Improve your fitness, how to find the time.

Martial Arts is a great way to get fit and feel healthier so it makes sense that you will improve your fitness when you join a martial arts club. The reality is, that a martial arts class should only be part of your fitness plan. In a class, your instructors will teach you about self-defence, patterns, sparring and so on. This will all improve your fitness but it shouldn’t be the only fitness work you do.

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Improve your fitness, how to find the time.

One day at Korea's Golgulsa Temple as a participant of the templestay program

Five am on a Sunday morning and I am woken with the sound of a dull bell and a monk chanting, coming through some runny speakers outside my room. I put my Templestay uniform on and run my hands through my hair before realizing it doesn’t matter because I am about to put a beanie on to face the minus degree temperature outside. It’s a one kilometer walk up a steep hill to get to morning prayer and meditation where everything is chanted in Korean. 

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A-Day-at-Golgulsa-Templestay-Program

Seven Benefits of Martial Arts for Adults

A previous article I wrote for the Zone Martial Arts blog focused on the benefits of martial arts for kids but you would be surprised at how much benefit an adult can get from martial arts. Maybe you have seen your child training and thought “Maybe I could do that?” or you are looking for a different fitness option than pounding away at a treadmill for hours. If you need some more incentive to try a martial arts class for yourself, I have put together seven benefits that adults can get from martial arts.

Energy

I know it sounds weird to some, but performing a form of exercise can actually increase the energy levels a person has. Martial Arts, not only helps burn fat and calories but it builds strength and gives you an outlet for the stress that you encounter during your day. What’s even better is that it is a much more interesting way to exercise. When you do martial arts training, you need to keep your brain active and thinking about the activity. That means you are training your body and your brain.

An interesting class can not only have you walking away from the class invigorated (yet probably tired), the blood is flowing and you have burned calories in a way that is more interesting than sitting on an exercise bike. Its more practical too from a self defence perspective and is definitely something we encourage at Zone Martial Arts.

Goals

As adults, we tend to forget the need to set goals in our lives. We also tend to forget that achieving a goal is a process in and of itself. When a person comes into Zone Martial Arts, they often have goals of getting fit or learning self defence. Most have a goal of achieving a black belt. When it comes to the last one, the program we offer is broken down into belt levels and a student knows what they need to learn at each belt level to progress to the point of testing for a black belt. The program itself takes the larger goal of wanting a black belt and breaks it down into smaller chunks.

The ability to take a large goal and break it down into smaller chunks is one of the keys to really achieving goals.

We take that a step further and set out goal targets beyond just getting the next belt colour or black belt because we see the benefits of setting goals. You should always make sure they are S.M.A.R.T. goals though (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-based). You can read more about goal setting in a previous blog post (Blog Post - Challenges and Goal Setting) but when students start setting goals and achieving them in martial arts, it encourages them to set goals and achieve them in other areas of their life.

Self Confidence

Think this is just for kids? No way. Adults often suffer from self-confidence issues and this could affect them in their personal life and their professional life as well.

Martial Arts helps build confidence as you see the benefits of the goals you set and achieve. As you learn that the kick you thought you could never do becomes your best kick. As you learn to defend yourself and know that you could fight back in a self defence scenario.

Martial arts builds confidence by encouraging you to succeed and showing you the benefits and value when you do. When you have more confidence, you approach things with a can-do attitude and this will mean a happier you.

Focus and Discipline

Martial arts really does help your focus. For starters, you have to put your smartphone down to train in martial arts so there is no distractions from email or messages. To perform a lot of techniques you need to think about multiple things at once. Where are my feet supposed to be, what are my arms doing, where do I need to look? All of these things take focus and the repetitive practice of these techniques sharpens your focus.

Patterns are another great way to develop your focus. You need to not only make sure you are performing the correct techniques but you need to remember them in the correct order, at the right speed and with a focus on your breathing. Then there is board breaking. There is no point even trying to break a board if you haven’t worked on your focus skills.

To work on these things though ultimately requires discipline. You learn as aspect of that through the formality of martial arts training however a lot of the benefits of martial arts come from developing your own skills in self discipline. Pushing yourself that but further or even just making sure you get off the couch and get to training.

At Zone Martial Arts we work hard to make sure our students work at developing their discipline and focus because we see the benefits for students, not only in their martial arts training but in their professional and personal lives as well.

Self Defence

Violence is most definitely on the increase and it is important to make sure that you can defend yourself when you need to. I am not only talking physical skills to defend yourself either. You need to be able to mentally fight back and not just shut down. How do you do this? Martial Arts of course.

Martial Arts training is fun and exciting but it is also building self defence skills and a tougher mind so you can handle and cope with violent situations. It helps help you improve your agility, balance, endurance, flexibility, and even your strength.  It also teaches you how to avoid physical confrontations in the first place

If you are going to exercise, do something fun and martial arts can provide that fun while at the same time providing practical skills to protect yourself. That’s why at Zone Martial Arts we focus heavily on self defence. Its all great being able to kick fast, but if you can’t apply it in a self defence scenario it won’t be much help.

It’s a Great Family Activity

So often, I see parents dropping their kids off to martial arts class, or sitting next to a field while their kids play soccer or netball. Why sit on the sidelines? Martial Arts is for everyone and it’s a great activity to learn with your kids. That’s why we have family classes at Zone Martial Arts, just so parents can learn martial arts with their kids as a family. 

There are more benefits than just a family activity though. The kids see you doing what they are doing. You sweating just as much as them if not more. They become inspired by their parents to do better and work harder. They see that hard work pays off and they relate to their parents better through this. You have common goals and common interests to talk about over dinner. For some kids, they even start to see their parents as people they aspire to be like, not just the people who ground them, send them to bed and tell them to tidy their rooms.

We have so many families training with us at ZMAX and its so great to see them achieving together.

Leadership

There is a phrase I really love. “A boss says go and a leader says let’s go”. It’s easy to be a boss who tells other people what to do but when you lead, when you show others the way to go instead of telling them, that’s when you get real results.

Martial Arts develops leadership skills. When you have to teach someone else a pattern, the best way is usually by showing them. When you team up with someone for the warm up, and you help them by just doing it with them, you are showing leadership skills.  

As you progress through the years in martial arts training, you are called on to share your knowledge with other students. Share your skills and insights. I have seen many examples of junior students approaching senior students and asking them for advise or help because they have seen that senior student working hard and practicing their skills and that lead by example approach is what makes the junior student want to learn from the senior belt. It makes them want to follow the lead of that senior belt.

The focus on being a leader in martial arts will flow on into other areas of your life and I am not just talking professionally either. You would be surprised how often this skill will benefit everyone.

So if you are interested in trying martial arts, find a school local to you and give it a go. If you live in the Sutherland Shire, come and try Zone Martial Arts. We would love to see you benefiting from some or all of the above points.

Enquire about a trial at Zone Martial Arts - CLICK HERE

Mark Underwood

Mark holds the rank of Master in two martial arts, 5th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo and 4th Dan Black Belt in Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in a number of other martial arts styles. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point location.

Movies fights are nothing like real life

I am like a lot of people and love action movies. As you would expect, some of my favourite action movies have some awesome fight scenes. I love the way Jason Bourne takes out the bad guys. The Matrix

People see these movies and think that if they learn how to do martial arts, they can do moves like that, learn to defend themselves like that and that they can pull off moves just like in the movies. They believe that one day they can do these moves not just in classes but in real life fights as well. I am here to tell you; real life will never look like it does in the movies.had some great fight scenes as do movies like The Raid and that’s before we start to talk about specific stars like Jackie Chan, Jet Li and Bruce Lee. A lot of people start doing martial arts because they have seen some awesome moves in film but that has a negative side as well.

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ZMAX Blog - Movies fights are nothing like real life

Mark Underwood holds the rank of Master in three martial arts, 5th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo. 4th Dan Black Belt in Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords) and 1st Dan Black Belt in Gongkwon Yusul (Korean MMA). He has also trained in a number of other martial arts styles. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point location.

Martial arts is not just about learning how to fight

In this day and age, I do think it is important to learn how to defend yourself. There seems to be more and more violence occurring in our suburbs than ever before and knowing how to defend yourself is important, but that doesn’t mean you have to learn how to fight. Martial Arts should not be about learning to fight, but learning to control your body and more importantly, control your mind.

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ZMAX Blog - Martial Arts is not just about learning how to fight

Mark Underwood holds the rank of Master in three martial arts, 5th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo. 4th Dan Black Belt in Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords) and 1st Dan Black Belt in Gongkwon Yusul (Korean MMA). He has also trained in a number of other martial arts styles. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point location.

The importance of passing on knowledge to colour belts.

As a Black belt or as a senior belt there are several reasons why it’s important to pass on the knowledge that you have accumulated over your own years of martial arts training to colour belts. In my opinion these are the main reasons.

• Teaching the next generation
• Different way of training and learning
• Duty to club
• A new path for your martial arts journey

Teaching the next generation
One of the best parts of being a martial artist is being able to share the experience with other people. You can share this knowledge in a few different ways such as teaching, assisting in classes or just partnering with another student to teach them a specific technique or pattern. Passing on your knowledge is a great way to open up other avenues for your own learning as well though.

Different way of training and leaning
Passing on your knowledge actually helps you with your own journey. While teaching techniques to other students is useful for the other student, it is also useful for your own learning. When you are teaching others you are having to focus on, what you are doing, how you are doing it and why you are doing it. It cements it in your own mind at the same time you are teaching someone else.
Lets for example take a look at if you were performing a Dollyo Chagi (turning kick); It’s not just, kicking with the top of your foot on a sidewards angle. We can break down what we are doing into 5 individual moves;

• Lift knee as high as you can, and on a slight angle out.
• Pivot your base foot on your toes and ball of the foot with a hip pivot.
• Extend the kicking leg, and hit your target.
• Retract the kicking leg at the knee first, and pivot hips back original position.
• Place kicking foot one ground.

While you are talking about these components with a student you may also talk about the following;

• Lift your knee high as the higher you lift your knee the higher your kick will be.
• Pivoting your base foot, allows your hips to open, and reduces the risk of knee damage.
• Pivoting your hips when kicking helps with the power of your kick.
• Retracting your foot first allows you to do a second kick if required faster.
• Placing your foot down where you want it, sets you up for the next move or kick.

When we go through the steps and talk about other details with someone else, we actually improve our own techniques and become better martial artists. So with your teaching, its not just about the other person, you are actually still training and learning, just in a different way.

Duty to club
Doing your duty to your club I feel is very important. It’s a way of thanking your club for the time, effort and resources that they have used to help get you to where you are now. Most students will hopefully find that their martial arts training has helped in other areas of their life as well. Dloing your duty is also helping your club become better as while you’re helping one student, it frees up your head instructor time to help other students on a more in depth level or allows them time to run the club better.
Doing your duty to your club also shows that you care about your club and the students in it and this will help you in becoming a better teacher. It will give you a stake in the achievements of the other students so when they achieve, it feels like you achieve as well.

A new path for your martial arts journey
As mentioned above, teaching others allows you to analyse your own techniques and improve them.  It also brings new components to your training, a new angle of focus and patience is needed as different people learn at different speed and in different ways. Being able to change and adapt to this and to different situation helps you with your own martial arts journey. Teaching others also helps with your own self-confidence and abilities. Being able to stand in front of a group of people takes a lot of guts and can be nerve wracking but you need to have faith in what you have learnt and achieved and know that you wouldn’t be asked to do it, if your head instructor didn’t think you were able to do it.

Ben Tuckfield

Ben holds the rank of 3rd Dan in Taekwondo and is part of the leadership and instruction teams at Zone Martial Arts servicing the Sutherland Shire area from the Taren Point

location.

The 3 A's of Effective Self Defence

Those who know me and my approach to martial arts will know that self defence is a huge part of why I practise martial arts and why I teach it. Violence is an ever growing concern in this day and age and no one is immune to it. Not the older person, innocently answering a knock on the door. Not the young woman out for a run in the afternoon. Not the young guy hanging out with his mates at the skate park. Not the young child walking home from school. It’s depressing and scary to think that we will all either be on the receiving end of violence or directly know someone who has been. I truly wish that was an exaggeration but it seems to be more like an alarming fact.

The prevalence of violence in our society is one of the reasons I believe martial arts are for everyone. Attackers prey on people they believe are weak and vulnerable and the simple practise of doing martial arts can mean a difference in how you carry yourself. You may walk a little taller and more confidently and this may subconsciously show a potential attacker that you are not an easy target. This isn’t a guarantee though so the practise of martial arts and self defence is becoming a more critical skill. There are some things you can do though to reduce the chance of being attacked or at least give you a fighting chance if it comes down to you and an attacker.

One of the things my instructors taught me and has stuck with me is the concept of The Three A’s. They taught me that it was the key to effective self defence.

AWARENESS

AVOIDANCE

ACTION

Awareness

At all times be aware of what is going on around you. Look over your shoulder and glance at what is happening behind you and to either side of you regularly. Don’t just spend the time engrossed by your mobile phone or looking only at the ground in front of you. You need to make sure you are aware of what is happening and what may potentially affect you. This goes for listening to music as well. I see a lot of people who walk around with headphones in their ears and not looking around. This means they not only won’t see what is coming towards them but they won’t hear it either. Awareness is the first step.

Avoidance

We all know of some cool shortcuts to get from point A to point B. Maybe it’s an alley that means I don’t have to go the long way around the block. Maybe it’s a park you can cut through to get home quicker. Where I live there are a number of pedestrian paths that wind around behind houses. They are lovely to go for a walk on but are not well lit and not well travelled. No matter which of the above applies, effective self defence means avoiding these sorts of areas. It might take you a bit longer, but use the path which is well lit. Use the footpath that has cars passing who may be able to stop and help you if you need it.

Avoidance is also about avoiding situations that might be dangerous. You may get invited to a party with people you don’t know or go into a room with a known bully. If you can, avoid these situations. It’s doesn’t make you a coward, it makes you smart.

Action

However if all else fails, fall back onto action and the first action if you can, is to run away. Escape whenever possible – don’t try to be a hero. Always try to escape to populated and well-lit areas and don’t be afraid to ask for help.

If you need to defend yourself though it is only self defence if the force you use is reasonable and proportionate to the attack. This means, if someone gives you a small shove and you respond by breaking their arm and punch them unconscious, you have not responded in a reasonable or proportionate way to the attack. If someone comes at you with a knife saying they are going to kill you, then breaking their arm and knocking them out is more reasonable and proportionate to the attack.

There is a lot more involved with self defence and every scenario is different. Martial arts can teach you to not only be physically capable of defending yourself but mentally capable as well. A strong mind can be just as effective in self defence as the most perfectly timed punch.

Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia.

Fundamental Theory of Haidong Gumdo and Martial Arts - Part 4

This final entry in the series on the fundamental theory of Haidong Gumdo and martial arts is about the body.

Body
Even though this is listed as the third point in the theory of Haidong Gumdo it is just as important as Spirit and Mind as it is through training the body that we can develop the other two components. By analyzing technique, pushing our body to (and beyond) its limits we learn more about our mind and our spirit. It’s the gateway to integrating martial arts into our life.

Power (Correct posture)
In martial arts we need to control and manage our power. We need to assess the amount of power we use in training and in any real life scenario. A punch can be delivered with breaking power but if all that is required is to warn someone away then using full power is excessive. The same with the sword, if we use too much power on our cuts then our sword will travel too far and leave us exposed for a counter attack. The other side of this is posture. If we overextend ourselves by applying too much power, then we can injure ourselves trying to stop the motion. Not to mention that correct posture and stance actually will deliver more power to the technique we are doing.

Speed (Swift movements)
Speed comes over time but it is something we should all strive for. It is important to know when to strive for more speed and it is only when you have gained control of the technique. Applying speed to early will just exacerbate bad technique and will be detrimental in the long term. I encourage all students to focus on the basic technique first before striving for more speed.

Balance (Stable stances)
Balance develops over time but it starts with the correct application of stance. People always want to rush to the fun stuff like punching, kicking and cutting and try to gloss over the benefits of good stance. Stance though is the bedrock of every technique we do. It’s important to make sure our stance and our feet are in time with our techniques. When we can think about balance in the martial arts moves we make, our techniques will improve and the more we will improve.

Sweat (Continuous effort)
Hard work pays off. No matter what happens in our journey, whether it’s hitting a plateau and thinking we are not improving, a technique we feel like we just can’t conquer or any of the other obstacles we hit while training martial arts, hard work and sweat will always help us get beyond it. When things get hard, a lot of people want to quit, find an easier way or just ignore that technique altogether but it’s those times we have to suck it up and keep training. Perseverance and hard work will always help us get through the tough times. So if things are looking difficult or you are getting frustrated, put in more time because sweat and continuous effort will get you though.

Fundamental Theory of Haidong Gumdo and Martial Arts - Part 3

I am continuing my series on the fundamental theory of Haidong Gumdo by looking at the second area that is covered by Haidong Gumdo, the mind. However these theories really apply to martial arts as a whole. So if you look at this and say "I am not a Gumdo student so its not relevant" you would be missing out in my opinion.

Mind

With any martial art, comes the concept of mind. Believing in yourself, pushing yourself and character building. Mind is the second fundamental theory of Haidong Gumdo but again I put to you that it is not limited to just Gumdo but applies to martial arts as a whole. It is something we practice without thinking about it during classes but it is when you stop and reflect on these aspects, you can learn so much more about yourself and really start to integrate martial arts into your whole life.

Courage (Ability to handle fear and danger)
Courage can’t be given to you in a rolled up parchment no matter what the Wizard of Oz tells us. It has to develop. I get a lot of students who come into the club looking to train and develop self-confidence. You will definitely gain self-confidence from doing martial arts but you gained confidence just by stepping through the door. People have a desire to learn martial arts and can be easily scared away by the intensity of training or the instructors or one of a hundred other things, but when you take that leap and get onto the floor and start training, you are showing courage. Through martial arts you learn to hand fear, nervousness and anxiety and those lessons of control and courage can then be applied to other areas of your life.

Judgement (Knowing oneself)Judgement is vital with martial arts. It’s the ability in the split second moment to determine how much force you need to apply in a self defence scenario. It’s knowing that even if you could fight back, you don’t need to prove it and can walk away from a fight. It’s being able to say I did my best and not listening to other people who say you didn’t try hard enough or you failed.

The subheading here talks about knowing oneself and to me that is difficult in itself. It’s hard to look at yourself honestly and think about our faults. It can also be hard to look at ourselves and not be overly judgemental and harsh. We have to take the time to reflect on ourselves and our judgement to ensure we are being true to ourselves.

Respect (Yourself and others)
We bow to our instructors, our training area and each other all the time in martial arts to show respect. We are showing respect to the people teaching us, the area we train in and the people who train with us. We show respect by standing still when our instructors talk to us, by looking at them while they talk and not fidgeting. We show respect by showing restraint and not fighting too hard with our fellow students during sparring.

Respect is a huge part of martial arts but I also hope that these lessons of respect are going home with you and being applied in other areas of your life. That you are showing respect to your boss or teacher by listening to them, even perhaps if you don’t like them. That you are showing respect to your elders (parents, grandparents or just older people you know) as this is a large part of Korean culture that we sometimes miss in western culture.

I know respect it is something I really want my students to think about outside of the club environment. It shouldn’t be like your uniform and you just put it on at training.

Temperance (Self-control)
Temperance and self-control are the final aspects of the mind aspect of martial arts theory. We need to be rational and calm in situations where it could be easy to get angry and riled up. We need to not lash out, verbally or physically, when something or someone upsets us. It is even more important for martial artists who learn skills that can severely injure other people. We don’t have the luxury of throwing a friendly punch at someone because our punches are more technically proficient that most people. We need to control ourselves.

We also need to have self-control with how we treat our body. Our body is one of the few constants in our life and if we abuse it we can’t replace it. So while that extra drink at the pub is nice and chocolate is awesome, we need to make sure we have these things in moderation, that we have self-control so that firstly, our body is healthier but also because as martial artists, we can’t have alcohol or sugar highs control us because it is too easy for us to hurt someone accidentally.


Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia.

Fundamental Theory of Haidong Gumdo and Martial Arts - Part 2

Part 2 of my fundamental theory of Haidong Gumdo talks about the first of our fundamental parts of Haidong Gumdo/Martial Arts. This one is all about spirit.

Spirit

Spirit is a big part of Haidong Gumdo although sometimes it is the one people overlook the most as it isn’t something we directly train. Rather spirit is something that comes from the other aspects of learning martial arts (Mind and Body which I will talk about shortly). Spirit comes from being around people who show these traits, making sure we look up to people who demonstrate the below attributes.

Patriotism (Love of Nation)

This means respecting the country we live in and the ideals that are common to everyone, yet also showing respect to the cultures and beliefs of everyone. We are a multicultural nation and respecting others should be part of the way we show that we are all Australian.

You can also show your love of nation every day by being a person who treats everyone as equals or even by something as simple as picking up some rubbish you might otherwise ignore.

Filial Piety (Love of Parents)

Sometimes our parents drive us nuts but they sacrificed a lot to raise us and it is important to show them respect and love. Everyone makes mistakes, even parents so don’t hold that against them. Instead tell them you love them as often as you can as you never know when it will be too late.

This also means doing what our parents say, straight away without talking back. Even as adults, we need to show our parents the respect they deserve.

Propriety (Good and proper behaviour)

Be a person who behaves in a way that is respectful to yourself and others. Don’t pick on other people or bully them. Don’t look down on people or treat them as well than yourself. It also means standing still when people are talking to you, giving them attention by listening to what they say.

We need to make sure that our actions tell others about the sort of person we are and want to be.

Justice (Moral rightness)

Sometimes it’s tough to do the right thing when all we want to do is yell back at someone and sink down to their level. Yet as said many times in the world of comics, with great power, comes great responsibility and this applies to martial arts students. The techniques we learn, whether with a sword or with our hands and feet, are potentially lethal techniques. They can definitely cause injury and pain to others, so we need to be able to make sure we can control our moves so as to only to the required amount of force on an opponent.

However the greatest challenge is to avoid situations that would mean we have to use our martial arts skills. So if someone tries to pick a fight, or does something to make us angry, we need to try and walk away if we can.

We need to make sure we are setting a good example, to our family, friends and other martial artists and this aspect is one of the most important.


Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia.

Foundations of Traditional Taekwondo - Basic Techniques

This is the final post in my series on the Foundations of Taekwondo training. I listed them as basic techniques, poomsae, sparring, self-defence and breaking. These are what I believe are part of traditional Taekwondo training. I have gone into detail about most of them but I have left basic techniques till last and I have done this on purpose.

The word basic implies that these techniques are something for beginners and that once it is mastered it can be forgotten in favour of something more advanced. This can’t be further from the truth. These moves are fundamental to all of our training. Without these basic techniques, all the other aspects of Taekwondo I have been talking about are irrelevant. In many respects, the other components,

poomsae, sparring, breaking and self-defence are like the walls of the house and the true foundation of Taekwondo, the thing the walls are built on, are our basic techniques.

If our foundation is weak, if our basic techniques are not continuously practised then like a house built on sand, all our work will be swept away when we need it to stand strong.

Everything we do in Taekwondo whether it is for sport, self-defence, combat, health etc, is done by performing basic techniques. If you are sparring you are using basic techniques against an opponent, if you are performing patterns then you are using basic techniques. If you are doing self-defence against an attacker then you are using basic techniques in a practical way. So what exactly is basic techniques? The most common way of defining basic techniques are:

• Blocking techniques (Makki)
• Punching techniques (Jirruegi)
• Strike techniques (Chigi)
• Kicking techniques (Chagi)

And that’s it. This is also the basis of all the "official" or basic interpretation of poomsae application since all techniques must be in one of these categories. Each category can be subdivided of course. Blocking techniques (Makki) can be divided into upper section, middle section, and low section blocks. And these can be divided into even smaller subgroups. I will not delve into every grouping as that would make for too long a post.

Traditional taekwondo schools see that these fundamental movements need to be practiced in isolation so that each movement can be perfected with perfect form, speed, power and accuracy. This is often done with line work. Either moving backwards or forwards through the hall against an imaginary opponent or stationary. I am sure you agree that good basic techniques should contain with all the attributes above, but if you think about it you will notice that "line work" will only get you so far in terms of perfect form, but what about power, speed and accuracy?

The early masters of Taekwondo used several training aids to help them to perfect their techniques and one of the most important ones was the "Dallyon Joo" or "forging post" in English. It was essentially what the Japanese called Makkiwara and it is a striking post with a padded surface. All the "blocks", kicks and punches was trained by relentlessly pounding the Dallyon Joo over and over again. Impact training and conditioning was seen as very important maybe just as important as line work, and a great deal of time was used to train each technique so that it could be used with great power in a combative context. Modern clubs have replaced this device with block pads and punching bags and these all have their place and can help with generating power. Some clubs develop conditioning as well using other methods but the Dallyon Joo was essential for the original martial art that became today's Taekwondo.

The Dallyon Joo was not the only training aid as power and speed was seen as important but accuracy too was seen as paramount. Accuracy is the most important thing in a martial art. In a real fight you might only get one chance to strike your opponent and you need to put him down with that one technique. Historically, early masters of Taekwondo trained for this using different training aids like removing their shoes to kick them while their partners held them in their hands, like we use paddles today or hitting a small target (for example a nut) tied so that it floated at chest height or so above the floor (connected to the ceiling by a string) and kicking/punching it without stopping trying to hit it as it bobbed and weaved.

Another but largely overlooked part of basic training is the health aspect. The techniques of Taekwondo if done correctly does improve health. The stances strengthens the legs, the hip twist for power generation trains the hips, and lower back, the pulling hand tightens up your back muscles, the high kicks improve range of motion etc. Coupled with proper breathing training the fundamental movements of Taekwondo is great for your body.

Basic techniques are the fundamental in Taekwondo and are something all martial artists should be practising again and again. Always go back and re learn the basics, your skills will improve vastly if you do.

Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia.

Foundations of Traditional Taekwondo – Self Defence

This is the fourth entry in my series on the foundations of Taekwondo training. I listed them as basic techniques, poomsae, sparring, self-defence and breaking. These are what I believe are part of traditional Taekwondo training. I thought I should go into some more detail on each of them. This entry focuses on self defence.

I have one main rule when it comes to self defence,

“the only bad move in self defence is no move at all”.

Now self-defence is a little bit more than that. We do want to go through some fundamentals of self defence if we ever need to get out of trouble but doing something is always better than doing nothing. The techniques often labelled self defence in Taekwondo is often purely up to the instructor that teaches them and not every move will work for every person. Some of the moves taught in self-defence in a Taekwondo school might not even be traditional Taekwondo moves like grabs, grappling, throws, take downs, sweeps etc. That’s ok though even in traditional Taekwondo. Anything that can be used in self defence is a good thing.

These new techniques and additions to the core curriculum has been done since the beginning of Taekwondo. Unfortunately many things that historically were part of Taekwondo is rapidly disappearing in today’s race for Sport dominance. Taekwondo is a striking style for sure but we need a backup plan when we go to the ground so basic grappling skills are needed or we will have a serious flaw in our arsenal of combat techniques. This hole in our training was traditionally covered with self defence training as the training incorporated all the missing pieces of the puzzle. Today students often say that throws are not part of Taekwondo. That is wrong as throwing, although basic, has always been a part of traditional Taekwondo. The founders saw that their martial art was divided up in three areas or pillars, basics, forms and sparring and this left a great hole in their preparation for self defense, so they fixed this by including self defence training in their syllabus. Some even learnt other martial arts to supplement their skills.

Some self defence techniques include (but are not limited to):

• Escapes and release techniques from various grabs and holds.
• Joint locking techniques.
• Throws.
• Take downs and sweeps.
• Vital point attacks

As you can see these techniques coupled with the kicks, strikes, punches and blocks of main stream Taekwondo makes for a rounded combat art. What is not covered in typical basics training, typical forms training or typical sparring practise is covered in self defence practise. Self-defence might seem impractical or unrealistic if the main focus for the club is sports Taekwondo but when viewed together with the other foundations of Taekwondo you get to see that it is all contributes to combat efficiency.

Self-defence can even be broken down further into two camps: One is movie self-defence that is often used in demonstration for show and is in no way in line with any kind of reality and the other being what this post is about, a collection of techniques to round up your skills so you can face any attacker at any distance.


Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia.

Foundations of Traditional Taekwondo - Poomsae/Patterns

This is the third entry of five on my thoughts on the foundations of Taekwondo training. I listed them as basic techniques, poomsae, sparring, self-defence and breaking. These are what I believe are part of traditional Taekwondo training. This entry focuses on poomsae or patterns.

Let’s start this looking at some definitions of what poomsae are

“Poomsae is a combination of basic actions and movements exercised with an imaginary opponent”

“Poomsae is the Korean equivalent of Kata in Japanese karate.”

“Poomsae are practised to improve Taekwondo techniques”

“Poomsae (patterns) are a pre-arranged set of movements gradually becoming more complex the more you learn.”

“Poomsae is a series of movements with both offensive and defensive techniques, which can be practised and trained even without the presence of an instructor.”

So according to the vast majority poomsae are basic techniques both offensive and defensive that gradually increases in complexity that are practised to improve Taekwondo. The training of Poomsae in main stream is all about performance. You practice poomsae to get to the next belt, for demonstrations, or for competition.

One thing I want to say outright is that I don’t believe Taekwondo is exclusively a patterns based martial art. I believe it is a technique based martial art, the same way BJJ, boxing, Judo etc are. Poomsae are a vital part of our training, but it is just a part, not the whole. Most people look at poomsae as a string of basics thrown together that are often practised to drill basic techniques but poomsae is more than that. It doesn't contain any deep strategy or principles and they do not contain any secrets. It isn't even a means to hand down the techniques as there are just so many techniques missing from poomsae that it makes poomsae a very poor way to transfer the knowledge of the martial art of Taekwondo.

Let’s look at Taegeuk il Jang first two moves: Turn 90 degrees to the left and perform an arae makki (low block) in ap seogi (short front stance) then step forward with right foot to ap seogi (short front stance) and perform a momtong jirruegi (middle section punch). Two simple techniques, that in the view of the common Taekwondo student are done like this to drill basics. But look at them. Why on earth do we turn and why to the left? Why exactly these two techniques? Why is the hand on your hip on both techniques? Why this stance as opposed to another stance? The questions are endless.
In a form based martial art this would all be obvious. There would be maybe two applications for the move (one basic and one advanced) or just the one definitive one. This application would show some important principles that could be used very different contexts during combat.

But Taekwondo poomsae goes beyond that. That turn to the left could be done in different stances, with different blocks and with difference counter attacks. The low block and punch are not the definitive moves. Rather the practice of poomsae is to remember principles of Taekwondo. It is a practice of focus and putting moves together. It is a practice of movement and concentration and being in the moment. You practice the form to remember the principle. But when you are fighting or defending yourself you do not need to use those specified techniques. You could use different strikes and punches and still use the principles mentioned above. It is not so much the techniques contained in the form that are important, but the message they are conveying.
Taekwondo is a wonderful martial art as it gives its practitioners so much more than just poomsae to practice. Yet there is an importance in poomsae that must not be forgotten. We are lucky with Taekwondo to have so many forms to practice. We have 17 official poomsae (Taegeuk 1 – 8 and 9 black belt patterns) as well as 8 Palgwae forms that are considered supplemental forms by many. Choose wisely and study diligently, or simply memorise the sequences and drill those basics as never before!


Mark Underwood

Mark is a 4th Dan Master in both Taekwondo and Haidong Gumdo (Korean swords). He has also trained in other styles of martial arts. He is currently the owner and head instructor for Zone Martial Arts in Sydney, Australia.