Totally Tae Kwon Do Books

Eastern Spirit, Western Dreams
Eastern Spirit, Western Dreams captures the true hardships and joys of a small town farm boy from South Korea who journeys to the United States to live out his American Dream. With the spirit of Tae Kwon Do always in his heart, Grand Master Woo Jin Jung takes readers from the trials and triumphs of his childhood, to arriving in the United States with only $35 in his pocket, to establishing a martial arts school, to opening a chain of health clubs, to worldwide travel in the interest of peace and goodwill.

Traditional Martial Arts Philosophy: For the Mind, Body and Spirit
Drawing from their many decades of experience as traditional martial arts practitioners, competitors, teachers, demonstrators and advocates, Grand Master C.K. Choi and Master Tom Thurston succinctly and effectively present the essence of what it means to be a true and dedicated traditional martial artist. Through an eloquent balance of poetry, parables, insights, quotations and muses, Choi and Thurston clearly reveal that becoming and remaining a true and complete traditional martial artist requires more than just the mastery of physical movements and fighting strategies. It is not the style of art that decides the degree of success a practitioner experiences. Rather, it is the practitioner’s individual strength of will, coupled with his or her noble and persistent desire to achieve the highest, broadest and most positive results that we can on this plane of existence that, in the end, makes the difference.

Black Belt Success Plan
Black belt success plan compares the martial arts mind-set to that of a mind-set for achieving success. Not just financial success, but in other areas of life too. If you are a martial artist, then you can use the same principles that you use during your martial arts journey, and just transfer them to your everyday life. Of course its not just for students of the martial arts. The examples given are very simple and easy to understand. The author of the book Master Ray Gayle relates some of his real life struggles and outlines some of the tools he used to overcome them. He tells about his martial arts journey towards becoming a black belt, and how although he didn't realise it at the time, why he succeeded, where others failed. The book looks at some of the factors that contribute to our own fears and provides some answers on why fear is a positive emotion. He introduces you to his own personal success group of people who helped him realise his current mind-set. The book gives some simple overviews on why you the reader might not be achieving some of the things you would like to. It includes a simple step-by-step plan for you to follow to build your own success plan. Who will benefit most from Black belt success plan? - Those who want to start and run their own business, Those who would like better financial rewards for their efforts, Anyone who would like to have better relationships. Those who believe that someone has to be born into a rich family to have any chance of living in their dream home. The book is a fast read and should appeal to those who find reading many of the current books about success and goal setting, hard to finish.

Taekwondo - Ancient Wisdom for the Modern Warrior
Although millions of people around the world practice the fascinating art of Taekwondo, so little is known about its history, principles or philosophy. It is time to find out just what Taekwondo is all about! Learn how principles such as honor, perseverance, and dedication will enhance your daily life, how the philosophical and physical tenets combine to form not only a way of living, but a solid system of self-defense, and why these concepts are not just quaint ideals, but more important than ever in today's age.Taekwondo's Ancient Wisdom is not only a 'must read' for every practitioner of any other martial art, but for everyone who seeks to learn from our collective past to better navigate through today's confusing times.Includes a thorough history of Taekwondo.Discover exactly what having a black belt is all about.Learn a simple way of meditation that will benefit any martial artist.Discover the difference between the martial arts as an 'art' and as a 'sport'.

Martial Arts After 40
Presents the self-defence techniques that blend Martial Arts After Forty is the first book ever to explore the needs and advantages of the over-forty martial artist. It takes an in-depth look at the realities of training in mid-life including: • What type of exercises are beneficial and which ones are dangerous? • What are the effects of aging and what impact do they have on training? • How can baby boomers keep up in a class of Gen-Xers? • What types of injuries are common after forty and how can you prevent them? In addition to providing a wealth of fitness and training information, author Sang H. Kim addresses the fact that many older martial artists are looking for something more meaningful than just a good workout. His positive and knowledgeable approach to taking up or continuing martial arts training after 40 is inspiring, reassuring and informative. This book should be read by every adult martial artist regardless of age.

Taekwondo: Traditions, Philosophy, Technique
This ground-breaking text is the first to offer Taekwondo in its totality, documenting the traditions, philosophy, and techniques of the world's most widely practiced martial art. In more than 8,600 photographs spanning 896 pages, renowned Taekwondo masters and elite competitors demonstrate over 700 core Taekwondo techniques, including stances, footwork, hand strikes, elbow strikes, standing kicks, jump kicks, ground kicks, avoiding and blocking skills, step and self-defense sparring, Olympic-Style sparring, breaking techniques, and solo forms and patterns. Techniques are named in both English and Korean throughout.

Detailed introductory chapters provide an authoritative overview of Taekwondo's history, philosophy, current structure, and contemporary issues, and thoroughly review breathing and meditation, warmups and flexibility exercises, and vital targets. To address the highly specialized and constantly evolving needs of sport competitors, in-depth chapters on Olympic-Style sparring cover basic concepts, current trends, core techniques, tactics and strategies, terminology, competition rules, referee signals, and more than 90 core attacking and counterattacking techniques used by world-class competitors. For forms enthusiasts, 250-plus pages provide a comprehensive overview of 49 forms and patterns embraced by major federations, such as the WTF and ITF.

Traditional Taekwondo
Core Techniques, History and Philosophy
Taekwondo, literally translated, can be defined as "foot, hand way" or "the way of smashing with hands and feet." Such descriptive nomenclature understandably implies a curriculum rich in self-defense. Too often, however, this is simply not the case. Given the current popularity of sport competition in the martial arts, many techniques of defensive value have been stripped away or forfeited altogether in favor of those certain to score in the ring. While the thirst for Olympic gold has clearly played a significant role in propelling taekwondo into the forefront, it should be remembered that this native Korean martial art contains over 3200 distinct self defense techniques. This book describes in detail, the history and evolution of Taekwondo from its ancient roots to modern day applications. Also included are exercises in "Ki" or internal energy development, meditation practice, and practical self-defense strategies. This work focuses on the traditional aspects of Taekwondo rather than on its sportive component.

Taekwondo Poomsae: The Fighting Scrolls
- Guiding Philosophy and Basic Applications
This martial arts book digs deep into the standard Taekwondo patterns to extract proven fighting methods that unite ancient philosophy and strategy to teach effective, tactical self defence. The book follows the history of the Korean people, starting with the myths of its origins dating from 2333 BC, and its culture, focusing on the important historic influences of the surrounding nations. All of these have combined in the development and evolution of the Korean fighting art of Taekwondo. These ancient and deadly fighting techniques have survived over several millennia, ever since people first defended their lives and property from wild beasts and ravaging bands of criminals. The first part of the book shows simple techniques that have been refined using analysis gained by Koreans over the centuries. It is presented in a careful mix of physical exercises that are designed to develop spontaneous response from muscle memory in the event of an unavoidable attack. The second half introduces more advanced students of the martial arts to more complex fighting tactics and the profound philosophy taught to black belts, and is aimed at uniting body, mind, and spirit.