Neil Posted June 9, 2003 Posted June 9, 2003 No! You should never hyperextend anything, especially kicks. Even shotokan kicks which are desighned for log-range do not lock-out. It is stopped just a few inches short of locking out. In Goju it is even closer, only snapping the leg out a bit and keeping a 90 degree bend in for very close-in fighting (telephone box karate). Although the term 'Its not the Martial Art, its the Martial Artist' does have some relevance some Martial Arts are just NOT Martial Arts, especially Taekwondo. Tae Kwon Do is a krappy sport for young athletic school children as a nice recreational sport. It has no real application, and would get smashed in any real fight. This might sound very arrogant, but I prefer the hard honest truth, if something is going to work to save my life. Doing Tae Kwon Do is a nice athletics sport for young children. If you are an adult with a black belt in Tae Kwon Do, you have a black belt in a childrens recreational sport, NOT a Martial Art. The word Martial Art and karate and so on have been so badly familiarised with sport, movies and all the krap teaching today calling what they do (recreational sport) karate that it is bad to even call it karate anymore. Never locl out anything, or hyperextend it. Same with punches. Also the closer you keep something to the body the stronger it is, so it really has no advantage to locking out anything. People in the early days of Shotokan karate always experianced problems until people started to realise that weterners have to stop locking-out anything. Always at minimum kee your arm or leg a few shorter inches from locking out and you will still be able to live a healthy life when you are older.
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