Outdoor classes, what do you do different if any from your traditional dojang classes????

[dcsma]

Hey everyone. In the past I really never ventured outside with my classes cause of the to many variables that could play into a out door class. But getting adventerous here and will be doing our first out door class this Wednesday weather permitting. This will be a off dojang location cause where we have our classes at there will be a building function going and the students voted to have a out door class instead of canceling it. So what if anything you do different with your out door class? We will be in the public's eye but yet still off the beaten path to minimize any distractions. And this is a normal class not a demonstration. So what do you do different if anything?

 

[Master Dan]

Class is more of an activity specific could be hiking climbing ect if PoomSe and other more traditional training at a minimum uniforms are changed to black or other colors to not stain or get dirty sand training has good cross training benefits

 

[rlobrecht]

Sounds like a lot of fun. I've often suggested to our instructor and master that we should have outdoor classes, but we've never had one.

I would do no contact activities, or you might get unwelcome guests. The same with weapons I'd also suggest no dobok, especially if your school wears white ones.

I'd also think you might want to have school flyers or business cards on hand. Even though it's not a demonstration, you may need to field questions from prospective new students.

Other than that, have fun with it. Use the terrain to train things you don't get in the dojang. I'd especially try to use the uneven surfaces and obstacles.

Good luck.

Rick

 

[StudentCarl]

It's an opportunity to teach how envirionment affects technique--most obviously footing and the importance of stance. Something as simple as the turning of the plant foot becomes very different on a surface that is either more slick or more grabby than your training floor...and it messes people up. I agree with the above posts suggesting you look for ways to use the environment for conditioning and fun. Depending on your crowd, combination kicks and jump kicks are much more challenging in sand. Hope you have fun with this and get creative--don't just do the same thing outdoors as you do indoors.

 

[harlan]

Pay attention to the weather and environment.
Regular exercise clothes, as grass stains can ruin a dobok.
Bring plenty of water and utilize shade (sweating with suncreen running into your eyes sucks).
Shoes for safety. (No matter how much one polices the area, there is bound to be a root, spike, nail, etc. that can ruin the day.)
Class as usual, as the focus is the impact of environment on training.

 

[dancingalone]

For serious training, it's a good opportunity to do things like sprints and agility drills. It's not that these things ought to be regular parts of a TKD class, but it's good to shake things up occasionally and introduce to the students activities that can enhance their training if they choose to do it on their own time. I also like to teach bo introduction classes outside where the students often feel less hampered.

For just pure fun, go with whatever sounds good. We're going to have a karate fun day this summer where we'll invite family members and friends to participate also. I plan to have various obstacle course challenges and a sumo suit competition where we'll award some small prizes like movie tickets and ITunes download cards.

 

[Master Dan]

In summer we like getting up 6 am doing PoomSe outside on the grass at a city park before all the hustle and bustle of the day gets going we also like different environments with water ocean and bedrock water falls we have to hike into. We have many many mountains visible from our three roads that go into the arctic tundra and like to climb and conquer them planting our TKD flags on top. the mountain tops are devoid of vegitation and trees but have 1-2 miles or more of tudra that is very challenging to get through like walkin on a water bed really tiring to the legs you have to learn how not to fight it. once on top you can stroll for miles across the tops of mountains they are rounded and you could drive a 4 wheeler from one to another. We have a camp called Salmon Lake about 40 miles from town complete with bunk houses, cook house camp fire area and canoes with a very striking mountain across the lake we can stay there for $1 a person great place for summer training camp archery, weopons and such

 

[Cyriacus]

I find that if just offers a less stable environment to do things in, which can be good fun.

 

[SnyderD]

While I'm not an instructor, we have had classes outdoors, before. What our instructors focused on was showing the subtle differences between the same actions outdoors, as opposed to indoors. So, the classes were mostly the same - just using the outdoor environment to teach adaptation for real world use.

 

[dcsma]

For serious training, it's a good opportunity to do things like sprints and agility drills. It's not that these things ought to be regular parts of a TKD class, but it's good to shake things up occasionally and introduce to the students activities that can enhance their training if they choose to do it on their own time. I also like to teach bo introduction classes outside where the students often feel less hampered.

We will be having a bo staff introduction class as well on June 7 that hopefully be out door and looking forward to it. I remember going up in the ranks doing a bo staff seminar with my grandmaster out doors. Loved it.

 

[dcsma]

? does the board have a way to upload pictures or is it just a link to them? And can we link to a facebook account? I have some pics of the location where we are going to hold the out door classes but don't know if I can and its on my schools facebook page as well.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

? does the board have a way to upload pictures or is it just a link to them? And can we link to a facebook account? I have some pics of the location where we are going to hold the out door classes but don't know if I can and its on my schools facebook page as well.

Supporting members can add attachments including pictures. Regular members can only link to offsite sources.

 

[dcsma]

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...96778834.84373.185228358202803&type=1&theater

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...96778834.84373.185228358202803&type=1&theater

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...96778834.84373.185228358202803&type=1&theater


Here are some pics of our out door class location that we'll have this week. So any suggestions with how to use the terrain for a different type of training then a normal class would be awesome.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

This doesn't seem like a really art-specific question, so if you'll accept the input of a non-TKDist ...

I've spent a lot of hours over the years practicing outdoors (mostly BJJ and Bujinkan taijutsu). My recommendations are:

Wear regular street clothes (or at least gym gear) and shoes. There's no point in getting grass stains on your nice uniform or puncturing your feet on a hidden nail.

Check the area for hazards (hidden rocks, tree roots, etc) before starting.

Try working on different sorts of terrains (slopes, uneven footing, mud, etc) and see how that affects your technique.

Try working in different types of weather (hot & sunny, cool & rainy, cold & snowing) and see how that affects your technique.

Have fun!