why dont WTF TKD artist keep their hands up!???

[B 2 DA RYAN]

all the WTF TKD tournament clips i have seen have both fighters with there hands down!??? . Why is this? I was at my friends TKD school(WTF I do ITF myself) and during sparring they didint keep there hands up,At first I just thought it was the color belts doing so but as time went by I saw the BBs sparring aswell and the did the same thing! Im not trying to say that they were performing weak and or wrong tequniueqes. but it just seemed so strange to me and all they didi was kick not one punch thrown even by BBs! please tell why this is! Is there a reason or method to this? please tell me.

-Bryan-

[bushido_man96]

The reason is that punches don't score in Olympic style tourneys. I have seen guys knocked down by side kicks and not scored, but I think that was just a lame judge. They like round kicks and head kicks.

My theory on why they keep their hands down is that for one, they don't block, they counter instead. Also, by keeping the hands down, I think they use them down and swing them to get momentum into some of their kicks. That is what my experience has been.

[Ottman]

Bushidoman is exactly right. Olympic style tournaments do not allow hand strikes to the head at all, and while you can score with a punch to the body, it is exceptionally hard to convince a majority of the judges that you have struck your opponent with the shocking force required to score a point.

Blocking is frowned upon in olympic sparring. It is taught that you should avoid contact and counter instead.

Within the rules of olympic sparring, there isn't much of a reason to keep your hands up. Hands down gives you better balance and power on your kicks, and having just competed in the USSSA nationals, I kept my hands up for my entire match, and was still defeated by my opponents superior kicking speed. I had some good shots, and some good body punches, but none of them scored. Head kicks also score two points as opposed to just one for body kicks and punches, so the best strategy is to work the high kicks. Not my prefered set of sparring rules, but I don't make them, so I can only accept them.

[ninjanurse]

A good explanation. Olympic syle is definitely different from what I am used to but I have learned to adapt-the hardest being not to "block". It is a natural tendancy-even in beginners and teaching them to "take their targets away" to set up a counter can be challenging.

[Ottman]

A good explanation. Olympic syle is definitely different from what I am used to but I have learned to adapt-the hardest being not to "block". It is a natural tendancy-even in beginners and teaching them to "take their targets away" to set up a counter can be challenging.

Absolutely. It also makes it hard to teach practical self defense technique. You always have to be making disclaimers like: "I know this works in sparring, but out on the street, I'd actually do. . ."

[karatekid1975]

I agree. I recently switched to ITF. BUT when I did WTF, we did keep our hands up. At least at the dojang I was at. If we didn't, we got yelled at. So it depends on the dojang/instructor.

I did drop my hands sometimes to "fake" people "in." Open target ... ah I'll hit ya there ... Not. I would counter it. Or, with the kids, I'd purposely "give" them a target by holding my hands above my head.

Now that I'm in ITF, I can't drop my hands at all. Not even to "fake" an open target.

[bushido_man96]

We had our kicking class tonight, and when we were doing the switching double round kicks, I found it easier to get the momentum for the second kick by swinging my hands around. I think this is what the Olympic stylists do with all of their kicking techniques.

As far as the blocking thing goes, I will always tell my students to keep their hands up. If they want to adapt to the swinging hands down motion for tournaments, then I will let them, in different sparring class settings. But I will not teach hands down. Proper self defense concepts are more important to me than sparring concepts.

[ninjanurse]

I'm definitely a "Hands Up!" fighter and don't allow my students to drop them either. There are however subtlties of hand position that do make for better balance in certain situtations and I do teach them accordingly.

[IcemanSK]

I'm definitely a "Hands Up!" fighter and don't allow my students to drop them either. There are however subtlties of hand position that do make for better balance in certain situtations and I do teach them accordingly.

I'm WTF, but I go back to when they kept their hands up. I drill it into my students to keep em up all the time. We may go to WTF tourneys....but what if we go to an "open tourney?" They're gonn need to block. Not to mention "The Street."

[niel0092]

Hands up for me too. Hands down is just a bad habit to get into.