Is there grappling in Taekwondo?

The question pops up time and time again. On discussion forums, articles, blogposts, from prospective students and even some instructors(!) You see the focus on competition and rapid spread of the art and its inherent focus on strikes (most notably kicks) result in what seems to me to be a Whole lot of People practising Taekwondo purely as a striking system devoid of any grappling at all! This does come With a lot of consequenses in all areas of the art. If you remove all aspects of grappling from Taekwondo (which many seems to do) you are left With a very Limited skillset.

Without any grappling you:

• Have Limited yourself to only striking
• Have movements and forms (Poomsae) that sometimes makes little to NO sense
• Are open to "grappling attacks"
• Are in big trouble once your opponent establish a grip on you

One Step Sparring

I have written before about predetermined/ formal/ step sparring and its Place in Taekwondo.
Lately With the Schools closed because of summer holliday and my various injuries finally letting go I have been able to have a few training sessions outside a couple of times a week where we have gone through Our organisations syllabus (something that often "drowns" in the focus of basics, forms and free/ competition sparring).

In these sessions that are just an unformal gathering of friends at black belt Level we have had a great deal of discussions around the different Things in the organisations syllabus, the one step sparring being one of them.

The obsession of wrist grabs

In Taekwondo we normally divide up Our training into the 5 pillars of Taekwondo; Basics, Forms, Sparring, Self defense and Breaking (or Gibon Dongjak, Poomsae, Kyorugi, Ho Sin Sul and Kyopka respectivly).

In the self defense part of Taekwondo the focus is normally on freeing yourself from various grips. At least that is how I often see it practised and taught. Personally I think that Ho Sin Sul is Applied Taekwondo as a Whole, and freeing Your self from various grabs is just one part of it all, but it is a very important skill nonetheless and especially so for Taekwondoin who focus on striking. Having an arm grabbed, or someone does a bear hug over Your arms for instance means that the opponent has tied up one (or more) of Your striking Tools. If you base Your self defense on striking the opponent to remain safe from harm, having Your striking Tools removed is not good... Therefore I do see why this becomes the main focus for many Peoples Ho Sin Sul training.

A thing that is a little facinating though is the seemingly Obsession With wrist grabs that You will find not only in Taekwondo and its sister art Karate but in almost every Martial Art of the East... It has gotten to the point that for some the releasing and countering to wristgrabs account for the majority of their Ho Sin Sul training and that cant be good, can it?

Soak Am Ryu forms

My teacher has studdied Taekwondo since just after Taekwondo`s inception in Korea. He has also studied other KMA and other related subjects like philosophy, training methods, Ki-training and Yoga. The result of his studdies is the Soak Am Ryu forms which is his psedonym given to him by his Ki-gong teacher.

Micro Post: Basic wrist grab defenses

Here is a clip of me and a friend going quickly through our organisations set wrist grab defenses. These are the starting point for wrist grab defenses for the students at Traditonal Taekwondo Union. Me and a few friends gathered today to go through a lot of the syllabus material that are not covered enough in regular class time, and the eight wrist grab defenses were one of the things we went through (the Soak Am Ryu Poomsae 1-4, Taegeuk Poomsae 1-8, Koryo, original Koryo, Keumgang, Taebaek Poomsae and the 4 set defenses against punches was not filmed but practised a lot today).

The weather was very unstable but it was great to be practising again after a short break and it is always great to gather a few friends for some unformal practise:-)

Application to Taegeuk Oh (5) Jang 2

This time I would like to take a closer look on one of the most distinguishing features of Taegeuk Oh Jang. Except for the opening movements (low Block, hammer fist strike) which to me always symbolised the Taegeuk symbol of the form which is Wind (I always thought about a hurricane or a tornado when I first learned the form) is the infamous high Block, side kick/ hammer fist strike followed by an elbow strike into Your palm.

Application to Taegeuk Oh (5) Jang

The most searched for content on this blog seems to be the practical applications for our poomsae. That fact coupled with the fact that one Reader of the blog expressed great interest in the applications through comments  and mentioned that he studdied Taegeuk Oh Jang at this time made me inspired to write this post that focus exclusivly on Taegeuk Oh (5) Jang and the (hopefully) practical applications to that form:-)