List of Taekwondo techniques

Taekwondo techniques vary between schools and level and not all techniques are included. Techniques often combined into longer set forms, again these vary from school to school.

Contents

Stances (Sogi)

Main article: Stances (tae kwon do)

Attention Stance

Attention, or more properly, Charyeot, is a stance where your body is in a upright standing position with the legs side by side, heels touching, toes slightly apart. Your hands should be parallel with your body, to the side. From this stance instructors explain what will be taught during the class session and/or if they want your attention they say Charyeot, meaning you stop whatever you are doing and get into the stance awaiting further instructions.

Closed Stance

Moa Sogi means the feet are parallel and close together. It can be side facing or front facing to your opponent. It is used to simulate the practitioner being restrained, i.e. where the arms are in front of the practitioners face with one fist covered by the opposite hand. The opening movements of won hyo tul are a prime example of this where the practitioner starts off in moa sogi and then bursts out of their attackers grasp with a twin forearm block.

Walking Stance

Gunnun Sogi or Ahp sogi is used to approach or retreat in combat and poomsae. Feet should be maintained shoulder width apart except when stepping, where the leading foot moves outwards marginally. To maintain a solid base, each step should put about a shoulder width between feet, and the stance should be a shoulder width-and-a-half long. When stopping in the middle of a step, the back foot should be inclined outwards slightly to aid balance.

Back L-Stance

Niunja Sogi (Back Stance: Dwi-gibi Sogi) is a standard fight stance used in Taekwondo to prepare for kicking. The body is turned to present only the side to the opponent and the legs are split one and a half shoulder widths apart. The front foot points directly forwards while the back leg is turned out just under 90 degrees. The feet are lined up along the heels. To make sure you have the L-stance properly aligned, stand with your feet together, turn out the toes and step the back foot directly backwards into the stance. 70% of the weight should be on the back leg which means the front leg can be engaged in quick kicking and it will not unbalance the practitioner if swept.

Parallel Stance

Naranhi Sogi is a neutral stance from where a variety of Taekwondo kicks and punches may be thrown. The feet are both pointed forward and placed shoulder width apart. Arms are lightly bent with the clenched fist just under the navel and the muscles of the body should be lightly relaxed, ready to spring into action at any moment. This position is also often referred to as Ready Stance or Chumbi sogi.

Rear Foot Stance

Dwit Bal Sogi or Bum sogi is sometimes known as Cat Stance or Tiger Stance in Taekwondo. It is like the L-Stance but much tighter, and the feet are slightly over head width apart. Again most of the weight is placed on the back foot(90/10), leaving the front leg ready to kick.

Sitting Stance

Annun Sogi or Joo-choom sogi is a low stance used in Taekwondo and several other martial arts as a neutral position, which also enables an individual to practice punching. It is known as the 'horse-stance'.

Feet are placed wide, around two shoulder widths apart and the knees are deeply bent until the hamstrings lie parallel with the floor. The back is kept straight. Arms are bent with closed, upturned fists held at the hips. As each punch is directed forward, the fist swivels 180 degrees down to a natural position before impact, turning back up again as it is retracted to the sides.

This is a very arduous position for the legs and lower back. While punches are being trained, other parts of the body are receiving a workout. As a student progresses, his hips will begin to open up and he will be able to achieve an even lower stance. Tests of martial endurance are often based around maintaining this position for protracted periods, holding other objects on outstretched arms or even balancing them on the head.

Fighting Stance

Kyorugi joonbi is a simple stance which is similar to back stance, but with the practitioners weight center to allow for kicking with either front or back foot. It largely resembles the fighting stance a boxer will take.

Hand attacks

Taekwondo hand strikes are performed as a close distance alternative to kicks. They are executed in a number of ways - from standing, jumping, spinning and rushing forwards. Hand strikes make up fast combinations of strikes which can leave an opponent stunned and unable to defend himself. Taekwondo hand strikes can be separated into two distinct styles:

Various surfaces of the hand may be engaged as the striking surface depending on which area of the opponents body which is being targeted. This leads to a large array of hand positions.

Tae Kwon Do also makes use of reverse and front elbow strikes.

Kicks (Chagi)

Main article: Kick

All kicks can be executed as jump kicks, spin kicks, jump spin kicks or multi-rotational spin kicks. Also, all can be performed by the front or rear leg in a given stance.

Some of the best-known Taekwondo kicks include:

There are also many kicks that involve jumping before their execution. These include jumping front kick (ee dan ap chagi), jumping side kick (이단 옆 차기 idan yeop chagi), flying side kick, jumping axe kick, jumping roundhouse (ee dan dollyeo chagi), jumping spinning hook kick, jumping spinning roundhouse kick, butterfly kick or "shuffle jump kick," jumping (or counter) back kick, and jump spinning side kick. Normally, jumping kicks involve pulling up the back leg to help gain height during the jump and then performing the kick itself with the front leg. About any kick can be put into a Jump, a spin, or a jump-spin. flying kicks, obvious for the name, fly in a forward motion, rather than jumping straight up and down like a jump kick. first, for a flying kick, you must run ( your kicking leg must be last foot to run) and run-jump into the air doing the kick you want. usually, the side peircing kick is preferred as a flying move.

Blocks (Makgi)

Main article: Blocking (martial arts)

Taekwondo blocks known as Makgi are used to stop and deflect an incoming attack. They engage various parts of the arm with the hand and are held in different positions such as knife-hand, closed fist etc. Each block is suitable for a particular kind of attack and may be combined with another punch or kick to make a counter-attack.

Patterns, Poomsae, Hyung, Tul

Taekwondo patterns, also known as poomsae or hyeong constitute an important part of Taekwondo competitions.[1] A pattern is a series of movements linked together in a prescribed sequence. Both basic and advanced Taekwondo techniques can be contained within a single patterns and the higher the level of the competitor, the greater the difficulty of the techniques and the complexity of the pattern. Competitors must perform their highest pattern in front of a panel of judges.

There are two types of Taekwondo pattern competition:

Self defense

Taekwondo self-defense is known as hosinul and it forms one of the four main principles of the art. The self-defense applications would be difficult to score in sparring as they are designed primarily to cause injury or quickly incapacitate an adversary.

In competition, self-defense techniques take the format of a demonstration event, much like poomsae. One person is usually designated the part of the Taekwondo practitioner, while several team mates take the role of common street aggressors who attack from various angles with punches, kicks and grabs common to street brawlers. Weapons may also be used, as Taekwondo has specific techniques for dealing with armed adversaries.

Taekwondo self-defense competition provides an opportunity for students to display their understanding of Taekwondo self-defense applications and the ability to put together their own team choreography. Self-defense routines are often performed as displays for the public, in which case there are no judges present. Many Taekwondo clubs include self defense in their daily routine in both WTF and ITF.

There are two main concepts in Taekwondo self-defense. For real life combat situations, an experienced Taekwondo practitioner is versed in the following:

Linear Techniques

These include mostly punching, kicking, headbutts and other striking maneuvers. Force is countered with force and all limbs are involved in stopping an adversary. Taekwondo kicks have a wide reach that keeps the adversary at a distance. With proper execution opponents may be incapacitated with a single blow, which lessens the number of attacks in encounters with multiple people.

Circular techniques

These emphasize redirection and manipulation rather than strength. The adversary can be manipulated into a position whereby a lock, stranglehold and/or finishing move can be applied. Grappling techniques are used both as a means of securing an adversary and escaping from an adversary's grip. Soft self-defense techniques like the stranglehold or joint lock can be used to subdue the attacker, avoiding dealing permanent injury.

Taekwondo self-defense techniques demonstrated in competition may include:

Like other Taekwondo competition events, self-defense is marked by a panel of judges. When scoring they are looking at the following factors:

Breaking

Breaking, the discipline of destroying inanimate materials such as wooden boards, bats, ice or bricks is a feature common to several Asian martial arts. In can be seen in its oldest form within some branches of Chinese Kung Fu such as Iron Shirt Chi Gung, where iron bars are smashed off the bare heads of martial arts experts, typically Shaolin monks.

In Taekwondo breaking competitions, the idea is to demonstrate power, speed and technique. The preferred object is commonly wooden boards of varying thicknesses, advanced students break several boards stacked one on top of the other. In Taekwondo, the hardness of the object to be broken is usually subjugated to the difficulty of the technique to be employed. Thus various body parts are used, such as the ridge of the hand, the knuckles or even the fingertips. Headbutts, knee strikes, elbow strikes and various parts of the foot are also used to break boards. A single board or stack of boards may be broken or, alternatively, a series of boards may be broken in a pre-set sequence utilizing a variety of strikes. Advanced competitors may even break several boards in a single jump with multiple kicks before landing.

In ITF Taekwondo sparring competitions, using maximum force is not allowed. Furthermore, at advanced levels it would be seriously injurious and possibly fatal. Breaking boards or bricks is therefore the only safe way to test the real power of any martial arts technique (except with fairly high-tech scientific equipment). Taekwondo competition breaking may be roughly divided into two main categories:

Starting with coloured belts Taekwondo students must learn breaking. As they progress through the ranks, the breaks they perform increase in difficulty as do the number of boards. As time goes on, the Taekwondo student's hands and bones become accustomed to breaking boards - repeated practice hardens bones, skin and tendons. Wolff's law states that the human skeleton will adapt to the stress it is put under, therefore the bones actually become stronger as a Taekwondo student advances in his martial arts career.

References

  1. ^ Taekwondo Forms
  2. ^ Self Defense Pressure Points

Further reading