Staying cool

[Katyz007]

I was wondering if there was a way to help me stay cool as I am really struggling in my Tae Kwon Do classes.
I have asked my instructor if we could wear just a t-shirt instead of the heavy official dobok but he said no. As I am a girl I wear a white shirt under my top as the V is too low for me which probabily doesnt help.
I have tried drinking more water and this helped a little.
I was wondering what other methods people have to survive those hot lessons.
Thank you
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Katy Halford

[Akuma]

Hehe...yah this is a common problem as some of those doboks just dont breathe! As your conditioning improves you will sweat less...there is a certain physical curve to any activity and TKD is no exception. But on a really heavy class, we all sweat alot anyway (and if you don't, your not doing it right! lol) You might want to try to invest in a lighter weight dobok top..there are some really nice uniforms out there if your instructor will approve of you wearing a non-school specific uniform (some places want you to wear the ones with the free advertising on the back). I personally love the Adidas "champ" uniform...it's very lightweight, breathes great and feels fantastic. However, if your ITF like we are, you cant wear the top cos its a vneck and that is really a WTF thing...so our grandmaster doesn't approve of it. Try checking out some of the online MA stores like Century and AMWA...they have tons and tons of stuff! Hope that helps. Peace.

[UrbanWarrior]

make sure your belt isn't tied hard, that might cause ur hard-to-breathe problem

or instead of wearing a t-shirt maybe you could wear a sports-bra.

My routine is bring a half frozen water, leave it, wash my face with cold water in the change room and take tkd class during summer.

I also wash my hair but since you are a girl I don't recommand that.

Or just bite your lips and take the class for 2 months and you'll get use to it

[Jen]

I would highly recommend you get a shirt and a sports bra with cool max to wear. Stop wearing a cotton tshirt if that's what you're wearing. They hold sweat as i'm sure you know. I bet when you take that off it's soaked with sweat. I bought one set of cool max stuff a few months ago, and after wearing it to class once I went back and bought myself a few more. I especially like the ones with the inner layer of coolmax and the outer layer of cotton/lycra blend. The sweat goes through the inside layer and to the outside, so it isn't right on you. That may not sound right how I described it, but it works. The first night I used mine I was shocked the my whole body where the shirt covered was completely dry. The inside layer of the shirt was dry too, but the outside of the shirt was sweaty. The brand of stuff I got is TekGear, which is sold in Kohls. It was all fairly cheap. I also bought some champion cool max stuff the other week, but I haven't had a chance to test that in class yet between going on vacation and my wisdom tooth being infected and hurting, and now the holiday weekend. If you want a review on the Champion brand stuff, let me know and i'll try to remember to bring that with me to wear Wednesday. So far I like the Tek Gear with the two layers best, and I also have a Tek Gear shirt that's just one layer polyester. That one is also incredibly soft.

[Cliff Hargrave]

I second the sports type shirts. Something like UnderArmor or Starter Dri-Star. The Starter ones are much less expensive and you can get them at Wal Mart.

[Jen]

The Tek Gear stuff at Kohls has been on sale lately. The only thing though is that it has been a different percent off each time I went in. Sometimes i've gotten it at 50%, one time it was 40%, and I think i've seen it at 20% off too but didn't buy any, as I knew it would get marked done more again. I guess it just depends on what sale they're having that particular week. I believe i've paid between $8-11 for each item, as some things started out at higher prices as well. It's much nicer not to be covered in sweat.

[tkdnut]

Actually, I use a mens undershirt underneath my uniform. It is formfittling and it helps keeps the sweat down and they are light cotton. A lady at our club put velcro on her uniform so that it doesn't well....flash everyone ;-) A lot of people wear just a tank top. Hope that helps.

[nythius]

Personally i've found that for those really hot days, not that there are any sept through to about may here anyways, that a Nike Dri-Fit shirt is the answer. It's an athletic-type shirt, super thin, lightweight and breathes like you're not wearing it at all. Of course mine is a t-shirt, but if u could find anything in that form, I'd definitely go for it. Mine says it's made of 100% polyester. Some can be kinda pricey, considering you're just going to get it all sweaty or stained or w/e lol. But it'll be worth every cent on those hot days. I'd wear mine everyday ifi could, butmy instructor only allowes it so much lol . The dobok tops do have their pluses tho...they make ur puncehs sound a lot cooler

[Jen]

Angela, I would have to disagree with cotton shirts if you're trying to stay cool. I've noticed a huge difference between the coolmax type shirts (I think me and everyone else are recommending the same types of things) and cotton tshirts. I wore white cotton tshirts like everyone else for years, and i'll avoid wearing them again at all costs.