What is all the noise about?

September 5, 2014

The noise we’re talking about is the shout we use when we are practising taekwondo training.

It’s not restricted only to taekwondo of course; many styles of martial arts incorporate the use the ‘shout’ as part of their training.

The Korean term is ‘Ki-Hap’ it means to shout with spirit. What it actually does is focus and concentrates your physical and mental power in an instant, into a target.

The shout is not the power; the shout is an aid to delivering power. The point is to tense the core muscles of the abdomen as you shout.

Sometimes you hear people doing a long loud drawn out shout which sounds fantastic but is in fact useless for concentrating power. The Ki-Hap shout must be short and loud in order to generate maximum power.

The Ki-Hap can also protect your body from a hit because the muscular tensing protects the torso.

There are other benefits when using the KI-Hap…

A strong loud Ki-Hap boosts your confidence levels. The psychological effects are well documented. During wars soldiers often attack while screaming to psyche themselves up and dampen the natural fear they feel when going into combat.

When you Ki-Hap don’t shout air from the chest, it should come from the lower abdomen, from the Dan-Jun point in fact.

Finally, a strong powerful shout from the Dan-Jun while attacking or even moving fast into a fighting stance can deter an attack and even stop a fight before it begins.

So now you know what all the noise is about – an essential part of your training

Master Dicks

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