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Can I learn how to defend myself with Taekwon-do? Every part of a typical Taekwon-do class aids in preparing students to defend themselves. To the novice student, this may not be obvious. For example, practicing patterns, where there the only opponents are imaginary, may not seem to be effective in dealing with real life assailants. But patterns are a necessary and valuable component of Taekwon-do training. In any good martial art, you learn how to fight back. And you also learn to take care of yourself without fighting. For children, this is extremely important. Making techniques effective First of all, you learn how to punch and kick with enough power that you can stop an assailant, and you learn where to direct that kick or punch to cause the most damage. It may seem that a punch is a pretty simple thing, but to execute a punch optimally, 19 different things have to be done correctly. In fact, almost every part of the body plays a role in throwing a punch--feet, knees, hips, both arms, shoulders and eyes. If you have to deliver a punch to defend yourself, the best thing is to get it done with one strong punch, not a bunch of weak ones. A kick can be more devastating, but you also have to learn to stand on one leg (or jump) in order to kick effectively, and there are specific components of kicking devoted to keeping you upright and balanced. Then you begin putting these techniques into patterns (called hyungs) that develop agility, focus, power, speed, balance and awareness of your surroundings. The first pattern you memorize is 20 fairly simple moves, but eventually you get to patterns of more than 60 very difficult moves. You work on each element of the pattern, as well as integrating all the moves together. You are required to perform this pattern in front of a large group of people in order to promote to the next belt level. There's some stress involved in this, which is good. If you were ever attacked, you would be under a great deal of stress. Very few people are naturally good at doing these patterns. Mastery of them is difficult, but always possible. Practicing them teaches you to focus. Every pattern has a number of difficult moves or transitions, and the average student makes mistakes on all of them at first. If you try to fix every mistake at once, you end up frustrated. The better way is to concentrate on one of the moves and work on it until you have it down, then move onto another, until they all are mastered. Demonstrating Power After two promotion tests at Traditional Taekwon-do, students start breaking boards. The ability to break an inch-thick pine board demonstrates that the student has learned a technique well enough to do it with some power. At intermediate and advanced levels, board breaking is required to pass promotion tests. As students rise in belt rank, they are required to break more boards and with more difficult techniques to prove they have learned many ways to defeat an assailant. There is another reason for board breaking. Slamming your hand or foot against a stack of boards--and not breaking them--hurts. It won't cause injury when supervised by an experienced instructor, but it still stings. The potential for pain can cause a definite anxiety and thus disrupt the technique. Thus practicing board breaking, and becoming successful at it, is a means of controlling one's fear. Simulated Attacks and Defenses During classes, students pair up and engage in self-defense exercises, known as ho shin sul. Initially, these are simple: one student punches and the other blocks the punch and counters. They move up to multiple attacks by one person, defenses in which the attacker is thrown to the floor, defenses against grabs such as a bear hug or headlock, defenses against weapons and defenses against multiple attackers. Each belt level has a set of specific defenses to practice. When initially learning these defenses, students practice with others within their own rank, or with a black belt who is attacking slow enough to allow the student time to execute a defensive move. But as they get proficient, the attacks are speeded up, until in preparation for a promotion, they are facing a black belt attacking at full speed (and complete control). Ho shin sul gives students options for defending against different kinds of attacks, and it helps improve reaction times. Ho shin sul is one method of simulating fighting. The attacks are pre-determined, as are the defenses initially. In free sparring, however, students are allowed to attack and defend as they wish, as long as they obey rules designed to prevent serious injury. There are two basic types of free sparring: non-contact sparring and full-contact sparring. In full-contact, the student puts on a helmet, chest protector, padded groin protector, hand/arm pads and foot /shin pads. The object is to hit or kick the other person so hard they are moved back, fall down or rendered unconscious. Areas where there are no pads are off limits (such as the legs and the back). Attacks at the face are off-limits. In non-contact sparring, students wear limited protective gear--usually just a groin cup and mouthpiece, and perhaps some shin or forearm pads. The objective is to come close to the opponent's head or body, but not hit it. One can aim an attack at any area above the waist, including the face. Striking the head, however, results in an automatic loss. It is usually permissable to lightly tap the body. Neither method of sparring simulates a true self-defense situation. Very few people walk around in their daily lives wearing the protective layers of padding required for full-contact sparring. And, of course, real fights have lots of contact. It's impossible for martial arts schools to stage real street fights, because too many of their students would get seriously injured. At Traditional Taekwon-do, we spar exclusively non-contact, although black belts are allowed to enter full-contact competition. There are several reasons for choosing non-contact. First, it allows people of different heights and weights to practice sparring against each other, whereas in full-contact sparring, the sizes of opponents are evenly matched. Non-contact sparring does include an element of realism because no one is perfect and thus incidental contact occurs. That possibility teaches students to keep their hands up. Anyone who has watched much full-contact Taekwon-do sparring has seen competitors focused almost exclusively on kicking to the point that their hands hang down at their sides. With all the padding, they aren't putting much energy into blocking attacks. The main reason for non-contact, however, is that it requires far greater control of one's techniques. A black belt in full-contact sparring is trying to pummel an opponent and the blows don't have to be very precise as long as they land and push the opponent backward. A black belt in non-contact sparring must deliver a fast, powerful kick or strike at an opponent and come within an inch of the target without hitting the opponent. That's a lot harder to accomplish on a consistent basis and thus builds true mastery of every technique in one's repertoire. All traditional martial arts have an ethic that maintains the skills learned must be used only for self-defense or the defense of another. An ethical martial artist does not go around picking or provoking fights, and tries at all times to defuse contact. Thus, the primary benefit from sparring is learning defensive maneuvers. How to detect an impending attack, how to deflect or dodge it, how to adjust to different rhythms of fighting. Building one's psychic immune system Taken as a whole, the various elements of Taekwon-do training--practice of individual techniques, patterns, ho shin sul, board breaking and sparring--combine to develop effective self-defense skills. For many students of Taekwon-do, this ability is a bonus, as they are studying the art mainly for other benefits, such as physical conditioning, stress relief or building self-discipline. Those who feel a strong need for self defense, however, must train with intensity and seek to understand the purpose of every move they make in Taekwon-do. After become skilled in Taekwon-do, your body language tends to change. It becomes both more relaxed and confident. As a result, potential assailants will decide you are not a likely victim. Random physical violence is a rare occurrence in Portland. More common are verbal assaults and psychological intimidation that may occur in one's job or social circles. Mastery of the difficult tasks of Taekwon-do, such as patterns or board breaking, gives people a true sense of confidence and inner peace. It enables people to overcome common fears such as public speaking. People become less aggressive, but more assertive. People who study Taekwon-do are less afraid to stand on principle, even when it is unpopular. Our bodies have an immune system that protects us from illness. Occasionally the immune system breaks down, or is overwhelmed, and we get a cold, the flu or some other disease. The stronger our immune system, the better able we are to resist these attacks on our health. We now know there are things we can do to strengthen our immune systems, such as getting enough exercise, eating a nutritionally-rich diet and avoiding foods high in fat or sugar, avoiding cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs and getting enough sleep. A traditional martial art like Taekwon-do builds our psychic immune system. Any form of safe, vigorous exercise helps prevent depression, but a martial art goes further by challenging individuals on many levels--physical, mental and emotional--that makes the student far more resilient. The TDKTutor,
an excellent and comprehensive web site on martial arts, observes: "Taekwondo
is a life leveler. It evens out attitudes, emotions, and actions. If you
are short-tempered, it makes you more tolerant. If you are aggressive,
it make you calmer. If you are meek, it makes you more assertive. If you
are anti-social, it makes you more friendly. If you are weak, it makes
you stronger. If you are impulsive, it makes you more restrained. These
changes will occur slowly so you may not notice them, but your friends
and family will notice the changes."
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