Taekwondo is Poomsae

Essentially, Poomsae was created to practice ‘fighting’ with phantom opponents and train the various fundamental techniques of Taekwondo. Poomsae helps build a variety of skills, including:

• Coordination
• balance
• Stamina
• Strength
• Speed
• Self defence
• Technique (punching the right spot, good stances, bio-mechanics, etc.)
• And so much more!

There are three things that we should always keep in mind while we are training Poomsae.

1. “Degree of powerfulness”
2. “Expansion and contraction of the body”
3. “Speed of the technique”

These are the keys to unlocking a strong, useful and awe inspiring poomsae. Without these three components, we would simply be dancing! Performing Interpretive movements!

The reasons for training martial arts are many, self defence and becoming stronger are two of the most popular reasons. We can only apply the blocks and strikes for self defence purposes if they are strong, fast, and second nature.

Now in order to practice these three concepts.. first we have to learn the poomsae!

Learning poomsae can be challenging, they range from 18 motions to 30 motions! Each motion has multiple components..

• Stance
• Kicks
• Blocks
• Strikes
• Sometimes multiple components at once!
• There is also fast and slow movements…

…That’s a lot to take in.

If we want to learn poomsae effectively, we should break them down into chunks.

The tried and true method is to:

• Practice the poomsae with only the stances and kicks (lower body)
• Practice the poomsae with only the blocks and strikes (upper body)
• Practice putting it all together

The amount of the poomsae we chunk is also important, generally if you 

• Learn the first half & practice until proficient
• Learn the second half & practice until proficient
• Put it all together and polish the poomsae

—by (you guessed it..) practicing many times! Taekwondo becomes more useful the more you practice the basic motions. Instead of learning 10 different strikes in a general way… simply practice the basic punch until you have a great technique.

(Which is one of the reasons each of the poomsae include basic straight punches!)

Martial artists have been telling their students and other practitioners for over 100 years to practice their patterns and individual techniques on their own time to supplement the training on the mats. Generally speaking if we practice a little bit, multiple times per day.. that is ideal.

Gichin Funakoshi, the father of modern Karate suggested practicing 30 minutes in the morning and evening!

HOWEVER

Not all of us have the time to do this. Therefore if we just practice our poomsae for at least 10 minutes per day.. the results will surprise you. Our poomsae only take between 30 seconds and a minute to finish once we have sufficiently learned them.

This means we have quite a few repetitions in a relatively short period of time!

Martial arts training is the best way to build a sound body, a sound mind, and a sound spirit. One of the best, most all-encompassing ways to accomplish this is through training Poomsae.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments below!

Not surprisingly I LOVE to discuss anything to do with Taekwondo.

Train hard, give it your all!👊