Taekwondo is a Korean martial art, characterized by its emphasis on head-height kicks, jumping and spinning kicks, and fast kicking techniques.
Taekwondo was developed during the 1940s and 1950s by various martial artists who combined elements of karate and Chinese martial arts with traditional Korean martial arts traditions such as Taekkyeon, Subak, and Gwonbeop.
Taekwondo has been and remains an Olympic event for sometime now.
These 10 advantages of taekwondo are based on my personal experience as a practitioner of the art. Take time to read and enjoy:
- Taekwondo (and many other martial arts) help develop and maintain discipline. Do you want to instill respect and discipline into your kid? Turn to taekwondo. The values of discipline acquired from the art will stay with an individual over a lifetime. The traditional nature of the art, the repetitiveness, the team play, focus and respect for hierarchy all help in building extreme levels of discipline in practitioners. This discipline is carried to other aspects of their lives hence the excellence achieved by serious minded martial artist in all facets of life.
- Taekwondo teaches leadership and teamwork. Taekwondo practitioners train in groups depending on ranks and techniques to be learnt. Many times, senior groups have to take up the responsibility of helping junior ranks with their training. Training another to come up to your level of proficiency in any given technique takes patience and leadership.
- Taekwondo teaches survival skills. Taekwondo training involves elements of first aid, blending in and basic observation skills that help a practitioner adapt comfortably in the most uncomfortable situations and survive the deadliest of conditions.
- Taekwondo teaches self-defense. If you are looking for a good way to protect your self with or without weapons against armed or unarmed assailants, then Taekwondo is the way to go. Taekwondo strengthens your body and refines your movements. It teaches various techniques to wriggle your way out of life-threatening confrontations.
- It is a sport like any other and comes with several career opportunities. Like any other sport, Taekwondo is a career path that can be pursued by practitioners. There are all forms of opportunities inherent in the pursuit of taekwondo as a sport. It comes with very good income and travel opportunities across the world.
- Taekwondo improves physical strength and fitness. Taekwondo training is among the hardest martial training in the world. Practitioners do a lot of fitness exercises including push-ups, pull-ups, squats, cardiovascular exercises, punching and a host of tough exercises. These automatically enhances physical strength of the practitioner.
- Taekwondo improves focus. The next big mental benefit that comes along with practicing Taekwondo is that it can go a very long way in helping you to better your focus. It takes a whole lot of time and constant repetition to master absolutely anything and everything in Taekwondo and that requires a whole lot of focus.Whether you are mastering a grappling move, practicing various strikes and kicks, or if you are trying to break a board, you need to spend a lot of time focusing on one specific task at hand in order to perfect whatever you are trying to master. Focus is not just something that falls out of trees, and just like any other skill that we have, it needs to be practiced and learned.
- Taekwondo improves confidence and self-esteem. Knowing what you can and cannot do gives you a great sense of confidence. Taekwondo helps you understand your body in ways that nobody else can. The knowledge of your abilities come with great confidence.
- Taekwondo helps in weight loss. This form of martial art involves a lot of strength and cardiovascular exercises that speeds up metabolism and helps burn calories fast. Taekwondo will therefore help a consistent practitioner remain in tip-top shape.
- Taekwondo helps in cognitive function. It has been discovered that physical activity levels are linked to improved cognitive functions in children. Along with neurological benefits, taekwondo gives students an outlet to move their bodies, and this works to improve memory. As a result, practicing a martial art like taekwondo can actually help a child get better grades in school!
Are you a practitioner of any form of martial art? Do you want to start? Leave your comments below.
