Welcome to Our Website!
Since 1996,
Performance Martial Arts has been providing instruction in Tae Kwon Do and the martial arts in the
Bowie, MD area.
We hope you enjoy our website and will stop by and visit us if you are in the area. This site is designed to give you information about our facility, our style of martial arts, our staff and provide you with information on how to contact us as well.
What is Tae Kwon Do?
Tae Kwon Do is a modern martial art, characterized by its fast, high and spinning kicks. There are multiple interpretations of the name Tae Kwon Do. Tae Kwon Do is often translated as 'the way of hand and foot.'
Tae = 'Foot' or 'to kick' or 'to jump'
K'won = 'Fist' or 'to strike or block with hand'
Do = 'The way of' or 'art'
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Put this together and Tae Kwon Do means: "The art of kicking and punching" or "The art of unarmed combat."
Disciplines of Tae Kwon Do
Tae Kwon Do has four disciplines:
- Patterns
- Sparring
- Self-defense
- Break Test
It is the combination of these four disciplines that make the art of Tae Kwon Do.
Objectives of Tae Kwon Do:
- to develop an appreciation for Tae Kwon Do as a sport and an art
- to achieve physical fitness through positive participation
- to improve mental discipline and emotional equanimity
- to learn self-defense skills
- to develop a sense of responsibility for one self and others
Tae Kwon Do is primarily a kicking art, often with a greater emphasis on the sport aspect of the art. Tae Kwon Do stylists tend to fight at an extended range, and keep opponents away with their feet. It is a hard/soft, external, fairly linear style and is known for being very powerful. There is a lot of competition work in many dojongs. Training tends to emphasize sparring, but has forms, and the basics are important as well.
