While karate and/or taekwondo are excellent for both children and adults to learn, there’s a world of confusion around these martial arts disciplines. Many people aren’t aware of the differences between karate, taekwondo, and other martial arts forms, and oftentimes, what they do know is riddled with myths. At Thrive Martial Arts in Windsor and Fort Collins, it’s our goal to educate our students with authentic teachings — as such, we would be remiss to not shut down a few of these myths. Here are some common misconceptions about taekwondo that you shouldn’t fall for.
Myth – Taekwondo Students Routinely Break Wood and Bricks
Breaking wood and bricks is a common trope in movies and media when it comes to martial arts, typically carried out by slicing palm strikes or forehead slams. In reality, you won’t have to worry about yourself or your child breaking bone and sinew on rough surfaces.
That’s not to say that board training doesn’t exist — at Thrive ATA, we have a variety of board breaking exercises, but we utilize pre-made boards that are made to snap in the middle and click back together. There are various levels of resistance, and even masters have a hard time breaking the toughest ones!
Myth – Taekwondo Is All About Kicks
Many people, when they hear the words “martial arts,” just assume that it all blends together. The truth is that there are a lot of differences between different martial arts disciplines. The well-read researcher might have learned online that taekwondo is distinctive for its emphasis on kicking.
This isn’t wrong — taekwondo is very kick-centric, but it would be a naive assumption to believe that kicks take up the majority of your training. There is an incredibly wide variety of punches, blocks, palm strikes, elbow strikes, and more.
Myth – Black Belts are Masters
Reaching your black belt is, undoubtedly, a wonderful achievement that is very commendable. However, for the serious martial arts student, black belt is only the beginning. There are several “degrees” of black belt that you can aspire to after reaching base level, and the requirements to earn them get exponentially higher with each rank.
Black belt, ultimately, signifies that you have mastered the basics — but if you reach beyond the basics, there is still an entire universe of martial arts skills and disciplines for you to learn. At Thrive Martial Arts, we like to encourage our students to aspire well beyond their black belt. For many, that’s where the true training really begins.
Learn the Truth of Martial Arts At Your Local Dojo
At Thrive Martial Arts, we take karate very seriously. We provide quality taekwondo classes for both children and adults, and we believe in the many benefits that martial arts training affords, whether it’s for physical fitness, self-discipline reasons, or good old-fashioned self-defense.
If you’re in the Windsor or Fort Collins area, we invite you with warm hearts to stop into our dojo sometime and try out martial arts for yourself or your child. Doubtful about whether it’s for you or not? Consider signing up for our free trial! Stop by today.