defense Studios, a martial arts school that teaches Chinese Kenpo. Chinese Kenpo is another form of Kenpo that has closer ties to Kung Fu and the Shaolin Temple, taking some of their movements from these sources. During our lesson we covered a basic form and a couple of self-defense techniques. I was told that often the movement itself is more important than the destination of the move. One of the ideas they have is Classical, Practical and Tactical.
Classical is the traditional forms and techniques
Practical is being able to teach them to a class safely and explaining them fully
Tactical is their application to real life self-defense

The Form I learned was a great example of classical practical and tactical.

The traditional movements flowed into a real self-defense scenario very nicely.
We then covered some knife self-defense, which is all about the movement of the body, being able to be in contact with your opponent can help you anticipate and retaliate against their attacks.

Visiting the Z Ultimate Self-Defense Studios was Awesome and I really thank Mr. Seth Moylan for allowing me to come and train with him.
Check out the new page for all the video and pictures!
Thanks
Mr. Waaler

Grandmaster Fred Degerberg's Boxing Seminar

Today I had the privilege of attending a seminar taught by Grandmaster Fred Degerberg on boxing. We covered moves from primarily English Boxing - the western boxing many people are familiar with. We went over a lot of the stuff I learned with Mr. Jirov, but, we went more into the self-defense aspects of it.
In boxing there are 4 main strikes-
Jabs
Cross Punches
Hooks
Uppercuts
Also, there is a 5th punch, the overhead punch which is not as popular as the other four
We went over these four punches and how they apply to an idea called the 3d box- the 3d box splits up the range in a fight into height depth and width, and then allows for better training.
We went over a drill about moving away from contact, both with our feet and our bodies. We began by trying to touch our partners elbows, while they tried to touch ours and we were supposed to avoid being touched. Then we moved on to the same drill except for instead of touching elbows it was stepping on feet. Finally we combined the two. We used this movement drill to better turn into our punches.
On the self-defense side of boxing we talked about how you can't overturn into your strikes because you have to follow up with more attacks. We also talked about the knock-out buttons of the body.
One big target that can easily end the fight is the jaw, dislocating the jaw is very easy. When you throw your punch at the point of contact drop your fist and the jaw pops right out, leaving your opponent drooling and in pain. Usually this can end a fight, but, if they ignore their gaping jaw then you may have to follow up with a more devastating strike to somewhere like the temple or organs. This seminar really helped explain boxing not as a sport but as a martial art used for self-defense. I am so glad and honored to have learned from such a great master.
Thanks
Mr. Waaler

Boxing 2

So I revisited the Koncrete gym this morning and once again really enjoyed my time training with Mr. Jirov. Today we went over a lot more strikes and in the ring movements, we still worked out hard and even just doing the strikes was difficult.

Constantly he told me that I must be faster, speed was important for boxing, but, the most important thing was to stay relaxed. He joked how when people asked what he did for a living he said anesthesiologist - because he kept putting people under. The relaxing of your muscles will help your speed and in the end you want to help your opponent relax and fall asleep.

Time is getting short and I have found the last school I am going to visit, i can't wait - well actually i can and will have to wait seeing as i am not going until later this week.
Thank You
Mr. Waaler

Revisiting the Koncrete Gym

This Monday I will be returning to the Koncrete gym to learn more about Boxing and some of its technique and ideas. I just finished putting together the Boxing page on my blog, you should check it out. Also, if you want to learn more about the trainer, Vassiliy Jirov, you can visit the Koncrete Gym website, http://www.koncretegym.com/ and click on the trainers page. In addition to finalizing my visits to the Koncrete gym, I am making preparations to visit the last school of my project. As may comes closer and closer I get more and more excited to share all that I have learned.

Thanks
Mr. Waaler