Is Taekwondo Good For Building Muscle?

Building muscle is something that most people who frequently exercise think about at some point in their exercise journey.

After all, since exercise can help you lose weight, it becomes ideal to tone our bodies so they stay healthy.

Martial arts are often considered to be a wonderful form of exercise as they tend to work your whole body during each training session.

A popular form of martial arts is taekwondo (see also? Is Taekwondo All Kicks ?).

Taekwondo is an intense and fast-paced workout, so naturally many often wonder about the effectiveness of taekwondo to build muscles.

If you are considering taking up taekwondo to build your muscles, you’ve come to the right place.

In this guide, we are going to walk you through whether or not taekwondo is good for building muscle.

We are also going to take a deeper look at the muscles that taekwondo works.

What Is Taekwondo?

Before we assess whether or not taekwondo is good for building muscle, we need to make sure we have a clear understanding of what taekwondo is.

This will help us to understand how taekwondo works our bodies. Taekwondo is a combat sport that originated in Korea.

The dates of its origins are said to be in the 1940s, but the modern form of taekwondo was formally agreed upon in 1955.

However, it is believed that forms of taekwondo have been around for centuries before the origin dates.

Taekwondo is a combat sport that is known for having a strong emphasis on footwork and kicking.

However, taekwondo is said to be a combination of various skills involved in fighting. Taekwondo focuses on the ability to strike quickly and powerfully.

This means that during taekwondo training, students will be using their entire bodies.

How Do Muscles Grow?

Now that we know what taekwondo is, there is one more thing we need to understand before we look at whether taekwondo is good for building muscle.

That is how muscles grow. When you have finished working out, your body works hard to repair any damage done to your muscles.

The way our bodies do this is through a cellular process in which the muscle fibers are joined again to make new muscle protein strands called myofibrils.

These new muscle protein strands increase in number and thickness which creates muscle growth.

Muscle growth actually happens as your body rests, not during the workout or weight lifting.

The simplest way to describe how muscles grow is by putting that muscle through a lot of exercises so it becomes stronger.

Is Taekwondo Good For Building Muscle?

So now that we know how muscle growth occurs, we can start to judge whether taekwondo is good for building muscle.

As mentioned briefly, various forms of martial arts need you to use your entire body during training. Taekwondo is no exception to this rule.

During taekwondo, your whole body is put through a rigorous workout.

This means that since you are using all of the muscles in your body, those who are new to taekwondo training will begin to notice after a period of time that the muscles in their body are building up.

However, this change will not happen quickly. Taekwondo involves a lot of strength training.

This means that your muscles will naturally build as you continue your training.

However, this is where how good taekwondo is for building muscle comes into question.

As you continue your taekwondo training, you will, without a doubt, build muscle but it might not be as much muscle as you hoped for.

What we mean by this is that compared to going to the gym and lifting weights, taekwondo will not build muscle to that degree on its own.

If you want to build a lot of muscle, then it would be a good idea to incorporate both taekwondo and other strength training exercises into your workout routine.

With taekwondo, it is unlikely that your muscles will build-up to the point they are considered to be huge, but taekwondo will build your muscles.

At times it is actually recommended that you also incorporate strength training in your routine to build muscle as it can help your techniques in taekwondo.

This is especially true if you want to compete in competitions.

It is important that you are able to make powerful strikes in taekwondo. In order to achieve this, your muscles need to be strong.

What Muscles Are Worked In Taekwondo?

Now that we know that taekwondo can build up your muscles, let’s have a look at which muscles are worked during taekwondo training.

When it comes to your legs, your quad, hamstrings, and calf muscles are the main ones that will be worked.

The hamstrings are extremely important for being able to make effective kicks in taekwondo.

The calf muscles are important because they help with moving around in taekwondo. During taekwondo, your abs are one area that is worked the most.

This is because as you swing and twist your body, you engage your core muscles.

This allows your ab muscles to be defined as you continue your taekwondo training.

Final Thoughts

Taekwondo is a form of martial arts that will help to build up your muscles as you continue your training.

The extent to which it is considered to be a good way to build muscle depends on the individual’s goal.

If you wish to become more toned so there is more definition in your muscles, then taekwondo is a good way to build up muscle.

However, if you wish to build up muscle to the point they are extremely defined and are very big, then taekwondo alone would not be a good way to build muscle.

Instead, focusing on strength training exercises only would be the best way to build muscle.

We hope this guide has answered all of your questions surrounding taekwondo and whether it is a good way of building muscle.

Please share this guide with others who might be interested in it. Thank you for reading.