Is taekwondo worth spending the time to learn?

I know it takes years to become really good. is it worth it?|||I like to think of TKD as a thing that you let your little kid learn, so he/she learns respect, discipline, and confidence.


But when you get about into your early teens, I don%26#039;t think TKD is what you should be doing, unless you really enjoy it.


If you%26#039;re doing it to become a fighter, you%26#039;re doing yourself harm in many aspects. If you%26#039;re doing it for fun, or if you feel you need to get more active and lose weight or something, it would be a good choice.


If you%26#039;re wanting to learn to be a fighter, you might want to do Muay Thai, or any MMA classes in your area.


If you%26#039;re wanting to learn for self-defense, you might want to try Krav Maga, it works well and it%26#039;s easy to learn because the moves are simple, but they really work.|||any art of you show dedication to will be worth while, just try not to choose based on what style it is, but on what schools have the best instructors.|||Don%26#039;t look at an art in terms of how long it is to be good, look for the art in which you would enjoy.





It all depends on the individual. You can get good after a month of training, or you may not. Good is really subjective. I%26#039;ve seen orange belts beat the daylights out of black belts. You only get out of it what you put into it. Make the effort in any art and you will become good. If you enjoy the art, then you will put in more effort.|||It really depends on what you hope to get out of it.





There is a false belief that %26quot;TKD fighters always lose to (fill in the blank)%26quot; as stated above.





This is absolute Bull S hit. It%26#039;s a myth. Sure, sometimes a TKD fighter will have a match against a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guy and lose, or a Muay Thai guy and lose. But they also win sometimes.





It%26#039;s easy to invite someone you know you can beat to your school, submit them and make a video to put it on Youtube as %26quot;proof%26quot; that your %26quot;style%26quot; is better. Total crap.





The bottom line is that %26quot;styles%26quot; dont win fights. Individual fighters win fights.





There are tons of MMA guys that have TKD backgrounds, but they have trained in so many styles and rules, it%26#039;s not often listed.





To support Frank%26#039;s statement, TKD is taught to the Korean Military and Secret Police.





In our Dojang, we have students from the Wayne County (Detroit) dept. of Corrections (jail guards), the FBI and CIA.





People also say TKD is a %26quot;sport%26quot; and fights for %26quot;points%26quot;.





Guess what, Muay Thai, MMA, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu are also sports that measure fights by some kind of point system.





So yes, it%26#039;s worth it.





James|||For the pure self defence side of things? no. Their guys get beaten by boxers, kickboxers, mauy thai, MMA, wrestlers, BJJ and judo guys or anyone who has done full contact fighting.





All that leaves is %26quot;TKD can beat the average guy who has not trained, or another semi contact style%26quot;





Is it worth doing for the fun or social aspect?





I%26#039;d say so, a lot of people do it for that so it must be.|||yes. i%26#039;ve been in tkd for about 8 years and i%26#039;m a first degree black belt. at first i was like yeah i want my black belt to look cool but over the years i developed skills that not only will help me defend myself but skills to respect others, self discipline, perseverance, and help get healthy and fit. if you put your heart into it and practice those skills you learn in the dojang will stay with you for many years....it%26#039;s an awesome sport and totally worth it!|||In my opinion any martial arts training is worth spending the time to learn. You can try going to different martial arts schools like kick boxing, MMA different karate and Taekwondo schools etc. to see what fits into your lifestyle better.|||I am not very familiar with TKD, but with anything you have these choices:





Quick


Good


Easy(or cheap)





You can only choose 2.





If you want it Quick and Good, it wont be Easy


If you want it Easy and Good, it wont be Quick


If you want it Quick and Easy, it wont be Good.





Good MA takes years of hard work.|||i would say yes, but if you have to ask, maybe not...lazy bum!|||ive done TKD since 8, now im like 16, but personally karate, jujitsu, or kickboxing is rlly worth the time, cuz TKD only involves flashy kicks, which ive used but wont work-karate n jujitsu will be far more worth spending time cuz u will learn how to use both punches/kicks/throws n even all simultaneously after learning how muscle joints n balance can be manipulated|||No. not at all. The more you train in tkd the worse of a fighter you become. Try other martial arts like jiu jitsu and muay thai. many schools teach both.





If you try and use tkd in a real fight or just in a martial arts competition you will get beaten up badly|||Ask most of the worlds military. The most widely taught form of self defense in the world as of now is Tae Kwan Do. It was used very successfully during the Vietnam conflict by the Korean Tiger division. Are there other arts as good? Yes absolutely. Yet Tae Kwan Do is easy to learn relatively and is an art you can expand on over your lifetime. Which is why it is so popular. Unfortunately it%26#039;s popularity is a short coming in that there are a lot of schools that teach Tae Kwan Do that should stick to Jazzersize or dance aerobics.


So choose wisely as the ancient one said.


Some have said that TKD people get beat by other arts all the time. This may seem so. There is a lot of sloppy TKD out there. I believe based on what I have seen that a lot of tkd is not taught well. Taught well it is an outstanding stand up system and holds up well to most anything I have seen. Most instructors don%26#039;t teach that every block in TKD is a break. That flying kicks and spin kicks are not for the street.


I have students frequently pick me up in the air as much as 2FT. with their kicks and punches and I weigh over 180lbs. With out padding and conditioning I would be dead.


I%26#039;m sorry to see the traditional style fading. Because of people like my instructor and others it won%26#039;t fade entirely away. We are dedicted to keeping it alive.