General:

• flying – twimyo
• black belt – opposite to white, therefore signifying the student’s maturity and proficiency in Taekwon-do. It also a sign of the student’s imperviousness to darkness and fear.

Hand techniques:

• knifehand high front strike – sonkal nopundae ap taerigi
• reverse knife high front strike – sonkal dung nopundae ap taerigi
• outer forearm front block – bakat palmok ap makgi
• x-knifehand checking block – kyocha sonkal momchau makgi
• twin upward palm block – sang ollyo sonbadak makgi

Foot techniques:

• flying side piercing kick – twimyo yop cha jirugi
• twisting kick – bituro chagi

Pattern information:

• Choong-Moo – 30 movements
• Choong-Moo was the name given to the great Admiral Yi Soon-Sin of the Lee Dynasty. He was reputed to have invented the first armoured battleship (Kobukson) in 1592, which is said to be the precursor of the present day submarine. The reason why this pattern ends with a left hand attack is to symbolize his regrettable death, having no chance to show his unrestrained potentiality checked by the forced reservation of his loyalty to the king.

Helpful videos:

• Choong-Moo
• 1st Kup Fundamentals

ADDITIONAL THEORY

The Theory of Power

Briefly, theory of power consists of 6 elements, which we remember with the acronym MR BECS (this is not the order that General Choi listed them in his encyclopaedia, see later).

Mass – when your mass moves with the technique, more power is achieved

Reaction Force –

(a) the target will receive more force if it travels towards your technique. For example, punching your opponent as they move towards you will result in them experiencing greater force in that punch, therefore timing your attack and defence is crucial.

(b) utilise the reaction hand in most hand techniques, pulling it usually to the hip and occasionally to the chest/shoulder area.  About one third of the power in a hand technique can be attributed to that reaction force

Breath Control – exhale sharply when delivering a technique to contract the abdomen. Also, if being hit (eg. in free sparring) the action of exhaling helps to absorb the force of the blow.

Equilibrium –

(a) static equilibrium: having balance when in one place, on the spot.

(b) dynamic equilibrium: having balance when moving. If you are off balance you cannot hope to deliver power in your techniques.

(c) the equal movement of arms in hand techniques (action and reaction)

Concentration –

(a) timing the movements so that all force is concentrated into the final end action of the technqiue.

(b) using the correct part of the hand or foot (tool) so maximise the force delivered through a small surface area.

Speed – according to kinetic energy theory, the energy delivered by a Taekwon-do technique is linked to its speed.  Indeed, due to a mathematical link to quantity of speed squared, a technique performed twice as fast will deliver 4 times the energy.  3 times as fast will deliver 9 times the energy.

For the sake of absolute correctness, General Choi listed the elements of the Theory of Power in a different order – the MR BECS acronym is something that Master McCabe came up with to help students remember them more easily but the correct order is:

R C E B M S

There are 9 Training Secrets of Taekwon-do as explained by General Choi Hong Hi in his encyclopaedia of Taekwon-do.

1) to study the theory of power thoroughly

2) to understand the purpose and method of each movement

3) to bring the movement of hands, eyes, feet and breath into one signal coordinated action

4) to choose the appropriate attaching tool for each vital spot (or target)

5) to become familiar of the correct angle and distance for attack and defence

6) to keep the arms and legs slightly bent whilst the movement is in motion

7) all movements begin with a backward motion (with a few exceptions); once the movement has begun it must not stop before reaching the target

8) to utilise the knee-spring to generate a sine wave

9) to exhale sharply at the completion of a technique with the exception of connecting motion