While it is fair to say that Korean taekwondo is renowned for it’s powerful and spectacular taekwondo kicks, it must not be forgotten that the martial art involves many other equally important taekwondo techniques. These various taekwondo techniques have been developed to utilize various parts of the body for both attacking and defensive purposes.

Common Taekwondo Techniques

• Taekwondo Kicks – Taekwondo is particularly known for it’s kicking as opposed to many other martial arts. The basic premise is that the leg involves the longest and more powerful muscles in the body. In short, the reach of a leg is superior to an arm, and the impact power that can be produced by a taekwondo kick can be astonishing. Some of these taekwondo kicks include side kick, front kick, back kick, push kick, jumping back kick, spinning kick, hook kick, turning or roundhouse kick, and axe kick amongst others.
• Taekwondo Punches and Striking Techniques – Taekwondo has also developed an impressive arsenal of close combat striking techniques including punching, knife hand, ridge hand, back-fist, elbow strike, palm heel strike, and spear-hand strike.
• Taekwondo Stances – All taekwondo techniques whether kicking, striking, blocking, or moving and evading have at their base a correct and proper foundation called a stance. Some taekwondo stances are for strengthening and practice purposes such as horse riding stance, some for providing a foundation and structure for taekwondo patterns, while other stances have been developed to launch offensive or countering attacks from, or for evasion and blocking techniques.
• Taekwondo Blocking Techniques – Blocking techniques have been developed to utilize the power of the hips, the positioning of the body, and the hard parts of the arm to ward off or defend yourself against attacking techniques. While in practice, the movements of the blocking techniques are carried out deliberately and precisely, in the more “real” and dynamic situation of fighting these blocking techniques can be adapted to be performed quickly and instinctively. Some common blocking techniques include low section block, high section block, middle section block, palm heel block, and double knife hand block.

Traditional taekwondo techniques have been developed over the decades, even centuries, to provide the foundation to our modern-day taekwondo training. It is also true that many of these taekwondo techniques have evolved and been adapted to encompass the more modern phenomenon of competition taekwondo.