Amazing Taekwondo Moves Displayed

[WaterGal]

They were not bo staffs. They were 2x2 pine. And when they're that long, they break really easily.

Hmm, yeah, you're right. We use pine bos at our school, and they look kind of similar. And we use pine because it's softer and less likely to injure you than a hardwood (when you inevitably crack yourself on the leg a dozen times), so I suppose that says something.

That kind of crap isn't martial arts. It's theatrics. I lost interest when they stopped doing anything MA related.

Yeah, it's one thing to play things up and be flashy, and another thing to totally depart from what you're supposed to be teaching. Doing jump side kicks over other students to break a board is flashy, but jump side kick is an actual TKD move. Hitting people on the arm with a hammer is not.

 

[WaterGal]

By the way, does anyone know what kind of boards do they break? It seems to me those in the video breaks very easy.

They look like a mix of the usual 1" pine board and something a little thinner. They're just fast, powerful and have practiced their routine enough that they don't need to stand their and line up the break, that's all.

 

[chrispillertkd]

Yeah, it's one thing to play things up and be flashy, and another thing to totally depart from what you're supposed to be teaching. Doing jump side kicks over other students to break a board is flashy, but jump side kick is an actual TKD move. Hitting people on the arm with a hammer is not.

To give them the benefit of the doubt, I'd say that getting hit with the hammer (and the poles being broken over their limbs) is supposed to demonstrate the level of conditioning they do. Dallyon, or "forging," is one of the five aspects of Taekwon-Do, after all.

That being said, I don't care for that kind of demonstration because it usually devolves into spectacles instead of being a demonstration of actual forging. Who wants to see someone stand there and do multiple strikes on the dallyon joo or do a series of forearm knocking exercises with a partner? Not very impressive to watch. The demonstration reminded me of one I saw several years ago with a Chinese Martial Arts instructor. He had his students break a concrete block that was resting on his back with a sledge hammer in order to show his body conditioning. One of my friends opined it was pretty impressive, to which I assented but then said, "I'd be more impressed if he just had taken a hit with the sledge hammer."

Pax,

Chris

 

[stonze]

valid point made my friend ^