Kuk Sool Won is a comprehensive Korean martial arts system founded by In Hyuk Suh in 1958. The name Kuk Sool Won translates to "National Martial Art" and it is currently taught worldwide with hundreds of registered schools. Founded as martial arts system and not a martial arts style, Kuk Sool Won is generally not limited to any
single discipline. The martial art system attempts to be a complete
study of all Korean martial arts.
Being a traditional martial art, it'
s roots
trace back to ancient and prehistoric Buddhist-style martial arts. Kuk Sool includes these old techniques along with more modern stuff such as
weapon improvisation and gun and knife defense. Though sometimes
people don't notice them, Kuk Sool Won tournaments are twice each year in the UK and even more often in the rest of the
world. Tournament entries include:
Wood breaking, sparring, forms, techniques, self-defense routines, sword and bo staff displays. Kuk Sool is
seen mostly as being quick and graceful, like a sort of dance.
Depending on how rough your instructor is, Kuk Sool can be a very hard martial art to start with. In different martial arts dojos i've seen how the students spend half their
time running around or on the floor, and calling it training. In Kuk Sool we start with a rough warm-up and follow with incredibly tiring punch-pads or kicking practice, after that we focus on techniques, such as joint-locks and pressure-points. But if the instructor is in a bad mood, he will make us do our forms - eight times, with little rest in between. At the end of each
session we do a hundred push-ups. But testings however are truly mind-numbing, agonising sessions, where the instructor pushes his students far beyond their limits. Usually with stances, kicks
even forms, and push-ups and burpees in 3-digit numbers, with no
water breaks or rests - much harder than any dance ever.
If the instructor has decided to make you miserable with workout,
DON'T sit down or lean against the
wall, because he will kill you.
If you are
late going to Kuk Sool Won after a number of months of attendance, you have to do about 50 push-
ups on entry. If you are above blue belt or above and you are late, you will be punished severly, by about a hundred push-ups for each minute you missed, but that's only if your instructor is a real sonofabitch
