Have i wasted my life, learning taekwondo?

[butzloffrost]

I trained with grandmaster chang sik lee for 6 years, and then with ursula cui for 2 years. I made it to black belt. I see all my taekwondo buddies lose fights. When i got in a fight 2 years ago, i kicked a kid in the stomach, and he dropped to the ground crying. The next day, he told me that in the morning, he woke up choking on his blood. Sure taekwondo was kinda useful, but yet, i saw a kid that wrestled for only 2 years, kicked some other kids butt BAD... I think grappling is the most useful in a street fight. Is that true?

 

[deadlyshaolin]

Do me a favor -- go rent a copy of UFC 1, watch it, and then tell me what you think.

TKD has its merits, but it is not a complete fighting system. You need to know how to defend against the takedown and what to do once you're on the ground.

 

[TapSD]

I think its all in how you use it...most street fights do go to the ground yet only a few BJJ moves are really good in a street fight..I would say just make yourself more well rounded..throw in some MT or boxing and maybe some Judo or BJJ in. We have had a few TKD guys come over to my gym(MT/BJJ/MMA)..they got worked for a while but some of their stuff was useful..id say incorporate everything and find out what works for ya

 

[mixicus]

You ask "Is TKD a waste?" It all depends on 2 things. First, what were your goals when you started and if you have met them through your training. Second, what are your future goals and will your current path get you there?

If you say your goal is to "compete". Refine that answer! "Compete in MMA"... well you better pick up some ground game and additional striking tools (hopefully you have been doing continuous sparring with contact). If your answer is "Compete in the TKD Nationals"... you're probably on a reasonable path.

If you said "get in shape" or "pick up a sport"...did it happen?

 

[FStep]

tkd is a good base but its not a complete fighting system however if you train some boxing on top of what you know you will have a pretty well rounded standup ... to answer your question though yes a grappler will usually destroy a striker with no ground training and yes its prob more effective in a street fight but thats not to say you can't turn your existing skills into something better by cross training (ex: work on your hands and takedown defense)

 

[butzloffrost]

alright, well, im taking wrestling in high school, and i took boxing for 6 months.

 

[Ouch That Hurt]

Wasn't Taekwondo primarily used for foot soldiers kicking soldiers off their horses? So Ive never really given it much credit because I dont see myself getting in scuffle with someone on a horse.

But by the same token one of the Purple belts in BJJ that I train with incorporated it in to Muay Thai and he has some fast legs. And I come from a Shotokan background which is absolutely useless IMO so I was in the same position you are in years ago. And have spent many many hours unlearning my bad habits. But even now looking back Im glad I did it because I never would have persude martial arts to the extent I have now.

 

[aaron_mag]

Ha ha...

I checked out the pics on that website of yours. You haven't wasted your life. You're still really young. And really, really flexible. Your skills look good.

You say you're in wrestling now? Good. That will give you a good ground base. If you decide to take submission wrestling later both your wrestling experience and your TKD experience will help you in a huge way. Why?

Because in BJJ the guard game relies on hip flexibility. You should see guys with now flexibility trying to do the triangle choke, or even try to hold someone in their guard. But you'll be able to do all that stuff really well. Plus your cardio is probably insane. I'm sure all that has helped in wrestling.

Oh yeah. Don't forget to focus on school as much as you are focusing on martial arts. I've seen many a good martial artist who feels like they 'wasted their life' no matter what style they do because, while they are a bad ass, they are still living in a cheap apartment and have a crappy day job.

 

[butzloffrost]

Ha ha...

I checked out the pics on that website of yours. You haven't wasted your life. You're still really young. And really, really flexible. Your skills look good.

You say you're in wrestling now? Good. That will give you a good ground base. If you decide to take submission wrestling later both your wrestling experience and your TKD experience will help you in a huge way. Why?

Because in BJJ the guard game relies on hip flexibility. You should see guys with now flexibility trying to do the triangle choke, or even try to hold someone in their guard. But you'll be able to do all that stuff really well. Plus your cardio is probably insane. I'm sure all that has helped in wrestling.

Oh yeah. Don't forget to focus on school as much as you are focusing on martial arts. I've seen many a good martial artist who feels like they 'wasted their life' no matter what style they do because, while they are a bad ass, they are still living in a cheap apartment and have a crappy day job.

Wow dude, thanks. You've made me think about a lot of things.

I joined the army last year, and ill ship out in 6 months to fort jackson. My MOS(career) is Information Technologies.

 

[lucid]

I had a TKD base, and i dont think for a second it was a waste.

think of it as the first step.

TKD doesnt provide everything you'll need to defend your self. Not what 99% of the schools seemingly have become now.

but what you have got thus far is:

- conditioning
- if you spar a lot, you wont be punch or kick shy
- you under stand timing, pace and the value of reaction time
- displine
- coachability
- and many more things that will help your transition.

never think something is a waste because you will get something out of it. But i do think you've out grown TKD based on what you say right now.

if you want to learn the ground game then check out schools over styles. But one thing i learned was being so ground oriented was a solid or introductory base of the ground and grappling was definitely needed.

also learn to box, your hands is what you need to work on.

as a general rule, i dont think any of the first 5 ufc can used as an example becuase it's so out of date. BUT.. in this case it has merit. stictly learning one style will result in you getting KTFO!

 

[Shadowdean]

Depends on how hard you trained and what your training consisted of. My TKD training sure as hell helped.

 

[D3thr0n3d K1ng]

No tKD is not a waste, you just have to learn how to incorporate the kicks into your overall fight plan nad yes cross-train in some other styles.

 

[zenshin]

In a street scenario, it does not matter what you train, but how you train. I got that from geoff thompson, who is a inovataor in Reality based martial arts. You can tain TKD if you train in a realistic way instead of doing flashy airiel kicks, you could just work on low kicks or set up's etc.

 

[EPT]

Wasn't Taekwondo primarily used for foot soldiers kicking soldiers off their horses? So Ive never really given it much credit because I dont see myself getting in scuffle with someone on a horse.

I've never trained at a dojang where i got to kick people of horses, I only got to spar against people on foot.

A lot of people here like to say that TKD is useless, mostly people that know nothing about it. In reality it is a system that has some serious flaws ie. little punching, very little grappling, no low leg kicks but if you want to learn how to kick TKD is going to be a good way to go.

 

[True2KungFu]

if youve been doing good competition taekwondo training then you should be pretty well off. it gives you insane kicks, footwork, conditioning and reaction time. perhaps doing some side training in boxing (to be acomplete standup badass) or wrestling (to be well rounded ) is good, but most people could not take a good taekwondo kick....or several.

 

[Pro Killer]

hi

 

[CAP-10]

If you've never sparred against a horseman then you're at a McDojang for sure.

TKD varies so much from school to school that it's hard to make a broad assesment, but if you train well you will produce good results. My master was born in Korea and got to black belt there. Then he moved to small town Georgia in his teens where he was the only Korean in his school and, to say the least, he ended up using TKD effectively to defend himself on many occasions. As a result he focuses more on actual fighting than competition sparring. I think we're more well-rounded as martial artists as a result.

Hand techniques often get overlooked in TKD. Punches are there as well as various other strikes. Throat and eye strikes work great in self-defense situations although they are not allowed in "no holds barred" competition (I don't think the grappling in UFC would be as effective if eye gouges were allowed). If you train TKD for self-defense you must not get so caught up in foot technique that you forget your hands are there.

 

[Evil Eye Gouger]

Wasn't Taekwondo primarily used for foot soldiers kicking soldiers off their horses?

I'd really like to know who the fuck came up with this stupid theory and spread it around?

 

[Ouch That Hurt]

I got that info from my professor in a Japanese History class. We did like a 3 week stint on martial arts. We actually covered a lot of different martial arts throughout Asia and Japan to learn the reason of creating the various styles at the period of time of their introduction. All the theories and what not. But maybe he was lying to me but his Ph.D. leads me to believe otherwise.

 

[Evil Eye Gouger]

I got that info from my professor in a Japanese History class. We did like a 3 week stint on martial arts. We actually covered a lot of different martial arts throughout Asia and Japan to learn the reason of creating the various styles at the period of time of their introduction. All the theories and what not. But maybe he was lying to me but his Ph.D. leads me to believe otherwise.

Why would a professor in Japanese history tell you about Taekwondo, which is a Korean art?

First thing he should tell you is that Taekwondo as it is known today was created in the 1940s, and there were no foot soldiers kicking people off horses in Seoul 60 years ago.

But if he actually knew something about Korean martial history, he would have told you about the Hwarang and about Subahk, which was a martial art used for hand-to-hand combat in medieval Korea.

One of you two is full of crap.