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This is kind of terrible advice, depending on the individual in question.

The most broadly successful stretching program tends to involve a warm-up, followed by the dynamic flexibility exercises you mentioned: leg raises to the front, sides, and back for the hips, as an example. This is followed by a workout of some kind (an intense run, strength training, a martial arts class) and, after that, cool down with static stretching.

Despite what /u/shinobi3432 said, you should not push to the point of pain. You want discomfort, and you can hold it there, but never for more than thirty seconds, okay? And, once you've developed both some muscular strength and basic, static passive flexibility, you can throw some isometric stretching in there before you do a static passive stretch.

What should happen is, as your static flexibility range improves, you build up your dynamic flexibility to match it, so that you can utilize your full range of flexibility in motion and with little warm up. That said, you should still warm up before actually training; one or two kicks "cold" will be all right, but you still need a decent warm up before you actually push yourself at all.

If you want details on this kind of stretching program, read Stretching Scientifically, by Thomas Kurz.

You pretty much ARE me down to the age. Hopefully you have a good school where the instructor will put you through the ringer. Expect to sweat. Expect to be pretty uncomfortable with the stretching. Expect to be off balance.

On the flip side, expect to get stronger. Expect to get faster. Expect to get more flexible. Expect to suddenly notice that you really DO balance pretty well. And expect to have a great time!

I found the description that /u/truejim8888 gave to be pretty accurate as far as the types of things you can expect. Just add in there some sparring days, which are seriously sweaty events.

Be careful with yourself, too. Getting injured early on can be really frustrating. Get yourself some of these. They give JUST the right amount of protection to keep your instep intact, but allow it to develop in toughness.

My general advise would be to stretch a lot on your own. Ask your instructor questions when you have them. Don't worry about your belt level. They're each just a list of training goals and they say very little about you. And please have fun. It's a hugely rewarding activity to be involved in. Good luck!

Length of time depends partly on your age and current physique, and partly on how hard you're willing to push yourself and work. Don't push yourself so hard that you hurt yourself, but definitely push yourself. Just make sure you don't try stretching cold. Do some light stretches, then go for a run, do some jumping jacks or kicks, then work on deeper stretches.

There are probably a ton of books out there, but my current instructor swears by Dynamic Stretching and Kicking by Bill Wallace.

But in all honesty, don't let being "literally the most inflexible man alive" stop you from starting TKD. I was 36 or 37 when I started, overweight, and had terrible flexibility. Starting up with a good TKD program is really the best way to do it. They should help you with your stretching and flexibility. I'm still nowhere near as flexiibil as the kids in my martial arts school (and likely never will be), but I'm almost 42 now and am worlds beyond where I was when I started!

My fiancé loves his Mooto Extera - material is very light. It runs a little large, so if your current uniform has room, I’d suggest sizing down. It looks like 170 is currently out of stock in amazon uk, but I assume it probably come back.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mooto-Taekwondo-Uniform-Kukkiwon-Special/dp/B00ZWLBJU2
He ordered through amazon us, but it did take 2 weeks to come in as it came from Korea I think.
We also like the Adidas Adichamp 3 - light, but not as light as the Mooto. It has butt and armpit vents - I don’t know how much it cools you, but it doesn’t stain as much I think, and it’s very comfortable.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IPPHNCA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_j7B7Ab384FV6G
Don’t know where it’s sold in the uk but amazon uk doesn’t have your size listed.

Basically the Mooto is a very thin, more polyester type fabric. Adidas one is thin, and definitely has synthetic fibers, but is more cotton-y than the Mooto. Both are very good.

I quite like the BOB bags if I have to choose one and have limited space. They make really nice targets for round kicks and hook kicks. The wavemaster type standing bags are quite nice too but not particularly versatile. You can use them for assorted drills but best for round kicks in my opinion.

If you want something with more variety you could consider one of the multi station things like this too. In all honesty when I had one I usually preferred to use my other bags rather than it, but it might be to some people's taste if you have limited space.

Honestly I find sidekicks and back-kicks are often better trained with a partner holding a blocking shield (who knows how to move in order to absorb impact), but that might just be my personal taste.

I don't much care for hanging bags honestly.

I think if you have a partner available a set of slap paddles and a blocking shield will go really far.

Not crowd sourced at all! I started here on reddit when the original translation didn't return to the starting position. Then I was able to find a nice Norwegian WTF'er who can read Korean Hangul, Hanja and speak English to help me do a proper translation (not to mention has the General's 1965 Korean book and others and of course Taekwon-Do's himself).

This ballooned into a project that includes Ko-Dang with both presented in the 15 Volume's format for patterns (foot diagrams, 4+ photos per movement, etc.). A number of Master Instructors and Grandmasters have had positive reactions to Volume 16 and I encourage you to at least use Amazon's Peek Look Inside or checkout the PDF Preview I made available on Google Drive before drawing any conclusions.

Stuart Anslow, quite the TKD author himself, has enjoyed the book.

As have others (be sure to read Master George Vitale's comments).

Master O'Mahoney.

Master Malm.

Sabum Hu.

BooSabum Dunbar.

And maybe here.

I would really recommend that you look up this book: Stretching scientifically - Thomas Kurz. There is so much BS broscience when it comes to MA and stretching. So much bad stuff gets done because their master did it that way and their master did it etc... with no regard to how effective or bad it is for your body...

Another great resource is this link that has a great wealth of good information regarding all your MA training needs. Just follow the links on the page.

Best of luck to you.

From 1961 till 1965 General Choi was appointed ambassador to Malaysia. Supposedly he created the forms while he was there.

Ever since the Japanese occupation of Korea there was a very long lasting anti-Japanese sentiment. He created the forms because he wanted Tae Kwon Do to have it's own national identity, and staying with the Japanese forms made that very hard.

As a side note, I believe this is basically the same reason sine-wave was added to ITF TKD. It was to further differentiate TKD from it's Japanese karate roots. I don't think he added this to necessarily make the art better, just to make it different and give it its own identity.

The Korean Martial Arts Handbook is an excellent book for all things Korean martial arts. It's a fantastic reference book for learning about the history of the kwans, forms, etc. I used it pretty extensively when I wrote my thesis.

As far as the puzzle mats go, the more you use, the better it gets tied together. I'm going to put down about 40 square feet of mats (if not more, having had some time to think about the configuration), and the more you've got the better it will weigh down. Not sure if these yoga folks are dropping down 10 square feet and having trouble, but if that's the case, that's where the antislip matting comes in -- and if it's 3 or 4 tiles, it certainly is not going to stay in place. I've used this type of antislip matting before, and it grips pretty well on carpet and wood. I'm hoping to avoid having buy it -- more money, you know?

i hope this link works? mr o'neils book taeguk cipher iseems to be really good for the taeguk series i have not read it yet but ive seen the youtube clips read the reviews and such.. seems to be worth a good long look atleast .. i dont know if theres a book black belt and above though?
http://www.amazon.com/Taegeuk-Cipher-Simon-John-Oneill/dp/1409226026/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1401176393&sr=8-1&keywords=taekwondo+cipher

This book is pretty much standard in the martial arts world. The cover is a bit creepy but the content is good.

Dynamic stretching is the key!


http://www.amazon.com/Stretching-Scientifically-Guide-Flexibility-Training/dp/0940149451/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_z

• As /u/tubbyx7 points out, Ik-Pil Kang's book is considered one of the definitive explanations of Kukkiwon-style poomsae. It's extremely precise and technical, to the point that tournament judges will use it as a reference. If you had only one book, this would be the one to have.
  
  Warning: you want the version of this book that includes both the color belt AND the black belt poomsae. There are other editions in which the two are broken into separate volumes.
  
  The book is out-of-print, but used copies are easy to find. This is the edition you want: https://www.amazon.com/Explanation-Official-Taekwondo-Poomsae-Korean-English/dp/899123724X/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1497879640&sr=8-2
  
  
• Yes, there is a Kukkiwon textbook. I own a copy and refer to it sometimes. If you're building a library, it's a must-have, though in many ways it's not as useful as the above. It contains both English and Korean for every paragraph, though the English translation is not awesome.
  
  The most recently published edition is 2005. https://www.amazon.com/Kukkiwon-Taekwondo-Textbook-Korean-English/dp/8973367501/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1497879834&sr=1-1
  
  
• What I love about this book is that it's a good reference for all the Kukkiwon poomsae as well as the older Palgwae poomsae. I have referred to this book quite often:
  
  https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Taekwondo-Poomsae-Official-Taegeuk/dp/1880336928/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
  
  
• I assume you already have a copy of "A Killing Art". Of course that's the go-to reference for historical information (though one could argue a fair amount of bias in its story).
  
  
• See also: http://taekwondo.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Book

Noted and added to my list, thank you.

It must be good, if there's a copy for £2,499.50

I like this series for ITF patterns
The Encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do Patterns, Vol. 1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1906628165/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_oPcqDbQBW70CX

It is easy to follow and doesn't take up too much room in the gear bag.

Thanks guys. I think what I'm going to have to do is something like this. Not these in particular, since they seem way overpriced, but if I can wear something under them, then maybe I'll be fine.

https://www.amazon.ca/Revgear-Deluxe-Re-Breakable-Board-Black/dp/B005VYCFXA/ref=asc_df_B005VYCFXA/?tag=googlemobshop-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=293011706858&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11094919429271406549&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001327&hvtargid=pla-306995206303&psc=1

These are the kinds we use at my dojang. Not sure how long you can use it for, but the black one is the strongest (equivalent of 2.25 boards I believe). The other colours are in description of the item.

Have you thought about a wall mounted paddle or one that mounts to you heavy bag ?
Examples
Spin Kick


ProForce Paddle Clapper Target

You could always build you something from PVC or 2x4's to.
hope this helps . Look at this guys simple setup

I was going to get a flag near the street sign. I'm looking at this.

I was also going to get approval for flyers to be distributed at the local schools when classes start back up. Maybe I can get a demo going.

In order to illustrate my approach - check out Stuart Anslow's "Chang Hon Taekwondo Hae Sul" books... Solid applications to techniques with no/minor tweaks in movement/trajectory, that can then easily be applied in sparring/randori.

Something like this?

Here's the link without the affiliate tag: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1880336928/