Taekwondo:is a martial arts style for defense personal?

Taekwondo:is a martial arts style for defense personal?|||Contrary to popular belief, most Tae Kwon Do schools teach self defense as part of their curriculum. It doesnt matter if they are WTF/ITF or ATA. In fact, in my 22 years, I%26#039;ve never seen a TKD school that didnt teach self defense techniques.





I typical scenario would be like this, the master would want each student to come at least twice a week. Monday/Wednesday or Tuesday/Thursday. On one of those days, you would work on forms (Kata or Poomse), and on the other you would work on self defense.





All TKD classes will have at least 20 minutes of %26quot;sweating%26quot;, and that will include high kicks, jump kicks, spinning kicks and possibly sparring.





The idea that WTF schools focus exclusively on sports or Olympic style sparring is laughable. The WTF happens to be the governing body that is recognized by the Olympic committee when it comes to rules and belt requirements, but that is hardly their only focus.





A very small portion of students attend the special sparring classes that focus on this. The majority of the total enrollment go to the regular classes.





If your goal in learning martial arts is strictly for efficient street defense, then TKD might not be the place for you. It%26#039;s not that TKD isnt effective, but that most TKD schools teach a more broad scope of techniques, fitness and flexibility. TKD might be 30% fitness %26amp; basics, 20% flexibility, 20% self defense, 20% Poomse, 10% other.





In contrast, a Krav Maga class might spend 90% of their time on street defense.





Many karate schools also like to say that TKD is only sport. Yet they have their own sparring, tournaments and kata that they promote as well.





Bottom line is that any martial art will have benefits for you.





Find an instructor you like and a place that is near your home, and the style really becomes secondary.





James|||it%26#039;s only as good as the practioner is|||Traditionally, yes. Very much so. There are still schools that teach it as a self-defense art and not a sport. Those that do teach it as a sport, are usually called McDojos. Try to avoid them if you plan on learning how to take care of yourself in an actual fight.





Ask if the school is an ITF school? or do they also teach Hapkido? ......These type of schools are more traditional, then WTF (sport) TKD.|||keeping it short as i can, because i%26#039;m not a specialist on takwondo.





It CAN be, but it depends how and who your taught by.





A club where i used to live taught taekwondo, but were entirely about all the fancy looking spinning jumping kicks etc (things like butterfly kicks) Mostly useless in a fight, they may not expect it, but if you do miss. Your wide open.





BUT some clubs focus on it more for defense (showing you how and when to use the kick) and focus more on the basic kicks. (front round, side, back, cresent and back cresent) ignoring the flying kicks for the most part.





If your interested in taking it up, then go to a few lessons, (to watch) and see what they%26#039;re doing, does the instructor explain about the kicks purposes? or does he just show how they%26#039;re done. Thats how you can tell if its a dance routine or self defense course.|||No, not really. The TKD advocates would argue yes, but Taekwondo is far from tru self-defense for a few simple reasons.





1) No ground game. Taekwondo%26#039;s crappling, yes, crap grappling, that is only practiced in the dojang, cannot compete with BJJ, Judo, Catch, Folkstyle, Freestyle, Greco, Shoot or Shoot Wrestling. Grappling, though not necessarily groundfighting, is elemental to self-defense, and without it, it would be very difficult to defend oneself.





2) Too much emphasis on kicking. While legs might be more massive and thus stronger, they will always be slower, and thus telegraphic, and no amount of TKD could change this fact. This emphasis on a large array of fancy flying and jumping kicks that have little to nothing to do with defense means you will not be proficient in striking with the knee, elbows, and forefists, the limbs that actually cause the most damage. And remember, practicing these strikes every so often but not using them in competition means that when it counts, you will most likely be unprepared.





3) Competition. The rampant focus from competition has diluted the true meaning of TKD, but unlike other arts with proven efficacy like BJJ and Judo, which are competition-based and still highly effective, TKD cannot multi-task. The safety equipment it uses prevents its practitioners from being used t taking a hit, and the rules it uses to make it viable for children also remove its violent nature, and if a striking art it not inherently aggressive, it cannot be truly effective. This is especially true of point sparring, which is not real fighting. And as self-defense is really just fighting when it counts the most, the majority of TKD training is not actually applicable to a real fight. Another thing is that most parents don’t want their kids to go to school looking like the got mauled by a wolverine. And since, statistically, the majority of practitioners are children, there is a greater tendency for said rules and equipment that really reduces the whole purpose of competition in the first place: full-contact, continuous fighting. This is the only way to test one’s ability to fight without actually picking a fight with someone on the street and duking it out.





4) Poor instruction. The epidemic of McDojos, coupled with the competition mindset means that many students are learning to score points and not to actually fight. And it’s not necessarily Taekwondo’s fault, not at all. The fact that it is the most popular martial art in the world means that there’s a lot of money to be made. Thus, either poorly qualified or simply money-driven instructors, or both, care more about the number of students they teach than the actual content being taught. But the continued success that the sport has had will only increase the propensity TKD has towards “McDojoism.”





Taekwondo is a great martial art, and a great combat sport, but neither of those designations means it is suitable for self-defense. Bottom line is that its popularity has diluted the art beyond its true recognition, and that, at the rate it’s going, TKD will never be a serious art again.