Children call each other “chicken” when they showed reluctance to try some thing different or dangerous. In most of these situations, being a chicken may have allowed you to reach old age with all your body parts intact.

Chickens are also found in the martial arts. Some are chicken because they are afraid to try something different or perceived to be dangerous, such as board breaking. Being this kind of chicken may keep you completely safe in your life, but it will also make your life dull and uneventful. Eagles soar, chickens walk around scratching at the ground. Sometimes they look up at the eagles, not in awe, but in fear of being an eagle dinner.

Other martial artists also behave as chickens but for other reasons.

Chicken Neck

Some students use a “chicken neck” when they spar. Have you ever watched a chicken walk? The chicken extends its neck and pokes its head forward when it walks. Due to its body geometry, a chicken, as do other types of birds, has to extend its head when it walks to maintain balance. Since chickens have limited hip movement, no arms or shoulders, and their mass is concentrated in the front and back sides of their bodies, they use an exaggerated head movement to maintain balance. We also should use our heads for movement, but we should use what is inside our heads, not the heads themselves. Luckily, most of us do not have the body shape of a chicken, so we do not need to extend our heads when we walk.

However, some students feel the need to lead with their face when they move into an attack. I always tell students, “Arms are for blocking and attacking, not for balance.” To compensate for not using their arms and not yet knowing how to use minute body movements for balance, some students us the chicken neck movement to maintain their balance when moving forward.

We all have heard the advice “don’t stick your neck out” from friends when we are considering stepping into a dangerous situation. Attacking is one of these situations. A head that leads will be a head that bleeds.

Chicken Walk

Chickens make large side-to-side weight shifts when they walk; martial artists should not. When a martial artist moves toward you, the only indictor of his or her movement should be that he or she appears to be getting larger within your field of vision as they get closer. There should be no other indictors to let opponents know that an attack is coming.

Chicken Wings

Chickens have wings, but the wings are useless for flying. We have arms, but they are useless for kicking. A person is always vulnerable when attacking, that is why some of us are effective counter attackers. When you move toward us to attack, we step forward into the attack and counterattack with a fury. We will jam the attack, deflect it, block it, or sometimes get hit by it, but either way, the opponent will get nailed, often many times.

Why do they get nailed? Usually because they are flapping their arms similar to the way a chicken flaps its wings trying to fly. Both are useless. You see these sometimes while students are punching, but you moistly see it when they are kicking; they wave their arms about as if they were being attacked by bees. Some do not wave their arms, they drop them or extend them backward away from the kick; either way, they expose themselves to a counterattack. Again, arms are for blocking and attacking, not for balance. If you are using them for balance while kicking, you are not kicking properly and you are leaving yourself open for a counterattack.

Kickers tend to flap their arms away from their bodies similar to chickens flapping their wings. Punchers tend to flap their elbows while keeping their hands in close to the body, they look as though they were doing the “funky chicken” dance.

Chicken Teeth

Chicken do not have teeth, If you have use a chicken neck, chicken wings, and do not avoid or block properly, neither will you.

Chicken Legs

Nature may have issued you chicken legs at conception, but you do not need to keep them. Boney, thin legs are not an asset in the martial arts. As explained in the speed topic, big muscular arms are a liability when it comes to quickness; heavy arms move more slowly. Thinner arms may not be as strong as muscular arms, but you can move them quicker and you can use your powerful back and shoulder muscles to add power. The same cannot be said for legs. You may think lighter legs should move quicker than heavier legs, but hip muscles do not have the strength to lift and move even lighter legs quickly. Therefore, the leg muscles must move the legs themselves. In addition, we need leg muscles to support the body and for lifting objects, and for jumping and kicking, all of which require powerful leg muscles. If you have chicken legs, train to build and strengthen them. If you do not have chicken legs, train your legs anyway. Toned, strong legs are an asset to martial artists, especially Taekwondo practitioners.

Chicken Knuckles

These are the soft, spongy knuckles that are found on chicken feet. This type of knuckle is not desired by martial artists. We train to have tough knuckles that may withstand the impact and forces involved in devastating punches.

Chicken Comb

Chickens wear their combs, the red plumbs on top of their head, with pride. People do the same with their head hair. However, some of us no longer have chicken combs; we now have heads that appear more as the heads of “bald” eagles.

Chicken Breast

Chicken strut around with their chests out, acting as if they were the kings or queens of the roost. Most martial artists do the same thing.

Chicken Butt

Chickens have a big, wide butt. This is not an ASSet to martial artists.                                                                                                                   

Chicken Waddle

This is the loose dangling skin under a chicken’s neck. This is not desired by martial artists, or anyone else for that matter.

Chicken Hands

To use chicken hands means to handle something carefully. An example, of the terms use is in the lyrics used by Tupac, "Hanging out the window/Acting up/Using my chicken hands with you doing so much..." When sparring, use chicken hands; kicks are dangerous but punches are deadly.

Chicken Little

These are some students who see everything as a disaster. For example, every little scratch they receive is a medial emergency and every hit they receive was intentional. They like to hit others, but when they get hit, they run to the instructor screaming about it being the end of the world.

Chicken Scratch

Chicken scratch is illegible handwriting. It may also describe the way some people spar. They move around with their head down and guard down, scratching (trying different techniques) here and there for no apparent reason, seemly searching for something.

Big Chicken Dinner

A “big chicken dinner” is a navy term for a BCD, or bad conduct discharge. A dishonorable military discharge. It means you were a complete failure in the military and disgrace to the country.