Protecting your jewels…

Every man who’s ever been hit/kicked/fallen onto their twig and berries will know that this is one area of the body you’ll want to avoid a blow to. Not only can it cause you the god given power to create life, but it will cause a paralysing pain, literally. Therefore in an aggressive environment it is vital to protect your groin area.

This is exactly what we practiced in yesterday’s training session. The pattern associated with my current belt rank (Do-san) has block/punch just before moving into an upper block (chukyo marki). To see how this works in a combative environment, my instructor set out to kick me in the nether region and I was to block the kick by punching down onto his leg/foot.
As an answer to my question what the best target was to the downward punch, my instructor resorted to his tried and tested method of “learning by feeling”… So, I was to hold up my foot while he tapped (I wouldn’t call what he did a punch) areas all over my foot and along my lower shin. Afterwards I concluded that it doesn’t matter where you hit the foot or the lower shin, because it will always hurt your opponent… a lot!

Once I managed to protect my privates from a stance I was instructed to practice covering while performing a forward kick. This seemed easy enough (or so I thought), but on my first try I quickly realised that I needed to adjust my balance quite a bit in order to stay true to my target. But again (and I suspect this will be an ongoing theme in my TKD career) “practice makes perfect”, and I’m still far from that…Key things worth remembering from the downward punching exercise are covering underneath your groin as much as in front and keep your cover throughout your kick, because that fatal blow can come at any time in its lifecycle.