Rule #1 - Don't Get Hurt

There are a few golden rules in Tae Kwon Do, but one of the most important is also very simple.

Don't get hurt.

If you injure yourself, you can't train. If you do, you will likely injure yourself even more. In any Tae Kwon Do student's career (multiply this times 10 if you are a competitor), you are going to end up with some injuries. A twisted ankle, a tweaked muscle, bruises, cuts, or worse.

Sometimes it's pretty simple - you cut yourself, you bandage the area, and avoid using it until it heals. You break your leg, you're out.

The tough area is the middle ground, which I find is mostly the province of twisted joints and pulled or tweaked muscles. The tendency with these is to accidentally train too hard, and make a small problem a big problem.

Especially if you are also doing calisthenics or weight training, it's easy to aggravate a twist or a pulled muscle. So be diligent about not working out with that joint (when I recently tweaked my shoulder, I stopped doing push ups, practicing weapons, and, even in class, did not do blocks or punches with that arm), and let it rest.

Lightly stretch, use liniment, but overall just stay away from it. When you begin to use it, test it with light activity.