Speed Conditioning

The concept of speed conditioning against reflex control to limit movement must be considered. When applied to the destruction (breaking) techniques in Taekwon-Do, full speed at the moment of impact requires a well stretched muscle in order to ensure the limb is not compromised by misalignment. This applies to the arm or leg. If the limb is not straight a loss of power will occur.

Even a properly stretched muscle that has not been speed conditioned will never reach full velocity at maximum length. The reason for this is that the Golgi organs (stretch receptors) in muscle spindles within the muscle will tell the nervous reflex system to restrict the speed of the limb if it is too great near to its maximum length. This is a biologically in built safety mechanism to prevent damage. Speed conditioning resets this very mechanism to allow the full velocity to be reached at (very nearly) the full length of a muscle. What this means is that if stretching of the muscles is not achieved then neither will the full potential ever be reached in terms of the power/speed relationship (P=1/2mv2).