The other day I called a school to receive info. I was told that hapkido/tae kwon do was taught. I was just wondering what this might be and if I should be a little weary of going. P.s. they charge you for a trial class.
Hapkido employs the philosophy of using minimal force to overcome a stronger opponent. Therefore, great strength is not needed to apply the techniques effectively. In addition, Hapkido uses pressure points to assist in controlling the opponent. Hapkido has a powerful arsenal of spinning kicks, thrusts and sweeps combined with hard and soft fist attacks and defenses. As well as the use of kicks and punches, Hapkido uses nerve and pressure point attacks, wrist and joint locks, and many twisting and throwing techniques. Approximately 270 categories of special movements incorporating 3400 techniques are included in the study of Hapkido. Tae Kwon Do is a modern Korean martial art, characterized by it's fast, high and spinning kicks. There are multiple interpretations of the name Tae Kwon Do. Tae Kwon Do is somtimes translated as 'the way of hand and foot'. Some forms of Tae Kwon Do use techniques in the Hapkido system for self defense, others are completely point sparring oriented. (for more info on Hapkido I have a history posted in the articles)
My advice is to withhold judgement on the school until you've checked out a couple of lessons. See if you can observe for free (or go and watch through the windows) before you pay for a lesson. If it looks good, pay for a lesson... Just because a school offers more than one style and charges for trial lessons doesn't make it bad. In my case, we train and instruct in both Hapkido and Taekwondo. I've been around a while and trained at several schools in the US and Korea and would put my current school as the best one I've ever trained in (this is my 5th year with this master). Also in my opinion, TKD and Hapkido fit very nicely together, both being Korean styles and bot have similar stances/blocks/strikes. I personally find that the Hapkido really provides a great system of self defence and the TKD provides a nice foundation for striking.
