Karate or Tae Kwon Do which is better?

Answer 1

I've taken mostly Korean arts, but the first arts I started with were Shorin Ryu, Sacchin Ryu, and a little bit of Goju Ryu Karate. I moved to Tae Kwon Do shortly after, and it's my base art really (I'm taking two other Korean arts at the moment).

Karate and Tae Kwon Do are very similar. Probably the only major differences (On a base level) are that:
A. While Karate and Tae Kwon Do both have an emphasis on linear style striking, Tae Kwon Do seems to be heavily involved in the explosive ending ("Snapping") of technique. Not to say that Karate isn't, but from what I've experienced: Karate seems to be more about the strike as a whole (Which with a lot of practice, is suppose to naturally have the element of snapping or whatever style striking is emphasized in xyz Karate style).
B. The ratio of kicking/punching tends to be in most cases equal in Karate, while the ratio is more in favor of kicking in most cases for Tae Kwon Do.

As for which is better: Neither, because not only is all of our reasoning for taking Martial Arts different, but practicality depends on the person in question.

I'm 5'11." I weight about 157 pounds. I have very long legs, and most of my weight is distrbuted in my lower body. I personally like a 50/50 ratio of kicking/punching in an art (Although 70/30 is ok I suppose), but kicking is something I need to do in both tournaments, and street situations. I've learned on a base level from both arts how to use my legs to my advantage (Though my joints are already starting to give me hell at 20), but I am not you, and you aren't me. I can't know your bodytype, I can't know what attacks you like to do, and I can't even know why you are taking Martial Arts (Tell us! :p). Even if I wanted to be biased and said I like one style over the other, I still would have an weak reasoning behind because I don't know you.

There's no style that is better than another. Training concepts differ on plane, from school to school, and that's really what you should pay attention for (Or hope that you are naturally talented... or both.. :P).


Good luck, and Zach:
Uhhhhhh....
Jeet Kune Do is 95% Tae Kwon Do? Jackie Chan does Tae Kwon Do? Are you high?
How about Jeet Kune Do is "Western Boxing, Fencing, and Wing Chun" With some Korean style kicking incorporated? Doesn't Jackie Chan do Chinese Martial Arts?

Red/Black in Chung Do Kwan
Blue in Moo Duk Kwan
(On, and off for the last eight years).

Answer 2

The difference between Karate and Tae Kwon Do in terms of technique is just about as big as the difference between styles within Karate. Karate and Tae Kwon Do both use linear and circular movements, and both focus mainly on strikes. Personally, I believe that Tae Kwon Do is better because it is much more traditional than Karate, and therefore has been improving its techniques for hundreds of years. If you still don't believe me, look at some of the best people who used Tae-Kwon-Do

Chuck Norris
Bruce Lee (Techincally, he used Jeet Kune Do, which is 95% Tae-Kwon-Do and 5% Kung Fu)
Kong Young Bo
Jackie Chan

Answer 3

It depends what you want out of the art. Tae Kwon Do is better for competing with other people while Karate is better to defend your self in real life. when i was like three or four i took karate. I was a bout to graduate to a silver when i had to Quit. i joined Tae Kwon Do when i was seven and was about to be a green belt when i had to quit. now i am a no belt in Karate again and they are really teaching some cool stuff.

Answer 4

Everyone will give you a different opinion on which one is better and the such. But, actually, you'll never know which is better because every school you go to will be different. You can go to 3 Karate schools and 3 tae kwon do schools and each one will be different. It all depends on what your likes and dislikes are, and what you make of a class. Its all in what you make of it.

Answer 5

Karate for sure. All those fancy kicks may look cool up in the ring, but how practical are they when as soon as someone gets past your guard you're finished. That's why Karate is so much Tae Kwon Do's superior, if they beat your kicks you can still rely on your punches, elbows, and knees.

Answer 6

I tend to favor Karate for a couple of reasons and have stayed with it for thirty-five years. Most styles of Karate teach you how to use your hands as well as your feet effectively. While some TKD instructors, especially American ones, tend to teach hands to a larger extent than their Korean counterparts they don't do as good of job at it and the sparring does not allow for you to use hands to the face or head. Because of this many students never develop their hands to the extent that they could or should.

The other reason why I tend to favor Karate is that I know of no traditional instructor or instructor of any note in Karate that will promote a student to the rank of Black-belt after only twelve to twenty-four months of training. Nor do I know of any organization in Karate that automatically promotes its first degree black belts to third degree once they have emigrated from their home country to the western world like they do for Korean TKD instructors. (Their third degree black-belts are automatically promoted to fifth degree.) While I think TKD is now trying to reverse this trend by lengthening the time for promotion and raising their standards and also embracing the use of the hand and punching, striking aspects more the damage has already been done-at least for now. It is not unusual for me to go to an open tournament and find a fourth, or fifth degree black belt in TKD that is almost one third my age, has a school and students, is teaching a watered down version, and has only studied for five to seven years. Please don't misuderstand me here-there are some TKD schools and instructors out there that have not gone this route and they and their students can more than adequately stand tall and hold their own but they are the exception and will be for some time to come.

Answer 7

That relatively is dependent upon the college and the trainer. I take TKD, however we are situated on older Kwans and feature plenty in ordinary with Shotokan. Old TKD used to be directly up Shotokan Karate-Do, a few TKD colleges are nonetheless like this, and a few are extra WTF type. I would not use "type" as your most effective picking aspect, you have to discuss with the colleges and speak to the teachers and scholars. I use my fingers 70-eighty% of the time in the course of kumite, so now not all TKD are kick-centric. We additionally pass educate in Shotokan with any other colleges and teachers and compete in most effective open-tournaments. My trainer's spouse is difficult-center Shotokan and likewise a second Deg in our type, so we get a well combine. If you're watching for SD, attempt to discover a college who is trainer(s) are energetic (or ex-) army and/or cops. My Instructor is a 25+ 12 months cop so he is giant on useful SD. If it is labored in truly-existence quandary, that is what we study.

Answer 8

Usually karate.

Answer 9

test both schools out with a 30 day trial if the instructor of his or martial art is one that is motivation and can work there art into a self defense on the streets .... truth is all martial arts are good in there own way it is actually but person themselves that decides how far they are going to take it. check out the instructor for sure see what they offer and if they actually know how to use there art on the street.

Answer 10

there is no better

Tea Kwon do is more kick fighting

Martial arts is more everything kicks punchs etc