Is TAE KWON DO a good for of fighting, should i start taking the class?

Question

I was wonderin if anyone can answer me about tae kwon do. Will it benefit you in anyway. Or is something like boxing better.

These answers are pretty shitty excluding the first one. He knows what hes talkin about. There is no law against defending your self. I am not some fat kid. I am in shape and can go out in teh street and fight right now. That doesnt prove anything. I am doing this for my self not to kick some kids ***. I dont need to be compared to a 4 year old girl.LOL. I know how to fight i was just wonderin bout teh fighting style.

Answer 1

Alex,

to answer your question:

Before I do so though, Slider....thank you for not being one of the standard TKD wimps I've trained with over the years. You have your head on straight, and I appreciate that.

I wouldn't your time, energy, or money on TKD.

Let's look at the pros and cons of it shall we?

Pros :

1- great for cardio conditioning, basically : it's cardio kickboxing with a lot more yelling and formality.
2- it will dramatically increase flexibility, and endurance of breath/heart-rate.

Cons :

I have yet, after 20 + years in the martial arts seen a single good TKD fighter who could handle their own against someone who didn't fight like they did.

A perfect example of this :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JcHKIUuDbCI

This is a video of a red belt (next in line to black) getting his cowardly behind smashed by a Muay Thai boxer. There are two major reasons for this : Thai boxing does ACTIVE sparring....they actually hit one another so it gets them over the fear of it. Also, TKD only fights 'well' if you will (for what it is I guess) against itself or some Karate style....they're exactly mirrored or similar. Anything outside of that bubble of closeness will smash your average TKD sportsman.

Basically, the long and short of it is like this : it's poxy all useless for practical self defense.

Here's something else :

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8xlfb4H0iww
http://youtube.com/watch?v=kt71DVT0o8M
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hYENkoh5e28

Does ANY of that look even remotely practical? Flashy and athletic sure...but practical for fighting? Not to anyone that's got two live brain cells.

It's what I call a "one track mind martial art", basically...it kicks and kicks...and that's all. Also, what upper body attacks it does have, are incredibly silly.

You'll spend a lot of time on poomse (kata/forms), also depending on how the class is structured...time for low to mid-level contact sparring whilst wearing targeted pads for the achievement of scoring points against your partner.

Now, not ALL studios do point sparring, but entirely too many do...hence the broad generalizational brushstroke.

There's a reason why TKD gets smeared amongst the serious martial arts community : it asks for it with open arms.

It has no weapons focus (neither attacking with, or defending against), no focus on throws/locks/immobilization, no focus on multiple attacker situations, no focus on space management, no focus on physical conditioning for sustainment/prevention of injury in a physical fight....etc etc.

Just kicking, and kicking, and yeah...more kicking. Mix that in with starched uniforms...arrogance, and some yelling...and you have a standard TKD class.

Now, am I negatively biased against this style...no doubt. I think it falls into the same crap weaknesses that any martial sport carries like a backpack full of bricks.

Now, when it's taught as a SPORT, I haven't a beef with it at all.
When it's taught as a system of fighting, then I do...because it's simply not useful as one.

Answer 2

Well..everyone else is going to say try to talk the problem out or something like that but you should still always be prepared to defend yourself. Tae Kwon Do is alot of kicks so make sure your not at a far range where he can kick you. You should stay close to him and you can take him down or or box from close range but don't let him kick you.

Answer 3

Tae kwon do , or any type of martial art is very good for the physical well being of its practitioners . As for its self defense / fight skills , I personally think it depends too much on its kicking techniques , especially the way it is taught here in America . I think boxing has great hand techniques and will teach you not only how to punch but how to take a punch . It lacks in other aspects however . ( kicking , holds , ground fighting ) Those however are my personal opinions, and as with anyones opinion , should be taken with a grain of salt .

Answer 4

When you're looking for fight training, style is secondary; the first thing you're looking for is a quality instructor. A good instructor in a mediocre art will take you a lot further, a lot faster, than a mediocre instructor in a high-level art.

Considered in the abstract, Tae Kwon Do offers a more well-rounded arsenal of techniques than boxing, and covers more ranges. However, the general quality of TKD instruction is shockingly low. Your chances of getting a useful foundation for fighting are much better in your local boxing gym. If you want to kick too, look for Muay Thai.

You'll also have the problem that boxing and TKD are both generally taught as sports, and self-defense applications are considered as a secondary issue. If your interest lies in self-defense, you might want to angle for the more combat-oriented martial arts.

Answer 5

No. Boxing is better, although I don't think boxing alone is good enough, either. Tae Kwan Do is okay for the movies and if you're going to be an actor, but if you think you're going be able to kick people in the face and win any real fights, you're in for a rude awakening.

I think that some of the martial arts are okay, but look for a school that is geared for street defense, not where they waste a lot of time with "kata" and Japanese rituals. I think that something that takes into account grappling is advisable, in order to become a well-rounded fighter.

On another note, I was just looking at Diamond's response below, which appears to be absurd. If our laws ever say that you can't defend yourself against attack, we're in big trouble. I don't think we're there yet and she sounds like a liberal to me, or else she's in California., the sickest state.

Answer 6

Tae Kwon Do is an excellent striking martial art. Any martial art has it's good and bad instructors. I have trained 2 national champions in this art as well as too many local champions to count. Tae Kwon Do means "the way of attacking with the hand and foot". At my club I also bring in other instructors to show other martial arts , because the pure form of any one martial art is not enough. i.e: you may want some ground skills. Practical self defense is mandatory for my black belts to become certified.
I teach boxing punching as a self defence , althouugh they are not used in WTF competition. With the popularity of MMA competition , this makes my club attractive to new students. I suggest if you do not do Tae Kwon Do , find someone who is certified in something , has a good reputation and is open to other ideas.

Answer 7

I am an advocate of TKD and I always will be. I have been training in TKD off and on (as life allows) for over a decade, of which my first 4 years was spent in full-contact fighting.

Unfortunately, I have been in a situation where I have had to defend myself twice in my life. The first time I pulverized the guy in about 10 seconds, the second was over before I even had to throw a punch.

Was it the TKD? Not really…let me explain.

I have fought against many different styles of martial arts, mainly as a guest in various schools to add variety to different types of fighters. If well taught, a TKD student can defend against pretty much anything and attack against most. The only other martial art that really impressed me that Muay Tai Kickboxing…even then I could hold my own (The Filipino martial art with the sticks was also pretty impressive..Kali is it called?).

At the end of the day, it really isn’t the art you know that allows you to do well in real fighting. Here is my 2 cents on what makes a good fighter…

1. Getting hit hurts: If you are not used to it, getting hit hurts and if hit by a strong or a train person, it hurts bad. If you are used to getting hit, then it really isn’t a big deal. The second “fight” I was in was when I was in still in full-contact TKD. A guy in the bar walked up to me and socked me in the face, hitting me right between the eyes. I was used to getting hit and though he hit hard, it really didn’t phase me. I looked straight at him and asked him what is problem was (with a few more swear words involved). This intimidated him more than anything and he walked right out of the bar. To this day, I don’t know what the problem was. Anyway, if you are not used to being hit, you are not going to do very well in a fight, no matter what you know.

2. Hitting people hurts: Conversely, hitting someone hurts pretty bad. If you punch someone in the head with your hand, it is about as comfortable as hitting a wall. With time and practice, your body gets used to it. When the adrenaline is rushing, you might not even notice it, but my guess is that you would.

3. Fighting is exhausting: My cousin (a professional Muay Tai fighter) said it best…the first minute of a fight is about brawling, after that it is about technique. Surviving the first minute of a fight is vital, whether in the ring or in the street. After the first minute, that is when training really becomes useful. However, fighting is very difficult and takes more energy than a person could ever imagine. In my prime, I could go on a stairmaster for an hour, jump off, and run 3 miles afterward. Despite my excellent cardio conditioning, I had a hard time going 5 3 minute rounds in class. A lot of fighting has to do with conditioning.

4. You have to know how to fight: this is where your fighting studies of choice come in. If you don’t know how to fight, you are going to be a brawler (that is not necessarily bad, but remember the 1 minute rule….). If you can block attacks, stay on your feet, and counter attack, you will win in the end.

If you look at the fighting styles people recommend, they encompass what I have said. Muay Tai and boxing are all about conditioning, getting beaten up, beating people, and learning technique. ANY martial art that embraces these principles will serve you well.

Now, I am in a no-contact TKD school (hey, its free) at work. I wouldn’t trust my training new to defend myself any more than I would trust step aerobics. My advice is to find a full-contact school of some sort. It really doesn’t matter what in. If you get used to beating people and getting beaten, you will probably be able to take anyone down on the street that you’ll meet.

Answer 8

tae kwon do can be good if you have strong and/or long legs. when fighting legs are longer than arms and therefore you will have more reach and can keep your oppenent further away with your feet. imagine jabbing with your feet to get distance. but when youre out in the streets, nobodies thinking of doing spinning kicks and flying kicks, youre gonna swing with your hands hoping to bust his nose. therefore i say boxing would probably be better to learn. or muay thai...that stuff is crazy good incorporation of feet, elbows, knees, and hands.

Answer 9

well its better than doing nothing, but not a very realistic martial art. You may well find it more usefull/realistic to train in a full contact type of martial art ie thai boxing, boxing or kickboxing. Also Brazilian jujitsu is usefull if a fight goes 2 ground.

Answer 10

Its simply foot boxing. Your legs have more strength than your arms so a regular boxer might not stand a chance against you in the real deal. Roundhouse ring a bell?. Its very good for cardiovascular health.