Taekwondo Appreciation Thread

[quikkick]

That's because it's difficult to teach real tkd profitably. If you want to make a living teaching martial arts in the US, the money is in volume, which means in making your classes accessible to everyone. The places where I've seen tkd go hard is typically at the college level, where everyone is in the club because they want to be there (not because their parents signed them up) and there's no money on the line to incentive instructors to water anything down.

Exactly, TKD's kicks are so difficult to master that instructors allow students to "slide" on fundamentals, will stress memorization of Forms in order to retain and promote their students to keep the cash flow up. There's people with black belts that should be yellow.
Plus there's way too many Olympic-style, point-tournament factories. They produce good athletes who are great fighters when there's no punches to the face.

Real TKD has a long slow development curve where each technique is broken down and repeated ad naseum to perfection. Very few places teach like this because their students get frustrated or bored. The flexibiliy, balance, coordination just to execute a good hook kick can take years; let alone the ability to utilize them against an opponent.
Also, there's a ton of hand techniques that are all but forgotten in the US. i.e Backfist, Ridgehand, Knifehand, Spearhand, Reverse Punch, Pokes.

 

[wisemanrax]

Marvin,

Who did you spar with?

 

[Lizardman]

Taekwondo is a great martial art and decent sport. While very detail oriented and tedious, great gains can be had with patience and hard work. It's done a lot for me and many I know.

 

[Sugar Jordan]

I do find it funny watching TKD vs other style videos on youtube then reading the comments...

 

[Greed]

Taekwondo is a beautiful art that is quick and powerful. I practiced WTF for three years but stopped for college when I moved. Now I want to compete in MMA and I joined Team Roc and my stand up is proficient because of my great timing, flexibility, speed, and conditioning I gained from TKD. Other guys in the gym also appreciate the art for what it is because many of the army guys that train there have practiced TKD before.

I feel that the confidence and discipline I gained from TKD also allowed me to fully appreciate martial arts and their worth to society, and because of its widespread practice, many more people can also gain this admiration for the martial arts.

In complete sincerity I say that I love Taekwondo which has changed my life in such a positive way.

 

[ShindoNinja]

TKD is not useless. Recently, my son and his friend started coming to my dojo to train. I'm not sure how to define what we do but we incorperate Judo, Jujitsu, BJJ, boxing and MT. I wouldn't really call us an MMA gym. We've had guys compete in cage fighting, but I'd say we more consistently enter Judo and BJJ tournaments.

Anyways, my son's friend was one of those 12 year old black belts back int he day. He is now 17, all 120 pounds of him. I was skeptical that his tae kwon do would help him with anything that we do but he can throw a punch HARD for a little guy. Of course his kicks are great too. As soon as I asked him to throw a hook or any looping (non linear punch) he had issues.

I trained tae kwon do for a few years as a young kid too. Even at that age I knew that it had it's limitations. I got bored very quickly. You learn the basics, then you learn how to spar and then you just memorize forms over and over again. Anyways, it did do a few things for me. Flexibility, timing, distancing and controlling adrenaline. Those things help me to this day in my striking game and my ground game.

All arts have something to contribute. I am positive of this.

 

[chino0503]

YouTube - Ed Ratcliff mma spinning back (hook) kick

i personally know 9 mil and he would slap you in the face for calling his shit tkd!!! ahahah

 

[chino0503]

tkd is like learning how to spin a basketball on your finger.... sure looks cool but when are you gonna use it in a basketball game?

 

[LEGS MAHONEY]

tkd is like learning how to spin a basketball on your finger.... sure looks cool but when are you gonna use it in a basketball game?

and just like sanda you've never studied the art in your life but lets trust your wise words anyway!:icon_chee

 

[LEGS MAHONEY]

i personally know 9 mil and he would slap you in the face for calling his shit tkd!!! ahahah

funny he has stated he is a tkd blackbelt more than once before and said.


"The spinning hook kick is a move that goes back to my karate and taekwondo ..."

huh...:icon_lol:

 

[Oh Mah Gawd]

tkd is like learning how to spin a basketball on your finger.... sure looks cool but when are you gonna use it in a basketball game?

Tell you what, in a street fight I would instinctively use straight punches, headbutts, knees and elbows, the front kick, round kick and back kick before I would let it go to the ground. This is especially true if I was attacked by more than one person at one time. Against 2 or more attackers I would do everything possible to not let the fight go to the ground!

Jiu Jitsu does not teach any of the strikes mentioned to proficiecy, Taekwondo does.

People are quick to hold on to irrational biases that isn't based on any serious experience. I don't understand why people are so narrow minded about this.

 

[yodaman]

Why am I biased? I trained taekwondo under a Korean up in Binghamton, so I have firsthand experience of its suckitude. Does it give you good physical abilities? Yes, especially flexibility. Is it useful at all in a real fight? No. Would I have trained kyokushin had I known it was available back then? In a heartbeat.

 

[Lionidas]

Why am I biased? I trained taekwondo under a Korean up in Binghamton, so I have firsthand experience of its suckitude. Does it give you good physical abilities? Yes, especially flexibility. Is it useful at all in a real fight? No. Would I have trained kyokushin had I known it was available back then? In a heartbeat.

You are wise Yoda. :icon_chee

 

[Lionidas]

I hate to admit this...but every time I see a clip of "Take Your Do" kicks on youtube I laugh.

 

[Team Sleep]

Taekwondo has some cool quick foot work!:icon_chee

BUT THAT'S IT

Anderson Silva disagrees.

 

[Team Sleep]

Bas Rutten, Anderson Silva, Stephen Bonner, James Wilks, Bernard Ackah, Zelg Gale

 

[yodaman]

Bas Rutten, Anderson Silva, Stephen Bonner, James Wilks, Bernard Ackah, Zelg Gale

 

[LEGS MAHONEY]

Why am I biased? I trained taekwondo under a Korean up in Binghamton, so I have firsthand experience of its suckitude. Does it give you good physical abilities? Yes, especially flexibility. Is it useful at all in a real fight? No. Would I have trained kyokushin had I known it was available back then? In a heartbeat.

Actually, you have first hand experience of the "suckitude" of the school you attended and nothing else. You reasoning that the place you went to was awful must mean it reflects on TKD as a whole is ridiculous and embarassing for you as you can't seem to think in remotely logical or intelligent way.

But then again many people who are victims of poor quality schools often end up bitter because they were scammed and rather than admit their own foolishness for allowing themselves to be duped they would rather bash the style and the people who practice it to save face.:icon_chee

 

[LEGS MAHONEY]

Every single person you described abandoned their TKD for harder styles (Bas for Kyokushin and MT, Cung for Sanda, Ben for wrasslin) or paid dealry for it (Razak)

Cung still does his tkd.

In fact, many of the kicks he uses are text book kicking combos one learns in Tkd

Also Anderson still practices the art as well as the photos of him in his tkd gear have clearly shown.:icon_chee

 

[yodaman]

Actually, you have first hand experience of the "suckitude" of the school you attended and nothing else. You reasoning that the place you went to was awful must mean it reflects on TKD as a whole is ridiculous and embarassing for you as you can't seem to think in remotely logical or intelligent way.

But then again many people who are victims of poor quality schools often end up bitter because they were scammed and rather than admit their own foolishness for allowing themselves to be duped they would rather bash the style and the people who practice it to save face.:icon_chee

If a school ran by a WTF bigshot in Sang Lee provided little except a lot of flexibility exercises but no real aid in fighting, then what does that say for the average McDojang?