Practical usefulness of Olympic style taekwondo

Discussion in 'Tae Kwon Do' started by Night Dragon, Feb 28, 2015.

  1. Night Dragon

    Night Dragon New Member

    Hello ive recently fell in love with taekwondo but every school i find is about the sport side of taekwondo which bothers me because what im going for is to be a great martial arts fighter but one that is practical for self defense and everyones going on about how sport martial arts arent good for the street and i can see why they say that plus the school im going to like never goes over punches or hair grabs shoulder grabs etc. but then when i look for a more practical martial art everyone says all martial arts are good you should do what works for you and i definently feel taekwondo works for me but the fact that its for the olympics and we like never punch or go over self defense techniques like grabs or throws really makes me have serious doubts about what it is i am doing so i would like to hear from some experienced WTF TaeKwonDo martial artists about what has been bothering me and please give me your martial arts background so i know who im listening too thanks in advance
     
  2. FunnyBadger

    FunnyBadger I love food :)

    I'm not experienced in taekwondo of any kind but i shall offer my opinions regardless, take them as you will.

    Sport style taekwondo will develop many good skill for practical fighting and self defense. A good sense of distance and timing along with quick reflexes, all good stuff. The footwork and ballance will be usefull aswell.

    If your worried about punching skills then look to cross train in boxing at some point, a combination of boxing punches/defence and taekwondo kicks/defence is certainly a solid striking skill set. it may take some work to integrate those skill sets together though, never having done taekwondo I don't know exactly how best to go about that.

    For self defence there are lots of other considerations many of wich are not physical. This link explains what many of those should be. http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123159

    Bottom line however is if your enjoying your taekwondo training then stick at it even if just for enjoyment. Training you enjoy is good training and anything else it gives you is a bonus :)
     
  3. Moi

    Moi Warriors live forever x

    Timing & distance together with kicks you really don't want to receive
     
  4. Pretty In Pink

    Pretty In Pink Moved on MAP 2017 Gold Award

    Please define "great martial arts fighter".
     
  5. Night Dragon

    Night Dragon New Member

    To me a great martial arts fighter has great speed strength power timing and is good with his hands and feet punching and kicking i like to neglect grapples or throws because i really dont like them
     
  6. Hannibal

    Hannibal Cry HAVOC and let slip the Dogs of War!!! Supporter

    Then you have no business pretending you are interested in self defense
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2015
  7. Mitch

    Mitch Lord Mitch of MAP Admin

    Hannibal is brusque but correct, you can't ignore stuff just because you don't like it.

    WTF TKD is an incredible sport and the athletes who compete in it are dedicated, incredibly skilled and extremely fit individuals. Their training regime would make most martial artists want to sit down for a few weeks rest.

    But they wouldn't even consider the idea that they are training for self defence. They don't care about it. They're Olympic athletes and have bigger fish to fry than worrying about ego contests over "teh deadly." They want to win a medal in a sport and their livelihood depends on them performing. Put any other martial artist in the ring against them under WTF rules and the WTF rules guy would win, because that's what they do.

    Transpose that to another environment and their skillset becomes less ideal. In a pub on a Friday night you don't have the space for a WTF game. A whole different skillset comes into play, primarily the verbal and situation al skills that stop you getting into fight in the first place :)

    If you love WTF TKD then go after it with all your heart and suck the marrow out of it, you'll find a rewarding and difficult sport that needs everything you have and more to get really good at.

    But it won't teach you to become some invincible great martial arts fighter, partly because very few martial arts classes teach real self defence, but mostly because nobody is invincible.

    Anyone who has ever been back-kicked by a high level WTF TKDer will confirm that it hurts, however :)

    Mitch
     
  8. Kframe

    Kframe Valued Member

    Having tried out a KKW class and sat in on some more i can attest that some of them do other things. The one i looked into did throws and jointlocks, and plenty of stepsparring. However what turned me off was they only did WTF sparring. Now looking back probably not that big of a deal. Sure they didnt spar the standing joint locks and throws but that can be done else where.

    I have only known one TKD person and that was my dad. He has been in more street fights then anyone i know and his tkd and his penchant for training hard on his off days with his sibling saw him to victory through them all.

    Look this is 2015, if you enjoy tkd go do it. Do what ever MA you want.. IF it has a hole you think needs plugged, go cross train and plug it. Your only young once, dont waste it fretting over TEH PERFECT martial art... I know i have wasted to much time in my life trying to find the one perfect system..
     
  9. raaeoh

    raaeoh never tell me the odds

    I did a few point sparring tourneys. I train diffrent forbrhoes than I do for self defense. I train self defense different than when I train with the mma .fight team. 3 diffewnt things. Yea they complement each other but they are their own skill set for their own use. Use any one for the other under the other set of rules or lack of, and you will be a changed person. Or just plain ignorant.

    Now. I am willing to bet that on the "street" the tkd guy will beat a untrained street guy on a 1on 1 fair fight, but Guess what! the street is not fair.

    Forgive the typo s this new phone I am using is a #$$&@??@?&@&
     
  10. Thomas

    Thomas Combat Hapkido/Taekwondo

    If you are looking for self defense, see about doing some cross training with some sort of RBSD (Reality Based Self Defense) group. What options are there in your area?

    That said, KKW Taekwondo should give you some good foundational skills, namely how to kick hard, (hopefully) how to punch hard, and how to use speed/movement/distance. The line work should build good muscle memory, the footwork drills for breathing and stamina, and sparring for good practice. KKW Taekwondo allows for full contact striking (with limited targets).

    All of these skills can be practiced with more open targets and all of them will transfer to self defense training. My advice is to find out what else is around and do some cross training.
     

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