To excel at Taekwondo, you must
not only improve your
flexibility but also your Taekwondo
strength. This page deals with exercises that will improve your
overall Taekwondo
strength - for better breaks, harder kicks and stronger punches.
Focus on doing many repetitions versus just one rep at the
maximum weight. You want strength & endurance! These Taekwondo strength exercises
concentrate on your lower body,
upper body & arms and
core/abdominal area. Also visit our Taekwondo
speed,
stamina and
explosive
power pages.
For stronger & faster Taekwondo kicks, you need to work on areas such
as your quads, hamstrings &
calves.
Hamstring exercises -
Given that people suffer numerous hamstring injuries in
Taekwondo, I have also created a
hamstring exercise page with numerous hamstring
strengthening exercises (such as leg curls). This will help you
to achieve higher & more powerful kicks (with hopefully less
self-inflicted injuries).
Calf Raise without Weight Machine - After I tore my calf
muscle, I have been religiously using calf raises in order to
strengthen my calf muscles for Taekwondo.
For more explosive punches or
Taekwondo kicks (i.e. spinning hook kicks), you need to work on
your torque or twisting power in order to have more powerful
"wind-ups". You will need to exercise areas such as your
stomach, lateral obliques (side muscles) and lower back. Here
are a number of useful Taekwondo "core"
exercises. Also you will need to perform a variety of these
exercises because you need to work all of your core muscles.
Sit-ups - Yes, the standard
sit-up that you learned in school is a solid core exercise.
However, be careful and do not pull on your neck when doing this
exercise. A safer method is to cross your arms on your chest
versus holding the back of your head. Also keep your knees bent
(versus your legs being flat on the ground).
Incline sit-ups - Incline
sit-ups are a more intense form of sit-ups. Buy an incline board
and use gravity & your body weight in order to create a more
challenging core exercise than standard sit-ups.
Bicycle Crunches - This page shows you how to perform a
bicycle crunch. Bicycle crunches are supposed to be one of the
very best core exercises for fast improvement to your core
strength.
Plank Exercises - Plank exercises are one of my favorite
Taekwondo core exercises! For a more advanced plank exercise,
you can try to lift an arm and an opposite leg (i.e. right arm
and left leg) when you are in the plank position. The
"instability" of this advanced plank makes the exercise even
more effective.
For more powerful Taekwondo punches & blocks, you need to strengthen areas
such as your
triceps, biceps, forearms, shoulders and back.
Push-Ups -
Push-ups are a great Taekwondo exercise because you can do them
anywhere. No gym or weight set required! Push-ups work on areas
such as your triceps, chest and shoulders.
