The Value of Patterns (Part 2): Kinaesthetics (Part 3: Controlled Power)

This is the last post for the time being on the kinaesthetic value of the ITF patterns and was published in Issue #72 of Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine.

In my previous discussion of the value of the ITF patterns I discussed the emphasis put on accelerating as much body mass as possible in order to achieve greater force. There is however a danger in over-zealously forceful techniques, which will be the discussion of this instalment.

ITF Taekwon-Do has an obsession with power generation. Fundamental Movements are often idealized techniques for generating tremendous amounts of force by accelerating as much body mass as possible in the direction of the technique, be it block, punch, strike or kick. Although generating force is the primary goal, it is trumped by keeping proper posture and maintaining balance. The ITF practitioner wants to generate as much force as possible, but without compromising posture and balance. Fundamental Movements, as practised in the patterns, are a way to practise powerful techniques; however, the power is curbed just enough to maintain good posture and balance.

A light-hearted video of a man zealously punching but missing the target,
leaving him in a potentially compromised position. 

Let’s look at some examples. Imagine punching a target, such as a punching bag, as hard as you possibly can. Now imagine doing the same, but just before your fist hits the punching bag, someone suddenly pulls the punching bag away. What is likely to happen? It is likely that the momentum of your punch will swing you off balance. Another example: consider doing a turning kick as hard as possible to kick “through” the target. Let’s say your target is again a punching bag and you kick it with all the force you can muster. And rather than snapping the leg out and back as you hit the target as is the common practise in Taekwon-Do, you instead drive through with all your body mass—in effect doing a Muay Thai style roundhouse kick. And again, just as you are about to land the kick, somebody moves the bag out of range; once more you are likely to be thrown off balance, the momentum of the kick probably pulling you around exposing your back.

A tutorial for the Muay Thai roundhouse kick.

The Fundamental Movements as practised in patterns teach us an important principle, that while power generation is very important, it should never happen at the expense of good posture and balance. The Muay Thai style turning is indeed more powerful than the Taekwon-Do turning kick because it has much more momentum and drive through than the snapped turning kick. However, the snapped turning kick with the reaction force of the arms that are pulled in the opposite direction maintains much better balance and posture, whereas the momentum of the Muay Thai roundhouse kick causes the practitioner to turn and expose his flank and back, resulting in compromised positioning.

Similarly, the over zealous punch also throws the practitioner off balance, whereas the traditional martial art punch that we practise in Taekwon-Do (and similar styles such as Karate) remains full facing, rather than over extend. Certainly doing a punch as a boxer that uses big rotational forces of both the hip and the shoulder would be much more powerful. Why then does Taekwon-Do and other traditional styles often only use hip rotation, rather than also full shoulder rotation, to punch? Why do we emphasize staying mostly full-facing during our punches, when pushing the shoulder forwardwould result in deeper penetration and more force? As I pointed out before, posture and balance trumps power.

Another example we notice in blocking techniques, which are generally in a half-facing posture. A further rotation of the hips into the full-facing position would usually make the block more powerful. Over-zealous blocking are nevertheless avoided, as the benefit of a slanted body angle which reveals less of the body’s surface area and vital points outweighs the possible benefit or more hip rotation that would increase the power of the block. The Fundamental Movements as practised in the patterns teach us that the benefit of more power does not surpass exposing more vital spots.

Instead of increasing the power through over-exaggerated rotational power that may expose vital points, we attempt to increase power through dropping the body weight into the technique in the form of the sine wave motion, where appropriate. (Not all techniques benefit from sine wave motion body-dropping, but a great number of techniques do.)

Why is it that a martial art like ITF Taekwon-Do that is so obsessed with powerful techniques would so often curb its Fundamental Movements in order to maintain good posture, positioning and balance; while other styles like modern western boxing and Muay Thai throw all they have into some of their techniques? The answer is most likely to be found in Taekwon-Do’s original purpose as a system aimed at self-defence, rather than a martial sport. An over-zealous swinging punch in boxing or a big Muay Thai roundhouse kick that spins you around exposing your back to your opponent is a risk worth taking in a sport context. If the technique lands it may knock out your competitor and cause you to be the victor. If the technique misses, you may expose your back to your opponent or lose your balance and fall; however, that is a risk a competitor may be willing to take. Tournament rules prohibit lethal attacks to the back of the head or spine or kicking a fallen opponent, and there is also a centre referee who will look out for your well-being. Even in UFC, known for its brutal and high intensity tournament fighting that is often touted as “no holds barred,” strikes to the spine and back of the head or attacking the head of a downed opponent is illegal. While there is a risk in using over-zealously powerful techniques that may compromise your posture and balance, it is a risk often worth taking by martial sport practitioners because in a sport context it is nearly never a lethal risk and such techniques have the potential to ensure a victory.

However, in a martial art concerned with self-defence such over-zealous techniques that compromise balance and posture are particularly avoided. In a self-defence (i.e. life-or-death) situation, the last thing you want to do is to allow your attacker access to your back, or find yourself on the floor if it could be avoided. Traditional martial arts are therefore often conservative with regards to their Fundamental Movements when it comes to posture and balance.

Taekwon-Do is known for many “flashy” techniques. While such techniques are often encouraged in sport settings, the Fundamental Movements as practised in the patterns are by contrast very conservative. The patterns contain almost no risky, flashy techniques. In the patterns the practitioner is encouraged to practise power generation, but always in a controlled way, so as not to compromise posture and balance.


Further reading:

See also my article "Taekwon-Do Kick versus Muay Thai Roundhouse Kick" and Dan Djurdjevic's article on why traditional martial arts tend to stop their techniques at predetermined points.

Power Postures

I focus a lot on posture during my martial arts training and teaching. Taekwon-Do, like Aikido, is very much an upright martial art that puts premium emphasis on good posture. This has primarily to do with Taekwon-Do's focus on balance and power.

I remember very clearly one of my first lessons I had with Master Kim Jong Su. Because I know that I often slack in my posture, especially when I'm tired, I tried hard to keep a good upright posture, yet Master Kim was not satisfied with me just standing nice and straight. "Push out your chest," he said, "look strong, look good". For him it was not merely about standing straight for the sake of good balance, but also looking proud and strong. Keeping in mind that Taekwon-Do's roots are in the Korean military, standing proud and strong makes a lot of sense; imagine soldiers standing on the parade grounds.

Super heroes standing in "Power Postures"

Watching the video below reminded me again of this lesson with Master Kim. In the video Amy Cuddy discusses the physiological effects that "power postures" have on a person. They had people stand in certain postures for two minutes and tested their hormone levels before and after. They found that people who stood in "power postures", for instance standing proudly with your chest out and hands on the hips like Superman or Wonder Woman or standing with your arms raised up in victory - had increased testosterone (the hormone associated with strength, confidence and competitiveness) and decreased cortisone (the hormone associated with stress). In other words, by standing in a "power posture" you literally change your own physiology, becoming more confident, yet calm in a stressful situation. This will not only improve your daily life and interactions with other people (even doing better at job interviews), but may also be advantageous to a combat situation.



ITF Taekwon-Do is constructed almost exclusively of upright postures, most of which can be described as "power postures". My suggestion, as conveyed by Master Kim to me, is that when you train Taekwon-Do, don't merely focus on having good upright posture, but deliberately focus on having "power postures". Expand you chest, let your back smile broadly, and look the world straight in the eye. In every stance, pose and posture, be a super hero. After all, when you recite the Taekwon-Do Oath, you are in fact reflecting the motto of a super hero when you say: "I shall be a champion of freedom and justice. I shall help build a more peaceful world." Now stand like you mean it.

Intermediate Positions

In preparation for my post on the kinaesthetic value of ITF patterns, I realised that there is something else I need to cover first, namely ITF Taekwon-Do's intermediate positions / chamber positions that exist in the fundamental movements. The  intermediate positions / chamber positions are of utmost importance in ITF Taekwon-Do as they are actually the default positions (i.e. the position from which one starts a technique) in ITF Taekwon-Do. However, because they are most often seen at intermediate intervals, in other words between the end positions of techniques, they are often missed by some practitioners, while non-ITF initiates may not even realise their existence and the emphasis that they receive in good ITF dojang.

These positions are usually referred to as intermediate positions because they exist intermediately between the impact points of techniques.

Impact Points and Final Positions

Walking Stance Front Fore Fist
Middle Obverse Punch

Heavy emphasis is placed on the “final positions” of techniques—the impact points, i.e. those points of a technique's motion when the attacking or blocking tool engages the target [1]. These impact points, or final positions, are usually what defines a technique. They are usually what we see pictures of in Taekwon-Do books, and are the names that describe a technique. So when I say “Walking Stance Front Fore Fist Middle Obverse Punch,” I'm literally describing the final position of a motion: I'm describing the impact point where I hit an opponent at a middle height with the front of my fore fist of my obverse (leading) arm, from a walking stance. What this description fails to do is explain where I came from (what my previous position was) and how I got to the final position (what the intermediate motions involved). While the description locates the final position, it lacks to locate the beginning position.

Where do techniques end? Where do techniques begin?

Most people are inclined to think that the beginning position of one technique is merely the final position of the previous technique. In a manner of speaking this is true, because techniques are done sequentially, one following (and flowing into) the other. However, the end position of the previous technique is not authentically the start of the new technique, nor is the end position authentically the end of the previous technique.

Let me quickly explain what I mean by this. What we usually consider as the “end position” is not really the end position. Take for instance these quotes from the ITF Encyclopaedia: “Relax the muscles immediately after the fist has reached it's target” and “The moment the attacking tool reaches the target, pull it back to allow it to be ready for the next action while preventing a grab by the opponent.” (Vol. 3, p. 29 & 17). From this it is clear that the end position of a technique is not the moment of impact with the opponent, but actually the relaxation of the muscles and the pulling back of the limbs into a chambered position, ready for the next technique.

This relaxed chamber is the actual, authentic end position, it also becomes the authentic starting position for the next technique. This position is rightly called an intermediate position because it is the position directly after one technique's goal is reached (hitting the target) and before the next technique commences, but it is also rightly referred to as a chamber position because it is the default position from where the next technique is launched. It is never really referred to as the “start position”—even though this would be an appropriate description—in part because ITF Taekwon-Do is at its most advanced level not performed in steps, in singular techniques. Instead, at its advanced level ITF Taekwon-Do is a flow of elastic motions where a clear distinction between one technique and another is hard to identify.

In this sense the ITF Taekwon-Do patterns that plot singular techniques, conveniently stopping at the so-called end-position of each technique, should not be viewed as “advanced” Taekwon-Do. The patterns are a training tool that teaches specific skills; they are not a depiction of Taekwon-Do when performed at its highest, unfettered, combat level. The patterns are not actual mock fights. Yet, paradoxically, a mastery of the patterns often reveal a practitioners ability in higher level Taekwon-Do.

The patterns of ITF Taekwon-Do's mother art Taekkyeon [2] are probably much more representative of the type of unfettered flow I'm talking about. Looking at the fluid Taekkyeon pattern demonstration at the beginning of the video below, notice how there are hardly any “frozen” moments of impact, similar to the forms in Tai-Chi Chuan where there are no Karatesque end-position “stops”.



That these so-called end-positions that we see in the ITF patterns and other basic training should not be considered the actual final position of a technique we see in another practise that ITF Taekwon-Do is famous for—power breaking.

Power breaking is an actual separate category in ITF Taekwon-Do tournaments. (I don't know of any other martial art where power breaking is one of the main competition categories. Most martial arts compete only in sparring and forms.) In power breaking competitions there is a curious rule: the competitor has to demonstrate a guarding posture both before and after the break. If the guarding posture is not assumed both before and after the break, the competitor is disqualified! One would think that the actual breaking of the boards are all that matters, yet this rule brings home a very important lesson: the impact point—hitting and breaking the target—is not the end of the overall technique in ITF Taekwon-Do. These guarding postures before and after the breaking technique act as the intermediate positions, the default positions.

Examples of Two Intermediate Positions

So let's look at examples of intermediate or chamber positions. Up until now I have used the terms “intermediate position” and “chamber position” interchangeably, although there are actually differences between the two. The intermediate position is much better understood as the “relaxed ready” position, while the chamber position is the “charged ready” position. The “relaxed ready” position has almost no tension in the muscles and the centre of gravity is relatively low. On the other hand the chamber position often has the muscles “charged” with potential energy (the muscles are somehow comfortably pulled or compressed so as to take advantage of their elastic potential), and the centre of gravity is often slightly raised to charge it with extra potential energy, which is to be converted into kinetic energy. The kinetic energy is released when the body weight free falls into the technique, towards the impact point.  “Intermediate position” and “chamber position”  are therefore not synonymous, although they are often used interchangeably as they usually occur so closely together. For convenience sake, I will henceforth focus on the intermediate position.

Let's look at the pattern Chon-Ji. We will focus on the first two movements which can be seen in the YouTube video featuring Jaroslaw Suska, at 0:04-0:08. The series of frames below shows myself performing these first two movements.

The first two steps in the pattern Chon-Ji,
depicted in seven frames. 

There are two intermediate positions—or “relaxed ready positions”—within the first two steps of the pattern Chon-Ji. Movement #1 in Chon-Ji Teul turns the body 180 degrees left, into a Left Walking Stance Low Outer Forearm Outward Block; Movement #2 is a forward step into a Right Walking Stance Obverse Front Fore Fist (Middle) Punch. In the series of seven frames above we see the “end-position” of Movement #1 at Frame #4 and the “end-position” of Movement #2 in the last frame, Frame #7. We find the intermediate positions at Frames #2 and #5.

(These were photos taken with my mobile phone. I'm moving too fast for Frames #3 and #6 to be taken properly with my mobile phone camera. I tried to pose in those positions but since they are actual moments of accelerated rise and “free fall” such posing misrepresents the body positioning too much—for one, frozen posed pictures cannot show the accelerated forward momentum of the centre of gravity. It is worthy to note, however, that the “charged” chambered positions are to be found somewhere in the early parts of these blacked-out frames.)

Forwards Offensive (Relaxed Ready) Intermediate Position

The first intermediate position, as shown in Frame #2 is a little controversial, so I'd like us to first look at the second intermediate position, seen in Frame #5, first.

Frame #5: Forwards Offensive Relaxed Ready
Intermediate Position

From our previous technique (Low Forearm Block, Frame #4), we step forward into a walking stance punch. The ITF Encyclopaedia dictates that we should relax “the muscles immediately after the fist has reached it's target” and “pull it back.” This coincides with the first “relax” part of the full sine wave motion which include three phases: relax—rise—fall. Relaxing the arms means that the obverse punching arm is relaxed backward, while the shoulder and back muscles that keep the other fist on the hip is relaxed so that the rear hand is brought forward into a comfortable relaxed position. The hands form a comfortable “sparring guard” position in front of the body. Not only do the arms relax into a comfortable “relaxed ready” position, but also the legs follow suite. The forward knee relaxes somewhat causing a forward shift in the body, while the unnaturally straightened rear leg is relaxed and allowed to comfortably shift forward, bringing the centre of gravity forward. This is the typical forwards offensive (relaxed ready) intermediate position.

A beautiful photograph of
Mohammad Ali posing in a slightly
exaggerated Boxer's Stance while sub-
merged under water.
(Image Source) 

This position can be compared to the boxer's pose or the Jeet Kune Do stance, the advancing Muay Thai stance, and even the Xingyi posture when the straight strike has landed and the rear foot is slided in.

The advancing Muay Thai stance.
(Image Source)

In this part of the pattern Chon-Ji, the intermediate position is merely a pass through point, but in actual application this is the default position, i.e. authentic starting position, for a forward stepping walking stance punch. From this position the practitioner can merely continue the forward momentum and step into a forward stepping punch, or the practitioner can use the bent rear leg to thrust himself forward into a type of lunging punch. This position also allows the practitioner to push back with the front leg if a sudden retreat is required.

Defensive (Relaxed Ready) Intermediate Position

Now for the other intermediate position we see in Frame #2. I mentioned that it is controversial, not because this intermediate position is controversial in itself, it is not; rather, in this particular position in Chon-Ji it is not used by all instructors. Many instructors teach that one ought to fall directly from the Parallel Ready Stance (Frame #1) into the block (Frame #3) in a type of “drop step”. Strategically this makes sense as it is quicker. However, I practise the motion with the intermediate position (Frame #2) because I believe practising to move through the intermediate positions is one of the purposes of pattern training in ITF Taekwon-Do.

Frame #2: Defensive Intermediate Position

So let's look at the intermediate position in Frame #2. From the Parallel Ready Stance the weight is shifted to the right leg, which is also weighted (“rooted”) into a relaxed bend of the knee; simultaneously the hips are slightly turned towards the attacker and the arms are brought up into a defensive guard. This is the typical defensive (relaxed ready) intermediate position. Moving into this position coincides with the initial relax-phase of the full sine wave motion. The defensive relaxed intermediate position is the beginning position for many defensive (blocking) techniques in ITF Taekwon-Do. In this case, as a defensive pose the body's centre is shifted away from the attacker—this is not always the case, but is typical for defensive poses.

One position in Xingyi with the weight
towards the back. (Image Source)

This type of body positioning for a  “starting position” with the weight primarily towards the rear leg is also observed in most martial arts, including such styles as Xingyi. Shifting the weight to the back is often used to move one's vital spots further away from the opponent's reach. In ITF Taekwon-Do we may actually do a drop step backwards in a shifting motion, for example the first movement in the pattern Gae-Baek, in which case the position would act as an “ending position”.

The pattern Gae-Bae starts by falling
back into an L-stance X-block. This pose
is not much different from the typical
defensive intermediate position. 

However the typical defensive (relaxed ready) intermediate position need not be done in a retreating manner; there are actually examples of a forward moving defensive intermediate position in Chon-Ji Teul—it occurs, for instance in the intermediate motion towards Movement #3 in Chon-Ji Teul, as you turn around 180 degrees towards an opponent behind you.

Intermediate Position Aspects

I've only shown two examples of intermediate positions here. The elementary pattern Chon-Ji actually contains more intermediate positions. One, for instance, is the backwards offensive (relaxed ready) intermediate position which resembles the defensive relaxed intermediate position in that the weight is shifted more onto the rear leg, but with the hands brought up in a boxing chamber, rather than a defensive cross-guard.

The important thing to remember is that the intermediate positions are not kept for long periods at a time. Often intermediate positions are merely significant nodes on a path through which the practitioner moves as he or she transition from one technique to another. However, the positions are nonetheless the default positions from which most techniques are launched. The “default position” (or “neutral position” as my friend Stuart Anslow calls them) is a point in the motion where one has not over committed and can still change your technique mid-motion.

The intermediate positions are the “rooting” positions in ITF Taekwon-Do. These are the positions where our centre of gravity is preparatively lowered to root our techniques, our bodies are most relaxed, our perceptions most aware, our minds most focussed. Not that any of these things are less important elsewhere on the motion path of our techniques, yet the intermediate position is a moment of re-centring, of coming back to this default pose of internal (mental) and external (physical) balance.

It is futher more important not to miss the fact that the default position in ITF Taekwon-Do is most often not a stationary position. While the so-called “end-positions”—i.e. the impact points—where the attacking or blocking tool hits its target could be described as a stationary, momentary “frozen” point, and is therefore very easy to photograph and describe, the default position (the intermediate positions) in ITF Taekwon-Do are dynamic positions. The significance of this cannot be overemphasized! At the same time, I should not be misunderstood to mean that they cannot and do not, at times function as stationary positions. The fact that we practise our “default” or “neutral” or “chamber”—or whatever you wish to call it—position usually as a dynamic, transitory position, does not negate the fact that we often enough also come to rest in this position. As I have mentioned before, the intermediate position “is the actual, authentic end position, it also becomes the authentic starting position for the next technique” and we do at times stop our motion here. Many practitioners use the forwards offensive relaxed ready (intermediate) position not as an intermediate node, but as their default sparring stance, in the way a boxer or Muay Thai practitioner may use it. Similarly, I often find myself using the defensive relaxed ready position as my sparring stance.



Footnotes:

1. The term “impact point” is potentially misleading as it could be thought that this point merely touches the surface of the target, when in fact the attacking tool or blocking tool is usually aimed beyond the surface. The true target is not the surface, but beyond the surface, so the impact point is a point that entails the penetration of the body. Other terms such as penetration point or breaking point could possibly have sufficed better, but “penetration” and “breaking” also have other connotative meanings and not all techniques are always used to penetrate or brake—some techniques push, pull, derail, etc. For now I will settle with “impact point” and refer to the point at which the attacking or blocking tool impacts with the true target (not merely the surface of the body). Taekwon-Do students are usually taught that the actual target is about two inches beyond the surface.

2. I call Taekkyeon the “mother” of ITF Taekwon-Do, while Shotokan Karate is its “father.” See more here.