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Right here the low down on the TKD school I've just been to.

It's a bit long so bear with me.

I turned up half hour early with the impression that it started at 7:00 when in fact it was 7:30. I started training on my own doing shadow boxing and skipping.

They turned up at 7:30 (Two balck belts and one guy in plain clothes). They both immediatley gave me the "who the ******** are you and what are you doing in my gym" look. I approached them and politely told them who I was and that I'd like to try out their class.

One of the black belts (the instructor, called Eddy) who's a third dan asked me and mr plain clothes about our past experience in martial arts. I thought i'd be honest so i told him and he decided he'd ignore me from that point on.

He then talked to plain clothes (I think his name is paul) and he said he had a past experience in Shotokan and kickboxing. The second black belt (1st Dan, who we will name p***k, because he is) was trying to show off with kicks in the back ground and looking at his balance and technique you could see that he was a blatant part timer, not a threat. Eddy who has a huge pot-belly, and is blind in one eye (no i'm not joking) told us to line up then proceded to lecture us on how TKD is the most dangerous art on the planet and how every move is a killing move etc. I then switched off at this point silently praying that we had a chance to spar later on. p***k just stood there laughing and nodding and generally nut-hugging. Paul stood there and nut hugged p***k the whole lesson (looked like a ******** daisy chain).

I had to listen to 15 minutes to bullshit then we finally started off with no warm up going straight in to line work. Eddy tried to domonstrate a basic front kick and nearly fell over (he was that s**t). He then decided that he'd have me demonstrate all of the kicks becuase he called see I knew and moved better than both him and p***k (Paul wasn't much better). The only reason I agreed was because I was hanging on to the thought of knocking out p***k in sparring.

One of my instructors then turned up (just to use the gym equipment) and moved over to the crosstrainer. Eddy turned around to him and told him he couldn't use the equipment, my instructor just looked at him and carried on with what he was doing saying nothing (this basically meant that Eddy was on his first and last strike).

We carried on doing line work until another black belt walked in (2nd dan called Trevor). Eddy introduced him as his second in command and we were told to take a 10 mintue break while they decided to chat. Trevor approached me and I introduced my self and we started to have a discussion about martial arts and what my experiences were and I found him to be open minded and polite unlike the other two idiots.

We then went into self defence techniques and Eddy chatted more BS on self defence and p***k was doing more nut hugging along with paul. I was interested to note that Trevor wasn't taking part in the banter and seemed to have a dislike for them both. I was partnered up with p***k for the self defence training and Paul was with Trevor. p***k grabbed me by the T-shirt with both hands and said "how are you going to get out of this"? I looked him straight in the eye and said in a no bullshit tone "I'd stick my fingers into your ******** eyes and kick you in the nuts". He laughed nervously and let go.

Eddy then told him to grab me again to see how I'd get out of it and I nearly broke his arm using a Hapkido technique. After listening to more bullshit about knife self defence Trevor took the class for the last 45 minutes and we did all pad work (just kicks) I was partnered up with Trevor the whole time and was pleased to see that his skill level was much better than the other black belts but he lacked balance and solid footwork. He driled me constantly in ariel kicks and combinations which I was pleased to see that I haven't lost any technique or accuracy in from my TKD days.

We finished off with stretching and conditioning exercises (mostly Abs). Afterwards I was talking more with Trevor and he asked me if i'd like to come with him and train with the England squad down in Reading on sundays and I politely declined. He then asked me If I would be back on next Tuesday and I declined again I told him honestly what I thought of of Eddy but I enjoyed training with him. He told me that he agreed with me and said that he was in fact supposed to have been teaching the class but due to "martial arts politics" Eddy was now running the show.

All in all i thought that the class was a total farce and i'm appalled that idiots like Eddy are allowed to teach. The only decent thing about the class was trevors instruction. I think that if he was able to teach the class it would be a decent sport TKD club. I'm not going to make a return visit I'm going to spend my Tuesday evenings doing another Judo class or Vale Tudo. My only consolation was the fact that the first lesson was free.

Aikido is just another art derived from JuJutsu, Aikijutsu is also a form of JuJutsu.

Yep, they were kissing arse.



All I know that they're part of the Chung Do Kwan Association and are under the BTCB (British Taekwondo Council Board). They're one of the main WTF TKD associations in the UK.

No I wasn't tempted to go for several reasons really.

1. Semi Contact and it's restrictions don't interest me any more. I'm in love with full contact sparring and grappling.

2. I despise martial arts politics.

3. I wouldn't benefit from the training. You could probably take any one of the high ranking black belts out by taking them to the ground and choking them out.

4. I prefer to stay out of the spot light and i'd be ashamed to be associated with people like that.

5. My training sessions are much harder than that.

6. I don't like the idea of hopping on one leg up and down a hall doing round house kicks until I foam at the mouth.

Haha, reason #6 made me laugh.

As it did to me.

Im not sure about what kind of tournaments if any should I enter, to spar. Im no good at point sparring, cause, Its not what i'd do. And I dont think Im ready for NHB.

It pains me to see such stories as these, as it is Fat Bastards like "Eddy" that give TKD the bad name that it has come to earn, along with the greedy moneying grubbing Koreans (if you don't believe that, find out why Dr. Kim, Un-Yong is being trial for embezzlement) within the Taekwondo community. Unfortunately with Taekwondo's newly acquired popularity, many "not-so-talented" stylists are opening schoola and such, teaching poor excuses for the arts. Because of the largely sized organizations, and the greed within many Grandmasters eye's, many certifications and such things are over-looked. Bleh, I'm not even going to try to justify this one... this is just straight sad.

All I can say is, good Taekwondo schools do exist. But then again, my old schools are now incorporating Savate Principles in the cirriculum, thanks to me... so I suppose it isn't entirely TKD.

Right, I went to that Black Dragon Karate school last night. Turned out it wasn't Karate, It was the school and instructor I thought it was.

Basically it's a Black Dragon Kung Fu school that teaches Shaolin Kung Fu, Wing Chun, Choy Lee Fut, Tai Chi and some elements of Chi Kung.

The Lesson apparently started at 6:00pm and went on until 10:00pm.

I turned up at 6 and the gym was full of kids but I couldn't see the instructor any where at first. He then came down from the corridor where the toilets are and spotted me (we have quite a past) he was very shocked to see me. I told him that I was here to take part his lessons. He didn't look too pleased but tried his best to hide it and welcomed me. We'll call the instructor 'C'.

I walked into the gym where the kiddies class was going on and was shocked to see 'C's son wearing a black sash and teaching the class (he's 12 or 13 years old). The children around him were practicing kicking techniques and were all making blatant mistakes that the instructors son was not correcting simply because he lacked any teaching skills. Some of the kids were messing around and fighting each other playing no attention at all. The assistant instructor of the class who was another twelve year old who looked like a right arrogant little s**t who just stood there with his nose stuck in the air while looking at me with distaste.

'C' was busy hanging up the Chinese flag on the wall, along with a picture of Ip Man. He started burning some incense sticks and to my dismay started playing a CD which had the Enter the Dragon sound track and traditional chinese music on it which we had to endure the whole lesson.

Ten minutes later my mate who trains with me on a regular turned up and went to the gym office to chill until the kiddies class was finished. We went back in 10 minutes before the class was due to finish and 'C' was trying to tell the class that he was dissapointed with their proformance etc but the kids didn't seem to give a s**t. By this point the members of the 'senior' class had arrived and were waiting outside the gym. I was very suprised to see that there were enough of them to fill up the whole gym area. I was then approached by the 'C's top student, 'M' who I hadn't seen for years. He gave me a warm welcome and asked what i'd been up to so I told him about the training i'd been doing etc and he told me that he was unable to train as he had a back injury. 'M' happens to be a complete arse kisser and also a back stabber just like his instructor, I decided i'd be keeping my eye on them both.

We started the class and I was pleased to notice that none of the students were exhibiting any attitude and the atmosphere seemed very relaxed. The actual class was taken by the instructors second in command who I hadn't met before, we'll call him 'G'. We started the warm up doing jogging and then sprinting on the spot keeping the knees high up and did plenty of horse stance training along with a good amount of press ups and grip training. We then went on to streching and then into kicking techniques. During this time I noticed that 'C' and 'M' were at the back of the class whispering to each other and looking at me (the whole gym area has mirrored walls so I could see everything). 'G' and some of the senior studets were also looking at me with curiousity. Afterwards we took a 5 minute break, 'C' & 'M' both approached me and complemented me on my technique and fitness level.

After the break we all paired up and practiced some Wing Chun drills. I was partnered up with one of the senior students who came across as friendly and polite while we were training we talked about what we had done in the past and it turns out he'd been training under 'C' for about 4 and a half years. He seemed to have it in his head that he'd seen me in Combat Magazine (a UK martial arts mag) which I hadn't. After we had finished the drills we went into a few Shaolin and Choi Lee Fut forms which I tried to follow but couldn't. After that we did more Wing Chun drills I was partnered up with a student that was built like a brick s**t house (very muscular) I got talking to him and he'd been in Karate for 4 years before moving on to this for nearly two years. He had to stop towards the end as his forearms were red raw due the conditioning i'd done in the past on the wooden dummy, which was his fault for trying to clash his forearms against mine in some macho strength contest.

Once we had finished that it was time to spar, we all went to get kitted up and I asked 'C' if I needed to wear all my kit (Thai shin guards, head guards, etc). He was very quick to tell me that only needed to wear hand mitts (which puzzled me). I was the only one to put in a gum sheild. We all sat in a circle and 'C' called out two students to spar I then realised why they didn't need all the kit as they pranced around like fairies tapping each other. I also noticed that the 'C' was totally biased in his judging, not only that but the rules also seemed to change through the matches allowing and disallowing techniques to suit the student he favoured. My mate 'D' who trains with me on a regular was then called in with mr brick s**t house. Now 'D' does a hell of alot of full contact with me and while his technique isnt the best he loves a good tear up. 'D' decided to keep the contact to a minimum and play by the rules.

He kept the work rate high and landed far more clean/clear shots than the other guy. At the end of the bout the other guy was given the victory which pissed me off but 'D' just sat down and kept his face neutral. Two bouts later I was called up. I decided that as the concept of rules were so ******** that i'd make a few of my own. I was partnered with one of the intermediate guys who came across as an OK guy during the lesson but it was blatently obvious that this was now a pride thing and he didn't want to lose in front of his club. This was immediately apparent to me so I decided to kick him up and down the room like a coke can. I wasn't going to take s**t from anyone. Every time he loaded up with a hook I cut him down with a cross and every time he tried a high kick I kicked out his supporting leg from under neath him. 'C' was yelling at me but I wasn't going to bend over for anyone. 'M' was whining in the back ground saying "we don't do street fighting".

'C' then partnered me up with one of the more senior guys (he wouldn't partner me up with 'G' because he was worried how bad it would look if I decked him). I gave him the same treatment and 'C' stopped the bout and threatened to jump in with me and give me a kicking. I smiled at this and he picked up his gloves (at this point I was thinking "s**t he's actually going to do it"). He then put down his gloves and then threatened to partner me up with 'M' but obviously he couldn't because of his back injury. The class was totally silent as they've obviously never seen anything like it or their instructor in such a state. I then sat back down and the rest of the class looked a little shell shocked. There were two more bouts of "dancing" and then the class was bought to an end. As I was packing my gear away I was approached by both of the guys who I sparred with as well as 'G'. They were all very keen to train with me and I politely told them about the dis-advantages of semi contact and how muscle memory will effect their techniques on the street. I also told them the benefits of ground fighting. 'C' looked over and didn't look very pleased on the prospect of losing three students including his assistant instructor. We exchanged numbers and then I went over to 'C' and we exchanged plesantries he said he'd like to meet up with me and have a 'talk' so I told him what days I work here so he could come down and have a 'talk' with me anytime.

All in all I thought that it was a fairly good traditional school but they lacked in any self defence techniques and sparring unfortunatly the students are fooled into believing that they are taught is the real deal just because a shoalin monk comes down once a month to teach them and in turn they part with large sums of money.