Slavist

Hello! I am new to MA and the forums. Several months ago, I started doing Tae Kwon Do for free through my university. I had been in Army ROTC prior to joining and I have to say that my school has been very tough, so far, and as far as I am concerned really trains you to be a fighter. Sometimes I am so beat-up, I can barely walk to class the following day.

It is Moo Duk Kwan style and the instructor is amazing. He always talks about the good ole' times and how Tae Kwon Do has regressed into a way to bring quick techniques to Americans with short attention spans. We fight full contact every practice, after practicing forms. He wouldn't let a black belt form the American Tae Kwon Do Association wear his belt, because he said that the forms he knew were nothing like the ones we were taught.

In addition, he constanly emphasizes repetition, saying that the goal is to be able to sidekick in a phone-booth. Overall, I have been very satisfied and Ithink that in time, I will get the confidence of being able to defend myself in a street fight. So, isn't that the purpose of Martial Arts - self defense and confidence? I think my Tae Kwon Do school will in time provide me with both and I cannot understand why so many people hate Tae Kwon Do in all of its forms.

Of course, I might be wrong, so should I switch to Karate, Aikido, or Kung Fu before I get too involved with Tae Kwon Do? Thanks

TKDTyger

Well I dont think everyone hates TKD, they mostly dislike WTF Olympic Sparring TKD. People feel it is useless because we dont block, we use head kicks and spinning kicks. That our kicks have no power and is only for show. But the other styles of TKD most people do not complain about.

I am not sure what style of TKD you take, but if it works for you, go for it. MA's depend on what you want from it.

Slavist

I am taking Moo Duk Kwan

TKDTyger

Sorry, I meant I do not know much about your style of TKD.

EmptyneSs

if u feel like u are getting something out of your training and you enjoy it then thats all that matters. i say stick with it.

academian

because it sucks

__________________
"In Karate there is no First Strike"
In Kenpo it is reversed:
In Kenpo there should be no Second Strike

TKDTyger

I dont understand, people post on these forums for constructive answers or opinions. However, I suppose there will be those who just like to state a useless opinion like this. That comment doesnt help the subject or Slavist. If there is a reason why you believe that TKD sucks, by all means post it, but save you energy on useless posts and our time of reading, please.

academian

Looks like you just gave your worthless opinion. So what's the diffrence ??????

__________________
"In Karate there is no First Strike"
In Kenpo it is reversed:
In Kenpo there should be no Second Strike

TKDTyger

I apologize for that. I am do not post here to have arguments and if I offended you, I am sorry. A simple question was asked and I expected useful answers to be givin. Let all play nice and stick with the subject. Every thread I have read in this forum always leads to 2 or 3 ppl bashing eachother. N E way, again I apologize for pointing you out.

TKDguy

muk do kwan is also taught at my school and i also found it to be a very complete and competant art.

Hardball

I took moo duk kwan for 2 years and it changed my life for the better. I had a flexibility problem in my hips and legs thus I didn't excel through the belt ranks. That did not matter, I gained discipline, self confidence and the skills to defend myself more than adequately in a street fight. You have to modify tkd, when using it in a street defense situation. Bring the kicks down low, master 5 techniques that fit your body style and you will be able to defend yourself anytime.

I later went on to shotokan, wing chun and ended up getting a black belt in japanese jujitsu. tkd is really dependent on your flexibilty level.

Should you stick with tkd? Depends on your goals. Mine was to get a black belt, hence, I was not progressing through the belt ranks of tkd so I switched systems until I got my black belt.

The journey was awesome. The knowledge and skilsl I now have are like a dream come true.

Bowing Out,

__________________
The Way of the Warrior is Practice. Daily practice, accumulate practice minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day. {Book of 5 Rings} Mike Brewers 2008 Sit up challenge 44,000/100,000 running balance.(Crunches) Kicks 6,300/100,000

pstevens

I've actually trained in Korea and most TKD instructors know several styles, including mine at the time. I believe we did Muk Do Kwan, Oh Do Kwan and Ji Do Kwan (olympic style).

Anyway, I believe many people become discouraged in TKD because it requires a lot of flexibility and agility, which is harder to attain than many think. Also, the way TKD schools are set-up, seem too friendly and family-oriented for serious practitioners. Even though the instructor means well by having young children and senior citizens running about, many people view this as just another McDojo.

The problem as discussed with my own instructor is that many Korean Masters have very little TRUE knowledge of running a business. They simply open a gym, which is flooded with all sorts of people, and the business goes somewhere other than what the Master had in mind. Even if he had a few good students, his gym is labelled a McDojo because of the majority of bad students.

MMA gyms are different. They have as specific market. It's a smaller market segment, so they have to charge more. But the upside is that you get more committed students and more talent as well.

If TKD wants to improve its integrity, it may have to follow the model of some high-profile MMA gyms. These gyms don't just allow any average joe to walk in and sign up. You need to prove your worth.

AlexJitsu

TKD is a bad art because it's just too sports oriented and has no roots in real fighting. At least Muay Thai and Boxing were created to fight, and have hundreds of years of history. TKD barely goes back to 1955.

The truth of the matter is if you're jumping around like a fairy doing machine gun kicks and spinning back kicks, if your opponent just steps into you you're going down. Hence, why we see that punching is favored over kicking in NHB (even though kicking is used a lot in NHB, it's mostly low kicks or high kicks that are set up with punches).

TKD has no punching skill whatsoever. The best TKD fighters I've seen all did rabbit punches with no body movement, and had no effective defenses.

Not to be ignorant or anything, I'm sure there are decent TKD schools out there. I'm just listing some reasons why average TKD is...bullshit.

zhorner

heres the deal bub...................thats great that your tkd class is hard and you learn stuff, but think of how much more you could better yourself with MMA. i dont think anyone in here can reasonably disagree that if you take two people, who are the same, put one in tkd, and one in MMA ( lets say muay thai and submission wrestling) then after a year or 3, the MMA guy would rape the tkd.

Tom Yum

No this is not an oxymoron.

Real TKD fighters do not fight like you see in point sparring matches. They will kick fast and really hard at all levels - aimed at targets from knees to the head. TKD fighters who fight for real can use their feet like boxers use their hands and if they get into a situation, will freely kick at the groin then up to the head in one second.

In addition, they will punch, chop and spear as well. TKD fighters don't punch as hard as boxers, but they can punch with enough speed to stun and set up some f-ing hard kicks. They will also throw knife hand chops at your collarbone (it'll break easily), at the neck, nose, ribs or spear the eyes/throat/solar plexus if they're defending themselves.

This is what real TKD fighting is like. There's a lack of infighting and grappling, but those empty handed chops and strikes can stop a person as can lightning fast kicks. Guys who train TKD and Tang Soo for years can fight for real.


The Problem with TKD
TKD is trained for contact olympic style or point style sparring, which isn't really combat oriented and why you see alot of other stand up guys running over them. It's like pitting the champion paintball team against a marine infantry. These styles of TKD are watered down MA for sports and its not just happening in TKD; its also happening in isolated cases in muay thai and jiu-jitsu since these arts are becoming so popular.

If TKD were trained with modern methods and constantly put in the ring, you will see guys re-define the outside game against other MMA fighters.