Conventional Taekwondo – Main Approaches, History, and Philosophy by Doug Prepare dinner
“Traditional Taekwondo: Core Approaches, Heritage, and Philosophy” by Doug Prepare dinner is a e-book that all Taekwondo practitioners will want on their e book shelf. It really is also a book that will attraction to other Korean martial artists and even people who will not exercise Korean arts but would like to comprehend a lot more about the “foot, hand, Way” from the land of the morning tranquil.
The book is divided into 3 sections, the very first is Heritage and Lifestyle, the next is Philosophy, and the last segment focuses on Approach. The to start with two sections have been exceptional and will enable all people who exercise the artwork of Taekwondo better understand the historical past, society, and philosophy identified within the artwork. These are the sections that will also attractiveness to other Korean martial artists and even other arts. The 3rd part, System, did an alright position of showing a couple of procedures from the Taekwondo curriculum, but was not as solid or as interesting as the initially two pieces.
It is particularly difficult to boil a country’s history, primarily a region like Korea that has a very long and exciting record, into a several shorter chapters. I imagine Cook did a very very good career of narrowing the background down to a few of the most related and intriguing historical references, starting off with the legend of Tan-gun. He briefly handles the 3 Kingdoms and some of the essential gamers in Korea’s history. He has a little bit on the Japanese Occupation from 1910 to 1945 which is essential pertaining to Taekwodo’s progress. The upcoming chapter on the Formative A long time of Taekwondo is really fascinating and will be important for all those that want to know far more historical past of the art.
The Philosophy section had chapters on the role of meditation in conventional taekwondo, the progress and use of fight ki, and the relevance of poom-se in standard taekwondo. These chapters, again, have been interesting and educational. I do believe they supply the reader with a much more in depth seem at taekwondo than just the well known sport sparring.
The 3rd, and longest component, focuses on strategy. It is the longest for the reason that it is primarily pics, illustrating the strategies selected for the text. The chapters go over conditioning physical exercises initially, and then a chapter describing instruction approaches. Even though I agree with most of what was penned, there were a couple issues that I would have prepared otherwise, particularly the description of ho shin sool, or self-protection strategies. It is appropriate, that ho shin sool methods give methods to grabs as prepared, but ho shin sool techniques also include things like defenses to strikes, kicks, and initiating moves.
I favored the rules concerning schooling, in particular the emphasis on respect and safety. Then, for the approaches basically shown with photographs, there are 18 Il Su Sik (Just one-Action Sparring) mixtures, 8 Sam Su Sik (Three-Action Sparring) mixtures, 18 Ho Shin Sool (self-protection approaches), and 16 defenses for women of all ages. You can glimpse at this a pair methods. Initially, just appear at this segment as a tiny sampling of approaches you come across in the taekwondo curriculum. That’s what it is. And as a compact sampling, Cook did a good occupation of adding it. However, to study the strategies from the e book would be exceptionally challenging, just as mastering any martial artwork from a ebook is not advised, you have to have a reside instructor and a husband or wife to coach with. I did have a elementary disagreement with the way some of the ho shin sool procedures ended up demonstrated simply because accurate human body positions, motion, and body weight placement were being not illustrated, and I also have issues with a few of the procedures totally. (i.e. blocking a pipe with your forearm) Having said that, it is not the reason of this review to have interaction in practicality of methods and so forth. So ample claimed.
There is a limited conclusion, and then the appendix sections. Appendix A was exceptionally exciting. It informed of a training practical experience with Grandmaster Gyoo Hyun Lee in Korea. I identified it attention-grabbing and it also made me homesick to go again and educate in Korea. It really manufactured me yearn for my next trip in excess of there to practice. There had been also some Korean/English terms and several martial arts organizations mentioned. Pleasant additions to the reserve, in particular the teaching knowledge with Grandmaster Lee.
For the Record and Philosophy sections, I rate this reserve a 5, and for the Approaches area a 3. For that reason, the e-book is a 4 overall and a e-book I propose all taekwondo stylists browse and study from. I also advocate it to any many others who want to greater realize the background, philosophy, and tactics of classic taekwondo.
