Hip Snap/Winding/Sine Wave

General Choi, in the essential information section of his manual, states that, in regard to patterns:

• Students should know the purpose of each movement.
• Students should perform each movement with realism.

For a technique to be performed with realism, it should be:

• Fast, so it may not be blocked. The sine wave adds extra movement and, thus, more time.
• Focused, on target. Since there is up and down movement while punching, the punch is more difficult to focus.
• Powerful, so it may do damage. As stated above, hip snap adds more power.
• Instinctive, so little thought is involved. Twisting the body into a punch is natural, bobbing up and down when punching is not.
• Wavers view the sine wave as a natural walking motion. When we walk, we shift all our weight to the lead leg, step forward with the rear leg, and then shift our weight onto the new lead leg. The leg receiving the weight stays bent at the knee so there is very little up and down movement of the body and the forward weight shift is smooth. Some sine wave practitioners straighten the leg receiving the weight and suddenly bend it to drop the weight into the stepping leg in an abrupt, unnatural movement.As mentioned in many other places in TKDTutor.com, a method of analyzing any technique or theory is to ask, if it so great, why do not people naturally use it. If you watch professionals, such as boxers, or watch martial artists or ordinary people spar or fight under stress when they are not consciously aware of their movements, they move naturally without having to make any unnatural movements. Untrained people may need instruction to help them eliminate bad habits and refine their movements, but they do not need to learn unnatural ways of moving.Patterns use exaggerated movements and strive for perfection in techniques, but they should not use any unnatural techniques. Sparring movements are basically the same as those used in patterns and they still strive for perfection of movement, but they are more concise for speed and they are focused and controlled so they do not harm the opponent. Fighting self-defense techniques are the same as used in patterns and sparring, except there is no concern for perfection and they are focused for maximum power and injury to the attacker. To be effective in pattern performance, sparring, or self-defense, we should use the same techniques and motions and not have to think about which to use in each situation.We move naturally, babies do not have to be taught how to move and walk, it just happens. World champion runners do not have to learn some new way of running, they just learn to perfect the movements of natural running. As students of the martial art students, we need to perfect our techniques and move naturally. We should not have to learn some new way of moving that some "master" as determined to be the best way to move, in opposition to the way nature has designed us to move.