5th dan in wtf. A lot of people seem to find patterns boring, but I think they're vital. It irons out a lot of issues with stances and posture that you can get away with otherwise and feed into bad technique. I enjoy them these days, they put me in a good state of mind and are one of the few things I can fully focus on. The internet has turned my brain into a grasshopper in most other activities ;D

ive done both ITF and WTF tkd. i got 5th gup in WTF and first dan in ITF.

, a lot of tkd clubs do not allow cross training. they beleive that tkD is the only way and that is all you should do. one of the reasons i stopped going.

That's too bad. At the gym I train at, we are encouraged to take on other forms of training to better ourselves. Before I had my son (read: I had more time to train) I also trained in boxing and was learning a little bit of grappling.

I'd avoid like the plague any club that claims their martial art is the only one worth doing. All the martial arts are different and you can learn something from all styles, but you'll learn less from a club with that narrow a view.

The WTF is better / worse than ITF argument is stupid. They're different, WTF obviously has a more amusing name, but other than that it's really down to the club and instructor, more than what they call their style. You get inspirational teachers with good clubs and terrible teachers with terrible clubs in every style of every martial art.

Another common stupidity is 'oh but $martial art is just a sport, mine is the real deal'. No it isn't. You don't have to fight for survival, people don't regularly try to kill you, you go to a class with friends and practice. Even if you practice really hard it's still a sport. If you get proficient in any martial art you can use it effectively in a real fight situation, but it's still a (useful, awesome) sport.

Taekwondo here. I did Judo for about two semesters (~8 months), but found it boring. I've done Taekwondo for 10 years now. First degree black belt because I'm a poor doctorate student that doesn't have close to a grand to test any higher lol. I teach at and manage the university taekwondo club, and though it's a huge time commitment, I'm not paid, and I don't receive much support from the club to which we are an affiliate, I still enjoy doing it very much.

Oh and amen to this!: "I'd avoid like the plague any club that claims their martial art is the only one worth doing. All the martial arts are different and you can learn something from all styles, but you'll learn less from a club with that narrow a view."

Judo Ikkyu (3 stripe brown), hopefully do a Batsugun tournament this year and do well enough to earn my black belt. My sensei moved away and I live in a small college town, so no instruction At least BJJ is ubiquitous now and I can improve my matwork and compete in that.

Sucks you can't find a Judo place either man. I will be in love with Judo my whole life, so incredibly beautiful and brutal at the same time. Even after I snapped my ACL in Randori all I cared about was how long before I could come back.

It seems like BJJ is everywhere man, isn't there a good place near you?

Taken TKD for going on 7 years. 2nd degree black belt. We practice WTF and ITF forms. Love it.

I am grading for red belt in WTF tkd this Sunday.

I hate forms too, I like sparring although the sparring class runs too early for people with office jobs in the city to get to, which is annoying.

Part of my Shodan testing is going to be a form (Kata). We don't really start any kata in Judo until the black belt level. Even then, there are only 10 total katas and most Judoka won't perform more than 2 or 3 of them in their lifetime. All of our Katas are 2 person and involve attacks of genuine strength and speed that have to be dealt with with no discernible effort. The Katame No Kata is ground pinning and it's the partners duty to struggle and try to escape with all of their strength.

I never thought I would like doing a Kata, but forcing yourself to do the throw with absolute precision, timing, and lack of effort really is educational.

Doing a wrestling class this Sunday (normally just BJJ 2x weekly now), really looking forward to learning my No Gi standup grappling so I can make better use of my Judo.

jenmck5- thanks!

I got a distinction and distinction in my class work too, so I was very happy. I was slightly concerned as I had a Korean guy grading me (so I thought he might be extra hard) and my partner was my sister-in-law who was out partying until 2am and was not at her best. But it was all good.

For our colour belt gradings we have to demonstrate the relevant pattern, relevant kicks (this time it was running axe and back foot), two punching drills, self defence- specific defences for club, knife, lapel and ground (sometimes gun- we learnt it but they didn't test it this time), sparring and step sparring showing off any blocks, strikes, kicks, take downs and locks. It took about an hour and a half.

It cost $70 to grade, but I think that is acceptable. My school is very big and has 4 locations, so they hire a big venue for gradings. They have one examiner for every 8 students, first aid etc. Probably about 120 adults/teens graded at the same time as me. They have separate gradings for the kids and black belts.