All classes at Saltire Tae Kwon-Do Schools are structured so they can easily be taught to a beginner student through to a more advanced practitioner. Using correct warm up and cool down activities the techniques of Tae Kwon-Do can be practised effectively and safely, without fear of injury.
Our Sessions are adapted every lesson, "so no class is ever the same", making it enjoyable and fun for everyone regardless of age or ability. Fundamental drills are performed relating to the grade of the student, meaning all skill levels can work together.
White belts warm - up in Junior/Family Class
Plyometric's (developing power, acceleration and jump height) is used in the training of many different sports and is very important in most dynamic martial arts styles. This type of fitness training improves the ability to accelerate of the mark, jump to gain height or distance and move with power. It is also an excellent fat burner as it increases the heart rate, using short bursts that can actually have a longer fat burning effect after exercising, than some longer aerobic training methods.
Fundamental Exercises
Once the general & specific warm-up is over the different areas of Tae Kwon-Do can begin. Fundamental exercises break down the vast amount of blocks, strikes, punching, thrusts and kicking techniques, so the student can practice them to build up their foundation of Tae Kwon-Do techniques.
Tigger Tots Tiger Cubs Junior/Family
This section describes the different stages of a typical 1-2 hour class, including an overview of some of the main areas of Tae Kwon-Do. The stages between warm-up and cool-downs will vary.
Warm up
The purpose of the warm up is to raise body temperature including, of course, muscle temperature. It also prepares you for more strenuous exercise by speeding up your heart rate and increasing your metabolic rate so that energy is released faster.
Janine & Katherine Gala Demo - Kick for Kick
13-17's Inverurie Inverurie
An active warm up will divert some of your blood supply to the active muscles so that fuel and oxygen can be delivered more rapidly to them. It will reduce any unnecessary stress being placed on your heart and make muscles more flexible, exactly what will be required for the kicking and punching techniques that are to follow.
It will also prepare you mentally for the exercise to follow, increasing alertness and speeding up the nerve impulses to your muscles and the speed at which messages are delivered to the muscles from the brain.
It is particularly important for those new to exercise and Tae Kwon-Do that the warm up exercises and fitness training are set at the correct levels. This will ensure the students level of fitness can develop and will increase their enjoyment.
Fitness Training
In the first section of the class, fitness training will be incorporated into the warm up. Once the body is warm enough after the general warm up, specific exercises will be introduced to increase the students cardiovascular endurance (needed in maintaining a healthy heart), agility, balance, flexibility & muscular strength & power.
The Candlestick
A variety of resistance exercises will be included using the students own body weight. This will increase lean muscle tone and improve the practitioner's power when performing kicking and punching drills.
Plyometric Press-up's
Through practice of these movements the student can then begin to perform them correctly within patterns and sparring. As the beginning student starts with the basic foundation and learns more techniques, they can progress through the ranking system from white belt to black belt.
Pad Work
This is where training aids such as focus pads, kick dummies, padded air-shields and punch bags can be used. This is a fun and effective way to practice the Tae Kwon-Do kicks and punches the student has been learning on an actual target. It develops great focus and timing, as well as improving power and fitness levels.
It is usually performed with a partner, so the students can develop their Tae Kwon-Do skills together. As their abilities improve, more new and exciting combinations can be threaded together. The use of pad work allows the student to practice combinations that can then be applied in sparring or self-defence situations.
As sparring is semi to light contact it also allows the practitioner to use full power on the heavier pads. This will ensure the techniques are working and being performed correctly for the use of self-defence.
Sparring
Sparring is the physical application of attack and defence techniques gained from Pattern and Fundamental Exercises against an actual moving opponent. It is indispensable in promoting the fighting spirit needed to read the opponents tactics and manoeuvres and develops the students own skill in attacking and blocking.
There are a variety of different levels of sparring dependant on the students grade and level of progression. The beginning student will learn pre-arranged sparring to familiarise themselves with using the correct attack and defensive techniques with a partner. Again, the students progression and level will determine the type of pre-arranged sparring they practice.
The next step up is semi-free sparring, which allows a bit more freedom of techniques, but still follows some pre-arranged protocol. Once this has been mastered and the students skill level and control of techniques has been achieved, free sparring can be practiced. This involves light continuous sparring between students trying to score from kicking and punching combinations they have practiced.
Patterns
Patterns are various fundamental movements, most of which represent either attack or defence techniques, set to a fixed and logical sequence. The student systematically deals with several imaginary opponents under various assumptions, using every available attacking and blocking tool from different directions. Pattern practice enables student's to go through many fundamental movements in series, developing sparring techniques, mastering body shifting and breath control, as well as developing smooth and fluid movements.
Stretching
At the end of a training session and outwith classes is usually the best time to develop flexibility. Developmental stretches are very different from the active stretches used during the specific warm-up. These stretches require slow sustained movements,which gradually place the muscle into a lengthened position. They tend to be passive stretches, involving the use of an external force such as gravity, objects (such as stretching machines or pullies) or a partner. PNF (proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation) is commonly utilised to increase flexibilty.
From following the structured training given at the Saltire Tae Kwon-Do Schools and the regular practice of this type of stretching, the student will see increased flexibilty and achieve a better range of movement.
It is a common myth that flexibility is inborn, like all other fitness levels, it can be brought to high levels by anybody and at anytime in one's life, through the student simply applying themselves and following a regular stretching programme.
Power Test
Power tests are used to demonstrate an advanced students skill in delivering certain Tae Kwon-Do techniques. Re-breakable special boards are usually used when the student is ready to try out the power he or she has gained from their practice of Tae Kwon-Do.
Special forging and strengthening exercises will have been taught and practiced regularly before the student can progress to this area of the martial art. These exercises will also develop the human body parts into "human weapons" for use in self-defence situations.
Breaking is also very popular in demonstrations using a variety of different materials from pieces of wood through to household bricks and tiles.
