Boot to the Head: A Look at Taekwondo

Yesterday, I discussed What You Learn from a Punch to the Face. It reminded me of the following video I stumbled across on Digg a few months back, featuring Taekwondo's best knock-outs.



The knock-outs featured in this video are all from kicks. In WTF Taekwondo, you're not allowed to punch to the face. As a result, people tend to use lower guards in tournaments. Of course, some TKD-ers are capable of blindingly fast kicks to the heads as you'll have witnessed in the video.

My old friend and student that I mentioned in yesterday's blog post always warned me that kicking to the head is not all that practical in a real street situation, however. He said you can do it maybe once in a fight, preferably at the beginning, when they're not expecting it, and as a result it could potentially a fight-ending blow. But if it doesn't end the fight, you had best not try it a second time because once they know to expect it, it's not all that hard to defend against.

To all my Canadian readers, have a great long weekend!