What makes a good black belt? What makes a bad black belt? In sum, what does it mean to be a black belt? Well, I’ll tell you for certain what black belt is not. A black belt is not a black piece of cloth around someone’s waist. Anyone can find those on Amazon and buy…

It is a common stereotype, and quite cliché, that martial artists meditate. Despite that irritating cliche, it is true. Many martial artists meditate. But why? Reason 1: Stress Reduction Let’s be real; life is stressful! This is as true for martial artists as it is for you. To cope with this, I’ve met many a…

So you just went through your first belt test, broke your first board, and got your first certificate. On your certificate it has a number and the word “Gup” on it. What does that mean? One of the things that makes Tae Kwon Do so unique is that it has formal organizations and systems that…

Yep, that’s right. We wrote a list of random FAQ questions that we receive all the time. We remember when we were earlier in our training and one of us kept asking our instructors questions. So many questions. (To their credit, the instructors answered all of them.) Here are some of the ones he asked!…

So, you’ve read some of the articles on what a good instructor is. Anyone who has been in taekwondo long enough knows that not every instructor is amazing. Now you want to know: what is a bad instructor? How do you know? Here are the 5 most harmful flaws I’ve seen in martial arts instructors!No…

If you’ve been in Tae Kwon Do awhile, you’ve probably noticed how different each of your instructors are. Just like every professor and teacher, they all have their own ways of teaching. Over my many years of training, I’ve noticed that there are specific types of teachers. I decided, for fun, to write down a…

It’s Valentine’s Day, and I thought it might be fun to write a post about love… love of Tae Kwon Do! If you can’t tell from the numerous posts I’ve published, I love Tae Kwon Do! I decided that it would be fun, on Valentine’s day, to ask around and find out what my fellow…

So, you want to be a Tae Kwon Do instructor. You’ve gone through the training, you know everything, and you’ve passed the test. Now the question is: what tools do you need to run class? Much like their classroom counterparts, Tae Kwon Do instructors use lots of different kinds of tools, from practice boards to…

What makes a good Tae Kwon Do school? This is a question I have gotten a lot over the years. There are many different answers to this question. The truth is that what makes a good Tae Kwon Do school depends a lot on what you want. That said, there are some things that can…

Well. We meditate well. Kidding! I know what that question is asking. How exactly does a black belt meditate? Well, that’s kind of complicated. The truth is, not every black belt meditates. I don’t want to burst your bubble or anything, but not every black belt meditates. That said, many of the black belts I…