Sine wave in TKD, is there any real point?

Question

Having been envolved in martial arts on and off (karate and kickboxing) for the past twenty years, I have recently begun training again, in ITF Taekwondo this time, for a couple of reasons.

1. To stay fit and taekwondo is similar to karate and kickboxing.

2. It's close to my house so I can make the lesson after work easily.

My question is: I know Sine wave has been scientifically proven to be more powerfull than the twisting hip action, and I have no disputes over that, but, doesn't it make the whole movement so much slower that you would happily sacrifice that small bit of extra power for extra speed instead?

I'm not knocking ITF in any way because I love it and I think the sine wave actually looks quite good in patterns but is it really neccessary? In my opinion NO.

If any taekwondo expert out there can convince me other wise I'd love to hear your opinion.

Answer 1

Sine wave principle does not add power to the technique, because any energy or motion that is not going toward the target is a waste of energy. Otherwise you will see boxers going up and down with their bodies. You should concentrate on all your movement towards the target plus the hip rotation to adds the power. Any ups and down of the body is a waste of energy and it actually slow you down.

check out: this website, they have lengthy explanation.

http://www.tkdtutor.com/06Concepts/Power...

Answer 2

Sine wave or moving the center body mass to add it's weight into a  movement.TKD is kind of late discovering that concept .JACK DEMPSEY explained the concept back in his golden years as the world heavy weight champ.He called it "the drop step punch"whereby something as simple as a jab could have total body mass behind it.

TKD seeing sine wave movement is expressed as a wavy or curved line thought that represented actual body movement and adopted that rising and falling motion you see in their forms which to other martial artists just appears as plain sloppy or jerky.

You are right it is slower and that fact makes it unscientific.

With just the weight of my fist alone at what speed would you rather I struck you ?5 miles an hour or 50 miles an hour?I hope you answered 5 miles an hour .Sine wave attempts to bring to many components into play to accomplish a move components that with training can be brought into play with one smooth action.

True martial arts does not rely on hip movement alone to create power ideally your body mass should be moving forward as you strike not the static posistions seen in kata and one of the "secret" bunkai of kata is how this is done.

Answer 3

I used to do ITF Taekwondo and the sine wave is pointless unless you're doing the sitting stance punshes. I do Tangsoodo now and we don't use sine waves. All it does is slow you down for a tiny bit more power.

Answer 4

Nope I now lost - dropped in cause I though I had an attempt at an answer

Answer 5

Agreed.  Wholeheartedly.

Answer 6

We have been dropping the hip and slightly twisting the torso ever since I started training in TKD. I don't know which part is new, "sine wave".  I don't see any loss in speed. This is only used in a reverse punch which is a finishing blow anyway. The jabs would not be affected.