Good morning my blogaphiles. Sorry its taken so long to post my second entry here. I have been busy with helping a friend deal with court and all kinds of fun stuff! Enough about the boring details of my nonchalant life, on with the Poomse!
Before we discuss any forms lets talk about what makes a form. It will help in understanding what I am saying about the forms themselves and what they represent physically and for a lack of a better word, spiritually.
There are many movements within a form, everything from a simple punch all the way to a double hand block with a strike. These are paired with some sort of stance be it front, back, side, etc. Each of these moves are coordinated to work into the next in a chain until the form is complete. The first thing well discuss are the strikes
Strikes:
Straight punch - a punch that starts at the waist and rolls out to the midsection of the target. The puch can be altered to high (face) or low (bladder) strike as well.
Knife hand - This powerful strike can be altered to a block or a strike. It is most often delivered by holding the arm and hand approx. neck level and flinging the hand out in an arch with the palm facing up at a slight angle. This strike normally targets the neck (adams apple area) but can also be used on other areas of the body.
Back fist -This strike is used in attacking the face/head of an opponent, though it can be used on other parts of the body as well, it is most effective there. This is performed by rolling the fist from your waist up and out so the back of the hand/knuckles make contact first
Spinning back fist - This is a fast, effective attack. Delivered with the back of the hand spinning around so the arm whips the hand to the opponents head.
Hammer fist - This is a pure power strike. It can start in a few different positions depending on the speed, power, and aim. Most often this strike is also to the top of the head or the face. It is similar in movement to the back fist, but ends with the hand in a fist with the thumb facing up and the fleshy part of the hand crashing down on the target similar to a hammer hitting the head of a nail.
Elbow strike - this is one of the most powerful yet difficult strikes to land. This is one strike that is disallowed in most sparring matches (most strikes are not used but allowed) This is just as its name would suggest. There are many angles this can come in at and a few variations, but all them end with the elbow snapping out and the tip slamming into whatever is targeted causing massive damage. For my green belt I was required by my instructor to break two boards approx. 1.5 - 2 inches total thick.
Palm strike - This is one that is rarely used in TKD, but can be affective in a fight. This is similar to the straight punch with the difference being the striking surface changing from the fist to the open palm of the hand. This can cause more of a broad amount of damage and can be targeted differently as well.
Uppercut - similar to the uppercut seen in many forms of boxing and brawling this is a more refined strike. Usually performed with two hands and instead of merely striking the chin it often targets the chest as well as the chin. Coming in at a low angle then as the strike hits the chest it continues up and away from the attacker till it contacts the chin or neck. Also not used in point sparring, but very useful in a street fight.
It seems as I am out of time today and have run out of strikes. Tomorrow we will cover blocks (and If I remember any other strikes I forgot I will edit here!) Till then, you stay classy Fubar!
