Adam

I personally believe Tae Kwon Do and Karate should be referred to as separately. I too dislike it when a school says "karate" but end up being a tae kwon do school or something else. I understand the origins of Tae Kwon Do vs Karate but what I was mainly asking is: 1. Are there martial arts school in your area that adverstise themselves as "karate" but teach a totally different style like Tae Kwon Do or Kung fu?? Or is this seems to be happening only where I live?? 2. Do you think it is acceptable for schools to advertise themselves as Karate but teach a different style?

I was driving around the other day and couldn't help but notice how some schools advertise themselves. Where I live there are lots of "martial arts schools" in the area. I was looking to see what japanese/okinawan style schools (shotokan, gojo ryu, etc.) were in my area. So, I stopped by some of the schools that had "Karate" as their sign. To my dissappointment most of the schools were either tae kwon do, tang soo do or some other korean influenced art! So I started to think is it appropiate for tae kwon do schools to advertise themselves as "Karate" schools??? Your thoughts......

Yeah I have listened to some of those discussions. The way I mainly look at it is Kung Fu = chinese disciplines and Karate = japanese/okinawan influence. I am sure there is a in between realm where they have been mixed (shaolin kempo) but in reality its essentially all the same roots.

Yes, Shaolin Kung Fu is the considered the "roots" of all martial arts. So yeah naurally some techinques are straight from the shaolin style. However, I think there seems to be "internal" wars if you will among different styles of MA. For Shaolin the great debate is the "shaolin is wushu" for some. The acrobatics is mainly the wushu aspect of shaolin but I do want to say that there still is traditional shaolin kung fu from the shaolin temple. The sad part is that there seems to be so many scams and internal war among the shaolin community. I think for the Karatekas we are faced with the debate is what we are learning traditional or watered down versions of the style. The "Mc dojos" keep popping up around every corner and pass off cross trained styles as traditional.

I think using extra equipments just depends on you and your level. For beginners I reccommend using ankle and wrist weights for kicks and punches. Nothing too extreme but just enough to give you some resistance. One thing to remember is that consistency is the key. Once you start try not to stop!!!

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