Literally Kick Stress away with Taekwondo!

*And what does tension do to your taekwondo kicks?

If you are tense in your taekwondo class your body produces more adrenaline. This is your fight-flight hormone. It is useful if you are in physical danger. But in class it just burns your muscle energy. And you are left drained and tired. You kicks get slow and heavy.

Tension also makes your muscles stiff. And stiff muscles can’t work properly. You move more like a robot than a person. Your techniques can’t flow properly. Your kicks get slow and weak. And you’re more prone to injuries.

For a sidekick one would also want the side and hip to be pointed towards the target. It’s less likely to perform a side kick in an injurious manner, but power and stability are still improved by pivoting properly. For a side kick the more of the hip muscles that can be used the better, so turning the hip just a little past the target so that the heel is pointed directly at the target allows it to be extended straight into the strike zone. In addition, if the non-kicking foot is pivoted so that the heel is pointed towards the target and the toes are pointed away, this positions the body on a direct line of attack. This means that all of the force, even that of stepping or moving forward, is directed into the kick.

The training device is fairly small, and can be replaced at low cost should you break it. The training aid I am referring to is the 8 x 8 x 16 cinder block.

First exercise is to simply raise the leg and kick over the block. The reason you do this is to train yourself to raise your knee high, which will allow you to put a straighter line into your opponent’s belly. You can easily stack the cinder blocks for different heights, and you can place them so you have to go over them to smack a kicking bag.

Second exercise is to stand on the cinderblock and do your kicks. This is going to build balance, and strength in the balancing leg. It is fun to practice kicking in the four directions, and trains you to pivot quickly and easily.

Third exercise, you can place four blocks in a square and start doing your forms atop them. You can go around and around the blocks, change your direction, jump on and off, and your legs are going to get stronger and stronger and fantastically stronger. Obviously, you’re not going to have just powerful kicks, your stances and other movements are going gain much more strength, too.

Taekwondo Kicks Problem #1 – Most of the kicking techniques are designed for tournament point based fighting. When you try doing a jumping spinning head kick and miss in a tournament, the referee stops the combat until you get on your feet. On the streets, if you miss a head kick and fall down you will be attacked where you lay.

Taekwondo Kicks Problem #2 – Lots of the styles of taekwondo tournament fighting is completely useless when it comes to battle on the streets. The stuff you are taught including the sideways fighting stance makes you vulnerable and open to many types of attacks when it comes to a fight on the street.

Taewkondo Kicks Problem #3 – Taekwondo is a sport-based martial art. It was never designed to be used outside of the dojo. In a reality based self defense perspective, all sport based martial arts , specifically taekwondo are virtually useless. If your martial art doesn’t include throws, joint locks, grappling and chokes you are out of luck.