Archive for category Taekwondo
Ready, Set, Goal!
Posted by admin in Black Belt, Taekwondo on November 11th, 2009
It’s important to keep setting goals once you get your black belt, but sometimes it’s hard to come up with one. Here are some suggestions to keep you focused on your training. -Attend every regional (or national) event next year. -Test for instructor. One-steps are hardest for most people so focus on learning one belt’s worth every two weeks. -Attend 25 classes every testing cycle (that’s 300 for the year). -Work your way up to doing 100 push-ups without taking a break. -Pick out an impressive board break at the next demonstration you see and learn how to do it. -Re-learn all the old forms. -Learn the meanings of all the forms. -Start jumping rope. Work your way up to ten minutes a day. -Travel to a nearby school and train once every two weeks. You’ll be amazed the difference it will make! These are just a few ideas to help get you started. If you still need help setting a goal ask your instructor.
Time to be Thankful
The holidays are a time to be thankful. Unfortunately they are also a time to gain weight. The average American gains almost 10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. Everywhere we go everything is about food and there never seems to be enough time to squeeze in a quick workout. This year, redefine what the holiday season means and make it about spending time together as a family. Here are some suggestions to help get you moving without sacrificing quality time.
-Take a Taekwondo class! A number of schools will offer a holiday special that makes it affordable for you to try martial arts as a family. You can even burn up to 800 calories in one hour-long taekwondo class!
-Instead of watching football start a game up on Thanksgiving. That extra movement will make dinner taste even more delicious.
-On a tight budget this year? Volunteer your time as a family working at a local charity instead of making a donation in someone’s name.
-Offer to walk a neighbor’s dog when they’re out of town, or see if you can foster a dog through your local SPCA so they don’t have to spend the holidays in a kennel!
-Skip the fake tree this year and find a local tree farm where you can walk around and pick out your own (or get a second tree).
-How many benefits have you and your children gotten from taekwondo? Give that same gift to someone else instead of a video game.
Keeping active will certainly help, but make sure you watch your portion sizes too. Check back soon for our next blogpost on what to eat during the holidays!
The Road to Instructor…
Begins with little steps! Make it a point to learn the white belt one-steps over the next two weeks and by the time testing rolls around you’ll be ready to go!
1. Step into Left front stance, Left High Block, Right reverse punch middle, step Left foot back, Right front kick
2. Step into Right Back stance, Right inner forearm block, Right backfist high, right #1 side kick
3. Left crescent kick block, Right side kick, step into Right back stance, Right knife hand strike high
4. Right front kick, step to Right, Left side kick, land in Left Back stance, Left hammerfist strike (sideways) high, shift to Left front stance, Right reverse punch middle
5. Left crescent kick block, Right front/side kick combination, land in Right back stance, Right backfist strike high, shift to Right front stance, Left reverse punch middle
Louder Than Words
Everyone has heard that a picture is worth 1,000 words. Well, an action is worth 1,000 pictures. Now that you’ve set a goal for your martial arts training, how do you reach it?
1) Attend class! You can’t become a black belt unless you go to class and train.
2) Be a role model to your fellow students. Instructors always notice the loudest kid in class, who moves the fastest, and who is the most focused and excited to be there. That enthusiasm rubs off and other students notice it as well.
3) Become a martial arts mentor. Take the time to help your fellow students with a difficult technique or remembering an old form.
4) Practice! It really does make perfect and help you master techniques.
5) Support all school functions. Tournaments, testings, special clinics, and camps are all great times to diversify your training. Make sure you take advantage of them.
6) Walk the talk. Memorize the Tenets and Student Oath and live them every day.
7) Be an ambassador for the martial arts. You’re probably getting all kinds of hidden and obvious benefits from your taekwondo training. Share those benefits with others and tell them where they can get them for themselves.
Learn the history of your school and taekwondo. Gaining a deeper understanding will help you in your training.
Taekwondo Helps Kick Breast Cancer
One of the first lessons your martial arts instructor will teach you is that taekwondo training mainly teaches you to prevent fighting. If, however, a negative situation is unavoidable your training will help you defend yourself. We teach that in the long run prevention is always a smarter option. Well, this same philosophy applies to other areas of your life too. In fact, research suggestions there may be a link between martial arts training and breast cancer prevention.
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month, a disease which touches a large number of people either through having the disease itself or watching friends and family members fight the disease. Well, according to Cornell University’s (CU) Medical College martial arts training helps aid in the prevention of breast cancer due to its holistic (mind and body) focus.
An article published by CU’s Weill Medical College indicates that yoga, meditation, tai chi, and other martial arts help reduce stress which suppresses the immune system. Research is actually showing that stress may increase your susceptibility to breast cancer. Yet another benefit to martial arts training – stress reduction and potentially preventing breast cancer. In honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness month give these health benefits to someone you love and bring a friend to class!
Testing Tips for Junior Judges
Now that you are a black belt you are eligible to assist judging other students at testing. Here are some guidelines to help you effectively judge testing. First, a judge’s appearance is in important part of testing. All judges should be in a clean, full white uniform free from holes or stains. When at the table, judges should not appear distracted or bored. While judges must communicate with fellow judges, keep any discussion short, quite, and focused on the testing. At testing each judge will be assigned a “number” or station to watch. Be sure you know your assignment before the testing begins. Once the testing begins stay focused on your assignment. The other judges are counting on you to do your job. If you fail, a student may not get the fair consideration at testing he or she deserves. When the sparring begins, be prepared to jump out there and watch two people while they’re sparring. If you are centering a sparring match it is your job to make sure the students are not hitting each other too hard or making contact with illegal target areas. If they are, do not be afraid to stop them and let them know what they are doing wrong. At the end of the testing all the judges will go over the testing results for each student. Remember, Mr. and Mrs. Lacy have the final word in all decisions regarding whether a student passes or receives a no change. These decisions will be made based on subjective and objective elements. An objective element is whether or not a student does everything technically correct. Subjective elements are harder to judge, such as whether students have good technique or tried their hardest.
Seven Secrets of Highly Successful Martial Artists
Regardless of how old you are or what rank you have earned, most martial artists share a goal: to be the best they possibly can be. You may never be able to jump, flip upside down, and accurately kick your target like Jackie Chan, but taekwondo is an individual sport, which means the important thing is you try to do that best that YOU can do. Use these Seven Habits of Highly Successful Martial Artists to help you get there.
1) Be There – getting to class is important not only to continue your learning but to provide your body with the routine of physically and mentally participating in taekwondo (also known as muscle memory).
2) Practice – If you want to master a skill you have to work on it at home. Take 5 to 10 minutes during the day working on a particularly challenging technique and you’ll be surprised how quickly you “get it”.
3) Eat Right – Everyone has heard that “you are what you eat”. Your body is like a sports car: you have to put in top quality fuel to get the best results.
4) Stretch Daily – Flexibility isn’t necessary in taekwondo, but the more flexible you are the faster, more powerful, and more accurate your techniques will become. It doesn’t take much, just a few minutes during commercial breaks will help. Remember to never stretch to the point where it’s painful, but do push yourself just past what is comfortable and hold (*never* bounce).
5) Meditate/Visualize – You can even do this while you’re stretching. Close your eyes, relax, and slowly take several deep breaths while visualizing yourself mastering that challenging technique or doing the perfect form.
6) Teach – When it comes to studying anything, the learning order from least to most effective is to hear it, to read it, to write it down, and to teach it to someone else. Teaching something forms a stronger imprint of the information in your brain, so go help a struggling fellow student or just teach someone something you read in your Student Manual.
7) Set Goals – There is no way to stress exactly how important it is to have a goal, whether it be an upcoming tournament, future testing, mastering a technique, breaking boards, or getting your 7th Degree Black Belt. In fact, set several short and long-term goals. You don’t have to create a deadline, but periodically check in and make sure you’re making progress.
S.T.R.I.V.E for Your Goals!
Posted by admin in Black Belt, Taekwondo on September 22nd, 2009
Anyone who saw Mrs. Peck receive her 7th degree this weekend couldn’t help but be inspired. Don’t let that momentum go to waste! While you are on the road to black belt, you may discover that the road ban be tough to travel and it might have a few obstacles on it that could slow you down. Just like Mr. Lacy says, if earning a black belt were simple then everyone would have one. The most important thing to remember is that when that road gets a bit bumpy or you start to take a wrong turn, smooth out the bumps and ask for directions to help get back on track. The journey we take to black belt teaches us to set goals, be persistent, overcome obstacles, and follow through in the taekwondo school as well as in life. Set a goal, then S.T.R.I.V.E. for it!
S is for Start Small – Set a serious of short-term goals that will add up to a bigger once, such as passing each testing leading up to black belt.
T is for Think Tall – Set a goal that is worthwhile, and dream bigger than life. If nothing could stop you, what would you like to accomplish?
R is for Reach Over the Wall – Choose a goal that will require you to push yourself out of your comfort zone.
I is for Invest Your All – Give it your best shot. Keep working towards your goal and don’t give up. Don’t let yourself slack off.
V is for Visualize – Take the time to see yourself achieving your black belt or other goals you have set. What are the rewards of sticking with your goal? How will your life be different? See yourself at the big celebration that will happen after you reach your goal.
E is for Expect to Stall – Distractions and obstacles may come up on your road to black belt or any other worthwhile goals. Know that with high peaks, where everything is going as planned,come valleys. Be prepared to take action to overcome roadblocks and distractions and get back on track.
The world is full of great starters. It takes a special person to “strive” towards excellence and finish what they start.
Parent Cheat Sheet, Sparring Special
So, how exactly do judges pull students up to spar at a tournament? Rest assured we are not just pulling names out of a hat. Actually, we use the same bracket the NCAA uses for the sweet 16:
http://images.chron.com/blogs/tubular/archives/chron_galactic_bracket_blank.jpg
If the number of competitors is divisible by four it makes our jobs really easy. If, however, it’s not then some competitors will get a bye (automatically win their first round). So, who gets the bye and how do we pair up competitors? Well, our first goal is to make sure no one spars someone from their school the first round. Ideally we try to keep kids from the same school from sparring as long as possible, but if the majority of the competitors are from the same school there is only so much the judges can do.
After making sure competitors are sparring someone from a different school the pairing process can vary slightly depending on the judges preferences. Some judges like to pair competitors up by size. Others like to have the first and second place forms competitors spar and the third and fourth place competitors spar so that as many students as possible get a medal. It’s impossible to come up with hard and fast rules because they will inevitably change based on the makeup of the group. Know that there is plenty of thought going into it though and that we try to set everyone up to be as successful as possible.
Have any more last minute questions? Get them in quick because the tournament starts tomorrow!
I Will Not Quit on You…
Posted by admin in Black Belt, Fitness, Taekwondo on September 16th, 2009
Several years ago Mr. Lacy made a promise to all the students of Lacy’s Taekwondo. After describing the number of students who get a black belt (less than 5% of those who ever start a martial art) and the setbacks that can occur along the way (failed testings, losing interest, giving up) he promised to never quit on a student as long as the student didn’t quit. It was incredibly motivational to all those who remember it or have since heard it, but with time all things wan, so it is time to renew that promise – for all of us.
For Mr. Lacy it’s easy to keep the promise, because it’s clear exactly what not quitting entails. As students, it gets to be a bit more difficult. Standing here every day it looks to me like a lot of students have already quit. Sure, they still come to class, some of them almost every day. Some even go to events and test on time every time; but the effort is gone. EFFORT is what sets apart a true martial artist from someone who will never get their black belt. It is how you can tell an instructor from a black belt with one foot out the door. Effort is the difference between a 7th Degree and someone who used to be a black belt. In taekwondo, effort is everything and if you don’t bring it to class with you you might as well stay home.