I kind of want to quit taekwondo, but i want to get my black belt first.?

Question

im a high green belt. i only have 5 belts to go to be a black belt. but its sooo hard and frustrating. im having a hard time with side kicks. plus its time consuming. we have practice 2-3 times a week. should i continue on? or just quit after all that hard work?

Answer 1

i am red belt. i am taking my grading on friday to get my black tag.

you should definatly dtay on. Its quite a intimidating thing when you can tell someone that you a black belt. sure you can quit after that but i dont recomend it. after i got to red tag it all seamed to click into place and i was bettering everybody. trust me side kick was something i stuggled on

Answer 2

So what exactly will you do to fill the time you used to fill with Tae Kwon Do practice? Are you seriously missing out on anything important, or do you just hate practice?

You will get nowhere in life without being able to dedicate yourself to a task until you have achieved the goal stated at the beginning. Martial arts is no different. You are, as you stated, better than halfway to achieving your First Dan rank, which truly is only the beginning of your actual martial arts training. Everything you have done so far and everything you will do for the next 4 grades is simply buiilding the foundation of what you will begin to learn as a Dan. Simply getting to your black belt is not the end; it is only the beginning. If your school is anything like mine, then you will only be a "recommended" black belt for the first six months after testing. In order to be a decided and fully recognized black belt, you will have to continue to train for AT least another six months before your governing body isues your certification. And once you achieve your 1st Dan, your training will change drastically, up to an including the responsibility of helping to train lower grades.

If you are having difficulty with techniques, talk to your Sabunim. Tell him or her what your problem areas are, and ask them for advice on how to move past them.

Oddly enough, you are at the point in your training where many young practitioners begin to question whether or not they want to continue. The amount of information and new techniques you are learning can be overwhelming, and many drop out at the point you find yourself. But ask yourself this question: if you CAN get past this "hump", what will be the benefit LONG-TERM?? If you stop now, what will be the effect?

You have put in a lot of hard work to this point. It would be a shame to see you stop training entirely.

Answer 3

Think of it like this. What will quitting get you? Will it make you better? will you be a stronger person? No. The only thing quitting will get you, is more time to waste. If you keep at it, you can attain awesome skills for life, a blackbelt to show off, and the knowledge that you acheived somthing. Hang in there, and you will thank yourself in the end. Its a real acheiveent to stick at things when they get hard. It feels good to feel good about yourself doesnt it? ANd what will make you feel good about yourself in the long run?

Answer 4

It's completely up to you. If you're not having fun or enjoying yourself then by all means do what you want to do. It will take a few years to get your black belt though

Answer 5

There are 3 potential problems why you are having a hard time doing a side kick.

1. Balance. If it is balance that you are having problem with, then, do a side kick very slowly, 3 or 4 times lower than your normal speed. This give you a chance to understand your body balance at all the transition stages of side kick. It will  also, strengthen you muscle required to do side kick.

2. Muscle strength. If your muscle is weak, also do the exercise above, plus just keep your leg straight and raise it to the side as a side kick, let it goes up and down for 20 times, and increase the numbers the next day you do this exercise. Once you reach 50. Start to work on speed.

3. flexibility. More stretching is required, especially in the side kick finishing position.

Also, you should ask your instructor to observe your side kick and give you an analysis. He will advise you on how to correct some technical problems.

There are easy techniques and there are difficult techniques Take everything as a learning challenge.  There are a few acrobatic kicks in Taekwondo, that can be even more challenging.

Taekwondo is very stylish with kicks and has the most variety of kicks, rivaled only by kung fu. However, Taekwondo's emphasis with the kicks so much that it has weakness in the hands in both defence and attacks. So, it is not a bad idea to get your black belt, have a feel of what kicking art is like, then , do another art to improve your hands. You can do muay thai, which has both punch, kick, elbow, knee, clinch. Or you can do box, which specialise with the hands. throw some elbows instead of hooks in boxing plus headbutt for street fights. Or you can do southern praying mantis, which is a highly skilled in hand techniques, with sticky hands and iron jacket or shirt conditioning. Or you can do wing chun which has sticky hands as well. Wing chun is a system that can be learn in 3 years full time. Southern praying mantis is a more complex system, but once learned you can be deadly.

Answer 6

That's easy.  Ask yourself: Do you enjoy it?  If so, then stick with it.  If not, quit.  

Don't buy into the whole belt thing.  It is a marketing gimmick (and a very effective one, judging by your question!).

Answer 7

OMG i was in that same situation! I did tae kwon do with the Martinez Brothers and I did it for soo long and I hated it! They would totally work us down! It was great for me I mean I learned self-discipline and it really helped me! We would go 2-3 times a week and sometimes sparring classes and I was like OMG pain in my butt! But I stuck it out and I ended up getting my black belt and boy am I proud of it! I quit after but I mean just the feeling that you got it is great! When I tell people I'm a black belt their shoked and its great to have that feeling inside of you like "Wow I really did it" you know like after all those long hours of training it really paid off. If your having trouble with your kicks ( yeah side kick is kinda hard!) just keep practicing and you'll do fine!

Hope this helped and keep at it!

Answer 8

So do you want a real black belt, or one that comes out of a crackerjack box?  

You're going through a phase every martial artist or athlete goes through: do I want to keep going?  Do I want to keep doing this?

This is going to sound cheesy, but look in your heart.  If you're doing this because you love the art keep going,  If you're doing this for a colored strip of cloth, a diploma, and public acolades, well...