why?

[OldRookie]

<>!!

 

Personally I would go with low kicks,the old thumb to the eye, and hand strikes to the throat,groin..(hands if in close of course). It would all depend on a lot of variables;the location,lighting,distance,number of attackers,is he armed...( I hear Iron Shirt training somehow does not stop bullets.. ).

 

Also-if you have ever watched K-1 or Mui Thai fights, ever see a guy get clocked by the old "slow back leg round kick" we have all been told not to use 'cause you can see those turning kicks from a mile away?.. I have seen several K.O.'s from round kicks to the head. If you have the opportunity & the ability to use a high kick-why not?...

[Thai_Kick]

True, their have been many KO's due to high roundhouse kicks in K-1 and Muay Thai competitions, but that's due to wearing the opponent out in early rounds and in the later rounds when the opponent is dazed or tired they use a high roundhouse to finish him off. In a street fight you don't have time to wear your opponent out, you have to take control of the situation as quickly as possible and that means elbows, knees, punches, low kicks, head butts, choke holds... these should your primary weapons, when the heat is on, your adrenalin is pumping and your heart is racing, the last thing your goanna think about are fancy stances or strikes, leave that for impressing your TKD friends.

[Bon]

Kick high in training, hit low in fights. Generally, anyway.

[superleeds]

i can see what your saying. but these things only come from people that dont know much about the art. im not saying its crap for self defence but its not the best art out there. i personally like TKD alot and wish to start it soon.

I agree that TKD isnt the best art out there, on the basis that there is no such thing. (but I will not go into that in this thread)Our proficiency at self defence will always be a matter of our own effort at learning whatever art we are learning, and our ability to apply that. Another important factor is of course the mental aspect- of events where we might be forced to apply whatever self defence skills we have. I dont think that bullies, muggers, wrapeists or what have you, are proficient at MA (as people in general are not) Learning any MA gives confidence (hopefully) to handle encounters of the sorts. If not, well thats another debate altogether. (about a instructors ability) If you do get attacked by someone who is efficient in MA, be it the same style as you or another one, then its about your effort, ability, awerness and not least: dum luck

[Ironberg]

First off, I am an American Karate stylist. My style is best compared to being 70% TKD and 30% Karate/Kickboxing. I cannot help but be effected everytime TKD gets a bad press, which is comming more and more simply because people do not know when to call an art and art, and a sport a sport. I believe that this is also because people are so lazy that they personally want to practice something that will give them a kick for a sport, and a strong steetfighting ability at the SAME time.

 

I recently invented a new form of sparring at my dojo/dojang (whatever you want to call it) where you take off the hand gear. This allows us to add grappling, and we also throw all the TKD stuff we want. We also allow leg sweeps, and Judo-ish maneuvers to even charging your opponent onto the matt. This still fails to capture what real contact is, but is teaches focus, timing, and speed.

 

Head kicks get a bad press because TKD people are also having a problem with their egos concerning ability to "boot to the head". I personally believe that the best way to use head kicks in a real fight is if your opponent is smaller than you, or if your opponent has been seriously stunned from a previous set of moves, like bashing the knee. In that case, you can finish off you opponent with a head kick and walk away passively- also impressing your TKD friends. However, there is so much more to fighting than kicking. I have never been in a real fight before in my life, but my MA training has given me a edge, both athletically and psycologically that I shall continue to push for.

[Punchdrunk]

A. I've never fought a BULLY who wasn't a pretty good fighter. The one's I've encountered have one thing going for them. Being tough. They do not give up the one thing in their life that gives them self esteem easily. In my experience if you take one on bring your lunch. Of course what I define as a bully might be more readily described as a THUG. They have usually been beaten since childhood and have the comfort that comes from having been in physical confrontations and survived. You have to hurt them badly to shake the confidence this experience gives them. You cannot let up or it will be seen as a sign of weakness. It is actually very sad but you really can't show any mercy because you will not get any.

 

B. TKD is just a victim of prejudice. One of the best fighters to win the Shidokan tournament is Richard Trammel. He is now a Shidokan blackbelt but his original background is TKD. Take a poke at this guy. When they take you off the ventilator you can tell the nurse how TKD doesn't work.

 

TKD is popular and has attracted a lot of diletantes. They do not reflect well on the style. BJJ is getting more popular. We are already begining to see fake BB's in BJJ. If it gets as popular as TKD you will see the same decline in it's reputation.

 

It's the fighter not the style.

[taezee]

i specifically was brought onto or made aware of this forum by an old friend to represent taekwondo/hapkido as an effective martial art..my old friend rushman who i dont see on here anymore but im not really here all the time now also because i get bored on all the statements such as "taekwondo" is 70 pecent kicks and 30 percent hands"and all the korean arts bashing on here or otherwise by a bunch of teenagers who think to know better then me. who said that?? who said taekwon do consisted of the common 70/30 theory taekwondo does translate as "the art of the hand and foot".not the art of mostly foot.. and who made this false theory to stick to with the same athourity as an urban legend? i hear people say this all day long and people who claim to have a "vast" knowledege of martial arts and say to myself well i must have been practicing and teaching a unique form of korean martial arts all these years...i must be wrong then and all of these self professed martial arts scholars who havent even graduated college are right!! how dare i argue with thier two three four years of training and experience??? in comparison to my twenty plus years of blood sweat and tears?. i may be wrong!!I may think i know korean martial arts but everyone else seems to know the true korean martial art!! maybe i fooled the united states military in my ability to train troops in martial combat on the battlefiled..maybe i fooled the local police and corrections officers into believing what i trained them in may protect them from harm in acclompishing the #1 rule of law enfocement..to get home to thier loved ones after thier shift!! maybe i was teaching them without my knowing something other then taekwon do..i must have been a good imposter to be given such an oppritunity..i must have been a better "con' artist" then martial artist.. okay sarcastic comments aside which is also another art i have mastered over the years.no one can defeat me in that cataegory i am a master of sarcasm..my response to "why" is simply individuals not being educated enough to make factual statements as to what taekowndo or korean martial arts really consist of..i dont even know that because everyday i still learn something new..and despite my time studying i would not have the audacity to have a student under me or anyone call me "master' the only thing i am a master of is my opinion..i have remained humble enough to remember that through the years.my ego does not have to be stroked in hearing people refer to me as master...when i have learned all there is to know i may accept such an honor..but for now i acceot the fact that many of you may generalize taekwondo as that art which is 70% kicking and 30% hands..and only an olympic sport..that many of you think taekwondo is usless art form in 'street combat' that all we do is practice for medals..that taekwondo is only a bunch of flashy 360 degree kicks.but what i really accept as a fact is that there are many people who are fools in believing these genaralizations of the art i have known and praticed and tried to master for so many years...whenever i look at my grandmaster jae hwa kwon knocking out a charging bull with a reverse punch and walking away grinning 65 years old and all or to see him put a ridge hand through pieces of coral reef without having his hands shredded into ribbons i think to myself when do i get to a point where i can do those things?? how ong must i train? all this time and i cant do either or..but i know thats the potential of a taekwondo master ..and if i continue i may be able to do such things and be looked upon with awe..at some point in my life..in the meantime..im still on a low level of learning and training despite the years..im still someone who doesnt know much about taekwondo but i hope that i always recognize that fact,, those of you making negative statements of taekwondo who can back up thier statements based on a recent tournament they witnessed which was merelyan exhibition of what not to do in a street fight all the dancing and hugigng on an oppenet .grabbing his/her hogu trying to score a point!!...can you really realize you know far less then I!! so i humbly ask please shut up. wait a second on second thought just please shut up sternly without my humble stance

[SBN Doug]

Unfortunately, it's not just word of mouth and an "Urban Legand" that propogate this missconception. I remember sitting in a library, researching different MAs, trying to decide which one was best suited to me. I remember reading those exact stats (70/30) in the Encyclopedia of Martial Arts. Impressive name, huh? That scared me off trying to take TKD. It wasn't until years later, watching TKDers and talking with them, that I realized how poorly the accuracy of that book was.

[Hpkid0ist]

The problem is, all people can do for some reason is focus on TKDs high kicks, like its all they learn. And yes you have a lot of schools out there that focus to much on sport. But thats what those students want. Also people need to keep in mind that TKD learns a lot more than just high kicks. They learn all the other kicks as well. As far as hand techniques and defenses most TKD schools get this from Hapkido, and if anyone has ever saw or went up against one of us then you know what Hapkido is all about and capable of. TKD is not a bad system, its just that there are a lot of schools out there, not just TKD, that focuses on sport or is all about the money. But when something becomes popular then the die hard masses think that selling out is taking place, or that if it is so popular then it must not be that good. I don't care what the system was but we would be having this same conversation if say Wing Chun was so popular and in the public eye. As for Bjj, its already starting to happen. People yell about TKD and their kicking, well its the same already with the ground arts. Popularity breeds dislike, even if its not justified.

[ZR440]

Maybe some of the bashing stems from jealousy. There are a lot of people who can't perform a good spinning roundhouse (me included, but I've accepted the fact that I just plain stink). So the natural reaction is to criticize.