The Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do Patterns, Vol 1

An odd statement, but that's why I bought it. My 2nd Kup grading was less than 2 weeks after I returned from my holiday and I bought this book as a reference to take with me. The hotel had a large area outside the restaurant and every day first thing I practiced, taking the book with me. The other guests looked at me a bit odd the first day then asked the next. I explained, showed them the book and by the 4th day some had joined in. I had them all trying different patterns and techniques. At the end of the fortnight there were 7 of us (none of the others had done any martial arts) and I was busy using this as a guidebook. I don't know if any of them took it up on their return, but hopefully they did.This is the first in a set of three volumes by Mr Stuart Anslow encompassing the all patterns needed for both ITF and GTF Taekwon-Do. This first volume includes all the patterns needed to achieve 1st Dan plus Kwang-Gae which is usually the first pattern learned as a 1st Dan. It includes the two GTF patterns Jee-Sang and Dhan-Goon as well as the three Saju exercises.At the beginning is a brief history of Taekwon-Do, differences between the organisations with regard to the execution of techniques and instructions on how to use the book. At the end are a number of appendices detailing the differences between the organisations, kihap points, speeds, sine wave and finally a complete history of Taekwon-Do by Master George Vitale.The real meat in the sandwich is of course, the patterns. Each one has a section which includes the meaning, a detailed progression of the pattern, finally followed by tips to allow the best to be obtained at each stage ( which also happens to be what the grading examiner will be looking for). Every pattern is shown with each move in detail with photographs, together with direction, stances, the name of each technique, the number of each move and the final move to return to the ready stance. One good thing in the books is that there is plenty of room to make notes.Probably the most important people reading this now are parents. The majority of students who enter the art are children or teenagers. Many leave for a number of reasons. My own daughter progressed to 4th Kup and left before I started. Being on the outside I never felt I was able to help with the patterns. This book changes all that. Armed to the teeth with this, you can help and encourage them with some knowledge. You can also help the instructor with relevant questions and he can give you pointers.Instructors, isn't it frustrating when the student nearly gets it then has to go home because the class is finishing. If the book is used as a standard text you can all refer to it and if practiced at home, next time it won't be forgotten or not moved on. Recommend this book to your students. If they have nothing to refer to they will forget.I recommend this to every student starting out in Taekwon-Do. All hobbies have books attached or magazines, it just seems unusual to me that so few students think of buying a book. Patterns are pretty much the cornerstone of every grading. It's how students are judged. I also think it's why so many never keep going. They aren't able to practice as they have no reference, finding it difficult to learn a new pattern and all too easy to forget the old one. So, students, if you are serious about becoming a Black Belt (that would be all of you), think of it this way. If you think how many years you will train and how much it will cost, the price of this book is negligible. The benefits of it being available are unlimited.

This book is a great resource to anybody who studies ITF/Chang-Hon style Taekwon-Do.I have the 15 volume Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do by General Choi Hong Hi and whilst those remain my main reference books I find myself picking up Stuarts books more often as they are more portable (3 books cover all 25 patterns from General Choi plus others).Often I find the pictures and explanations of the movements to be clearer in Stuarts books than those in General Choi's books, because Stuart has seen the issues with the General's books he has worked to clear up some of those by providing many more pictures of the movements, rather than just the start and finish positions Stuart will have 3 or 4 photos (or more if needed) to show the smaller details.Stuart has also cleverly avoided aligning this book with just one viewpoint, taking care to state where one group looks for one technique and another would use a different technique (such as the dodging reverse turning kicks in Juche) and also includes both Juche and Kodang showing all 25 patterns from General Choi.In addition Stuart has included extra information such as the GTF patterns, the Silla knife patterns etc plus a lot of historical information on the patterns.Well worth a purchase.

This book was recommended by the black belts for my son for his taekwando journey

helpfull

This series of books is excellent. Easy to understand and comprehensive in their approach, not a single detail is left out. Covering all patterns in the Ch'ang Hon style, Chon-ji to Tong-Il, these books are a must have for any student of ITF Taekwon-Do. These are possibly the most indispensable books on the subject since Choi's Taekwon-Do (1965) and his 15 volume encyclopaedia. They read easily and are accessible to students of all ranks.It should be noted that no book can replace a qualified instructor and these are no exception, you will NOT be a 'black belt in three easy steps'. That said these volumes are an excellent reference guide and first class teaching aid.These books have improved my Taekwon-Do no end and taken my studies in directions I might not have considered previously. I thouroughly recommend them to anyone interested in improving their Taekwon-Do, they are brilliant

Well all i can say about this book is that its amazingi have found this book to be ammazing as a reference book,study book, review book and moreMr Stuart Anslow has put together one of the best books i have personally seen, i use this book to revise patterns as well as an aid to learning patterns on top of my trainingThis book stands as testament to the hard work and love of TaeKwon Do over many years that Mr Stuart Anslow has and is a great aid for any student regardless of the amount of time spent training as it covers every aspect of patterns icluding korean /english names, foot positions, thousands of brilliant photos,sine wave studies etc etc etcI would like to thank Mr Stuart Anslow for producing such a fine book

The collection of pictures and guidance in the book have helped ensure that my patterns are the least of my worries when it comes to grading's, would recommend to anybody that's thinking of working there way along the journey a potential black belt

Great book. It has everything I need to learn it properly. I am not good at copying people so need to work things out in my own time initially.

This book really helped me in my belt reviews or if I was stuck on my patterns, has great selection of knowledge and technique

Beautiful book and great.

Hier findet man (fast) alles und in jedem Fall mehr, als in den meisten Büchern zusammen. Ich habe jetzt den ersten Band durch, die anderen beiden liefen schon bereit. Englisch ist ok, die Bezeichnungen der Bewegungen entsprechen der aktualisierten Nomenklatur. Also z.B. Nopunde statt Sangdan für die obere Zone.

I can't say enough goood things about this book or the other two volumes in the set. Like all of Stuart Anslow's work, I have been recommending it to others and have been giving it away as gifts to friends.Yes, there are other resources on the Internet that list the sequence of techniques for any given pattern and show some pictures but, in my opinion, this book offers the most complete explanations. Anslow provides both the English and Korean names, a picture of each technique, foot diagrams, textual explaination of what needs to be done as well as special notes about differences between the ITF, WTF, and other organizations.The foot diagrams are especially noteworthy as they clearly show you what the stances should be at the start and at the end of any given move. That alone makes this a superior instructional resources. The movements between stances is well documented and at the bottom of each page is a series of photographs that illustrate how you should look as the move is being executed. At the end of the discussion for each pattern is a series of tips on how to learn and execute the pattern which really are helpful.The introductory chapters on the history of Taekwon-do, how techniques differ between Taekwon-do organizations, and Standards for Pattern Performnace should not be skipped. Likelwise, the appendices provide useful information, such as on pattern speeds and sine wave movement.This book greatly helped improve my performance with patterns.

Ordered for a friend, he was impressed.