the-wayis-noway Posted July 11, 2003 Posted July 11, 2003 Please, what I am about to say is not meant to offend anyone or their type or style of Martial Arts. I have great respect for people who have trained hard and are the best they can be at their art. But.... I have been taking TKD classes for a year and half and have gotten very little practical real life fighting and defence experience from it. I am big have alot of power, high endurance(run 4-5 mile) and can take a pounding but I am slow, not very flexable have a poor turning kick, fair right side kick, poor left side kick and a good front kick and ax kick and a killer punch. During sparing the instuctor matches us up. only light contact is allowed no hits to the head(except kicks) or below the waist, no knife hand or back fist. So you might as well tie both hands behind my back, I got nothing to fight with. So I end up kicking a little he kicks a little and back and forth we go. This is a bunch of *. In real life I would have walked into his attact grabbed his leg from one of his many kicks run towards him while holding his leg and slam him into a wall or the ground with my shoulder, then punch the hell out of him on the ground. the fight would be over in 50 sec. Who needs TKD to defend themselves other then women and people of small stature? Here I though martial arts was this magic way of fighting. Boy was I wrong ok done venting, got to go catch a TKD class.
tommarker Posted July 11, 2003 Posted July 11, 2003 have you talked to your instructor about your concerns? I'm no longer posting here. Adios.
the-wayis-noway Posted July 11, 2003 Author Posted July 11, 2003 have you talked to your instructor about your concerns? No, but that is very good advice.
G95champ Posted July 11, 2003 Posted July 11, 2003 Sounds like you are one of those guys who would fit another style better. Shotokan or a traditioanl karate would prob. fit your build better. Not to take a shot at TKD because its a great art but most TKD schools I have seen seem to focus on point fighting and not SD and street effective moves. (General George S. Patton Jr.) "It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory."
monkeygirl Posted July 11, 2003 Posted July 11, 2003 I'm moving this to the Korean Arts forum. 1st dan & Asst. Instructor TKD 2000-2003No matter the tune...if you can rock it, rock it hard.
the-wayis-noway Posted July 11, 2003 Author Posted July 11, 2003 Sounds like you are one of those guys who would fit another style better. Shotokan or a traditioanl karate would prob. fit your build better. Do you think Aikido would be a good fit for me? I hear you only use your legs to stand on, no kicks! Man, I would realy like to find an art that feels right and that I could grow with.
tommarker Posted July 11, 2003 Posted July 11, 2003 I think from your first post that if you find TKD a bit impractical, you might find Aikido even more frustrating. Using Aikido for practical self-defense requires a fairly long time, and IMHO, takes a certain level of mastery to where you can eliminate a lot of the training exercises and work with a small set of techniques (especially more of the striking aspects that you don't get in all dojos.) Isshin-ryu is a similar skill set, but they like to use some devastating low-line kicks. It depends on what you want out of the martial arts. If you're only looking for self-defense, and that's it.. maybe you should look for a group that works more on WWII Combatives. If you're just looking to pull away from kicking-oriented arts, maybe an art like Wing Chun or a filipino art may be more up your alley. I still think the best thing to do is to try talking to your instructor in private after class one day. I'm not sure how much it will help. If you're the inflexible old guy in the back, and he's more tournament oriented with the younger flexible kids, it may be just time to hang it up. If you've got a group of folks looking for something more realistic, a smart teacher may offer a different class for folks like you. Unless he's not qualified to teach it... I'm babbling now, so I'll wrap up I'm no longer posting here. Adios.
TJS Posted July 11, 2003 Posted July 11, 2003 (edited) TKD does have extremly unrealistic rules for sparring. the first thing anyone is going to do in a real fight is punch in the face..not only are you not going to train in it you are not going to be good at defending it. then no leg kicks, no takedowns, no knees, im sorry but I belive the whole only kicking above the waist and no punching to the head rules creates more bad habits than good. I know TKD guys who can really throw down and are awsome fighters...but they did not train under traditional TKD rules.. If you want realistic self defense and fighting i would suggest checking out Krav Maga or Muay Thai or Kyokushin Karate(although you dont punch to the head in Kyokushin) Edited July 11, 2003 by TJS
AnonymousCoward Posted July 11, 2003 Posted July 11, 2003 I have been training in Taekwon-Do for around two years now and also have certain frustrations with the emphasis on sport techniques as I took martial arts classes in order to learn to fight, not to take part in competitions or receive belts. However, you can learn a lot about distancing timing and tactics from sport sparring which will be of use in a fight. Like you, I'm fairly large (16st [95 kilos] and 6ft 2") and I too like to have a ruckus - I spar with more able classmates no holds barred but the classes' general sparring incorporates backfists, ridge hands and punches to the head. You should definitely talk to your instructor about setting up a sparring session where the rules can be decided by the participants on a bout by bout basis, our club calls it "progressive sparring". There's also nothing stopping you from hiring out a sports hall and holding your own sparring club as long as you have adaquete insurance (and I would have a first aider on site). You could open it up to practitioners of other martial arts too but you would need to foster the right atmosphere so that things don't get out of hand. Taekwon-Do isn't just about fighting though, it's a martial art which is supposed to foster nationalism, promote a peaceful way of life (and to promote Korea in general ) and encourage all it's practitioners to behave responsibly. General Choi (in the encyclopedia of Taekwon-Do) says that when he was growing up, Karate (which he was said to have acheived a Nidan [2nd Dan] grade in Shotokan) was seen as something which gangsters and unskilled labourers got involved in and he wanted to avoid that in Taekwon-Do and create a martial art for people of different ages and physical capabilities. With that in mind I get the feeling that it is supposed to be a martial art for the educated / gentrified so maybe smashing someone's face to pieces with your elbow from the mount might not fit the bill! I myself am looking to continue with TKD because I feel it still has a lot to offer me but I would also like to cross-train at a combat orientated Jui Jitsu club. If you don't get any joy out of your instructor for making the classes more like what you want. Then try another club - vote with your feet. Good luck with your training...
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