Wow. I’m rather taken aback by the amount of idiocy and ignorance I’ve found on this site so far. First off, there is a lot of rediculous, unsupported generalizations about this martial art. I’ve got some information for you, but first–my own commentary.

If you’re one of those ‘geniuses’ claiming that TKD’s attacks aren’t potent, and ‘wet noodle kicks,’ or something of the like, you’re ignorant.. You’re ignorant, because you must have only been exposed to televised sport TKD matches, which are a horrible depiction of what the martial art is, and you are disregarding the hardcore practitioner in Korean, and even America. If you think about it you’ll realize that TKD couldn’t always have been for sport. Olympic Tae Kwon Do is a more recent fad, so what were they doing before that? Do you really think that a completely meritless martial art could survive?

An easier subtopic to argue, though, is the existence of the hardcore TKD practitioners, who still treat it as an art. In Korea, they practice for real. ITF federation has some serious schools, where there’s minimal or no padding, and full contact. It’s like a UFC match, basically. And, believe it or not, TKD offers a fair array of grappling techniques and jointlocks–the martial art, that is, and not the sport. However, in America, the majority of the institutions teach sport TKD, for the Olympics, which do sacrifice power for theatrics. But, on this ‘martial arts website,’ we should be addressing the martial art, and not the sport, right?

Reading several posts back, I remember reading some absurd generalizations about a Muay Thai artist. Power, speed, ability, proficiency, ruthlessness, effectiveness, and the likes vary per individual. One should lose his credentials for saying “a Muay Thai guy will do this, this, then this.” If you were to say “A good Muay Thai practitioner, in this situation, would LIKELY do this, this, and this” is more acceptable. THis is because, to say that, would NOT be generalizations on so grand a scale that accuracy would be impossible. Factually, such generalizations are useless for speculation as specific as that needed to converse about the effectiveness about a martial art.

On another note, one should realize that labeling a martial art as utterly inefficient is pretty rediculous. GrannyFighter’s comment about TKD’s weakness is BS on an enormous scale. It shows two things: one, he knows nothing about the actual techniques of TKD, the martial art. Two: he should look further into the subject. Factually, Tae Kwon Do does not lack power.

In terms of punches, TKD is very similar to boxing, in both stance, and mechanics. Straight punches are common, and the hips turn accordingly, as the weight shifts as it should, giving it as much power as any other martial art, in terms of punching. Uppercuts, like other martial arts, involve a torquing of the waist, and driving upwards with the legs, putting force behind the punch. Hooks…well, I’m not crazy about the hooks, which seem to use too much arm and not enough body, but that’s that. As for the ‘knifehand’ and ’spearhand’ strikes, those use the same weight distribution principals, and are used for striking soft areas, with penetration in mind. With this information in mind, how can you validly claim that TKD’s hand techniques are inefficient?

Now, as for kicks. It is said, because of the sport TKD, that the kicks are weak, and this, and that. As I continue to reitterate, THIS IS FOR THE SPORT VERSION OF TKD. I’ll say this; when taught the traditional TKD techniques for kicking, kicks have a great degree of power. The body positioning encourages a forward posture while kicking, which makes sure that weight does not deviate in an irrelevant direction during an attack, thus keeping the attackers mass where it should be–launched at the opponent, backing the kick. Also, with roundhouses, the hip turns, the leg chambers, and the instep/ lower shin strikes through the target, for the sake of dealing greater, more focused impact. Front kicks and sidekicks are done with proper–and unadultured–chambering, hip motion, and the likes, and the feet are positioned in a manner significant for penetration (ie: knife edge for sidekicks, and the ball of the foot for front kicks). Stepping kicks, keeping the fundemental weight distribution add a good deal of momentum to the already-sharp blow, and are quite devastating. Those arrogant TKD skeptics, if they take one of these to the gut, they will crumple. Turning kicks are done with tremendous force as well, due to the positioning of the waist during the motion, when unleashed, the kick packs serious, serious whallop. The flying kicks have momentum backing them, and form similar to that, which I have described above.

Now, as for actual combat… The biggest thing, when it comes down to it, is how it all fits together. Something I’d like to tackle, in the meanwhile, however, is the rumor that TKD artists only high-kick. That is complete falacy; the amount of kicks thrown will seriously depend the individual fighter, as will the height of the attack. Like all other martial arts that I’ve seen, bad fighters do not balance their punches and kicks, are become too predictable and reliant on only one, just to have their overuse used against them. However, good fighters in any striking martial art will use a practical balance of these, and they will attack in combinations complimenting the properties of each strike. Also, in the martial arts form of TKD–aka true Tae Kwon Do–grappling and jointlocks are taught and used; knees and elbow techniques are incorporated, as well. So, to put it extremely simply… A good TKD artist will attack you with an effective variety of attacks.

Perhaps the Tae Kwon Do practitioner will lead by stunning you with a jab, following up with a cross punch to the midsection, as the reciever of the attack may instinctively raise his hands to guard his now-tender face, and then a powerful roundhouse to the ankles, dealing massive damage, putting so much stress on the joint, between the horizontal impact and the abundance of weight resting on top of it. And so, within that flash of motion, an opponent would be felled, only to be dealt several more attacks while grounded, to ensure victory. But, hey, guess what? Any good martial artist could do that, regardless of their style.

Oh, and a wrap-up comment about the alleged ‘weakness’ of TKD’s kicks. I’m a small guy, and I was even smaller when I got into this fight over some stupid crap, in a parking lot. Two guys, WAY bigger than me were my opponents. One was pretty fat, and taller than me. The other was much taller, but not very built at all. And, sadly, this was before I began to concieve more practical methods of fighting. This is when I only used kicks and didn’t realize that they could be caught. So, what happened was, they were on either side of me, closing on. An a flash, I gave the tall guy a huge roundhouse to the stomach, which dropped him like nothing, cringing on the cement, probably wheezing or something. The other guy, who was kinda intimidated within the second he had to see his friend get knocked the heck over, started to back up, thinking twice. Didn’t matter to me though, cause I threw some punches ’till he toppled over in retreat, and gettin bopped on the head. They gave up. I accepted it.

I was younger back then, and I was much more naive. I did not attack in combinations, and I expected single attacks to get through. I had much poorer form as well. And, right now, several years later, I do not claim to be a master, I do not claim to be good, heck, I won’t even claim to be intermediate, when considering how large the world of martial arts are. But, still, I’ve progressed. So, look at that, a crappy TKD artist could drop two guys that were bigger than him. And I was alot smaller back then, too. Now, what does that tell you? Doesn’t mean TKD practitioners are supermen or anything, but I’d like to say that it’s some degree of proof that it’s not worthless.

So, how ’bout that? That enlighten any of the less-than-informed skeptics? If you were a good martial artist, then you’d already know that the worth of a martial art all depends on the individual, and his own training, and not the martial art, nearly as much.

Anyway, I’ll apologize now, to those who are my lessers, my equals, and my superiors, who are of the right mindset. I’m writing this post in a rather disdainful, brutally honest way to the skeptics, who rant about their opinion, with little factual merit. I appear conceited, and condescending, and for that, I’m sorry. Again, I’ll say it, I understand my place in the vast world of martial arts, and I know that my skill is hardly anything, understanding how high the meter can go. But still, I could not say nothing to those of lesser understanding, who posted on this site only to disparage my first and foremost style of martial arts, which I’ve based all of my since-acquired knowledge upon, as the foundation.

To those who read this, however, that did deserve to recieve my insults, learn from this, if you simply were unaware of some of the information. But, if you’re still going to be arrogant, and insist upon TKD’s supposed ineffectiveness, despite your own lack of knowledge, scroll up and read the insults again; you need a larger dosage, obviously.

And, to the serious martial artists, who back what they can talk–and even more so, just dont’ talk much trash, if at all–I’m glad you exist. And, if there were more like you, I wouldn’t have stayed up so late on a school night.

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