Someone mentioned that hapkido practices the same kicks and strikes as muay thai.
There's a big difference between the way thaiboxers and hapkidoists practice their kicks. Hapkidoists snap their kicks like TKD, except for the front kick, side kick and stomp kick. Those kicks have more thrust. Most hapkido kicks do not have weight behind them, rather rely on chamber and snapping for rapid fire kicks with decent force but not the same power.
Muay thai kicks are few and practiced way more repetitively. Plus they have the practicioners weight behind them increasing their power. Some hapkido guys have awesome kick power, but most thaiboxers have awesome kick power.
TKD/HKD guys who switch over throw knees with little power, but good speed. They throw it like they throw a chamber for a kick, so they pop the knee up pretty quick but do not thrust their hips fully behind it as much as thaiboxers. Plus they are unfamiliar in the clinch and how to plumb and close the gap in the clinch.
Hapkido control techniques are good and do work!! People get the idea that its done voluntarily. First off when someone grabs you, they expect you to resist and so they get ready to pull even harder. They do not expect you to step with them or at an angle. Likewise, if someone pushes you they do not expect to be pulled or spun. By messing with their balance and expectations, you get the element of suprise.
The minute hands are pushing you, step with it seize the fingers, wrist or elbow and use your body weight and leverage to execute the lock. Hapkido can be used to prevent escalations into fights and can help you reverse a lot of common street holds (front and rear bear hug, head locks, full nelson, shoving, pulling)
Hapkido works well at de-escalating, improving your position in an escalation and using leverage to cause pain in the process. If I can reverse a bear hug, put in a kick stand (so I don't get thrown ) and get a shoulder lock or neck crank I will make it hurt.
You've seen the police footage of that small off duty police officer against that bodybuilding pimp in H-town, right? The big pimp gets smacked down and knocked out by an average looking guy.
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