Observing how Taekwondo is evolving as a movement industry, it appears to me that Freestyle Poomsae and various Extreme Taekwondo Demonstration competitions are spurring the growth of Taekwondo worldwide.
With flashy "acrobatic kicks", and impressive "kicks with multiple gradients of spin", it is indeed an attractive movement meme for social media.
While Taekwondo practitioners train to perfect their routines, the bar has officially risen for what it takes to become an elite Taekwondo poomsae practitioner.
It is increasingly common for international competitions to include Freestyle Poomsae in the final round of the Poomsae competition.
Freestyle Poomsae, according to the scoring matrix, is a combination of poomsae, demonstration of sparring techniques, and most importantly, Tricking.
In Singapore Taekwondo Federation's scoring criteria, there are 6 points allocated to technical skills which comprises of
jumping side kick,
multiple kicks in a jump,
gradient of spins in a spin kicks,
kyorugi style consequetive kicks as well as
acrobatic kicking technique,
and 4 points allocated to performance.
Through this program, I hope we can prepare you for the next phase of growth in Taekwondo 🤝
Table of Contents:
Why this program to learn tricking for freestyle poomsae and THT?
Kicks of Fury v2 aims to equip you with the technical competencies of Freestyle Poomsae as relates to "Kicks with multiple gradients of spin", "Acrobatic Kicks" and many other elements in Tricking that would come in very handy in Freestyle Poomsae.
THT (The Hype Tribe) is a movement education organization with the mission of Building Antifragile Bodies - developing strong and resilient bodies that benefit from learning Tricking and avoid getting destroyed by increasingly athletic and complex movements.
As you progress through the program, the movement patterns you learn become increasingly aesthetic, complex, and explosive. Landing produces a higher impact on the body, and the risk of injury heightens when you do not know how to decelerate.
Fortunately, THT specializes in developing Deceleration Abilities for the students ( Eccentric Contraction Force Production Capacity) to help students stay away from injuries long enough to become prepared for the increasingly impressive maneuvres that Tricking provides.
While THT does not teach Taekwondo, we have developed a system that incorporates a sound understanding of biomechanics which allows us to break down movement patterns of the tricks used in Freestyle Poomsae, analyze them, and propose progression pathways that optimize your learning experience. We have been teaching Tricks for close to a decade.
Program Syllabus: What you can expect to learn in tricking for freestyle poomsae
We can broadly define Kicks of Fury v2 as a program that has 2 major components:
Advanced Spinning Kicks and
Tricks: Flips with Twists and Kicks.
The program will be broken down into several levels, and each level progresses into the next based on increasing difficulty.
advanced spinning kicks in tricking for freestyle poomsae
This segment will be "Kicks with multiple gradients of spins".
Within Advanced Spinning Kicks, there will be kicks native to Taekwondo, as well as kicks originating from Tricking.
[LVL 1] are basic and easy movements that you will learn during your journey to your black belt- your turning kick, reverse kick, as well as 360 kick.
[lvl 2]
[LVL 2] Kicks:
540 reverse kick
540 reverse kick drill
540 turning kick
540 turning kick drill
This series of movements sets the foundation of teaching the body to learn how to twist and kick by setting the position of your hips.
[lvl 3]
[LVL 3] Kicks:
360 reverse round
Jack Knife (540 2 kicks)
Btwist Round
Gainer Hook
Cartwheel Backside 900 (Pop Turn)
[LVL 3] Kicks focuses on getting on adding more twists before a kick, more kicks in a twist as well as inverted kicks.
[lvl 4]
[LVL 4] Kicks:
720 turning (Cheat 900)
Swing 900
Cart Full Swipe
Cart Full Double Leg
Cart Full Round
[lvl 5]
[LVL 5] Kicks:
Full Jack Knife (Hyperhook 2 kicks)
900 Reverse
Full Hyperhook
Boxcutter (Cork Hyperhook)
Upon reaching [LVL 5], you would be well-prepared to wow judges in freestyle competitions.
Reaching [LVL 5] requires consistency on your part.
You may realize [LVL 4] and [LVL 5] Kicks utilize some flipping and twisting techniques taught in the Flips with Kicks and Twists segment, which we will abbreviate as Tricks. The higher the level you go, the more intertwined the movement patterns become.
tricks: flips with kicks and twists
This segment will be for the aspect of "Acrobatic Kicks" We will find the "Flips with Kicks and Twists" synonymous with "Tricks".
[LVL 1] are basic and easy movements like handstand, cartwheel, and bridge.
[lvl 2] tricks
[LVL 2] Tricks:
Backhandspring
Backflip
Layout backflip
Frontflip
We will focus more on Backhandsprings, which form the base for Layout backflip and subsequently Flash Kick. You do not need to focus on getting a very high backflip or frontflip, but you need to get to Flash Kick to hit the first requirement of "Acrobatic Kicks".
Frontflip will be touched upon to work towards Cart Front and then Cart Full, in which we will alternate the twisting technique to add Kicks into Cart Full in [LVL 4] Kicks.
[lvl 3] Tricks
[LVL 3] Tricks:
Round Off Backflip
Round Off Layout
Flash Kick (will be done with round off as well)
Gainer Flash
Cart Front
[LVL 3] Tricks focuses on equipping you with the understanding of how to use a setup like Round Off, Cartwheel as well as Backhandspring to get more power into your flips.
The focus of [LVL 3] will be Round off Layout/Flash Kick as well as Cart Full.
Round Off Layout will form the base for Round Off Back Half, and consequently into a Back Full .
Round Off Flash Kick will form the base for Round Off Flash Twist once you learn Back Full Twist, as well as multiple Flash Kicks.
Cart Full will be used as a base for Cart Full kicks in [LVL 4] Kicks.
[lvl 4] Tricks
[LVL 4] Tricks focuses on adding a Twist to a flip:
Cart Full
(Adding Half a twist to Cart Front)
Back Half
(Adding Half a twist to Layout)
Back Full
(Adding Half a twist to Back Half)
Cork
Adding a twist to Gainer Flash/ Cheat Gainer
Gainer Switch
Once you've cleared [LVL 4], you will be adding Kicks into Flips with Twists.
[lvl 5]
[LVL 5] Tricks:
Kick Full /Flash Twist
Round Off/ Cart Full Snapu
Cart Dub Full
Round Off Dub Full
[LVL 5] focuses on adding kicks into flipping twists, increasing the difficulty of "Acrobatic Kicks".
At this phase, you are almost fully prepared for international competitions that require freestyle poomsae.
How is it conducted?
Learning these tricks is not going to be easy, hence consistent attendance across 52 weeks is recommended for a safe and gradual build-up, with breaks in between to develop optimal periodization.
Every lesson will be 2 hours, we will start with a dynamic warm-up, and learn deceleration exercises, followed by a flips lesson and a kicks lesson.
We do not promise that everyone can get to [LVL 5] for both Kicks and Tricks,
as firstly these tricks are very hard and would likely take more than a year for your body to adapt,
and secondly, everyone has different levels of conditioning (strength and power levels) and coordination (kinesthetic, spatial intelligence, and aerial awareness).
However, you can expect yourself to have built a strong and resilient body with higher levels of conditioning through the deceleration and force/power production exercises that will be gradually introduced,
as well as vastly improved coordination as we learn intricate movement patterns that build your spatial intelligence to visualize flips and make adjustments as needed and
hone your aerial awareness to develop the ability to sense and control your body's position in space as you flip.
When and Where
Currently, we have planned for this program to be held for participants of NTU and NUS undergraduates at Sandbox Training Ground on Thursday evening 7.30-9.30 pm. Other schools are welcome to join this program with their Taekwondo CCA.
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