Positive Reinforcement Psychology Used To Lie To Dumb Foreigners About Their Taekwondo High Master Skills

Positive Reinforcement Psychology Used To Lie To Dumb Foreigners About Their Taekwondo High Master Skills

        People do alot of weird things in martial arts and Taekwondo has a lot. Some people do weird promotion testings with overly sentimental nonsense to act like something people are doing is profound and spiritual and just so….deep….so amazing! The following is part 1 in a series of videos showing a promotion test of some ITF off shoot group in Iowa.

I think that it is obvious that when a person thinks about 8th or 9th degree GRANDMASTERS of Taekwondo that their skill is impressive, amazing, and deadly. After all it would mean they have trained in Taekwondo their ENTIRE lives and have had probably 30 or more years of training. One would HAVE to be good right? WRONG!

Apparently, these guys are now 8th and 9th degree black belts. Don’t give me any bullcrap that their age is a factor in why they are not clean or accurate in movements. Yes people get old and have arthritis but many old men who have high ranks in martial arts can still move really good and do poomsae well. Not only poomsae but break boards well too and even fight. I think their instructor failed them and collected a lot of promotion testing fees this day.

They arrive in the back of a freaking pickup truck all close together like a real brotherhood! Positive psychology technique! Then they get out to a huge applause to so many people. Then get to bestow the virtues of Taekwondo and their amazing training and how Taekwondo saved their souls basically…then there is the weird performance of tul and some bastardied versions of Pal Gwe and WTF black belt poomsae mixed in.

There are about 5 parts to the video and the above is just part 1. The end of this video has such a silly thing, COUPLES POOMSAE! Yes a married couple created a romantic poomsae and get to perform it like a dance. And yes everyone there took it seriously and fawned at how cute and wonderful and meaningful it was.

In other parts of the series of videos you seem board breaking mess ups with guys trying things that are too hard for them only having to resort to easier techniques.

This is NOT the Taekwondo I teach or expect to be taught to people and I would never want to receive a high rank from anyone if I moved like them. Nothing in these videos looks crisp, beautiful, or interesting. It looks like a large mess of spazzing bodies too close in proximity to teach other. The sparring was also no touch contact and looked like nobody was even trying and being lazy.

I bet some old kwon group member will try to sculd me for stating what is observably obvious to anyone watching this promotion test on youtube and how I am not a real master because I criticize someone or ask questions. I don’t really care anymore. I don’t need to suck up to people who’s only claim of importance are political connections or a knowledge of General Choi history. What is interesting is in the last part there are some speeches and you can see that Vitale guy, the white guy who is an ITF and General Choi apologist and North Korean sympathizer who writes Taekwondo Times magazines showing his approval by being on the judges board of this testing.

The graduation ceremony was weird too with excessive deep bowing over and over and wearing some kind of hanbok flowing robes.

I think the grandmaster loves making foreigners bow to him a lot. I bet they had to pay for their Korean robes and they probably cost a lot and he made a huge profit.

Nowhere in Korea do people do this when earning dan ranks. It is a bit strange. This is so awkward and cringeworthy. The American’s clumsily go through the ceremony unsure of what the Korean grandmaster wants them to do. And then a silly oath is taken. “We are the highest levels of Taekwondo…” this seems cultlike, promising to attend class etc. Then they give personal accounts through small speeches about the virues of master Jung and Taekwondo and how he saved them. I think these people do not have much experience training outside this one dojang their entire lives. Being a black belt and 9th dan black belt is super important and serious.

What do you think of this? Do you find it weird or cringy? Or are you offended by this article? Discuss below!

When Will The MMA Community Get It? It Is Time To Start Hiring Taekwondo Striking Coaches At Your Gyms!

When Will The MMA Community Get It? It Is Time To Start Hiring Taekwondo Striking Coaches At Your Gyms!

        The last UFC Fight Night showed a one sided beatdown of MMA legend BJ Penn who is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu prodigy. In this case, Taekwondo actually defeated Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. Hard to believe I know! Many probably won’t admit it. BJ Penn could not keep on him or do anything but get hit and evaded.

Rodriguez threw a variety of kicks including a tornado round kick that bashed BJ pretty hard even though he had his arm blocking his face you could tell it still hurt. The video doe snot show the full fight, but even a hopping side kick was thrown that connected.

It is about time that the MMA community stops being biased towards Taekwondo and stops the nonsense claims that it doesn’t work when it clearly does. It is time to start giving jobs to Taekwondo masters and coaches who know the Taekwondo striking game very well and ca benefit your gyms. It is ridiculous not to. A Taekwondo striking coach deserves full respect and should be teaching fighters along side Muay Thai coaches and Boxing coaches. There is no excuse not to. Taekwondo should be equally respected as a serious skillset to teach fighters for MMA and self defense. There are going to be more beat downs like this over time and have been in the past. Taekwondo is dynamic and offers so many angles and ranges of kicking that Muay Thai does not. Taekwondo people have a new mind and idea to teach your fighters new techniques.

Stop the biased hatred of Taekwondo and start being open minded. MMA has progressed beyond telegraphed heavy kicks and boxing.