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. Inclusive of virtually all Taekwondo styles, this unprecedented work integrates traditional and modern approaches, sport and self-defense, in a single text. Written and designed by the author of the 1,136-page Hapkido?widelyacclaimed the most comprehensive book ever written on a single martial art?this indispensable work is the definitive text on Taekwondo, and destined to become a classic of martial arts literature.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: Taekwondo Bible Comment: I love this book. Everything you will ever want to know about Taekwondo with easy to follow pictures. This is a must have for the serious artist. From the beginning of your journey to the end. Customer Rating: Summary: Taekwondo: Traditions, Philosophies, Techniques Comment: This is one of my favorite book about Taekwondo. It presents all technique that you need to become an excellent Taekwondo practicer. Its wide variety of 1-to-1 technique can help you efficiently both in sparring and on the street. It also presents various forms with discreet directions that a even a beginner can follow. I highly recommend it to any enthusiast. Customer Rating: Summary: TaeKwon Do from a WTF perspective Comment: Mr Tedeschi is undoubtedly a skilled practicioner of Hapkido and has written a thought provoking and intelligent review of TaeKwon Do.
However, despite claims that it covers all forms of TKD, and indeed doing so in terms of patterns (Tull or Poomse depending on your WTF or ITF affilliation), it only deals with WTF (Olympic) sparring.
As a result, whole chapters on sparring are rendered irrelevant, much more difficult to apply or less useful to any non-WTF practicioner.
This WTF focus extends to techinical parts of the book too. Whilst acknowledging that WTF is primarily a sport form and ITF a traditional self-defence form, it then fails to cater to the techiniques of the latter in the practical sections.
Similarly, the focus is on footwork appropriate to WTF stylists, kicking techniques appropriate to WTF stylists, etc etc.
Having found Mr Tedeschi's Hapkido book enthralling and informative, I was a little disappointed with the failure to acknowledge the scope of modern TKD. WTF stylists may find it of more use, but if the book is going to claim to encompass all of modern TKD, I would like to see it do so.
Paul Mitchell
1st Dan TAGB
Customer Rating: Summary: beutiful pictures lacks material Comment: I am sorry to say that Mr Tedeschi's book is lacking. he is by profession a wonderful designer but not a taekwondo Master. His book is a good roadmap for the beginner that lacks adequate instruction; but, not a research nor reference for anyone who has done the martial art or sport for any amount of time. The book lacks substantial information on advanced techniques , combinations and the strategies for sparring, Additionally there is little to guide the practioner toward the practicallity of Taekwondo. That having been said the book can offer some mechanical insight into the techniques of TKD for the beginner. But definetly not worth the price tag. Customer Rating: Summary: One you need Comment: Get this TKD book and sell any others you have in your library. Mr. Tedeschi does it again with this book. This is the ultimate reference guide. I have purchase 4 book by Marc Tedeschi and haven't been disapointed, except when I resold my Hapkido book.
