Taekwondo footwork training as warm up

Whenever I reach the training ground or "Dojan" early, there is one thing that I would do to facilitate the training later. That is to do some footwork training. Footwork to me is always an important factor in sparring. Yes, we can kick fast, with strength and accuracy but the footwork is the "launch pad" to a kicking technique. How we move to get our distance, catch our opponent and to dodge an attack or counter-attack is all about our footwork we do.

The more nimble and quick our footwork is, the faster we can actually become. Footwork training make us agile and our opponent to move with us. Taekwondo is an individual game. It is also a game with your opponent. It is how we want the opponent to move which is another level of the game. Speed is key. But controlling the game gives us a greater advantage as we do not need to be as fast to score a point.

In the other perspective of course, with speed we can be able to react faster in the game thus less easy to be "moved" by the opponent. Even this speed we are talking about is the fruit of a good Taekwondo footwork training. To begin mastering our footwork, it is perhaps time to start moving around as warm up. Besides the benefit for training to be fast, it does works as a good warm up without being too intensive before the training begins.