A Workout for Your Brain From Taekwondo Forms
A Workout for Your Brain From Taekwondo Forms
The traditional Songahm Taekwondo Forms taught at KFMA provide a workout for your brain in ways that may surprise you! In Korean, the forms are referred to as ‘poomse,’ and in Japanese, the term is ‘kata.’ In English, we simply refer to them as ‘forms’, which are choreographed patterns using martial arts techniques.
Using forms in the martial arts was originally designed to help practice the basic martial arts techniques, including strikes, kicks and blocks, along with footwork and stances. As a practitioner gained experience with the form, it also helped with developing power, timing (hand-foot), breathing, focus and intensity with a smooth, fluid rhythm. When properly performed, the forms require changes in direction, different speeds of execution, and different target heights.
Over time, as modern science has provided more insight into how the human body works, and especially the brain, we can see benefits from the form that we never knew before.
Your Brain – the Basics
As most people know, the brain has a left side and a right side, with each handling different aspects of performance. Most language and analytical calculations are handled on the left side of the brain, while the right side handles spatial awareness and visual imagery.
A Workout for Your Brain
Practicing traditional martial arts forms provides a workout for both sides of the brain, as it requires bilateral integration—crossing the body’s midline, alternating left and right spatial orientations, and synchronizing complex sequential memory with physical movement. By having both sides working together, this enhances the speed in which the brain can process information.
As the practitioner moves in different directions, the brain is continually updating an internal spatial map of the body. When techniques require stepping or kicking with one side of the body while blocking or striking with the other, the brain is getting a great workout!
A Brain Workout for All Four Lobes
The front lobe is managing the movements, while the parietal lobe is working on spatial awareness, and the temporal lobe is recalling the pattern from memory, and the occipital lobe is processing information from what you see in front of you.
In the Songahm Taekwondo forms taught at KFMA, the length and intricacy of the forms increase as a student moves up through the martial arts ranks. The White Belt form is essentially an “I” pattern, with only 18 moves, and two different kicks. In contrast, the 1st Degree Black Belt form has 81 moves and requires performing in six different directions. This leads to an increase in the student’s ability to memorize long strings of information and improves their ability for sequential recall.
Benefits for School
The brain functions that are exercised and enhanced by working on martial arts forms can reap an added benefit of helping kids with school. Memory retention, focus, and self-discipline are strong assets when it comes to studying and performing in school. Performing the forms during a rank testing also helps to build confidence, and to make students more comfortable in a testing environment.
Chief Masters Laura and David Kowkabany have always emphasized the importance of a good education for their students, including having our school-age students bring in their report cards every semester so that we can celebrate successes, and provide encouragement when needed for improvement. The discipline and focus learned from training at KFMA help to provide them with great assets in reaching their academic goals.
For more information on how the life skills that we teach at KFMA can help you or your child find success, please take a look at this article: https://teamkowkabany.com/kfma-teaches-life-skills/
For more information regarding our family martial arts classes, just give us a call at 813-540-5528. KFMA was established in 1996, and is located at 13910 Monroes Business Park, just two doors down from the Tampa Bay Brewing Company off Racetrack Road.
Kowkabany’s Family Martial Arts is chartered with the American Taekwondo Association: https://atamartialarts.com/