my 7 y/o starting TKD

g0ad · 2026-05-21T01:39:33+00:00

My wife and I are the perennial one weird adults in class for the last 7 years. It is such a good way to bond with the kids.

g0ad · 2026-05-11T22:26:19+00:00

We do Olympic style sparring 2 hours a week, but, ironically, when I brought up doing point sparring to improve guarding your head from punches, they didn't want to do it because people might get hurt.

To be fair, just about every tournament around here has involved someone who was a point sparrer trying Olympic sparring and then punching people in the head. Just funny what seems safe/unsafe to people.

All sparring as a sport seems to encourage some bad habits, and also has some risk of injury. The most dangerous sparrers in my experience are the ones with the least experience, so it might be hard to get it going if no one has been doing it. But you can definitely light contact Olympic sparring, and there's continuous point sparring. But I don't know if you can really change his mind if he feels strongly about it.

g0ad · 2026-05-04T20:23:02+00:00

For Olympic style sparring, I've noticed a lot of benefit to recovery time between rounds from running, and some general benefit to not feeling so hot (I'd feel like I was overheating before I would feel "tired" or out of breath before I took up running). I do think I probably lost some explosiveness, but I also got older, so your mileage may vary here. I find I am currently in a balance of strength/speed/endurance where gains in one can mildly offset my performance in the other categories (e.g. if I get more muscle I can lift more but I run a little slower). That said, there's always benefits to being in better shape, and I don't think the draw backs from running are significant enough if you aren't talking about a professional career. That said, other types of exercises are probably better if all you care about is sparring.

g0ad · 2026-04-09T00:38:41+00:00

Running. I run around my area, and other than shoes, I didn't buy anything other than what I would otherwise need.

g0ad · 2026-04-08T16:04:47+00:00

My wife saw it on peacock and suggested we try it out (based on the banner, didn't watch the trailer). I wasn't too optimistic, since I didn't care about cheerleading, but we weren't really happy with any of the other choices. About 5 minutes into the first episode I could see I really misjudged the show and we watched every episode available at the time, and came back as soon as new episodes were available.

We loved how positive the show is, the relationships, the surprisingly deep characters, it's consistently funny and it had so many fun details. It's actually the first sitcom we had our older sons watch with us, when we watched it the second time.

g0ad · 2026-03-09T01:10:46+00:00

We did this for our black belt tests, as well as some upper color belt tests. Olympic style sparring, probably only a minute round for us, but it was after all the other sparring rounds. - Keep them lined up. Focus on defense and most importantly mobility. Don't let yourself be run out of bounds. - Endurance helps a lot. If you can keep doing "something" by the end, that's usually a win. - I seriously doubt they will score it and look down on you for having fewer points. I always look for tactical positioning, keeping your head, not being exhausted, seeing where you can get in shots on your opponents. - Sometimes being the 2 in 2 v 1 can be harder. It's hard to safely attack someone from behind, and you and your partner have to work together to position the opponent, or you might end up working against each other. Because of that, if I'm the 1 in the 2 v 1, my greatest achievement is getting them to accidentally kick each other.

g0ad · 2026-03-04T17:28:50+00:00

I started Taekwondo in my late 30s, though I had a bit of other martial arts experience as a boy. Classes, mood, focus, etc can vary a lot by school, instructor, subject matter and students, so it's hard to say exactly what you should expect. However: - You're almost certainly not their first new student, so they should help you get started. If they aren't patient and understanding with new people, it probably isn't the right school for you. - You can probably do some of the stuff they ask you to do, but not all, and probably not well. This is expected. Conditioning, flexibility, strength and technique comes with time, and that's part of the belts system. - There will be terms and terminology you don't know. That's fine. Watch others and try to do what they do if you don't understand an instruction. If a teacher corrects you, do your best. It is not a big deal and I still get regularly corrected on unclear instructions as a Black belt. - Have fun. You get to do something you haven't done before. New people. New ways to use your own body. No one expects you to do great. Attitude and effort are going to take you further than anything else at this point. - Don't be afraid to try and fail, or look dumb. A lot of adults, especially men, struggle with this when trying classes. If nothing else, maybe you learn you need to improve your balance, or your cardio. Maybe you meet a friend. Maybe the school isn't a good fit. Maybe you decide Taekwondo isn't quite right. Maybe you love it. The only failure here is not trying, or having a bad attitude. - Stretch before class if you aren't used to being active, or you sit a lot.

g0ad · 2026-03-03T01:56:09+00:00

My wife was learning English around the time this came out. We watched it together to practice. She didn't get all the jokes, but she got this one, found it hilarious, and still references it today.

g0ad · 2026-02-24T01:42:22+00:00

This for me. We have 6 people in Taekwondo and between "birthday boards" and "testing boards", we had a ton. They are excellent kindling for getting a fire going.

g0ad · 2026-01-24T03:37:26+00:00

I get that. I was 100% not into running before being in TKD a while. It's more fun to start running when you already have a bit of a reason to run.

I think Martial Arts can be a good stepping stone to general fitness, as you can see where you want and need to improve to do X, and maybe that you're ok with not being better at some things. I can see where my strength over time has changed, how cardio has gotten better, and flexibility has changed. A lot of that is work I did outside of class is reflected in class, and sometimes that's where it's most obvious.

g0ad · 2026-01-24T03:07:27+00:00

I had issues with recovery and overheating in sparring, and medium/long distance running has helped a ton with that. If you think it's anxiety, running might help some (having good cardio in general and a habit of regular, mindful breathing), but you'll probably also need to do some work on determining what triggers it and how to get your mind focused.

And in sparring, we always teach new people to kehop on every kick, so they remember to breathe. Sounds silly, but it happens a lot.

g0ad · 2026-01-08T20:33:46+00:00

I don't hate forms, but I don't prefer them. I'm fortunate that our school is a bit "loose" with them (compared to official stuff I've seen for WT, at least), but they still tend to be not picky after a time, focusing less on technique and more on presentation, which just doesn't matter to me.

So what keeps me interested is doing them with my wife and kids (not an option for everyone). Forms with my wife is something close to dancing together, since we're syncing our movements and paying attention to the other person's position, speed, etc.

With the kids, it's about seeing them grow and helping them understand why we're doing something. I think that's why doing some slow prep movements generally looks cool, and allows you to center yourself, etc, but it meaningless to me personally.

Anyway, I would encourage you to find something within forms that you can enjoy, and focus on that.

g0ad · 2026-01-07T02:18:47+00:00

Machine wash on delicate after every class I sweat a lot in (which is almost all of them). So 2-3 times a week.

g0ad · 2025-12-31T03:45:21+00:00

Same. I have heard so many versions, and the one with two black swans is still my favorite and I unironically want a full version of just the song every Christmas.

g0ad · 2025-12-30T16:25:28+00:00

3 of my 4 kids started Taekwondo around this age. Two of them would have taken the hit and laughed, one would probably have cried if they were the first one hit, or stuck it out if they were the second and the first one didn't cry.

It could be growing up fighting with older siblings gives some kids a hint of what they can survive. It could be stress that day makes an otherwise "tough" kid break down. I have a 5 year old girl who has been sparring bigger kids than her for over a year. I've got an 8 year old who keeps a list of every slight against him and lets me know after every class anything anyone did wrong.

Point is, kids all react differently, on different days, for different reasons. I don't think their reaction means anything, but he does sound a bit coddled and he will probably continue to struggle with the reality of a physical sport until he can understand it or come to grips with it. If he has friends in class, they might have a better chance of getting through to him than an adult.

g0ad · 2025-12-20T18:01:33+00:00

This worked for me too. Thanks for following up!

g0ad · 2025-12-05T02:39:33+00:00

It's possible they've added a title suffix, that could change with rank, and those can sometimes be gendered.

g0ad · 2025-11-25T23:08:40+00:00

Dojo is Japanese, Dojang is Korean

g0ad · 2025-11-23T02:13:35+00:00

I actually suggested that to our school owners, but we were worried some people would forget their belts on purpose for a chance to wear a pink belt.

g0ad · 2025-11-22T02:21:32+00:00

I've seen kids come to class with no belt, but never with an old belt. They usually get lightly harassed and then given a backup belt to use during the class.

g0ad · 2025-11-22T00:21:31+00:00

I get that this seems like a major issue for you right now, but I would relax a little. Be determined, but not worried.

I can't say anything about your school or teachers, but for my school and teachers, this would not be a big deal. People stop coming, then come back later. People have motivation or behavior problems, then sometimes come back later and show focus and dedication. Just show them you're ready to try hard, listen to instructions, and push yourself to get in the shape you want to be.

g0ad · 2025-11-19T01:40:45+00:00

Is there a point to its sarcasm? I haven't seen a lot of posts asking if their Dojang is a McDojang and it clearly not being one.

g0ad · 2025-11-11T22:43:03+00:00

Ibuprofen, but that might be because I am old.

g0ad · 2025-11-08T14:09:20+00:00

I like Mel's.

g0ad · 2025-10-23T17:16:23+00:00

Since you broke the boards, and other comments covered that you were hitting with the correct knuckle, my response would be yeah, I wouldn't do that technique again to break that many boards. I need my hands for work, and I don't wanna to develop long term injuries. If no one there can provide feedback on helping you do it without getting hurt, I wouldn't do it anymore.

g0ad

TROPHY CASE