Taekwondo is often criticized for it's lack of practicality in self-defense situations. I personally believe anything can be used effectively if used correctly and with precise timing, distance, intent, etc. This isn't a thread about arguing over Taekwondo's effectiveness as a martial art. Rather it's a thread to compile a list of skills that Taekwondo brings to cage fighting, self-defense situations, sparring, fighting in general, etc. This is the list I've come up with so far from research and judging by what others have said on similar forums: Taekwondo Skills - Proper distance - Excellent footwork - A Variety of Kicks in Your Arsenal - Phenomenal Speed in Kicking - Chaining Kicks Together in Combination (Something most other martial arts neglect.) - Flexibility Note that this list applies to skills that both WTF and ITF Taekwondo can bring to the table. Let me know if I'm missing any major ones. I'd like to add depth to this "guide" by adding reasoning behind each skill's importance for a martial artist. I think this List of Assets could prove useful in evaluating Taekwondo objectively and understanding what it clearly does well, and what it clearly falls short on. Thanks guys, hope you like the idea.
I'm not going to comment on WTF, here, as my background is ITF and Muay Thai-based. ITF brings the following: Cage-fighting: - A well rounded striking game, but one that is focused on distance rather than being in close. ITF is effectively kickboxing and several ITF fighters have translated their skills very well to other striking competitions (Tomaz Barada being an extremely notable example). ITF brings hand and foot skills of a different variety to Muay Thai or Kyokushin - it doesn't emphasise high kicks, but kicks at or around hip-level, used in conjunction with the hands. We lack a clinch game, but the drills used to train hand and foot combinations are all very similar in principle to most other stand up styles as well. Like KK and Muay Thai, properly-taught ITF will have a great emphasis on conditioning. You will run the same sorts of drills, but you may need to work on your clinch even moreso than KK does. Also, ITF was doing the Superman punch long before MMA made it cool Self-defense: First, let's not confuse "hoshin-sul" with self defense. All those slow motion things we see during class and these stupid things we make students come up with during testing etc are no substitute for training your fundamental techniques in realistic situations. General Choi HIMSELF TELLS you to train your techniques in realistic conditions, right in the Encyclopedia! (ITF Encyclopedia - Volume 1, page 162): The General goes on later and lays out for us, in relatively clear terms, a relationship between the vital points of a body, and what he deemed the most appropriate tools to strike them with. A lot of it it common sense - don't punch someone in the leg, exploit an opening with the most power that you can, etc. It's not the theory that's lacking, it's a bit of common sense. I'll never say that TKD is a "complete" form of self-defense, but the basics are still there, if you can find a competent instructor who has studied and trained. The most important move in self-defense is always escape. Minimize your own chances of getting hurt - everything else is just unnecessary risk. Sparring: - Endurance. ITF has a continuous sparring ruleset. Enough said. - Hands and feet work together. We use a lot of the same punch/kick combinations that other arts do. - An emphasis of form facilitating function, rather than being mutually exclusive. Forget patterns for a second and go back to the fundamentals we apply in each technique. Carefully watch high-level ITF sparring and see how they don't shortcut on form in their kicks. - Usage of footwork and feinting. We are very mobile and explosive when we start an attack. Our use of travelling allows us to study our opponents tendencies and see how they react when we act in a certain manner. Fighting in general: This is a very vague category, I think. It would need a more clear definition before commenting.
Stamina, often overlooked. Good manouvering footwork. Good running ability due to all those warmup exercises.
Have you seen the stuff Anthony Pettis is pulling off in the cage? Wow! Obviously he has filled holes in his MMA game and has good wrestling, boxing, and BJJ off his back...but controlling the distance and kicking he attributes to his TKD. Again...wow. I am in awe.
I think TKD has become a whipping boy for other Martial arts. I think that the proportion of "bad" TKD schools is probably no different to bad Karate or Kung fu or whatever. It's just that there is such a large number of TKD schools that it gets a lot of stick. IMO TKD is excellent for fitness, conditioning and reflexes. It has good hand elbow knee and foot techniques.
I would like to throw my 2 cents in here. I've kickboxed for over seven years. I've trained with some tkd based kickboxers, and I have lots of respect for them. They were very light on their feet. Good movement seemed natural to them (not that there weren't great non tkd outlside fighters with awesome footwork) but it seems the tkd guys all were like that. Also, the variety of kicks was always outstanding. As a stalking Dutch style guy, some of those kicks threw me off, though they didn't seem to like being cut off and trapped at medium to short range (that is where my strength was though). Overall, their speed, agility, quickness, and flexibility really impressed me. And it didn't take long for them to adjust to being able to throw real power in their round kicks. Scott
