Opinions on taekwondo

LowOdour

Between this section and the MMA section on boards, I get a feeling that taekwondo isnt the most highly regarded or martial art on here. Is there any reason for this or am i wrong?
There are alot of people like me who

• need to get fit
• would like to learn a form of martial art
• not interested in competing or getting to the highest belt/standard available.

I was hoping taekwondo would be suitable but seem a tad put off it now.

ColinJennings

I do it and I love it. I've been doing ITF Taekwon-do for the last 11 years now and while I'm not a natural athlete, I am in very good shape and I can hit harder than I could when I was 14 because of it.

dunkamania

Not sure what you mean, I am 26, have never done TKD or any striking art, but can hit alot harder than when I was 14 too.....

arybvtcw0eolkf

Right, keep it nice guys (and on topic .

OP, you'll have to take anything said here with a pinch of salt because as much as I love using this site it represents a tiny minority of people practicing Martial Arts in this country, and at present the popular style's around here are MMA, BJJ, Muay Thai & Judo.

However on this forum we welcome every style.

Personally I've never been drawn to TKD so I can't give you an insight into it as a style, however I'd love to see some of the people who knock it as a style attend a TKD competition and not be impressed by the number's competing - its HUGELY popular, so someone's getting a lot from it.

The only part of your post which worries me is that your not interested in "competing or getting to the highest belt/standard", if thats truely the case I can't think why your interested in Martial Arts at all

However I'd wait around until Jon gives you some insight into TKD, we've some other lads who might throw their opinions in here - Roper & Tim Murphy but they've more or less gone the MMA route these days.

.

.

LowOdour

Ernesto Fat Swinger wrote: »

The only part of your post which worries me is that your not interested in "competing or getting to the highest belt/standard", if thats truely the case I can't think why your interested in Martial Arts at all
.

I suppose its the same as why i played indoor soccer alot, just wanted to keep fit and active and I love the sport...but didnt want to look for a trial at man united!
If i was to get to a black belt grade then that would be great, but it would not be the main reason I would take it up. Have always had an interest in martial art, just never had the oppurtunity to do any and am getting on in years too!

arybvtcw0eolkf

LowOdour wrote: »

I suppose its the same as why i played indoor soccer alot, just wanted to keep fit and active and I love the sport...but didnt want to look for a trial at man united!
If i was to get to a black belt grade then that would be great, but it would not be the main reason I would take it up. Have always had an interest in martial art, just never had the oppurtunity to do any and am getting on in years too!

Where are you, maybe we can point you in the direction of a good club?.

And since your interested in Martial Arts would you consider another style not as competitive as TKD, ie Akikido - Tai Chi - Traditional Jui Jitsu etc?.

Just a thought, I'm not dismission you just because you said you weren't interested in competing or grading.

.

yomchi

LowOdour wrote: »

Between this section and the MMA section on boards, I get a feeling that taekwondo isnt the most highly regarded or martial art on here. Is there any reason for this or am i wrong?
There are alot of people like me who

• need to get fit
• would like to learn a form of martial art
• not interested in competing or getting to the highest belt/standard available.

I was hoping taekwondo would be suitable but seem a tad put off it now.

Hi,
Firstly, I wouldn't make any decision on a martial art or any sport simply by what's being said on an internet forum.

You've obviously been drawn to TKD for some reason, even though it does contain a belt system and even though it is mostly, but not always, competition driven. This of course depends on what club you attend.

Maybe we could best serve by asking what exactly you would want to get out of a martial art?
We know one of the reasons is to get fit, but what is the other?

Why don't you give a TKD class a go, while we train mostly for competition, you are free to come down and give a class a try and you won't be under any obligation to stay or compete etc.

What drew you to TKD in the first place?

bullpost

I did taekwondo in the past and really enjoyed it.
I think I can understand where the OP is coming from.
I wasn't at all interested in the competitive aspect of the sport.
I did some grades and really enjoyed the training. Its a very dynamic type of martial art and will make you very fit and agile , which is probably where the OP wants to be.
I no longer do any martial art , confining myself to five-a-side these days - just my tuppence worth.

WTKDNo1

Taekwondo is a very strong Martial Art and is well able to compete with other Martial Art Styles, But the sport side is much different.
If you want to get fit and learn to defend yourself then Taekwondo is good and is up there with the rest.:cool:

www.worldtaekwondo.com.au

cowzerp

WTKDNo1 wrote: »

Taekwondo is a very strong Martial Art and is well able to compete with other Martial Art Styles,:cool:

Not really in fairness, Nobody who trains to fight in MMA uses TKD as there striking system as its not that effective and that includes mma fighters who have moved into mma!

its fancy and skillfull and could be changed easily into a more effective system but then its not TKD..

dudara

One of the reasons why it gets knocked around at the moment is probably because it's fallen out of fashion. It would have been hugely popular worldwide in the 70s/80s etc. But these days BJJ and MMA are the "on-trend" martial art.

Additionally the world of TKD is highly political and divided, which also turns people off the sport (ITF vs WTF, INTA vs RITA etc)

Still though, TKD, like any martial art, will do wonders for your fitness and agility, but only if you train to your best capacity.

Find a club, attend, try out a class or two and see if you like it. Check out INTA or RITA for clubs in two of the popular Irish ITF organisations.

Tim_Murphy

TKD is hugely popular, a lot of people enjoy it for a number of reasons. I did it for years but grew out of it about 5 years ago. There's plenty I dislike about it but I've still competed in TKD twice in the last two years at the Galway Open. That was pretty good one (well more fun the first year), but not something I'd bother getting back into on a more regular basis. I guess it's like anything, if its something you enjoy doing then and you get something out of it then do for it. Just keep your eyes open as it what it is and isn't.

Tim_Murphy

dudara wrote: »

One of the reasons why it gets knocked around at the moment is probably because it's fallen out of fashion. It would have been hugely popular worldwide in the 70s/80s etc. But these days BJJ and MMA are the "on-trend" martial art.

In fairness, the reasons I, and many others would knock it have nothing to do with what martial art is fashionable at the moment.

yomchi

cowzerp wrote: »

Not really in fairness, Nobody who trains to fight in MMA uses TKD as there striking system as its not that effective and that includes mma fighters who have moved into mma!

its fancy and skillfull and could be changed easily into a more effective system but then its not TKD..

Not so, while there are not many, there are Taekwon-Do fighters who have moved into MMA and have competed at a fairly decent internatinal level.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelg_Gale%C5%A1i%C4%87
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Zelg-Galesic-11217

Galesic still trains in Taekwon-Do, I was training with him myself not long ago.

Others like Stephan Tapilatu and Pierre Guenette have also proven themselves well at full contact level in MMA and Muay Thai/K1

http://sherdog.com/fighter/Stephan-Tapilatu-1475

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Guenette

Both still train in TKD.

You can't really generalise with TKD, it is in so many school halls around the country, it will inevitably throw up very capable competitors. Even Tim, I'm sure he would thank a decent base in TKD as a spring board into full contact MMA matches.

It's up to the individual what they want to get out of TKD training. And I repeat, it boils right down to the club and the coach, and what type of training is on offer.

cowzerp

Jon wrote: »

Not so, while there are not many, there are Taekwon-Do fighters who have moved into MMA and have competed at a fairly decent internatinal level.


Galesic still trains in Taekwon-Do, I was training with him myself not long ago.

Others like Stephan Tapilatu and Pierre Guenette have also proven themselves well at full contact level in MMA and Muay Thai/K1

Both still train in TKD..

Jon while i understand your point, these lads certainly did not fight K1 and Muay thai without doing Muay thai, K1 style training, the fact that someone still trains TKD does not mean its there chosen style for MMA, They obviously love TKD and fair play.

1 of my lads came form TKD and learned muay K1 style training fairly easy as he had the functional ability to kick and learning the knee's came easily for him, the hands took a lot more work as he had so many bad habits.

To add to this jon, in my club we have guests all the time to train with us, when someone with TKD joins in the sparring nobody really notices anything, if an average boxer trains everyone is terrified of the hands, its more about what works than what looks good, Im pretty sure there are some tough TKD lads out there but there not the norm.

Roper

I really enjoyed TKD in my time doing it and I met some great people, had a good time, won some trophies, lost some matches, got a 2nd degree black belt and then my interest waned.

I don't have much to say about it other than the main thing that drove me away in the end was some of the cultish behaviour that is associated with some of the organisations out there. Other than that, it was a great bit of craic most of the time and I may never have come to be involved in MMA if I hadn't started in TKD. I also think it made the transition to competing in MMA easier for me having competed and been hit before, and hit pretty hard too.

My advice to you OP is to swing into a TKD class and give it a try. You'll know instantly if you like it or not once you've tried it whereas here you'll just be guessing. I think for someone like yourself who is just looking to have a bit of fun, anything where you get that feeling would be the way to go and why not TKD?

yomchi

cowzerp wrote: »

Jon while i understand your point, these lads certainly did not fight K1 and Muay thai without doing Muay thai, K1 style training, the fact that someone still trains TKD does not mean its there chosen style for MMA, They obviously love TKD and fair play.

1 of my lads came form TKD and learned muay K1 style training fairly easy as he had the functional ability to kick and learning the knee's came easily for him, the hands took a lot more work as he had so many bad habits.

To add to this jon, in my club we have guests all the time to train with us, when someone with TKD joins in the sparring nobody really notices anything, if an average boxer trains everyone is terrified of the hands, its more about what works than what looks good, Im pretty sure there are some tough TKD lads out there but there not the norm.

Zelig actually still trains and uses TKD as part of his training base for his MMA. Having said that, he trains with Tomaz Barada, and again to go back to my point, it really does depend on the coach and the club etc.

Barada has a host of fighters from TKD that transfer easily over to full contact events.

You do have clubs which focus a whole pile on traditional movements and patterns/kata's which results in a lot of the kicks being drilled into thin air, this as you know does squat for developing power.

If you get a club that where the focus is sport, well then you are going to get all the goodies that go with that. You are going to get impact development and you are going to be a good sporty solid kicker.

There was 2 occasions I can speak of personally where I trained in other clubs, they were Full contact kickboxing clubs (I do regulalry). On those 2 occasions I was brought in to spar guys and they needed a kicker to mix with.
They were both told watch his legs, and on both occasions they were stopped and hurt from kicks, spinning kicks. Kickboxers generally leave huge room as they come forward with kicks off their back legs.

The current IKF light heavy weight champion is of a solid TKD back ground, when we sparred together he always hit like a train and you would be careful not to get too close, but again it was a well placed kick that KO'd him one training day, and both of us were at the same level physically. We were on the team together too, a gent.

From a club point of view, when we attend kickboxing tournaments we do generally have a number of TKO's with kicks.

Thats just down to the training we do. Probably because I've trained in various others kicking arts and have learned bits from everyone. But we are essentially a Taekwon-Do club, and the way we train is probably the reason why we don't hang onto new members all too often.

One of the glaring reasons TKD isn't overly used as a base for strike training in MMA is we do not leg kick, thanks be to jaysis. :eek:

I tend to think, people's opinion of TKD in this country is somewhat tainted, and that's understandable as many clubs advertise sh1te. Like the above, 'a very strong martial art' - this only leads to ridicule and rightly so.

However Paul, I think we're in agreement somewhat, any good TKD lad or lassie will have a good base in any full contact striking sport as long as he comes form the right club and the right back ground.
There are TKD black belts out there who literally couldn't one foot in front of the other.

TKD SC

What Jon said!

OP - maybe let us know location and we could suggest a couple of clubs to try out. That's the only way you'll really know whether you like it or not. Same applies for mma, tai chi or any ma - try out a few clubs and see what takes your fancy, if location and times suit, if you like the coach & atmosphere etc.

Re your 3 bullet points:

need to get fit
would like to learn a form of martial art
not interested in competing or getting to the highest belt/standard available.

Would def tick these boxes anyway. Although, the better clubs are probably the ones that compete, and competing is great to focus the mind, but no prob in any club if you just want to train and not compete either, so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Just get down to a few clubs and try it out - only then will you know if you like it or not. Depending on location, you could also try out a couple of other MAs and compare them all - see which one you prefer and suits you the best...

Simon

PS - on diff topic entirely - Jon, sent you a PM the other day...tks

Tim_Murphy

Jon wrote: »

You can't really generalise with TKD, it is in so many school halls around the country, it will inevitably throw up very capable competitors. Even Tim, I'm sure he would thank a decent base in TKD as a spring board into full contact MMA matches.

Yes that is true. But it's also true that for me to get have anyway good at MMA standup I had to relearn pretty much everything.
No doubt that being an experienced competitor in TKD did make a big difference when I made the jump to MMA competition but pretty much all the techniques and a lot of the training methods had to be left behind. If I had moved to FC kickboxing I probably would have been able to keep more of the TKD but MMA standup is very different to FC kickboxing.

Tim_Murphy

It's also worth noting that whilst there are some clubs which would have competitors who could switch to Full contact disciplines they are very much in the minority. I trained with a group and a club who were very successful in competition but very few of those guys would have been able to transition to any FC sport without a serious amount of retraining.

yomchi

Tim_Murphy wrote: »

It's also worth noting that whilst there are some clubs which would have competitors who could switch to Full contact disciplines they are very much in the minority. I trained with a group and a club who were very successful in competition but very few of those guys would have been able to transition to any FC sport without a serious amount of retraining.

Couldn't agree more on that one.

LowOdour

Hi guys,
really good points made and definately has made me think. I had a feeling the conversation would go down the route of mma, as it is the 'in thing' at the moment, and for good reason.

The truth is, i have trained in mma and im begining to doubt if its really for me, and its the bjj side of it that Im not a fan off. I enjoyed the training but it didnt tick some boxes for me, but again thats my own thing.

I am suppose to start tkd sometime in the next few months in a class, so i do have time to reconsider but from the opinions on here its better to give it a chance and see how it goes.

mike2084

I did ITF TKD for about 18 months a few years ago. Got to green belt level and have to say I really enjoyed my time despite not being naturally athletic. Been working and studying for the past few years and I hadn't the time to commit to it but looking at a possible return this autumn hopefully.

Crazi_Monkey21

well
i started tkd not too long ago,and i would say im pretty decent being able to pull off 540 and 720 kicks.
The thing that drew me into it,was XMA,its a kind of martial art,not used for fighting but for show and entertainment.
it combines acrobatics and gymnastic movements with the different martial art disicplines.

I self teach myself all this,I also self taught myself muay thai.I just have a punching bag in my room which i use to kick,punch,
i lift weights too in my room but just dumbells.

i dont go to a club,but i would love to ha.
i think id be the best whitebelt lol..

anyway,if you really love it,youll do it for the passion
if youre motivated,you will lose weight and gain speed and become fit while doing it!

im not forcing you, but im just saying, tkd isnt the most effective martial art.But i feel good when i accomplish those hard to get moves,
in muay thai or kickboxing,all you need is to be quick and strong and accurate,
In tkd you need all those, and jump high,twist quick,and i throw in some flips to make it flashy.

I train alone,my friends think its gay or something.
but i dont care,screw them!
they dont decide for me what to do.
you should do the same as me

yomchi

Crazi_Monkey21 wrote: »

well
i started tkd not too long ago,and i would say im pretty decent being able to pull off 540 and 720 kicks.
The thing that drew me into it,was XMA,its a kind of martial art,not used for fighting but for show and entertainment.
it combines acrobatics and gymnastic movements with the different martial art disicplines.

I self teach myself all this,I also self taught myself muay thai.I just have a punching bag in my room which i use to kick,punch,
i lift weights too in my room but just dumbells.

i dont go to a club,but i would love to ha.
i think id be the best whitebelt lol..

anyway,if you really love it,youll do it for the passion
if youre motivated,you will lose weight and gain speed and become fit while doing it!

im not forcing you, but im just saying, tkd isnt the most effective martial art.But i feel good when i accomplish those hard to get moves,
in muay thai or kickboxing,all you need is to be quick and strong and accurate,
In tkd you need all those, and jump high,twist quick,and i throw in some flips to make it flashy.

I train alone,my friends think its gay or something.
but i dont care,screw them!
they dont decide for me what to do.
you should do the same as me

I'm taking it your a young lad. I admire you're enthusiasm for training.

I would also ask fellow posters to bear this in mind when you see that the guy is teaching 'himself' Muay Thai.

pma-ire

cowzerp wrote: »

Not really in fairness, Nobody who trains to fight in MMA uses TKD as there striking system as its not that effective and that includes mma fighters who have moved into mma!

its fancy and skillfull and could be changed easily into a more effective system but then its not TKD..

ITF/Chong Ji based TKD sparring is very like kickboxing and quite a few instructors do both.

just because something is not used in regular "MMA" training does not make it useless.