Hello Guys, So after nearly 12 months of being away from TKD after failing one of my dan gradings I have decided to go and start again from the beginning at Shotokan Karate, I am excited and I am looking forward to a new challenge after being stuck in a rut for so long. Also I feel a great relief getting TKD out of my life, it ended up being not very enjoyable due to a few issues. I hope to keep posting my journey in Karate. Regards.
Punching ... I kid, good luck in your journey but I would say to try a couple of different styles of karate, now is the perfect time if you are set on moving
Enjoyment and fun, I have been twice now and I really enjoyed it. I did not say that TKD failed to provide anything, it ended up being more of a chore than anything else if that makes sense, trust me I attended for a lot of years and things do change sometimes for the worse.
he he, thank you. Stances are a little different and where the power comes from is different etc etc. The one I have found seems to be perfect. It's amazing having to be at the back of the class again as a beginner, feels weird but it's a fantastic new challenge.
I would also encourage adding an art grappling art such as judo, sambo, bjj or wrestling at this point to liven up your overall experience especially in competition. This will make you more well rounded. I went this route after getting my first dan (judo for me). Most tkd is based on shotokan so overall experiences and knowledge base will be the same and may lead to the same frustration without a totally fresh perspective.
Well that's me a month in and really enjoying it. I find the kata's very good comparing to the early TKD patterns (not meaning anything bad by this), but there are some advanced movements in the early kata's which you do not really see until maybe red belt in TKD and some moves in Black Belt. Anyway I am loving it and trying to plant my stances and get rid of the sine wave, which is grrrrrrr the hardest thing to stop!
It's funny. When I first started reading this, I was thinking "Shotokan and taekwondo really weren't that different, in my experience." But I did taekwondo ages ago, pre sine-wave (or at least pre-my awareness of sine wave, WTF, Olympic taekwondo, etc.). To me, the two were ONLY distinguishable based on the ratio of foot to hand techniques used.
They are not really that different in hand and foot techniques but stances seem a little different, they are lower in Karate and in particular the front stance is lower and your front knee is bent more over your front foot if that makes sense, this makes the stance more "planted" than the TKD walking stance. Also the backward movement in TKD does not apply in the karate I am studying, it's more of a push/pull effect with the hand movements, hard to describe really, so that is another habit I need to get rid of, I will get there though. I was ITF TKD I practised before by the way.
I was ITF as well. But, back in the 80s, it resembled Shotokan a lot more than I think it does now. The stance work, etc. There was no "walking stance" in my taekwondo, for instance. The front stance was as deep as anything I did in Shotokan. The rule was to bend the lead knee enough that it obscures your lead foot. (No easy matter when you wear a size 14, I might add.)
Walking stance is front stance really. Early ITF TKD is very similar to Shotokan (what I do is 1983 TKD essentially) but the hip movement is different I believe. In TKD, when performing a left low block for example, I'd snap my hips anti-clockwise. I believe shotokan would move them clockwise. Tsk, our country cousins.... Mitch
Yes I have noticed the hip movement too is different, also when performing the block in Karate you are more or less side on yet in TKD you are 45 degrees, apparently it is about your opponent not seeing your attacking hand in Karate?
But a very abbreviated one, if I remember correctly from my friend's dojang. Yeah? '83 is actually the year I started taekwondo, as it happens. You know, now that you say that... that's right. I'd forgotten that detail. My time in Shotokan was brief and ages ago. But yeah, I do vaguely remember that now that you've said it. Okay, so not identical. But more similar, certainly, than today's Shotokan and taekwondo.
I think the ITF stance is certainly closer than the WTF variant, it should be one and a half shoulder widths between a line across the toes of the front foot and another across the toes of the back foot, but you're right, it's not as deep as the Shotokan variant. Certainly the differences between TKD and Shotokan were fewer then, IMO. Mitch
Well I am still training in Karate and still loving it, grading coming up soon and I now have my Hirota Pinack and wow what a Gi to have. It cost a lot of money and is hand made in Japan. Seems very strange putting on a white belt again for the first time in 18 years after being a Black belt for 7 (I have been training in a t-shirt and TKD trousers until the Gi arrived). But soon it will be changing colour, I hope!!!
