Taekwondo is known for its emphasis on kicking techniques, which distinguishes it from martial arts such as
karate or southern styles of
kung fu. The rationale is that the leg is the longest and strongest weapon a martial artist has, and kicks thus have the greatest potential to execute powerful strikes without successful retaliation. Historically, the Koreans thought that the hands were too valuable to be used in combat.
Taekwondo as a martial art is popular with people of both genders and of many ages. Physically, taekwondo develops strength, speed, balance, flexibility, and stamina. An example of the union of mental and physical discipline is the
breaking of boards, which requires both physical mastery of the technique and the concentration to focus one's strength.
A taekwondo student typically wears a uniform (dobok 도복), often white but sometimes black or other colors, with a belt (tti 띠) tied around the waist. The belt indicates the student's rank. The school or place where instruction is given is called the dojang 도장.
Although each taekwondo club or school will be different, a taekwondo student can typically expect to take part in most or all of the following:
Learning the techniques and curriculum of taekwondo
Both anaerobic and aerobic workout, including stretching
Self-defense techniques (hosinsul 호신술)
Patterns (also called forms, pumsae 품새, teul 틀, hyeong 형)
Sparring (called gyeorugi 겨루기, or matseogi 맞서기 in the ITF), which may include 7-, 3-, 2- and 1-step sparring, free-style sparring, arranged sparring, point sparring, and other types
Relaxation and meditation exercises
Throwing and/or falling techniques (deonjigi 던지기 and tteoreojigi 떨어지기)
Breaking (gyeokpa 격파 or weerok), using techniques to break boards for testing, training and martial arts demonstrations. Demonstrations often also incorporate bricks, tiles, blocks of ice or other materials. Can be separated into three types:
Power breaking - using straightforward techniques to break as many boards as possible
Speed breaking - boards are held loosely by one edge, putting special focus on the speed required to perform the break
Special techniques - breaking fewer boards but using jumping or flying techniques to attain greater heights, distances, or to clear obstacles
Exams to progress to the next rank
A focus on mental and ethical discipline, justice, etiquette, respect, and self-confidence
Some schools teach the use of the "sine wave" when performing patterns; this involves raising one's center of gravity between techniques, then lowering it as the technique is performed, producing the up-and-down movement from which the term "sine wave" is derived. Other schools teach that one's center of gravity should remain generally constant throughout the performance of a pattern except where the pattern's description states otherwise.
