Grandmaster Hee Il Cho Teaching at 67 - Tae Kwon Do

[XR05Charrua]

This TKD the martial art, the way it was meant to be before the Olympics came along and the general martial arts lost its respect for tkd. What an amazing instructor,mentor and person. Wish I had the chance to train with Grandmaster Hee Il Cho . Lots of love and Respect from Australia!! These must be the only martial art/tkd youtube vids with the majority of the comments being respectful and positive. That tells you something!!

[shenzino]

Awesome!

I remember when he had a school here in West L.A. for a long time. I will NEVER forget stopping by and watching him workout.

He's the real deal. A true inspiration.

[TheRubendran]

ur father is great,i respect him in his peak and i respect him now

[SuperSneakySteve]

I'd rather hear what he's saying than hear that music.

[masenka76]

Wow, great energy!! Compliments!!

[beungood]

Awesome! He was one of my favorite role models in TaeKwondo when I was a Marine in the 80's. I was training under one of GM Sang Kyu shims Blackbelts (Tom Smith) from michigan. He trained and taught Taekwondo they way it was meant to be as a Martial Art not sport. Wish more were like him I would have stayed in tkd. I moved back to Mass and trained in Hapkido for years but alot of books and media I would buy were his .

[XR05Charrua]

@beungood Could not agree more. TKD the way I was taught it. TKD the martial art!!

[jgoller]

I trained with master Cho in the early 70's in West Los Angeles and to this day have vivid memories of his amazing abilities. Thank you sir for your profound influence on my teenage years and instilling the virtues of martial arts that stay with me to this day as I am now an master myself and teach kids and adults in the way you have taught me.

[eugene680]

Amazing at age 67, he can still move at that speed.

[dgurl1010]

grandmaster cho is awsome!

[Kamboolo]

this dude really 67? hats off if he is, back off or ill get grandad to sort you out haha

[knowtoolittle2]

Master Cho was in the seat of honor at the 1984 Pacific TKD Championships in LA. We didn't have chest or head protectors back then. It was my first tournament and I won. I still have the gold medal and the signed certificate, which is the best prize out of all the tournaments I competed in. Real class act. Sah. 

[MrByaeger]

i'm 44 and i would need 6 weeks to recover from half of those kicks! way to go master cho..

[TheCremeEggAddicts]

he is amazing i train with master darcy and had a class with grandmaster hee il cho and i am only a blue belt so i consider myself really lucky your dad is amazing you should be very proud :-)

[DTGtaihojutsu]

Nice to see your father in action. Thumbs up.

[TKD960]

Grandmaster Cho is one of my favourite Grandmasters to watch. Himself and Chang Keun (C.K) Choi are my favourites....true masters of Tae Kwon-Do!

[MERVILLE3]

there's Hee Il Cho, Guro Inosanto, Benny Urquidez and a few others and they are a total insperation. They are all a journey without end with each stepped as loved as the last and the next

[AmyMagical]

Grandmaster Hee Il Cho is a legend . I trained wit him in Ireland and he signed my TKD book

[bj616]

I've trained in both styles, ITF & WTF they are both good.

[l2a3sterling]

Bruce lee rules.......Jackie Chan is the man.

[l2a3sterling]

Hey.......try savate

[tigershumon]

KUNG FU KID1015 - I teach Freestyle Martial Arts and I spent the best part of my 8 years studying TKD. I must say, TKD is a solid martial art in terms of learning how to throw powerful kicks. I personall put a thug through a door on a night out long time ago, and the force of the spinning back kick made him shit his pants. Dont confuse TKD just an art that focuses on jumping flashy kicks. Some of the basic kicks can be very lethal. Combine TKD, JUDO and BOXING. Its also down to the fighter.

[shitonMOHAMMAD]

@tigershumon couldn't have said it better myself

[KungFuKid1015]

Agreed. Most basic kicks are leathal, and I have used one or two flashy kicks in sparing. But I am just saying that some of these schools focus too much on flashy kicks. Not all, but some. TKD is pretty, but its not for me, But everyone seems to jump down my throat. 'God forbid I criticize TKD' and its the same when I comment on the UFC stuff. I get blasted, thanks for the comment.

[tigershumon]

It all depends on the fighter, and the level of focus they put into their own training. Ive trained with so many instructors, and it is down to the person learning it, and knowing how to apply what technique and when. Same could be said in any style of martial arts. It is not the art that has its fault, its the person. If you lack standards and have a lack of understanding on application of techniques, your art will be useless.

[billysue2]

its definitely the art that is at fault in most styles,if you dont spar with contact in all ranges,do lots of padwork and practise your prefight psychology then your style is lacking .Some styles spend a vast amount of time on patterns and compliant drills which are a waste of training time if youre learning to figh or defend yourself.Of course some people wont train hard enough or have the aggressive attitude necessary and thats the indiidual aspect.

[dwichagitime]

I believe that tkd has gotten the rep it has because of what you are talking about here. i used to hate forms(poomse), or stances, with kicks, strikes, and blocks, being practiced in the air. I always liked the sparring, but don;t like arts that pull punches and kicks, or have light contact like ATA, ITF, or other TKD styles. WTF, but more imporatntly WTF elite schools who teach Olympic level TKD, employ full contact padwork and sparring which makes for better fighters.

[billysue2]

it doesnt make hem beter fighters it makes them beter at wtf rules sparring which is about as far away from fighting as you can get.Complete reliance on kicks isnt transferable to any other arena,sporting or street.

[l2a3sterling]

wtf (what the f) no punches, lead leg, sweeps, low kicks.......just kicking and yelling

[dwichagitime]

ITF ignorant transvestites fighting

[l2a3sterling]

Your obviously pro ITF (It's The Finest)

[l2a3sterling]

KARATE ......was highly respected. Not sure why: boxer's punch better, TKD kick better. I studied a traditional karate ......no sparring?

[KungFuKid1015]

OMG he is going to get these poor kids killed in a real fight.....this is the reason I hate TAE KWON DO now, i used to study and practice alot with a friend of mine, but thanks to my dad that taught me chinese boxing, i would wiped the floor with my friend, and he was a black belt.

[zambokschwammkopf]

practising TKD isnt about fighting.. its about enjoyment, community, physical development and self defense.. Being a black belt doesnt mean anything in terms of fighting skills! Its not the art, its the artist!

[KungFuKid1015]

Thats kind of my point. You can't use tae kwon do for anything anymore than to show off and look pretty. I enjoy alot of the kicks in the style, but in self-defense, in a real situation, using fancy high kicks is very dangerous. And if being a black belt means nothing in terms of fighting skills, then why train at all to be one. I don't advocate violence. However if your going to learn it for self defense, then damn it, learn something usefull. "Pretty" won't get you home. I'm sorry.

[zambokschwammkopf]

This is one of those things, some black belts in TKD are very very competant when it comes to self defense - one blow one victory is the idea! But other black belts are not so competant.. It all depends on the instructor, the student and the style of TKD practised!

TKD was used by the Korean military at night when guns could not be used as they couldnt see in the dark.. It can be very deadly, as can all M.A's - hence its not the art its the artist

[KungFuKid1015]

I see your point. Its just that I have been to about 3 different TKD schools just to see how they teach. And alot of them rely on unpractical kicking techniques. The problem is is that these schools claimed to be teaching self-defense. I've been in real street fights, one in particular was with multiple attackers who had baseball bats. I was about 12 or 13. I used TKD and got my ass kicked. Luckly my dad showed up...lol...from then on I stuck to Kung Fu and since then i've been better.

[lcw1980]

Because you're an imbecile again. If you got multiple attackers, dont be a hero, always try to run. Attack/stun one, then run for it.

Even jackie chan can only handly 2 at the most. Oh, btw most kungfu movies that had 10 vs 1 clips, it bullshit if you havent figured that out.

[billysue2]

if youre faced with multiple armed attackers forget any self defense, it wont work,youre fucked unless the attackers are 6 years old.

[KungFuKid1015]

it will work if you previously spent time practicing multiple armed attackers. The students at our school who practice Aikido, when they get to Brown and Black belt level. They are Required to defend against 4 and 5 attackers with weapons. using guns also. there are scenarios that can be worked with. It takes practice. But in most cases, your right, its hard to defend, thats when you need to attack first, fast, and hard, then RUN, Good point though, but not impossible

[billysue2]

any realistic practice with multiple armed attackers would show it cant be done.Neither can anyone defend 4 or 5 unarmed men.The drills your friends are using arent full contact I guarantee that.

[KungFuKid1015]

Well I see where you are comming from. But that is where you are wrong, we DO train full contact, to an extent. Its full contact with control, that if we need to go that extra inch or so to mame or even kill someone in a REAL situation we can BELIEVE ME. the attacks are random and not rehersed, so the person using the techniques, HAS to think on their feet. and you can defend yourself against 4-5 unarmed men, just spar regularly, thats what sparring is for.

[lcw1980]

You're an imbecile to use fancy kicks in self defense. Any decent tkder knows that. No wonder you failed in tkd.

[dwichagitime]

"fancy, soft, flashy, for show, high useless kicks", blah blah blah....just another clown who knew a weak ass fighter in tkd, so now he jumps on the bandwagon that tkd sucks. lol. it isn't a complete martial art, but no art is.wtf tkd practiced at the elite level is full contact, very fast, and very technical. you obviously have fought punks who are no good from some belt factory. 1999 us open anaheim california; national team member dies from "flashy, useless high kick.' lol. i was there.lol

[dwichagitime]

buy a mop at walmart; it may work better than your friend on the floor toughguy.

[dwichagitime]

just know one basic principal, and you'll go far in life....arts or styles NEVER win fights; it is always the fighter who determines that. Since all arts teach basic rudimentary strikes and kicks that are virtually the same, it is what that fighter does with that knowledge and training, as well as the fight inside him that determines most of the outcome. you tube is full of someone who beat up someone from another style, so that style sucks. wake up, you beat the guy, not the art.

[KungFuKid1015]

You are right. Its the fighter and what that fighter does with the knowledge. But when you get a fighter who has practiced TKD, and believes that the high fancey kicks are whats going to help him because his instructor said it would and it looks good on tv, thats bad. And the main problem is, and I should have mentioned this b4, they don't spar full contact most of the time until they are brown or black belt. A good fighter needs to know how to hit and take a punch period. Ask anyone,

[dwichagitime]

who is anyone? look, obviously we not only have different opinions, but different exposure to tkd. there is ATA, ITF, and WTF, and so on and so on.the difference between just the 3 organizations i mentioned is termendous. the way they train, the way they fight, fullcontact versus light contact, etc. Even in WTF, it is night and day from one school to the next depending on who the master is or coach.

[dwichagitime]

all wtf's schools are affiliated with the IOC (international olympic committe). The USOC. has an 8 man/8 woman team at the OTC in colorado springs, and then there area handful of alternates called resident athletes that are invited by juan moreno or jean lopez on an invite basis only based on performance in national level tournaments as well as international level such as team trials, us open, pan american games trials, etc. I have broken guys ribs through chest protectors in training alone,

[dwichagitime]

not to mention, a guy's arm with a roundhouse. I myself have sustained a few injuries suck as fractures, my nose broken a couple times, and fractured shin, and insteps. juan moreno a 2 time olympic silver medalist in 1988/'92, in miami who owns Peak Performance has his guys fight without pads many times, and everyone thinks he is psycho. We trained with 2 chest protectors on, and had to time out many times from the power; i cannot imagine doing it without gear unless you drastically toned it dwn

[dwichagitime]

as far as head kicks go...my coaches NEVER pushed for head kicks unless it came at the end of a combination if the fighter was open for it. 90% of everything we threw was to the body. I will say that the olympics changed the rules to add 2 points to the head shots instead of one, plus 3 points of they go dwon from a head shot. you know what that did? it upped the danger of the matches. our rules are full contact and now you are giving 3 points to knock someone's head off?

[billysue2]

you cant imagine sparring full conact without body armour?that is what every kickboxer ,kyokushin and thai boxer in he world does every week .Body armour is totally unecessary except maybe kids and women.

[dwichagitime]

i am not afraid to fight those guys without gear; i just know i won't fight olympic leveltkd guys without gear. the game is too fast, too hard, and too dynamic and technical to do that.we used to do that in the 70's and early 80's only...as the game elevated people started getting fucked up. muay thai is hype, and kyokushin is slop. i've fought those guys; not impresssed.

[dwichagitime]

first it was the BJJ bandwagin, now the muar thai bandwagon...tkd always gets the bad rap because nof so many commercialized schools teaching watered down training...i get it. i never trained t those schools. bottom line is that i gurantee, that within one or two quick exchanges without any gear, myself or my partner would be fucked up at the level we fight. i know that, but you can't process that, so it's useless to debate it. women and children, lol. that;s good.

[billysue2]

lad ,ive been around tkd for 25 years and thai and western boxing for 10 of those and sparred with high level guys in all I can tell you from mine and every other tkd mans experience that thai is a far harder hitting sport than tkd of any type and far more effective when the 2 have ever met in the ring.Olympic tkd is a joke in combat sports due to the lack of head punching since punhing is the mos common tech in any fight

[dwichagitime]

thai boxers are limited in their arsenal of kicks and in their overall kicking ability. that aside, the style of muay thai fighting calls for 2 guys standing toe to toe exchanging blows until someone gets ko'd or loses on points at the end of the fight. therefore they train to kick as hard as they can because their is always someone right in front of them. when there is not somone there they spin out of control and they end up turning their back on their opponent....

[dwichagitime]

which is a terrible practice because they leave themselves open to be KO'd, by a more technical counter fighter. any tkd fighter can wind up and throw their hips into their roundhouses to get the most power out of them, but then the technical game of tkd is not to stand and exchange, but rather to outscore or KO your opponent WITHOUT him doing it to you, so the rules dictate a different type of training. the kicks are not more powerful, they just wind up and throw everything into a singlekick.

[dwichagitime]

there are videos of tkd guys beating muay thai guys as well....so what? I have been in tkd for 31 years and i trained under marcus silveria (Conan's brother)in BJJ for 4 years. i have fought several muay thai guys in training, and i I am not impressed with their kicks or power. it is far more archaic than what I already possess. the only thing i appreciate about it is the influence of western boxing in their arsenal. look bro, this you tube shit is a waste of time. i respect your opinion.

[billysue2]

there are no vids of any decent thai fighter being beaten by any tkd guy because hey dont exist.Thai is a big part of the mma program at american top team where marcus co owns with liborio.

[dwichagitime]

i trained with marcelo silviera, not marcus, at boca black belt academy off Federal (US1),before american top team opened in cocoanut creek, and before marcelo got busted in that ecstacy bust. I never trained at ATT because I moved from that area when it was being built. As far as the videos go that you say don't exist..."Tae Kwon Do Vs Muay Thai" does exist, check it out. I don't judge arts by who wins these matchups because there are too many unknown variables. fighters win fights not arts.

[billysue2]

limited arsenal of techs make a fighter better not worse,boxing only has a few punches.

[dwichagitime]

i don't think number of techniques makes you better OR worse. i believe you will always favor a couple techniques or stikes anyway. but some fighters are able to utilize more techniques effectively along with good timing and footwork to exploit a limited fighter. and i could care less about banana trees; olympic style wtf kicking is enough to break ribs, KO, and sit you on your ass, as many kicking arts are, so that MT hype is irrelevant. it comes down to the ability of the fighter in the end.

[KungFuKid1015]

Ok noted, but TKD eventhough it started out as just Teykwon I think in the early early days, its now a sport, like judo, kickboxing, boxing, mma(ufc). I don't knock it completely, I just have my problems with a few of the techniques. I am not trying to make enemies here. I even have one of my instructors who is certified in about 3 or 4 different CHinese styles who has taken and studied TKD. And he is very fast with his kicks. so its just my opinion on the subject i guess

[dwichagitime]

no worries man.i think all the arts have something they are best at teaching, and a good practitioner should probably learn and train in 2-3 arts that reperesent, gorund, kicking, and hands, to be truly balanced. some arts clain they teach everything, but i personally have always been an advocate of staying pure with arts that have a reputation of being the best in one thing, and then cross training rather than finding one style that does it all so to speak, but again that is just me.

[KungFuKid1015]

Agreed its good to learn at least two or three styles. For example, I mainly do Kung Fu. In kungfu there are stand up fighting skills like tiger, crane, snake ect. and grappling skills like Chin Na. I also study aikido, best for weapon attacks. My instructor who is 62 years old has been in the martial arts for 50 years now. Having black belts in 5 or 6 different styles. We train in street defnse, minimizing any flashy moves.

[billysue2]

id agree with training he arts seperately simply because the best coaches are the pure ones and youll get the best sparring there.

[lcw1980]

Thats funny, i TKOed a jingwu association friend with a well placed solar plexus sidekick. he never recovered his breath.

Perhaps you're not suited for taekwon-do

[shimokai]

He was fucking awsome 20 years ago,but old age creeps up on all of us.He was an arse hole to me when i meet him,because i was a japanese style karateka.But give the man some respect he trys hard for the kids and promotos the martial arts in a good light.

[elliotkim99987]

He is 9th degree.

[elliotkim99987]

Is the grandmaster a 9th degree or a 10th degree?If he has a 10th degree,0_0

[chosunese]

Hes a fag by the way.... i used to get training from him... hes a joke in teaching...

[MrComano]

good song but this is taekwondo korean no japanese not that i got anything againts japanese

[DrHanuman]

My god . . . time has been good to him.

[W33R31DY]

he is an amasing man its amazing what you can do if you have dedication and commitment.

[AussieSteve001]

Great to see him still training. I remember reading his book 25 years ago.

[anthonyjerome2001]

the real life baek doo san

[mashkun]

what school is this called?

[chosunese]

Grandmaster Hee Il Cho's TKD center in Hawaii

[omfgineedaname]

just dont like it how they wore red instead of sticking to white aha

[colecash415]

very cool 2 see him still in action..

[GetYoWeightUp80]

cool song.

[TerryTarget]

Just shows you the kind of condition the body can stay in if its trained to...Amazing!

[JackieChan108]

wow this is not the same cho I meet in the November 2nd 2008 Chos Taekwondo tournamnt th one I met as stupid

[PakDaeHan]

fantastic tae kwon do master ok! not tai kwan do like you white people pronounce it.

[madmick080808]

how old is grand master he ill cho now?must be in his 70s ?

[karimbelgacem]

just watching this and looking forward to seeing grandmaster again at summer camp. 1 week to go!! Can't wait, such an inspiration.

Roll on AIMAA Summer Camp 2008

[roryisgoed]

my grandpa would need a hip replacement after kicking like that

[mortinii]

this is'nt master cho?

[grandmasterdaughter]

Hrm..are you wondering about another Master Cho..? This is Grandmaster Hee Il Cho. I'm sure there are several other Masters with the same last name. :)

[stretch4859]

This is Grandmaster Hee Il Cho, he is a 9th degree blackbelt in Tae Kwon Do. I have alot of his books and training dvds.

[GTF4life]

i will openly admit i dont have a clue who the dude is lol, but class for his age!! brings a new meaning to ur only as old as u feel- i think he may still feel 20!!

watched a couple of ur vids ur 3rd dan opr something etc VERY NICE *makes mental note not to annoy u likes*

very very impressed, book marking ur name!! lol.

[tomatito1981]

lol find his books GTF - man of contrasts, the complete martial artist 1 & 2 and the masters kick 1 & 2 and you'll see why he is a legend. He's very different to Park Jung Tae i.e. was never renowned for leg holding like in Juche but his jumping kicks were regarded as amongst the best of the 1st generation of ITF instructors and his side kick is unreal - far more accomplished than Rhee Ki Ha in my humble opinion as he has done alot more for TKD

[GTF4life]

mite have a look for those books at some point:) must rember to look at some more of the vids about him when get the chance. i no the name Rhee Ki Ha but again dnt no of many outside of GTF. quite neive when it comes to outside GTF, never heard of any of them cept local instructors etc so any info would be appericated. read somewhere about a tkd palace, any ideas how to find more info on this?? again i never heard of it.

[tomatito1981]

The TKD Palace is in Pyongyang, North Korea and was financed in the early 90s by Kim Sung Il before his death, for Gen. Choi and the ITF to have a dedicated training centre. The Kukkiwon (lit "National training hall") is the older, built in 1972 and is in Seoul.

[GTF4life]

WOW!! i am impressed i never imagined such tribute would exist even with TKD. do u know site to where there are pics etc.

thank u tomatito1981

[cmudave]

Thanks for posting this J - really great.

[jkinternationalfilms]

:-)

[jkinternationalfilms]

You are "THE BEST OF THE BEST." and will always inspre me and will always be my kwan Jang.

[themadhoose]

Fantastic its an inspiration watching a man of 67 move the way Grandmaster Cho does. Its even more impressive that he puts so much time in with his students when most Grandmasters are so unapproachable. A true testament to what Taekwon-Do is about

#

Kev Mc

Instructor

Cho's Taekwon-Do Bellshill

AIMAA-Scotland

[desperatehouse]

great to see . i recieved my black belt from him in the 80s in ireland. thank you.

[JayKing131]

Annyeong haseyo~~ Amazing to watch, as always... Inspirational^^

[takeninj]

that is awesome that your Dad still moves like he did in the 80's when I used to watch him so much. Thank you for sharing this video 5+ stars. You were also very good in your 3rd degree test. It must run in the family

[grandmasterdaughter]

thank you so much! we still really appreciate everyone who continues to show their support :)

[takeninj]

no problem at all , it is an honor to comment on this page. Due to your father and other famous martial artists they inspired me to get into the arts in 1976 . Now I am teaching large groups in Canada here on you tube and at seminars. I have no where the skill of your father or a name as well known as him but maybe one day . I look forward to more videos thank you again