Body collision

Mom budichim (몸부딪침, «body collision») is the act of hitting the opponent with your whole body, using the momentum left over from a strike (gyeokja, 격자). A kumdo glossary says it breaks down the opponent's posture and creates an opening for a strike. It also helps steady your own posture and build fighting spirit (giryeok, 기력). The Korea Kumdo Association describes the same action under the name mombadeum (몸받음).

How it is done

• Use the momentum of the strike to hit the opponent with your body, while bringing both fists up toward the opponent's lower abdomen as if lifting.
• Hit with the strength of the whole body, centered on the waist, pushing from below upward.
• Never lower the head.
• Break the opponent's spirit and strike at once, without missing the moment the opponent's posture collapses. The body hit and the strike are done as one continuous sequence.
• If the opponent retreats, press in and strike. If the opponent is stronger and the hit fails, use the opponent's pushing force to step back and strike, or turn aside and strike.

How it is received

• Put strength in the lower abdomen, lower the grip and hold the waist straight.
• Answer by moving forward, with the intention of returning the collision.
• Sometimes the hit is not taken head-on: the body moves left and right to turn it aside.
• The head must never be lowered while receiving.

In practice

• It is trained inside continuous-strike drills (yeongyeok, 연격). The one who strikes hits the head from the front, collides, and then continues with the side strikes to the head.
• From the collision, or from the guard-to-guard struggle (kodeungi ssaum, 코등이싸움), retreating strikes (toegyeok, 퇴격) are made.
• An association text also lists it as one way of pressing the opponent with the body: together with light footwork, it unbalances the opponent and puts them on the defensive.