Grandmaster Hwang said there should be no unnecessary movements

Facing needs improvement. In particular, Grandmaster Hwang said to make sure half face is a real half face

Grandmaster Hwang said that continuance motion is connected motion - it means doing 2 exercises with one sine wave and one breath

Grandmaster Hwang reminded to double step when doing pattern in small areas / crowded room

Grandmaster Hwang said that before TKD was created there was no turning kick. He said there were other martial arts - but none had turning kick or side kick.

Sitting stance -- feet should be straight / knees open

Sine wave -- very frequent issue

body goes down at impact, not before

Use weight with gravity

Being lost during turns

Foot should barely be above ground when in motion

Grandmaster Hwang said when learn sivewave the rest will be better

Shows weaknesses

Sitting Stance Punch

Use of shoulder muscle slows blow

Power comes from abdomen, not shoulder

Relax before and after blow

Hand at waist

Last minute tighten abdomen

Sine wave down with the punch

Timing matters

Fluid motion

Stay down after blow

Punches

Hand goes to waist

Stop before shoulder muscle is used

Twin Forearm Block

Height of blocks

Weight should be in back / not lean foreward

sine wave

Rising Block

Waist / hips not involved

Blow catches up with sine wave at the last minute

Low / rising combo

Low ½ face

Rising full face

Knife hand strike - half face

Outer forearm block

sine wave

Half face / full face / half

Spear hand twist breaks the grip of an attacker

Kick double punch

Kick, regular punch, fast punch

Fast punch - Up/down

Punch stops at shoulder -

shoulder doesn’t move

Twin forearm strike combo

Hip doesn’t move

Leg moves to same position

Vertical stance - heels 1 fist apart

Yul-Gok - the beginning move of extending the fist is a distance check - not a punch

Should be no leaning

bending ready stance A the toes should be up

When jumping both feet should be pointed at the target diagonal / 45 degrees -

watch sine wave and facing

Toi-Gye - watch foot and hand timing - foot and hand need to go at different speeds to complete the techniques at the same time, hand travels further - must move faster

L is half face

Hwa Rang first moves / punches are not fast motion - don’t connect them

Choong Moo - focus on the turning kick and the jumps - rest should already be known

Turning kick - be sure to strike with the ball of the foot / pull toes back

Jumping - use hips

On the spin / jump you should pull both feet in before jumping

Kwang Gae - punch should be a high section punch

Po-Eun - should have bigger arm movements

Gae-Baek - when look through hands (double arc hand?) hips should still be straight. This is a block from a flying side kick -

Grandmaster Hwang had someone (Adam McMahon?) take a picture to be sure hip position clearly known

Should be reverse half face

Jump should be jumping not flying

Jump is up / fly is distance



Some of Grandmaster Hwang’s comments on Saturday, September 25th, 2010

at Black Belt Testing

Grandmaster Hwang said it is important to know why General Choi was imprisoned - and where.

The General had been studying at a college in Tokyo, Japan - meaning he was very smart.

The Japanese, who had occupied Korea, drafted Choi into their Army. Choi was against this draft / their occupation of Korea and formed a group with other students to rebel. This group, the Korean Independence Alliance (?) were not officers - just regular soldiers.

When the Japanese were aware they did something, Choi was arrested.

Because Choi was in Japan and a (drafted) Japanese soldier he was tried before a Japanese military court. He was court marshaled and sent to a Japanese military prison.

While in prison he did work on the tuls that would become TKD - practicing in his small cell.

Though the narrative by Grandmaster Hwang which is in the Black Belt manual discusses General Choi training others while in prison; today, Grandmaster Hwang said that Choi was not really teaching - he worked primarily alone, doing the patterns in his cell.

Grandmaster Hwang said it is important to realize that Choi was released on August 15(?) 1945 - just two days after the Japanese surrender.

It was another 10 years before the patterns became TKD.

Grandmaster Hwang said that it is important that General Choi created TKD, but even more important was / is the fact that he taught it throughout the world. He created rules, or laws, to be followed -- making TKD an art that can be taught the same throughout the world.. This is unlike other martial arts, in which teachers frequently change / modify the material. Choi wanted set rules - to make TKD a consistent / unified martial art. In his life, General Choi created the art, and spread it -- directly teaching in many countries and putting all down in writing. General Choi gave us the official 24 patterns, and “made TKD the Art of Self Defense” (the book title.)

Tim