MT beginner thinking of switching to TKD-wants advice

[Shadoh]

I atudied in Choong Sil Kwan style, for about 3 years, and it was great for building up mental strenght as well as conditionoing you for over all martial arts. thewaterd down statement that you made is true, my school was once a great place, but under new ownership turned into watery gunk. look around and try out the different schools. A friend of mine (Going to states this weekand) Trains at a school that is a mixture of MT and TKD, wthgood results. Inmy opinion find a school that still teachs under the Traditional things, the instructors from my experiance's (limited as they may be) Is that theones that are sil traditional tend to be alot better in the long run.

MT will benifit u in the TKD field though, If yourinterest is in Olympic Sparring, then the MT training wil DEF help. I did a step up[ side kick to mybuddies shin who did MT he didnt even blink. So the pure pain, and stamina that MT will teach to its students will definatly help. Stamina that MT will instill will also become a great assit to you.

Well, i hope thishelps u out in your decision, if their were many typo's im sry im sittingon a schools old comp, and grading a paper at the same time, Goodluck Man



Chris Crill
To poor to Train TKD

[ledfut]

i am coming up on 8 years of training, 7 of being an instructor, and 3 as head instructor. we are wtf and our grandmaster comes from chung do kwan.

olympic style sparring (as we call it) is horseshit. i train in the style and i couldn't bear to watch 2 rounds of olympic level competition. the thing i like about sparring is that it simulates a real fight (i.e. 2 people with the same goal in mind). so watching 2 people with their hands down playing a game of rough tag with their feet doesn't really turn me on (i love K1).

if i were you, i'd try to find a more traditional school as it seems to be what you want.

[WildWest.]

Olympic style TKD sparring is horseshit!! Good on you for telling it like it is! I totally agree with you.

[DickHardman]

i vote for muay thai

i did tkd for a few years as a kid, i do mt now so i have experience in both. i personally like mt better.


muay thai sparring is usually less resitrictive than in most tkd dojos.

muay thai sparring/training is closer to real life fighting than tkd

mt kicks mix perfect with boxing(hence the art of kickboxing), while the tkd stance makes proper boxing techniques difficult.

mt training will condition your shins and make then VERY dense. tkd will toughen up your legs but nowhere near the same level as mt.

modern mt training tends to contain much more physical conditioning than most tkd dojos.

tkd can give you VERY bad habits when it comes down to real fighting. i specifically remember being told by an instructor to deflect a roundhouse kick to my midsection by switching the side of my stance and letting the kick hit my back! in real life, getting hit in the spine with anything during a fight can be all bad. in mt you block attacks with elbows and knees that can leave your opponent wounded. let me tell you, its no fun to throw a kick at someone only to have them bring down the point of their elbow on your foot or shin.

mt is awesome and powerful.

[JStinson]

Olympic style sparring is what it is, a sport. It should not be viewed as anything else. You are comparing apples and oranges here. I have been in Hapkido and Taekwondo for 26 years and have been around enough people to know that everyone will say there are is superior. Bottom line, find the art you like with an instructor that will fit your learning style and go with it. All systems are good, it is up to the person, not the art to win a fight.

[dogzilla]

khem, did you meant that tkd is only a sport or did you took it as a part of martial arts?

i aint saying nothing, just asking, becouse i didnt understood your post good.

[JStinson]

Olympic style sparring is sport, just like other tournament style martial arts. Tae Kwon Do can be a very effective martial art, but not what is seen at the Olympics. The Tae Kwon Do I took is the old style, in other words looked alot like Shotokan. I studied Chung Do Kwan, which was invented by Won Kuk Lee, a student of Shotokan.

Hope that clarifies.

[dogzilla]

i understood, but next time tell that taekwondo wtf style is olimpic, ITF style isnt :P hehe

but i know what u mean

[DickHardman]

i am aware that there are some tkd schools that teach effective styles of tkd that train outside the restrictions of the sport rules, but i think they may be harder to find right??

[DickHardman]

hmm, i didnt know much about the itf, there actaully not too bad.

cool clip. some of those kicks are devastating. after watching this clip, there are a few things from tkd that i would like to incorporate into my training...

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJINTL2dGRA[/YOUTUBE]

[JStinson]

They are harder to find, mainly because they are not the mainstream belt factories. There are some out there, I have met quite a few, most are in little schools or remote locations.

[ledfut]

Olympic style TKD sparring is horseshit!! Good on you for telling it like it is! I totally agree with you.

yeah i actually told my master i would never mention that tkd is in the olympics again because i don't want people to see it and say "that's what tkd is?"

he agreed with me of course.

[WildWest.]

Ledfut.

Nice to hear that you and your instructor have some sense about you, and that there are still good TKD clubs about out there.

[ledfut]

while we are the best in the area, i'd hardly consider myself good. too much i need to improve upon, but i appreciate the compliment.

[JStinson]

While you guys do not like WTF sparring, it does have one thing I do like. No points are awarded unless the person getting hit is off-balanced with a sufficient strike. For those that think they are weak, get hit by one of the Olympians and then tell me they are weak.

Most tournaments now are bull with tip-taps being counted for points. Main reason I do not even go to them anymore, too political and not much real technique involved.