I have been doing TKD for 11 months now and I love it. I have sparred with friends outside of school with no gear and it was able to go for hours. I was also able to fight people using what I learned easy enough. I found that when doing sparing in class even though I wear all the gear I had no problem breathing because we yell with each attack. Then I decided to enter a kick boxing fight and found that it was actually hard to control my breathing with all that gear(head,mouth piece, shin guards, and gloves.) I found that the real life situations that I was in were easier than this sport situation I was in. Has anyone else had a similar experience or am I alone here? (I lost the fight by points.) If anyone wants to see it, I'll post the link.
What do you mean by real life situation, what was the situation that you had to use what you know. In my experience it is a different type of fitness required for sport 'fighting' and fighting for your life. In sport you have time limits and rounds which will often require a bit of endurance to maintain a level of intensity. But when there aren't rules or time limits it is over in a matter of seconds, there is no time for you body to become fatigued, that and the adrenal response will usually stop you from fatiguing (it will hit later and about ten times worse). In these situations you need to go as hard as you can as quickly as you can. If there is time to gauge your opponent and work there distance, that time is better spent trying to de-escalate the situation (and it will often mean the situation has gone from self defence to fighting, there is a big difference).
The situations I speak of are when people try to act tough in groups and attack you. I understand that street fighting is easier, well at least for me anyway. I haven't been one person alone fighting a group, but I have had a friend or two with me and we'll be out numbered by dumb people who are looking for a fight even when you try to just walk away. Also in those situation I always try to aim for vital point as quickly as possible and get away just as quickly. Also here is the link: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn4ikELUYtM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn4ikELUYtM[/ame]
It could just be because you weren't used to it. Breathing with a mouthpiece in when you're not used to it can make you gas much more quickly than you normally do just because of that reason. Adding on gloves makes a difference as well. Once you get used to them though, it becomes a big advantage when you don't have them for many reasons. Now that you don't have a mouthpiece, for example, you'll breathe a bit easier, and without gloves your arms won't get as tired as they used to.
Thanks, that does make a lot of sense. Since I didn't have a training partner for at least a month before hand I forgot to practice with all the gear on. I'll be sure to train with it more often now that I know.
