Taekwondo SHOCK & AWE
Almost since its inception and especially since the art high-kicked its way into the 1988 Olympics, taekwondo has been renowned for its dynamic moves and its practitioners lauded for their explosiveness. Those qualities may have been engineered for success in competition, but that doesn’t mean they won’t work in self-defense — provided you get guidance from someone who knows of what he speaks.
To deal with that last point, I sought out a true expert: G.K. Lee, ninth-degree black belt and grandmaster in the American Taekwondo Association. A member of the Hall of Fame, Lee is a big believer in using first strikes to gain the advantage in competition. He also believes that when the circumstances call for it — for example, when a threat to life and limb is tangible and imminent — a first strike can solve all sorts of problems on the street.
