Master West is a world class martial arts instructor with over 40 years of experience in training amateur and professional competitors and champions, winning in over 1000 martial arts competitions, teaching children, youth and adults in Tae Kwon Do, Kickboxing, Jui-Jitsu, Hapkido, Tang So Do, Jeet Kune Do, Chinese Kung-Fu, weapons training and writing many articles on martial arts conditioning and training. BYC is very proud to have Master West as an instructor, mentor and role model.
Master West has taught many members of the military special forces, the NYPD, along with Mayor's Anti-Terrorist Task Force and hundreds of security professionals.
Taekwondo is a Korean martial artand the national sport of South Koreaand the Northeast Bronx. It is also regarded as the world's most popular martial art in terms of number of practitioners. Kyeorugi, or sparring, is an official Olympic sporting event. In Korean, tae means "foot"; kwon means "fist"; and do means "way"; so taekwondo is loosely translated as "the way of the foot and fist".
Taekwondo's popularity has resulted in the varied evolution of the martial art into several domains: as with many other arts, it combines combat techniques, self-defense, sport, exercise, meditation and philosophy. Taekwondo is also used by the South Korean military as part of its training. Traditional taekwondo is typically not competition-oriented but stems from military roots with great emphasis on offense.
Kickboxing started in the US during the 1970's when American karate practitioners became frustrated with strict controls on martial arts competitions that didn't allow full contact kicks and punches. Many questions were raised when the sport began about the high risk of injury. As a result, safety rules were improved and protective clothing was added. As this is a relatively new sport there are no long-term traditions. The sport has undergone changes and been refined during the last two decades. Competitors use sparring, kicks, punches, kick blocks, shadow boxing, and wood breaking that is learned and applied under professional instruction.
Modern Taekwondo, on the other hand, tends to emphasize control and self-defense. Although there are doctrinal and technical differences between the two main styles and among the various organizations, the art in general emphasizes kicks thrown from a mobile stance, employing the leg's greater reach and power (compared to the arm). Taekwondo training generally includes a system of blocks, kicks, punches, and open-handed strikes and may also include various take-downs or sweeps, throws, and joint locks.
Jujitsu (literally "the gentle fighting art'') is an empty handed extension of the sword fighting art of the Japanese Samuarai.
The actual ancient art is called Aiki Jujitsu. This involves joint locks, throws, strikes, blocks, and chokes. Aiki Jujitsu went through some changes in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Jigoro Kano removed many of the dangerous techniques to create Judo (``the gentle way''). This allowed students to practice full speed against resisting opponents, but with far fewer injuries that happened when Jujitsu was practiced at full speed.
About the same time, Morehei Uyeshiba took a different set of techniques out to create Aikido. (A jitsu is a fighting style. A do is a way.) About the same time, a Korean named Yong Suhl Choi combined Jujitsu techniques with the kicks and punches so prevalent in Korean martial arts to create Hapkido. (Hapkido is the Korean pronunciation of the Kanji that in Japanese is pronounced Aikido.)
Master West has taught many members of the military special forces, the NYPD, along with Mayor's Anti-Terrorist Task Force and hundreds of security professionals.
Kickboxing started in the US during the 1970's when American karate practitioners became frustrated with strict controls on martial arts competitions that didn't allow full contact kicks and punches. Many questions were raised when the sport began about the high risk of injury. As a result, safety rules were improved and protective clothing was added. As this is a relatively new sport there are no long-term traditions. The sport has undergone changes and been refined during the last two decades. Competitors use sparring, kicks, punches, kick blocks, shadow boxing, and wood breaking that is learned and applied under professional instruction. 
Modern Taekwondo, on the other hand, tends to emphasize control and self-defense. 
Jujitsu (literally "the gentle fighting art'') is an empty handed extension of the sword fighting art of the Japanese Samuarai. 
