CAN I DO TAEKWON DO?

Yes you can! 

Taekwon-Do is suitable for men, women and children of all levels of fitness. If you visit our club you will see people of both sexes from different generations training together. It is wonderful to see the amount of parents and their children that take up martial arts at our club learning, bonding and growing together.

As a regular member of our club you will gain:

• A greater sense of wellbeing

• Improved energy levels

• Physical fitness

• Weight loss

• Coordination and balance

• Flexibility

• Improved confidence and self-esteem

• Stress relief & resilience

• Escapism

• Effective self-defence techniques (an essential life skill in today’s society)

Taekwon Do will help you feel more self-confident and have a stronger mental attitude and is what sets it apart from many other types of activity. Our fun, challenging and supportive classes along with the progressive grading system helps our students to stay motivated and enable advancement and improvement.

In addition to the excellent personal skills that our students develop, our students also learn conflict resolution techniques to be able to not have an incident escalate in to a physical situation, however if it does they know how to effectively protect and defend themselves in the event they are caught in this unfortunate situation.

Children’s Class

We have a specific children class for ages 8 to 11 years old running along side our juniors and adult class so families can all train at the same time reducing disruption. These classes will teach young members quality martial arts in a fun engaging environment.

The first advantage of joining our club is the respect and self-discipline it teaches the children. Learning Taekwon Do at a young age will help them to develop excellent life skills, improving personal standards and habits, respect and self-discipline. 

We all like to think that our children are well behaved but it easy to come under the wrong influences in life and our classes are an excellent way to counteract this. This class is ideal for kids requiring “personal life skills” including self-discipline, confidence, goal setting and respect. Our classes are a great way for your child to release extra energy in a safe, fun and constructive way.

As well as learning to defend themselves in a controlled safe environment, your child will benefit from our professional attitude and positive role models. Let us assist you in preparing your child for real life.

Children achieve:

• Improved attitude and personal standards

• Improved moral code, respect and integrity

• Improve self-confidence

• Learn effective self-defence skills

YES IT IS

Taekwon Do is suitable for all ages, both men and women and children, we have members from 8 to 63 years old.  Due to its progressive nature and grading system you get fitter as you progress, so you don't have to be fit to start.

First and foremost, you probably want to learn self-defence, to feel more confident as you walk down the street and in the unfortunate instance where you might have to use it that you are able to defend yourself effectively– people study martial arts for a variety of other reasons as well and Taekwon Do caters for all these:

• To get fitter

• Meet new people

• Stress relief

• Escapism

• Gain confidence

• Undertake a new hobby or skill

• Improve attitude and personal standards

• Improved moral code, respect and integrity

• Have fun learning a new skill

WHAT STYLE?

The main difference between most martial arts style is focus. ITF Taekwon-Do has a focus on kicking and striking movements as well as release techniques and takedowns and is very relevant to the modern self-defence challenges, while others like Kendo and kung fu focus on a particular weapons and are more of an artistic form rather than an effective self-defence system. 

Each martial art is also on a scale of formality to informality. Formality is a measure of emphasis on things like training etiquette, ceremony, style of dress, method of addressing seniors etc. Many Korean styles such as Taekwon Do are more formal. On the far end of the informal scale you might have a kickboxing class at a local gym.

We feel our more formal style will build character and shape a strong state of mind, develop self-discipline and improved personal standards that carries over into day to day life. 

The following is a list of styles, there are many variations on the following, but this is meant as a guide to make you aware of the diversity of the martial arts:

• ITF TaeKwon-Do (Taught at Warwick & Leamington TKD)

• WTF TaeKwondo (a sport derivative)

• Kendo / Kumdo

• Aikido

• Karate

• Jujutsu

• Kung Fu

• Silat

• Ninjutsu

• Tai Chi / Bagua / Hsing-yi

• Arnis / Kali / Escima

• Capoeira

• Kickboxing

• Boxing

• Krav Maga

CHOOSING A SCHOOL

The following are a list of things you should look for when choosing a school or instructor:

• When you call the school, are all your questions answered, and answered honestly? Sometimes someone will answer the phone that may not be able to answer all your questions. They should pass you on to someone who can or have someone call you back.

• Every school out there should offer a free trial class before you sign up. How else can you determine if you want to study there! We do offer a free introductory class.

• When you visit the school, is the practice safe, or are students allowed to train in dangerous ways or without proper supervision? We have numerous highly proficient Instructors at every class.

• Do students and teachers show respect toward everyone? This extends beyond formal bowing and address to making sure everyone is learning and nobody is being abused. Respect in class and discipline is ingrained in to our students from the start, it is the foundation of our ethos.

• Be prepared that many schools these days require a contract like a health club. Make sure you are clear on the terms of the contract if you do decide to sign one, and do not be afraid to walk out if you are uncomfortable with the terms.  We do not have any such contract.

• Be very wary of cult-like schools that try to up-sell you to intensified black belt programs and the like. While some of these may be legitimate, there are many scam artists and fake black belts out there. You should be very clear about what you are paying for up front.

• Are the Instructors experienced, do the instructors and senior students display a lot of skill in the art they are teaching? This may be hard to determine since great martial artists are often very subtle. However, the teacher and students should display knowledge and skill, which might be more obvious, not all black belts are equal!! Please take a look at our Instructor profiles which demonstrates the vast experience at our club.

• Most importantly, trust your instincts. If something about the school doesn’t sit right with you, then it probably isn’t right. Look out for the fast talking salesman who tries to sweep your concerns under the rug.

If you choose a school that you enjoy, you study with a teacher you like, and train with students that inspire you – you are likely to stick with your martial art. The longer you stick with it – the better you’ll get. Hopefully you will discover a very positive lifelong journey.

If you still choose our club after reading the above and after your research, we very much look forward to meeting you and hopefully assisting you in your aspirations and your journey to a converted Black Belt.

SELF DEFENCE

Many styles of martial arts are practiced for self-defence while some are primarily combat sports or just an art form, the issue is that a number of these arts are not effective and fit for use when it comes to having to utilise them in a confrontation situation!  

At our clubs we take the self-defence element very seriously as this is generally the primary reason for a student taking up the art, this is our raison d'etre.

To provide more practical self-defence, we use a combination of highly effective martial arts techniques to give our students the best skill sets available to be able to protect themselves and enable them to walk the streets with confidence. We utilise a combination of techniques centred around a Taekwon Do foundation.

We feel that this will give our students the very best self-defence tool box for the street if you are unfortunate enough to have to use them.  This would involve techniques such as striking and kicking techniques, joint locks, releases, take down and throwing techniques, defence against knife, machete and bottle attacks. With knife attacks being far more prevalent these days and in the news all too often we have experienced instructors teaching a highly effective tried and tested system of defence for this type of attack, this is not true of many of our competitor arts and clubs.

The Instructors at our clubs have many years of experience in the martial arts and bring real life experience of what is required to protect yourself, this is one of the elements that sets us apart from many other clubs. Please take a look at our instructor profiles.

SAFETY

By fundamental nature, martial arts are contact sports. Due to their inherent dangers, martial arts should be practiced with care and responsibility, following proper guidelines and ensuring a safe environment.

We aim to make our training and environment as safe as we can.  We do this by only having the best people teaching the classes who are fully qualified with many years of experience.  As well as practicing safe technique with a high level of supervision, we also ensure that when sparring that all students wear full safety equipment including head guards to minimise as much risk as possible, we also don't tolerate any bullying or aggressive behaviour. We also invest in the training location by training in quality locations such as leisure centres and community centres.

PHYSICAL PREPARATION

For a normal healthy person there should be no reason why you can’t take up Taekwon Do with no issues at all.  

As with any sport, it is highly recommended to consult with a physician before beginning participation if you have a clinical condition. Some conditions may be prohibitive or require a certain degree of management prior to training.

We ask every new student to complete a PARQ (physical activity readiness questionnaire) which will act to screen any potential risks, our Instructors are also trained in first aid should an accident occur.

1. YOU’RE MORE LIKELY TO LIVE A LONG AND HEALTHY LIFE: Regular exercise reduces the risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. It also reduces the risk of having a stroke. In one eight year study of more than 20,000 men, those who were lean but unfit had twice the risk of death as those who were lean and fit.

2. YOU’LL HAVE MORE ENERGY, STRENGTH AND STAMINA: People who complain that they don’t have enough energy to exercise fail to realize that working out gives you energy. In one study, middle-aged women who lifted weights for a year became 27% more active in daily life than before they started lifting weights. Regular exercise also increases your strength and stamina, allowing you to better handle common activities such as carrying a heavy bag of groceries or climbing a flight of stairs.

3. YOU’LL KEEP EXCESS BODY FAT OFF: If you try and lose weight simply by dieting, you’ll lose some muscle along with any body fat you lose and you’ll slow down your metabolism. If your weight loss program includes exercise, you’ll lose body fat without losing muscle and without slowing down your metabolism. If you’re currently at a healthy weight, regular exercise will help you avoid putting on excess body fat in the future.

4. YOU’LL KEEP YOUR BONES STRONG: Both men and women start losing bone mass around age 35. Impact exercise can not only stop the loss of bone mass, but in some cases it can even reverse it. This drastically reduces the risk of osteoporosis. 

5. YOU’LL PREVENT OR REDUCE LOW BACK PAIN: Strengthening your abdominal and lower back muscles can help prevent low back pain, and it can also reduce discomfort if you already suffer from this pain. In one study, 35 of 38 people who had been recommended for back surgery were able to avoid surgery by following an aggressive strengthening program.

6. YOU’LL GET SICK LESS OFTEN: Exercise has been proven to strengthen the immune system.

7. YOU’LL SLEEP BETTER: People who exercise regularly fall asleep faster, have a deeper sleep and wake up less often during the night than people who are sedentary.

8. YOU’LL KEEP YOUR MIND SHARP: Multiple studies have confirmed that regular exercise is one of the best things you can do for your mind. Regular exercise improves brain function, which helps prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

9. YOU’LL IMPROVE YOUR MOOD: A large amount of research shows that you have a better sense of well-being following a workout. Thanks to chemicals released in the brain during exercise, feelings of depression, anxiety, stress and anger are diminished during a workout.

10. YOU’LL ENJOY LIFE MORE: Life is much more enjoyable when you’re fit and healthy. You look and feel good and you’re more productive in everything you do.

Why is physical fitness important? Because many of the problems commonly associated with aging are often the result of a sedentary lifestyle and can be minimized or prevented by improving your physical fitness.