Punching...

Many of the practitioners these days do not seems to punch anymore. One of the main factor that contributes this is because of the difficulty in gaining a point via punching. A kick is definitely easier as it could produce the impact and sound easily at least for a Taekwondo exponent. In sport Taekwondo, although many do not seems to focus on punching but still, in the overall practice for Taekwondo, punching is something really all the practitioners should practice and not only just in poomsae.

In the act of self defense, punching is really an effective technique. We could kick well but can we punch well? Punching could be done swiftly but it also got to be hard enough to create an impact. In sparring today, most of us are just too engrossed with our footwork and kicks that we seldom or never uses our punch. But a punch once well trained enough could be a combination tool with the kicks.

But of course in self defense any method that works is the key point. If one can kick well and make the opponent retreat then so be it. But if one has punching techniques too, it will be another set of skills that could be used whenever needed for example at a near distance instead of just using kicks.