Keumgang Poomse

Before the end of May I’m being afforded the opportunity to learn the 2nd and maybe 3rd dan forms. Even though my TKD journey is likely to change after May, I would like to at least learn Keumgang.

As I note in that above link, I have no plans of officially pursuing 2nd dan. Assuming the school keeps kicking, were I to pursue 2nd dan it would mean two more years before I could officially test. In our outfit two more years means learning Keumgang Poomse, 21 more one-steps, 21 more self-defense steps, a greater emphasis on advanced kicks (think combinations, speed, and aerial), more tournaments, and even more challenging breaks at the official test. Given the beating my body has been taking–not to mention a nagging injury–I just am not willing to put my body through all that. In fact, if I get Cho Dan under the belt (pun intended) in May I’ll be very happy. Between four years of PPCT and having dabbled in boxing and Wing Chun I’m satisfied with my ability to punch and kick. So, 1st dan will be the exclamation point on all of that as far as I’m concerned.

Since I’ve spent almost three years learning nine taekwondo poomse and three weapons’ forms I have no intention of not continuing to practice them at home. I’ve just put too much blood, sweat, and tears into them to give them up. Nor will I likely stop practicing the fundamentals. In fact, all of this will integrate nicely into my weekly workouts from home (this is what heavy bags are for). The only thing that will change is the absence of live sparring partners, the frequency of kicks per week, and probably kick height (most are best-suited for the mid-section or lower as far as me and my hip are concerned).

Right now all roads are pointing towards Chin na. If you want to get a taste of what some Chinese Chin na looks like check out Dojo Rat’s latest post. He has a video up which shows some basic Chin na. More on that when and if it happens this summer…

In the meantime, to paraphrase Sabum number one after a bunch of the masters broke with U.S. Chung Do Kwan: No one owns taekwondo. So, there is no reason I cannot be taught the 2nd dan form and maybe the 3rd dan form, too (Taebaek’s got a lot going on so we’ll see about that). In preparation for next week I consulted my resources (book and DVD) and started to go over Keumgang. Hand techniques come fast for me so I don’t think it will take me too long to get the basics down of this form. I plan to close this post with a video of Keumgang. However, here’s a link to the 3rd dan form, Taebaek. These two videos will give the non-taekwondo crowd a taste of both these forms.

~BCP