Our next two forms are Yul-Gok and Joong-Gun. These two forms are the introduction to the intermediate level of TKD and they present their own unique set of challenges.
Yul-Gok is a very interesting form. At a glance, you might consider Yul-Gok high on the difficulty scale. Weighing in at 38 moves, it is the longest of first nine. Those 38 moves are very deceptive though as all but two movements repeat, so, in a way the form really has 20 movements in it. If you remove the two moves that don't repeat and divide by two you get 18, add the two moves back and you land at 20. Sandwiched between Won-Hyo (28) and Joong-Gun (32), that 20 doesn't seem so bad to me.
I think Yul-Gok is a "psychologically" difficult form because it is so long. I think it requires a decent amount of stamina at first, but since you are repeating everything, muscle memory will kick in earlier than it might in a form of similar length that doesn't have as much repetition. There's not a whole lot of new technique introduced, although the jumping back fist into X stance is a bit flashy and causes many a high green belt to be excited to learn it. From a technical stand point there's not much difference between a twin forearm and twin knife hand block, and double forearm block is in my eyes the only real tricky technique.
I don't want to make it sound like I dislike the form, nothing could be further from the truth. Yul-Gok saved me a ton of embarrassment. I once got sea sick as a teenager on a fishing trip consisting of "manly men" who had a bit too much to drink. I was sick, and every time I tried to come on deck (which you should do) they made fun of my condition. I knew I couldn't puke, lest I give them something to never let me live down, so in my head I did Yul-Gok (my highest form at the time) over and over for the duration of the 6 hour fishing trip. I didn't puke, and I'll never ever forget that form.
Joong-Gun on the other hand is where the real intermediate level begins. To this point, I feel the forms are pretty straight forward. Although you can make a case for Joong-gun being very repetitive, I believe the quality of technique to be greater in Joong-gun. Joong-Gun introduces a new stance, front leg kicking, several new techniques, and the coup de grace, a back leg side kick from a back stance that lands in a front stance. Joong-Gun is easy to learn, in my opinion, as is Yul-Gok, but where Yul-Gok is (using the phrase loosely) easy to master, Joong-Gun is very much so not.
As the introductory forms to the intermediate level, Yul-Gok and Joong-Gun are formidable. In my schools, the intermediate area sees the typical testing period double. If a student was testing every three months they will now test every six (assuming all testing prereqs are met). It's a gateway time to an area I like to call the blue belt plateau. I'll get into that more in my next post, but suffice it to say the jump to intermediate is a bit of a "meat grinder" for the uninitiated. I only have anecdotal evidence, but if there are two places a person is going to drop out of training, one is definitely during the blue belt plateau. I wonder how much of that has to do with what I perceive is a steep jump in difficulty in Yul-Gok and Joong-Gun. From Won-Hyo to Yul-Gok there is a 10 move increase where the biggest increase before this is 4 movements. It almost feels like the architects wanted a clear distinguishing line between beginner and intermediate. In this case, I think they succeeded. What do you think?
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