Taekwondo is a martial art that originated from Korea and focuses on striking and kicking as well as self-defense. Taking a great amount of self-control, both mentally and physically.
“Manners and respect sir.” A phrase we said every day in Taekwondo when out master asked us, “What are two things that Taekwondo teaches you?”
Mentally, Taekwondo teaches not only manners and respect, but discipline as well.
Discipline can form a range of one’s manners and respect, by having the mental whereabouts of where targets are to where your feet and hands are.
Where the manners and respect part comes in is where it teaches you that if you are not respectful there will be consequences. If one was does listen or pay attention as well as being disrespectful they were instructed to do knuckle pushups.
As stated earlier, Taekwondo and any martial art should only be used for self-defense. This means you do not go and look to start a fight or try to provoke someone.
The biggest thing of your mental self-control is the patience it takes. Many of the things you learn you will not get right away. It takes time to learn and preform the skills needed.
Physically, the sport does take a lot of skill. It takes time and patience to learn skills, like anything in life. The more you practice the more your body will learn the skill.
There are three categories in which skills are tested. They are sparing, pattern or forms and self-defense form. (It’s been over eight years since I was in it so give me a break if I don’t remember the entire name.)
Sparing is simple. It is where two individuals, who have protective gear on, fight. It is not actually fighting, for you can only punch the body. Once old enough, they do allow kicking to the head. They just have to aim for the protective gear and not in the face.
Patterns or forms, for every belt comes a different form. Think of Tai Chi but faster and more powerful movements with kicks, punches and yelling. You have to perform certain moves in a certain order but not go too fast or too slow.
The self-defense forms are just that, what do you do in a self-defense situation. There are two types: Pads and no pads. The pads are used for when you actually would punch or kick. No pads are for if say someone tried to grab you and wanted to get out. These are just a few examples.
Another outcome is the flexibility that comes with studying Taekwondo. When I was younger I could do the splits. Yes, full on legs apart and my butt to the ground.
Taekwondo and any other martial art is great for the mind and the body.