Blocks And Self-Defence

Blocks (Makgic burat)[edit]

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.

• Single Forearm Block - Wae Sun Palmok is used to deflect an attack (usually a kick) made at the torso. Starting up near the opposite shoulder,and the leading hand is projected down and across the body to deflect the kick with the forearm.
• Low Block - Najundi Makgi is used to defend against low attacks to the torso or legs. This is one of the most basic Taekwondo blocks and one of the first things a beginner will learn. The lead forearm is bent and raised to shoulder height, snapping the arm down straight with the palm facing the ground, which blocks any incoming low kicks.
• Rising Block - Chookya Makgi is another basic Taekwondo block, used to defend against overhead attacks to the head and shoulders. The arm is bent and raised above the head, and the underside of the forearm absorbs the impact of the blow, which may be painful but is better than it connecting with your head or delicate clavicle. This block is used to defend against Hammerfists, Axe Kicks and overhead strikes with blunt instruments.
• Palm Block - Sonbadak Naeryo Makgi is a standard block used to deflect incoming kicks and punches. The open hand is raised up to shoulder height and thrust directly down to meet the attackers limb. The heel of the hand makes contact with the attacker’s forearm in case of a punch, or shin in case of a kick. Although simple, it requires a lot of partner training to get the timing of this Taekwondo block correct.
• Knife Hand Block - The hand is kept in a knife hand position to block attacks to the torso. As the front arms sweeps down in an arc from the inside to the outside of the body, the back hand is simultaneously pulled back to the back hip and ready for a counter punch.
• Double Forearm Block - This is a more advanced Taekwondo block, designed to be used against a strong attack to the center of the body. Standing sideways, the lead forearm blocks the attack with the fist closed. The second arm provides further support, linking into the crook of the arm so both forearms are at a 90 degree angle to the body.
• Double Knife Hand Block - With the hands held open in the knife hand position, a powerful kick aimed at the solar plexus can be successfully blocked. Both hands come across the body, intersecting at the forearms and providing a firm defence.
• Nine Block - This is a black belt leveled block and the first time it is usually used is around the black belt form.The person blocks their chest with one hand and stomach region with the other.The shape of the block forms a number nine when executed correctly.Both arms are bent at a 45 degree angle as well and it leaves little space open in the mid region of the defenders body.Your hand when this move is executed correctly should also be above your groin on the bottom and next to you opposite shoulder with the top hand.
• Upper Block - Also known as the Ulgul Makgi. The one using the block first keeps their fist sideways at the stomach or torso. They then rise the fist up to their head, deflecting the attack. Any attack made at the upper part of the body is blocked if timed correcttly using this block.

Patterns, Poomsae, Hyung, Tul[edit]

Taekwondo patterns, also known as poomsae, teul, 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:

• Solo Taekwondo patterns - Performed simultaneously by two competitors, each from an opposing club. Every competitor may perform two patterns chosen from a range corresponding to his level - one designated pattern and one optional pattern. The best pattern is chosen by the judges and that competitor goes through to the next round by a process of elimination.
• Team Taekwondo patterns - Performed simultaneously by several competitors from a club organised into a single team. Club teams compete by performing two patterns each, one after the other. Once one team have finished both their patterns can the competing team then perform theirs. Again, the judges choose the best pattern to go through to the next round.

In taekwondo tournaments, pattern competitions are generally graded on:

• Accuracy. TaeGeuk patterns should begin and end in the same place.
• Posture. Practitioners must have their body weight correctly distributed during each different stance and during footwork. Each technique must be correctly aligned.
• Realism. Taekwondo patterns are the learning ground for real combat. As such, every technique must display the requisite speed, power and firmness to be realistically used as an attack or defense move.
• Spirit. A competitor's 'presence' on the mat must be as credible as his technique. Self belief, confidence in abilities, and intention to perform to a personal best are tangible virtues considered indispensable in Taekwondo practitioners.
• Decorum. Proper manners must be displayed when interacting with the judges directly before and after the pattern. Respect must also be extended to rival competitors, clubs and other officials.
• Form. General qualities that judges look for in any Taekwondo practitioner include proper breathing technique and body control. The diaphragm must be engaged in deep breathing, shallow breathing concentrated in the upper abdomen results in raised shoulders and stressed muscles. The muscles of the body should be lightly relaxed in order to perform the pattern with fluidity, speed and grace. Muscles should only be tensed at the moment of imaginary impact in order to commute maximum power to any individual Taekwondo technique

Self defense[edit]

Taekwondo self-defense is known as hosinsul 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 (or hard) techniques
• Circular (or soft) techniques

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:

• Pressure point applications.^[2] In Taekwondo philosophy, the body has many sensitive areas that are susceptible to precise attack. These are known as pressure points or ji ap sul. There are three types of pressure point that can induce one or a combination of the following: pain, paralysis, or death. These can be targeted with gripping and/or striking in order to immobilize or cause substantial pain to submit the opponent.
• Throws. Known as too sul, Taekwondo practitioners can divert the opponent's force to their own advantage and throw him to the ground. Once on the ground the practitioner has greater control over his adversary and can follow up with subsequent controlling or finishing techniques.
• Joint Locks. Otherwise known as kwan jyel sul in Taekwondo, these can be useful against armed attackers. Typically the attacking limb is grabbed and then manipulated to cause immense pain in the adversary. Joint locks can be applied on any joint in the body and are particularly useful for controlling an opponent who has been thrown to the ground.
• Termination techniques. These are a range of strikes applied to an opponent downed by a previous throw or strike. Powerful downward traveling kicks and hand strikes are used to make sure the opponent stays down.
• Choking techniques. In Chil sik sul, the idea of applying a stranglehold is to deprive the attacker's brain of either oxygenated blood through the carotid artery and/or oxygen for the lungs through the trachea. The Taekwondo practitioner uses leverage from his arm and sometimes involves the attackers clothing in applying pressure to the sensitive neck area. Choke holds are particularly dangerous and only taught to higher level Taekwondo students, as over exertion can crush the trachea or cause sudden death.
• Freeing techniques. Paegi are taught to Taekwondo students so that they can quickly free themselves and neutralise the danger of being grabbed by an attacker. Competition demonstrations frequently involve one student grabbing another from behind. The science of Taekwondo is equally concerned with defense as attack so proper freeing techniques must be learnt.

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

• Aliveness. How realistic is the Taekwondo students demonstration? Does he move with the requisite urgency and do his techniques have the emotional content to make the judges believe in their power?
• Technique. Are the Taekwondo techniques being demonstrated precisely? Are the kicks clean, fast and strong? Are joint locks and throws being performed accurately? Does the student have control over his adversaries or are they making it easy for him?
• Variety. What is the range of the Taekwondo practitioners knowledge? Is he showing his understanding of liner and direct counter-attacks? Has he performed a practical finishing technique after each throw or lock?
• Difficulty. More difficult Taekwondo techniques score higher than simple ones if performed correctly. However, a poorly executed technique will always score lower than a simple, effective technique performed well; students should not be demonstrating techniques that they have not mastered.

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

Stances (Sogi) Hand attacks Kicks (Chagi) Blocks (Makgi) Patterns, Poomsae, Hyung, Tul Self-defense BreakingEdit Breaking, the discipline of destroying inanimate materials such as wooden boards, bats, ice or bricks is a feature common to several Asian martial arts. It 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:

Power breaking. The power of a technique is measured by breaking single or multiple stacked boards. Stacked boards are commonly placed on raised supports on the ground. Speed breaking. A single board is held lightly between the fingertips of an assistant, at advanced levels the board is tossed into the air. Regardless of the power of a technique, if the board is not hit with the requisite speed in the correct places it will not break. 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.

ReferencesEdit Taekwondo Forms http://www.wtf.org/wtf_eng/site/about_taekwondo/poomsae.html http://www.kukkiwon.or.kr/viewfront/eng/data/technique_trunk2.jsp Self Defense Pressure Points Further readingEdit Modern Taekwondo:The Official Training Manual, Soon Man Lee and Gaetane Ricke;Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., New York, NY;copyright 1999 Traditional Taekwondo:Core Techniques, History, and Philosophy, Master Doug Cook;YMAA Publication Center, Inc.;Boston, Massachusetts;copyright 2006 Forces of Tae Kwon Do, Edward B Sell and Brenda J Sell;U.S. Chung Do Kwan Association, Lakeland, Florida;copyright 2004 Read in another language Last modified 10 days ago Wikipedia ® Mobile‌Desktop Content is available under CC BY-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted. Privacy