What do you think about tae kwon do?

Question

Tae kwon do is a korean martial art. Do you think it is dorky and weird or good exercise and a great way to learn self-defense?

Answer 1

I've been in taekwondo for about a year and love it. I get a good work out, its relaxing, and i learn self-defence.
i also love sparring because its so competive and gives me an adrelin boost

Answer 2

TKD is a great discipline to learn, it does have it's "flashy" side and sometimes impractical techniques (but then so does my discipline, Tang Soo DO, which is practically a mirror image discipline of TKD.)

but it does give the individual a great physical workout, and it can also have practical applications for fighting in the street, so I'd say that it can also be a great way for learning self defense and building a foundation in Martial Arts as a spring board to other disciplines later if you wish to study them.

Answer 3

There is absolutely nothing "dorky" about learning to defend yourself. I have been doing TKD for a little over 2 years now and I will never stop doing it as long as I can do it. It is a great workout and you learn things that may one day save your life or you may save the life of a family member. Doing TKD has taught me dicipline and that you don't use this to go out and start fights, that is why it is called self defense you use it to defend yourself. I would highly recommend this to anyone young or old, through TKD I have learned that there is always a new challenge that awaits you.
"Today Impossible, Tomorrow Possible" - Grandmaster Lee

Answer 4

Tae kwon do is great for self defense and for self esteem. I have been taking it for some time now and I love to spar--I took gold in my first match.

Answer 5

I've met many people who train in Muay Thai who formerly trained in TKD. All of them say they wished they didn't waste time with TKD. The snappy weak kicks you do are not effective in a real life situation.

I myself did Kenpo in the past and it was a joke compared to Muay Thai.

If you want a great workout (one of the best on earth because of so much emphasis on conditioning) a true striking art, and a devastating form of self defense, enroll in Muay Thai today. Stop by a Muay Thai gym and just check it out, you'll see what I mean.

Answer 6

depends on where you train.

There are certain styles, TKD is one of them, that are notorious for having a large number of crappy teachers.
CMA is another and aikido is yet another. Unlike cma and aikido, tkd schools that are crappy are generally crappy because of the emphasis on point sparring and the way the teachers teach is centered around that ignoring that in a less-restrictive ruleset like san-da, muai-thai or any MMA, they don't teach you to protect yourself and there are gaps.

In short, It depends on the TKD school but most tkd schools don't offer good instruction. People generally **** on tkd for this reason.

Answer 7

I love it, Im a first degree BB in TKD, great exercise, great self defense! Been doing it for 4 years.

Answer 8

The style itself is highly effective. Unfortunately too many instructores focus on competition and not on the practical aspect of using the techniques. IF you can find one that is focused on the practicla self-defense applications of the techniques go with it...it is a very good style.

Answer 9

It's a great art. Solid self defense, builds character & good excercise. Ignore those who trash it without knowing anything about it.

Answer 10

tae kwon do is good but let me tell you the truth. tae kwon do will never beat other martial arts that based on striking like muay thai,kickboxing ect...and tae kwon do never have a chance against martial arts like submission/greco roman wrestling. easy to say tae kwon do is a low class martial arts but its still worth to learn it only for fitness,exercise purpose...never use it against other martial arts..