The Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do Patterns, Vol. 1

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.

It is exactly as described. Includes pictures and explanations of forms.

Fantastic book! FYI if you are not trained in at least the basic foundations this book will make no sense to you. For me it is hard to follow. This book should emphasize more on facing and technique, instead it gives you the directions like counter clockwise and forward or backward. These are relative terms, if you are in the beginning stance incorrectly the entire routine will be wrong.

My name is Cyril Mc Sweeney 6th degree black belt in Taekwon do training for now 32 years .I came across the Encyclopedia of Taekwon do s on Amazon.I have to say they make learning form a book very easy.We all know that this can be brain draining sometime to work out the direction and the content .I have to say that I found Stuarts Books to be very useful practical and interesting.and Informative with a good sense of the history. I will try and get all my students to have them to refer back or to refine any details that need to be revised . I dont Know Stuart but I would like to wish him well and to encourage him to keep up the good work. Cyril Mc Sweeney 6th deg

I have to be honest. I didn't have very high hopes for this book. You could probably tell I've been burned before. This book was very different from the others though. It was very informational and easy to understand. As a blackbelt in TKD, this is a must have if you have been out of the game for any length of time. I was able to pick it up and feel after a week as though I never left. Very well put together pictures and diagrams of foot position and proper hand techniques. Would recommend this to anyone, new or experienced.

I have read a lot of books on TaeKwon-do patterns and by far this is the best I have ever used. I am a Black Belt TaeKwon-Do instructor and this is the main Books I recommend to my students. I now have all 3 of the books and these are the ones you can actually learn the patterns from. The books are well written and easy to follow. In class if me or my students have a question as to the correct move of a pattern we will check with the books for clearification. I highly recommend these book to any student who are using the ITF system of TaeKwon-Do to help them learn and practice these patterns correctly As the founding Masters intended for them to be practice.

Anslow has put in the work in developing this series of books. He’s done a great job in presenting a practical interpretation of TKD patterns, so that any practitioner can follow along. I own several of Stuart’s Instructional books - all well worth the money and the time! Eddie Minyard, 9th Dan

This set of books by Stuart Anslow is one of the best I have ever seen on the subject of the Taekwon-Do patterns. Each movement is described and displayed in detail with inbetween shots from one movement to the next. As well as all 25 of the standard Chang Hon patterns (including both Juche and Ko Dang), the book also includes the GTF patterns slotted in where they are meant to be practiced at their respective grades, and also the Silla Knife pattern by Master Kim Bok Man, for students who wish to add weapons training to their curriculum. This book is the essential reference for Tae Kwon-Do Patterns.

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

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.

Beautiful book and great.

NAS