Archive for July, 2009

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10 Ways to improve your forms Part III

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Here is part three to my series of blogs giving you 10 ways to improve your forms. 

7.   Mental Intent-  Projecting the image that your form is the best will help you.  You have practiced your form and know your moves, you are an expert at that pattern, why stand at testing with a defeated attitude before you even try.  I have seen people attempt a pattern with a “Sad Sack” expression on their faces.  This is no way to begin to win over judges.  You must overcome this negative attitude.  Be confident that you know your form and can do your very best every time.

8.   Use your eyes-  Since forms are pre assigned fight sequences, doesnt it make sense to turn your head and look before moving?  So many times a practitioner will make a turn into a new movement and their head moves at the same time.  Make sure your eyes and head lead your body.  You should look before you move.

9.   Dramatic Pause and -  Hold that kick for a second longer.  This does not work in sparring, and will get you hit, but it definately will work with your form.  Placing a well formed kick is much better than just flicking it out. 

10.  Point of Attack-  Each movement in a form has a purpose, whether it is a punch or block or kick.  Know your pattern well as to where the placement of these movements are directed, ie a punch to the head or body.  It is very important to have your attacks directed to the proper target.  Strikes to the head should be at your head level, body to your body level.  Knowledge of proper targets, and putting your blocks and attacks accordingly, shows your mastery of your form.

Now get out there and practice your form!

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Parents- Help your Child be Bully Free this school year!

Friday, July 24th, 2009

by Michele Borba, Ed.D.

Bullying among our youth is a significant problem–and it is steadily increasing. Many experts fear bullying has become so widespread and common, adults are blinded to its extensive harm. Here are the facts:

  • It is estimated that 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. Source: National Education Association.
  • A survey conducted by the American Association of University Women reported that 85% of girls and 76% of boys have been sexually harassed in some form and only 18% of those incidents were perpetrated by an adults.
    Young bullies carry a one-in-four chance of having a criminal record by age 30. Study by Leonard Eron and Rowell Huesman.
  • American schools harbor approximately 2.1 million bullies and 2.7 million of their victims. Dan Olweus, National School Safety Center.
  • One in seven students is either a bully or victim.
  • 56% of students have personally witnessed some type of bullying at school.
  • 15% of all school absenteeism is directly related to fears of being bullied at school.
  • 71% of students report incidents of bullying as a problem at their school.
  • One out of 20 students has seen a student with a gun at school.
  • Mean behavior among kids is a universal problem. In a poll of 232 kids in kindergarten through 8th grade at a Connecticut elementary school, every child claimed to have been the victim of at least one schoolmate’s or sibling’s meanness in the previous month.

BULLYING MUST BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY. TOO MANY CHILDREN ARE
BEING EMOTIONALLY OR PHYSICALLY INJURED DUE TO MEANNESS.The best way to help children not become victims of bullies is by teaching them bully-proofing skills. Parents Do Make A Difference has simple but powerful strategies that help children learn to assertively and confidently stand up to bullying and teasing.

SOURCES: Education Week: August/September 1997; ERIC Digest 1997; National Center for Education Statistics, 1998 Bureau of Justice Statistics; Time, May 18, 1998

Lindamood’s Taekwondo America teaches children anti-bullying techniques that will help your child gain the confidence to stand up to bullying and teasing.  Anti-bullying is taught as a regular part of our children’s Taekwondo Program.  http://www.lindamoodstkd.com

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10 Ways to improve your forms Part II

Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009

Now we will go into three more ways that will improve your forms for competition or testing:

4.   Sectional Training- Break your form down into sections.  Doing sections of no more than 10 moves will give you the opportunity to work hard on making sure your form looks its best.  This is also a great time to have instructors watch your form as you will be doing the same section more often, giving a greater opportunity for your instructor to find and fix errors or give you improvements.

5.   Understand what you are doing- Forms are pre assigned fight sequences, use them as such.  Dont just think of a simple low block/ reverse punch combo as being just that…instead imaging that you have blocked a low kick and delivered a crushing punch and you are moving on to your next target.  This will improve your focus and make your form look much better to your judges.

6.   Left Hand, Right Hand, No Hand Practice- Begin with your left hand behind your back, in your belt.  Now complete your pattern only concentrating on the movements of the right hand (the free one).  Then switch and perform with your right behind you.  Next, do your form with your feet only, this means you must concentrate just on kicks and stances.  After you have been through this circuit, do your pattern as usual with full intensity…..it will look better.

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10 Ways to improve your forms Part I

Sunday, July 19th, 2009

I will be posting several ways that you can improve your forms.  Forms or Katas are great ways to practice your focus, concentration, and your ability to change direction.

1.   Do your form slowly- Taking your time and going slowly through your form will allow you to examine each step individually to perfect each one.  After you do a move, look at your feet to see if your stances are proper.  I also take each stance about an inch lower to train yourself to have deep stances.  With every technique, have a target in mind; not just putting the punch or kick out there.

2.   Isometric Training-  Take the slow form even farther by adding isometric movements.  Take at least 5 seconds to perform each move.  Do this with full power but very low speed.  This will help with your anaerobic conditioning as well as give you time to perfect each move.

3.   Fast Training-  Go through your form as fast as you possibly can.  This is a test of your muscle memory and can be alot of fun.  If you have stopping points in going quickly, these are the areas you should work on to improve.

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Burn More Fat and Look Great Part II

Thursday, July 16th, 2009

Today I am going to give you more ways to “Burn the fat and look great”

4. Water- Drink lots of water.  Your body is comprised of mostly water.  If you’re body is depleted as low as 2% you will begin to have adverse effects.  Substitute water for sodas.  You will be saving a ton of calories.  If water is boring to you, try adding lemon slices or even drops of peppermint oil (not too much).

5. Eggs- Eating eggs for breakfast will help you out in many ways.  Eggs are an excellent protein source and will help build those new muscles.  Also, research has shown that subjects eatting eggs for breakfast have consumed fewer calories throughout the day and have reduced their overall body fat.  Scramble three whole eggs with three egg whites and low fat turkey bacon and you have a quick breakfast that will help you lose weight.

6.  Eat more often-  If you were to eat 5-6 small meals you keep your body working and you will benefit more than eatting 3 large meals.  Try eatting small meal every 3 hours.  If you cannot fix a full meal, try a protein shake.

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