Purpose of Poomse (Form)         

Academic Taekwondo^®

A Poomse (Form) is a pattern of pre-arranged Taekwondo moves, consisting of blocks, strikes and kicks.

While performing a Poomse, the Taekwondo practitioner uses his/her techniques to fight off  imaginary opponents, attacking from multiple directions.  Each of the WTF forms  (Taegeuk 1-8) and all Black Belt forms (from Koryo to Ilyo) begin with  defensive blocking techniques that are followed by a counter attacks.

Each Poomse is to  be practiced so many times that it can be performed without a thought (having to think of what the next move, direction or stance would be). Only after practicing a form, hundreds of times, will the student begin to understand its meaning.

Check Points of Poomse (Kukkiwon)

Poomse is a series of alternate attack and defense actions: So, there are frequent changes of actions and connections of techniques. One must pay attention to the movement of body, eyes, respiration, etc. The steps of paying attention are as follows:

• A complete understanding of the significance of Poomse and the principles of its composition.

• A perfect memorization of Poomse line, movements and direction.

• During the practice, the following must be taken into consideration:

  •    Eyes

  •    Movement of the center of balance

  •    Low or high speed

  •    Strong or weak force

  •    Respiration

Five Steps Poomse Training

A completion of Poomse can be achieved through hard training  by observing the five steps below

• Pattern  

• Significance

• Practical use

• Self Style & Study

• Completion

Categories of Poomse

The Poomses are categorized by the techniques, composition and points of stress, which are classified into three minor categories.

• Technique (variable, practicable, simple)

• Composition (proportion of Poom, hand, foot, and stance)

• Points of Stress (strong-slow, gentle-speedy, etc.)

Classification and Symbolization of Poomse  Next