Noob needs information and advice

[Acitic]

There is a chance of me getting into MMA or Boxing later, but for now I just want to have fun. I don't want to learn bad habits though that will hurt me later on such as pulling punches or kicks. I want to kick HARD. If WTF TKD will not make me kick HARD and POWERFUL, I am wasting my time. I don't want to learn to tap people. I want to learn to kick people like a horse. Except I'm a human. So yeah. You get the point! *Harrrr!*

TKD was originaly designed so that you would kick so hard that even if someone blocked it, your kick packed such force that you would break the bone being used to block with.... the closest thing to that woud be going to train in korea, or finding a really book ITF school.

However please note that i am not saying WTF tkd holds no pratical application, it has fast kicks and has powerful kicks, i was watching a competiton the other day and someone got a concusion from being kicked in the head(probally proventable if he would keep his hands up, however never taugh to train that way).

[Hwa Rang]

BadgerFu57, by all means join a TKD school if you find a good one. You will learn to kick very well. Don't expect to get much self defence as you need many other martial arts and an instuctor that has real life fighting experience that is down to earth to get this. Check out other TKD schools and if the WTF one seems the best do it for a while. What ever you do don't be stuck with only TKD (for striking) on the street and if the TKD instuctor says they don't allow cross training he is a ****. I reccomend after having done TKD for a bit, try Escrima, this teaches you weapons straight out, has striking and grappling later on and is awsomely fun.

I almost forgot; A 7 yr old BB? Sounds Mc Dojoish. Oh, and if you really want to be fit learn about fitness then run, skip and weight train or just join a gym.

[koto_ryu]

Learning joint locks and "one-step" techniques is useless, because you don't use them on a resisting person in a stressful situation.

So tell your training partner to resist We often do 20 minutes of free form near the end, where basically I'm coming at you with whatever the hell I feel like and you'd better find a way to finish it quick. Punches, kicks, knives, guns, multiple attackers, the whole nine yards. No "throw a punch at me" or "try a low kick", you'd better know what to do otherwise you're getting hit.

There is a chance of me getting into MMA or Boxing later, but for now I just want to have fun. I don't want to learn bad habits though that will hurt me later on such as pulling punches or kicks. I want to kick HARD. If WTF TKD will not make me kick HARD and POWERFUL, I am wasting my time. I don't want to learn to tap people. I want to learn to kick people like a horse.

Make sure you keep your hands up all the time when sparring then. I've tussled with many a TKDer who strode forward head up and hands down at shoulder level, because they never punch to the head. TKD can get you to kick strong. So can a number of other martial arts. If you feel it's right for you, by all means. Just don't put your eggs all in one basket.