"Relax," Young Grasshopper

Well.. I obviously seem to have a problem with "relaxing." I don't know how, but I do. Today in Taekwondo, the head instructor told me that I need to relax while doing my kick on the bag, and I didn't understand because.. well, I WAS relaxed. No tension or anything. Then he told me to hit the focus target he was holding and he said that's the kinda kick he wanted me to do because it was more relaxed.. Now, I'm confused here.. The kick I did on the bag and the one on the focus target are the same, but what he says is contradictory. I need to relax, and then I'm doing it just fine.. Could you guys give me advice on "relaxing" while doing techniques and whatnot? Or is my instructor, eh, screwing with my head?

I cant exactly tell you what your instrcutor was thinking at that moment. I can understand your confusion though.

Perhaps he meant for you to relax in a different sense. Instead of being calm and not tense, perhaps he meant for you to feel comfortable with the kick. Kind of like walking. Theres the military way of walking and then theres your own personalized way. Military way demands that keep your shoulders up and head held high, your back is rigid. Then theres your own way of walking, your more relax, layed back, you propbably have some swager in your style to attract the ladies.... um or men what ever your into, I'm not one to judge.

Basically some people look very robotic when they do a kick, he probably just wanted you to personalize the kick, so you look more relax doing it.

-Tek

Yeah, I think the robotic thing is my problem. When I kick, I don't lean back a lil' like I should.

Another question: at the WTF sparring tournaments, what determines who you fight? Do you fight by age? Or do you fight by weight? Or do you fight by both?

There are age classes, weight and rank.

The way they set you up is often different between local tournaments.

13 and under, 17 and under, 18 and over, then it goes by weight and rank. It's often a tricky thing because not every school has the 6 belt ranks, often some schools have up to 10 or 12 belts, and they have to figure out a way to determine the proper rank systems.

Weight and rank are most important factors. Age is the easiest.

I'm a lil' confused.. So help me here... So if you're 14, it's possible you'd be fighting a 17 year-old?

I want to say yes, but I am not 100% sure.

Don't forget rank is involved aswell and so is weight. But I think it's safe for me to say yes, if your 14 you will fight a 17 year old who is similar rank and weight. No fear!

Alright.. so I'm 16 and 132lbs... I'll be fighting someone within my weight? And how far is weight ranged? like.. 120-140lbs or what?

Not sure, but you can look this stuff up at the World Taekwondo Federation website.

what's the site?

http://www.wtf.org/

www.wtf.org World Taekwondo Federation