Traditional Taekwondo Training Equipment

Today one of Taekwondo`s strong points as a leisure activity is that there is no training equipment that is really needed and training space is also not that big of a consern. Likewise you really do not need any special training uniform to do Taekwondo, all you need is a somewhat flat training space (a couple of square meters is enough) and the will to train.

You can train attributes for Taekwondo like strenght in just about all of the body, or maybe basic techniques, or forms or shadow boxing not even needing a partner to train with. Today numerous Dojang that operates
out of school gyms (very common in my country) or other such places does not have or make use of any training equipment what so ever. Not even matts (wich makes the training of Nak Bup/breask falling difficult). That being said traditional Taekwondo did make use of a lot of training equipment most practisioners has probably never even heard of today.

Kihap in Poomsae

I have written a little about Kihap before on this blog, but something that happened last training session really made me want to write a little about Kihap in Poomsae. You see what happened was that we were doing Poomsae training (the excecution of Poomsae) and everything was going great. People really got what I was trying to say about true power comes from relaxation and not through muscling through each technique (wow that should definitly be a seperate blog post in the future!!). The students were doing the Poomsae on my count with me watching them, again after I gave some instruction on things to look out for with me doing the Poomsae with them, and then once again without counting at all.

Korean terms for "lost concepts" Part Three

Image source:
Taekwondo; Secrets
of Korean Karate

This post will look further down the list for lost concepts as listed in the excellent article series "The Okinawan Elephant in the room" (part 4a) by Ciarân McDonald. If you have not done so allready, I will advise that you start at part one and work your way through the series in the order they were published. This is the last part and I will look at the last two concepts that the author of The Okinawan Elephant in the room" gave in his article series part 4a.

Korean terms for "lost concepts" Part Two

Image source:
Taekwondo; Secrets
of Korean Karate

This post will look further down the list for lost concepts as listed in the excellent article series "The Okinawan Elephant in the room" (part 4a) by Ciarân McDonald. If you have not done so allready, I will advise you to read the first part of this series:-)  As researching of forms has not been emphasised in the Korean Martial Arts (I think that was an understatement) we have no terminology to help us in that department. The Japanese Martial Arts comunity on the other hand has been researching their forms more or less since the start (allthough the applications has historically since the 1920s onwards been of the simple kick, block punch kind) and has therefore developed a terminology for use in that field. This series is my attempt to introduce these concepts and to give them Korean terms so that Taekwondoin can if they feel like it reintroduce them into their training/ teaching.

Korean terms for "lost concepts" Part One

Gichin Funaksohi

In the latest issue of Totally Taekwondo Magazine (one of the best Taekwondo Magazines in the whole universe in my own humble opinion) there has been one "series" of articles that I have enjoyed a lot. It is called "The Okinawan Elephant in the room" and as the title suggests it is a series examining the relevance of Karate Kata to our Taekwondo Patterns (well the Chang Hon ones anyway). At the end of Part 4 in the latest issue in that magazine everyone should read:p there was an interesting part:

"Lost concepts - Knowledge of the concepts that were essential study in ancient Kung-Fu and Toudi is vital when attempting to understand the Kata/ Tul (Poomsae). Though many of these concepts have all but disappeared from modern Karate and Taekwon-Do there are at least Japanese names for these concepts; even if their translations never made it into Taekwon-Do." - Ciarân McDonald