Pseudo Soodo

A Taekwondo soodo marki (or shuto or knife hand) performed in back stance has the pull back hand palm-up in front of the solar plexus and the extended hand palm-forward.

In this form however, the blade of the hand is the weapon that makes contact with the target. However, more often than not, I have not seen any student who has embarked on hand conditioning to the point where such a weapon would be hard enough to cause much damage to anything it struck.


Just to make sure you know I also post Taekwondo pictures (rather than just old karate ones)

20 years ago, my first martial arts instructor started us on fairly exotic conditioning equipment and poultices which thickened our knife hand and shins. To this date, I see evidence of the folly of my youth - I can still strike fairly nicely with a desensitized knife hand.

One of the equipment my instructor introduced to us were large white candles. We would push our knife hand blades into the candles that were in turn placed flat on the surface of a table. Then we would roll the entire blade back and forth pressing downward. After a few weeks of this we would gently 'smash' the candle to bits whilst it lay flat on the table.

Most students don't pursue this, and it remains an optional part of their training. However, in the last few years, I have promoted a different soodo to the one that is commonly practiced in Taekwondo and Karate halls. This is the variation where we use the corner of the heel palm rather than the blade of the hand.

To effect this all you've got to do is to flex the hand towards the thumb side of the forearm when the shuto is extended in front of your face. Then you make a very shallow hollow in your palm as you tense the muscles in the heel of your palm. The best thing about this type of fist is that you can create a fairly formidable self defence tool immediately. Try smacking the ground with a fist. Then with your shuto. Then with the heel palm. Then with the corner of the heel palm. It should be fairly easy with the last two.

Also the best thing about the corner heel palm shuto is that it allows you to strike on a point rather than on a line. It rocks!

Colin

Master the Double Knife-Hand Block