Totally Tae Kwon Do Magazine - Issue 20 - Usadojo

Exclusive Exclusive Interview
Interview
WTF Forms Applications
By Richard Conceicao
Because of the increased “sportification” of the WTF, many of the
forms have been under appreciated, and, in many schools, deemphasized.
Yet the original fighting concepts are still maintained
within them, albeit often overlooked.
My purpose in this series is to take some of the more “obscure” movements from some of
the forms and provide some insight into how they can be used in a realistic combat
scenario. Hopefully people can take these ideas and add their own concepts and broaden
the knowledge of these arts to those who practice it.
Keumgang
The key movement of the form is the keumgang magi—diamond
block. It consists of one arm executing a high block movement and
the other arm a low block movement. The leg is then raised to knee
level.
A key to interpreting this complex action is to stop focusing on the
final position and concentrate on the specific motions involved.
One arm moves up and back, and the other moves down and back.
The knee then moves forward.
In this example we face our opponent with our lead arms clashing (separated here for
clarity). While we could perform this from a grab, a punch, or even a handshake, we are
demonstrating the technique from this position because it is so commonly encountered
From this position pull the opponents arm down towards your side. Since the normal
reaction when your arm is tugged is to pull back, you can use this pulling back to help you
spring around to his rear
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