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Tom Yum · 07-15-2003, 02:35 PM

Sadly many American TKD schools produce black belts who cannot kick with power. Reason being that quality is not maintained. So if you take the 'average' TKD practicioner after 1 year and the 'average' MT practicioner after 1 year, I would have to go with the Thaiboxer.

Why? Thaiboxers are conditioned harder and work on throwing 2 or 3 kicks well and using them constantly in sparring or defense drills. Wheras TKD practicioners aren't pushed as much and are busy learning 10-12 different kicks without necessarily sparring or working against an advancing opponent. Plus TKD schools (for the most part) do not emphasize conditioning.

After 5 years, then you see that the average TKD practicioner can kick pretty hard and quite fast even at the same level as the average MT practicioner of 5 years. The impact difference still exists. If you were to watch them spar with contact, you will notice that the TKD guy will get rocked alot more and knocked down more too. The reason being that fighting from a side stance is succeptible to getting the angle in boxing and is less stable against low kicks. Keep in mind all illegal techniques in TKD - head punching, kicking to the legs, kneeing, elbows and clinch work are all illegal in TKD

You could argue that the MT fighter hasn't seen certain kicks and is more succeptible to them, but keep in mind that 5 years of hard sparring prepares you better for fighting better than 5 years of target practice and two step sparring drills.

In the long-term both MT and TKD practioners can develop good power in their kicking techniques, allthough MT kicks are more devastating IMO. I think Master Toddy (Muay Thai) holds a BB in TKD and recommends his students learn TKD to borrow what is usefull.

No one will question the kicking power of a real Korean TKD master, just the thousands of Mc Dojang instructors who water down the art. You could allways spar against Master He Il Cho to see for yourself. The difference between this man and your average Mc Dojang is IMMENSE.

07-15-2003, 02:35 PM	#4 (permalink)
Tom Yum Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Here and there. Posts: 11,301 Groans: 0 Groaned at 2 Times in 2 Posts	Sadly many American TKD schools produce black belts who cannot kick with power. Reason being that quality is not maintained. So if you take the 'average' TKD practicioner after 1 year and the 'average' MT practicioner after 1 year, I would have to go with the Thaiboxer. Why? Thaiboxers are conditioned harder and work on throwing 2 or 3 kicks well and using them constantly in sparring or defense drills. Wheras TKD practicioners aren't pushed as much and are busy learning 10-12 different kicks without necessarily sparring or working against an advancing opponent. Plus TKD schools (for the most part) do not emphasize conditioning. After 5 years, then you see that the average TKD practicioner can kick pretty hard and quite fast even at the same level as the average MT practicioner of 5 years. The impact difference still exists. If you were to watch them spar with contact, you will notice that the TKD guy will get rocked alot more and knocked down more too. The reason being that fighting from a side stance is succeptible to getting the angle in boxing and is less stable against low kicks. Keep in mind all illegal techniques in TKD - head punching, kicking to the legs, kneeing, elbows and clinch work are all illegal in TKD You could argue that the MT fighter hasn't seen certain kicks and is more succeptible to them, but keep in mind that 5 years of hard sparring prepares you better for fighting better than 5 years of target practice and two step sparring drills. In the long-term both MT and TKD practioners can develop good power in their kicking techniques, allthough MT kicks are more devastating IMO. I think Master Toddy (Muay Thai) holds a BB in TKD and recommends his students learn TKD to borrow what is usefull. No one will question the kicking power of a real Korean TKD master, just the thousands of Mc Dojang instructors who water down the art. You could allways spar against Master He Il Cho to see for yourself. The difference between this man and your average Mc Dojang is IMMENSE. __________________ Love it, leave it or fix it. Last edited by Tom Yum; 07-15-2003 at 02:38 PM.