the worst art and why

[thirtytwohits]

i know from my experiences that tae kwon do is the worst art. ive fought art vs art and found tae kwon do to be the easiest. i train in Muay Thai, BJJ, Judo. ive tried using one art at a time and not once did a tkd guy beat me. tkd ppl are so easy, i attacked a guy with 2 knees and he was choking on the floor. ive used the bjj choke hold, and the judo wkara throw. i dont why ppl go to tkd. why?why?why? WASTE OF MONEY, TIME, AND ENERGY. you can get 5 hrs worth of tkd in 2 min of anything else.

[Mr. Miyagi]

Certain types of karate and kung fu can be just as terrible on TKD. But a decent wing chun or jkd school is much better than just about any TKD training. And for some reason TKD is an olympic sport.

[Marc_2002]

I do both Wing Chun and TKD and both have their good points. If I were to do just one however, I think I would settle for Wing Chun as it is a more complete Martial Art, but in saying that I do find TKD very enjoyable.

Wing Chun is so great because it is very basic (relatively speaking) but develops very good strength and power. I think many people do consider TKD to be worthless, but there are many reasons for this:

firstly, its probably the most popular Martial Art known, even more so than Karate (I speak from experience here in the UK), this means that you get many schools and obviously standards will vary.

Secondly, the sylabus for TKD can vary very much. In Korea TKD s not just about kicks, its about using both upper and lower body, kicks and punches, self defence, grappling, weapons etc...and so is more complete. It seems that in many places other than Korea the sylabus is so watered down that only the kicks are taught.

Thirdly, and most importantly, application. Its unlikely to use high or jumping kicks in a street situation, and perhaps less useful to do so. It seems most fights will need you to use you arms and hands for grabbing, puching, blocking, grappling etc. This isnt to say kicks cant come in useful i.e to knock something out of someones hand, to attack from distance to wind them or even knock them out, or even to fool them into thinking youre going to kick ...its just that its harder as kicks tend to be slower than hand movements/attacks

Mr Miyagi...as for what you said about TKD being an Olympic sport...well, there's alot of nonsense surrounding that, and I feel that since TKD has been made an Olympic sport the way it is taught has changed particularly for WTF practitioners as myself. I guess it makes a good olympic sport because:

a) it makes good viewing (sometimes!)

b) it has an easy points system (due to the limited nature of the sparring ie no grabs, punches to the head, throws etc....so in that sense it is more appropriate as an Olympic sport than say something like JuJitsu or even Wing Chun.

and...

c) TKD is now more or less a martial 'sport' (which does to a sense lower its credibility as an art and its effectiveness) as an emphasis is placed on athleticism rather than strength and power

In saying this, every TKD school is different. Im not sure all people will ever be convinced that TKD is worthwhile...it seems to be the latest thing to pick on in terms of martial arts. You never know, next people might start picking on Aikido! lol..no offense

you all fallen asleep yet?? heh

[MercuryTurrent]

TKD is a very good martial art in the hands of a talented practitioner. its kicks are fast, and coupled with the karate-do of "where to hit", you can execute a victory fast. the main problem is with adding the pressure other arts (such as MT, savat, and KB) can do. many TKD practictioners (that suck) back up, or dont understand how to get power. TKD also has alot of fantasy basis on defense. like i said, however, a true TKD practition is good, good enough to understand and improve on their arts weakness.

Another weakness is in its upper-body power. with all these weaknesses, its understandable why someone wouldn't see the strenght in TKD -agility, focus, and agressive legwork. if you understand how to use these, you can be quite effective.

[H@pkid0ist]

Depending on the training TKD can be useful in self defense. It all depends on how the students are trainded. If they are taugh the comon sense of kicking and striking tactics and defenses thrown in then they would be ok. But you need to keep in mind. Other than sparring how often is the average person gone come up against a MAist. On the other end, a good street fighter can be just as dangerous as a good MAist.

[Szczepankiewicz]

The worst art is the art that fills you with arrogance. But then, this could no longer be considered an art....

[terry]

I had a middleweight olympic silver medalist in TKD from Korea as a sparring partner for a while. True, his game was not something that has a wide range of applications, but he was an incredibly talented athelete that learned quickly and approached the idea of learning some Muay Thai with an open mind. It didn't take long at all to get some power online with his kicks. The boxing took more work, but he also had the kind of agility and speed that very few martial artists possess.

To me, the moment you step into the realm of a competitive sport the style you are doing fades into the background, and you change and adapt your game in order to win. The issue of style is secondary to who you are working with and what are their training methods. Bottom line: never underestimate an elite athelete, no matter what style they do. They can adapt.

Terry

[Guest]

TKD only became an Olympic Sport in 1988 when the Olympics were held in South Korea. They chose to include it, and the sport caused alot of interest as little was known of it outside the Martial Arts community.

Theres no doubt about it, when both fighters can kick brilliantly well, and they both fight to rules that massively favour kicking, it is going to look entertaining and impressive. Even I would prefer watching TKD than seeing two men stuck on the floor for half an hour doing ground and pound.

But I'm not so sure that TKD has always featured in the Olympics since then. Maybe it has, I don't know.