Basic Taekwondo Techniques
Learning some basic Taekwondo techniques will help you to get your martial arts career started.
Kicking
Everyone likes to kick, after all, it looks so cool when you do. But when it comes to kicking, it’s not as easy as it looks. When you kick in Taekwondo, you will want to look at kicking as having four different directions, and even a few more, depending on how you move your body and position your hips.
- Side kick – a.k.a. roundhouse kick
- Front kick
- Side thrust kick
- Back kick
However, you can also have spinning roundhouse kicks and other spinning kicks, if you want to be a bit more showy with the kicks you’re doing. Most of the time, these just look pretty, but they’re easy to spot and against a strong partner, you will probably be stopped before the kick is over.
Punching
Hand techniques are also varied in the types of martial arts, and especially in Taekwondo. You might do things like:
- Closed fist punch – straight
- Open palm punch – tiger
- Back fist – using the back of your hand
- Flat hand – in a slicing motion
You can use a number of different punches so long as you are holding your shoulder strong and the rest of your body pushes forward to put as much energy into the punch as possible.
Katas, or Forms
Some Taekwondo systems will also teach their upper level students various katas. These forms include a long series of movements which are meant to simulate attacking another person. An instructor might use these forms to see whether the student is ready to progress to the next level or they might be used in testing during the black belt program to ensure the student knows everything without thinking about it.
Stances
In order to be ready for any attacker, a student of martial arts needs to know the best stances in which to place their body. These might include:
- Front stance
- Horse stance
- Attention
- Sitting
- Rear stance
There are a number of other stances which can be used as well during certain movements and katas created during the history of martial arts.
Blocks
Blocks are primary done with the hands and the arms in order to protect the fighter from any of the techniques which are used in Taekwondo sparring.
- Low block
- High lock
- Two handed block
- Palm block
However, sometimes the best block is just to move out of the way.
