Sine Wave
One day I noticed a comment on one of our videos which asked, “Where’s the sine wave?” I had no idea what the person was talking about. Recently, I stumbled across a video of General Choi demonstrating the sine wave technique, and my question was partially answered. I felt it would be beneficial for our students to know what this movement is, what its driving philosophy is, and why we don’t practice it.
According to a few different sources, in the 1980’s General Choi introduced the sine wave movement, a slight up-down-up motion as one steps or throws a technique. The official ITF site, www.tkd-itf.org, states that the sine wave can be executed in two phases:
- Phase 1:
Relaxing arms, legs, and shoulders to recover your energy after the previous movement. - Phase 2:
Increase both external and internal energy with the hip motion (gain mass) and the acceleration from the top of the wave, in combination with exhaling at the impact of the movement.
Grandmaster Hong Sik Kim, who trained at one time with General Choi, made a conscious and studied decision not to use the sine wave. Subsequently, our style emphasizes keeping the head level throughout a form (unless you’re jumping, obviously) and utilizing the hips to generate more power in techniques. We also do not exhale audibly as each technique is thrown, as phase 2 suggests above. We do, however, emphasize keeping the body relaxed until the instant that a technique “lands,” which is similar to what phase 1 suggests.
The disadvantage to our style may be that teaching students to use the hips is difficult, and perhaps teaching the sine wave movement is one way to push them toward more powerful techniques. In our style, however, we believe that the up and down motion actually wastes energy, and to be honest, we like the way our forms look without the bobbing. That does not mean we are right; this is simply our philosophy.
There is an upside and a downside to everything in life, and in martial arts styles and practices as well. What is more irritating than anything else is to hear someone brag that their style is superior to all others, and that their way of doing things is the only right way. It’s human nature I’m sure: it affects religion, politics, social cliques. It’s also common for those new to an art to feel that their art is leagues above and beyond any other. This may be a factor in building commitment and loyalty to the group one is becoming a part of.
Once we have matured as martial artists, however, we should begin to view other styles with curiosity and an open mind, to notice what is beautiful and powerful, so that we can keep learning and growing. I don’t mean keep changing how you do things; I mean that we should be aware that others do things differently and have logical reasons for this difference.
Which brings me to “Why stick to just one style?” Because the basic philosophy behind all martial arts is the building of reflex through repetition. We work constantly toward perfecting any given movement, then repeating it over and over in order for it to become reflex. If you stop practicing the movement, the reflex will fade and eventually disappear. Unfortunately, we aren’t robots that only need programmed once. If you keep switching styles, you simply keep building and losing different reflexes without ever reaching mastery. However, some are able to practice multiple arts at once, and they would have mastery in all that they practice. Cross training is very beneficial, and training across multiple arts is especially beneficial if you have time for it! Most of us don't.
Any art is effective if you stick with it and work hard at it. And there is nothing wrong with being satisfied with the style you practice, warts and all. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
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