Helllo everyone! We are new here. My wife and I moved to the US recently from Korea where I grew up learning under one of Choi,Young-Sool's students. http://www.hapkiyoosool.com I only have one comment. I have been studying Hapkiyoosool(Hapkido) all my life. I NEVER learn any flying kicks. I think you will better understand Hapkido if you know this. Attacks are taught in Hapkido for ONE specific reason. To learn how to defend against them. There are NO kicks in the Hapkido techniques. I am not political and don't like sugar coated talk about the art. Choi, Young-Sool learned kicks from TaeKyon to better understand how to defend against them, not to use them in technique. In all the pics, old 8mm movies, and stories in Korea I have seen or heard of GM Choi. I have NEVER seen him kick within a technique excpet to show you what NOT to do. He always said, "Keep both of your feet on the ground at all times." Other wise you cannot keep balance for both you and your attacker unless you are grounded properly. We are having a seminar in FL during November about this. There is more info about Hapkiyoosool on our website.
Hapkiyoosool Nice to "meet" you and welcome to the board. It seems that the Hapkido forum is growing all of the time... I also studied Hapkido in Korea, in Chungchongnam province under the International Hapkido Federation and tested for my 1st and 2nd dan there in Pyongtaek... all under the indirect supervision of GM Myong Jae-nam. (I also notice that on your website, GM Jang Young-shil on your website is wearing the same affiliation patch as I have worn and that is on my dan certificates... the IHF) With no disrespect intended, it would appear that we both have studied different types of Hapkido because in the style I follow has lots of kicks. Granted, if you look at the Hapkido family tree, my GM is on a different branch... but GM Myung Kwang-shik is found on both... and his book is one of my primary references... especially the parts on kicks, including flying kicks. If your style doesn't have kicks... well, that just means that the style of Hapkido you learn/teach doesn't have kicks. The style I learned has kicks. There are many types of Hapkido out there, and some are taught differently and may have different components. This doesn't mean any one of them is better or more "pure" than any other. I think, for myself anyway, that I would never avoid learning potentially useful skills regardless of whether or not my "base" style has it or not. Hapkido Family Tree (with a nice photos of GM Myung Kwang-shik, GM Myong Jae-nam, GM Jang Young-shil, and Master Allen there): http://www.hapkido-info.net/html/tree_seo__in-sun.html
Thomas, Sounds great! Our HQ is in Pyongtaek(Song Tan) too. Very close to a military base called Osan Air Base. We have a lot of American students on the base where we teach at the base gym during the week at lunch time and Saturday mornings. I am originaly from Syracuse! Nice to meet you. I left there at 7 yrs old though and went back about 10 years ago for a family reunion to see a smoking hole that is left. I was heart broken to see Syracuse falling apart. I hope you have a great day. We do teach kicks though, we just don't use any in the techniques. I haven't done any flying kicks though. I'll have to try that for fun.
Hello. To me TKD seems a bit more recreational than Hapkido. A very good fitness and tournament activity- but I wouldn't want to rely on it in a street fight. At least not as a color belt. Hapkido is self defense- disable the attacker and escape. Not much flash and flair. The less the better. One can be effective in a self defense situation with a few weeks of training. So, if one wants to be in tournaments- go TKD. If one wants to learn self defense- go HKD. I am personally HKDin primarilt TKD dojang. Out of approximately 150 students of all ages, 10 are HKD. Out of that 10, 3 are over 40, 3 over 30, 2 late 20's, and 2 teens who are TKD Black Belts. Teens are not normally admitted to the HKD program unless they are advanced TKD students.
TigerAn1: In my experience, I find that to be on an individual school basis, rather than on an entire style basis... I've seen good and bad TKD schools and good and bad Hapkido schools...
Only a fool says that he can't learn from another. I study all styles and take what is useful. In a way this is now called JKD, but it is much older than Bruce Lee. I think the greatest wisdom comes when you realize that you will never stop learning. You must not stop learning! As for adrenalin problems, I think most people's problem with their brains comes when they are not pumping enough oxygen up to it. Then they have lapses in their abilities.
How do you determine what is useful?? What test criteria do you apply to decide what is useful?? There once was a man who inherited a house with a large back yard. When he took posession, he found a secret closet. In the closet he found a small diamond. A note which was wrapped around the gem and a spoon said " There are a ton more buried in the back yard. Use this spoon to dig them up." After fifty years there were ten thousand holes in the backyard, all six inches deep. The man died broken hearted, never having found ONE SINGLE additional diamond! Loose recounting of "shopping" in martial arts.
It shows that man to be a fool, not for digging, but for usuing the spoon, With the single diamond, he should have sold it, taken what money he had, and bought a small catapiller/ a shovel(depending on the tiome period), and dug with that then sifted the dirt. Merely b/c he dug with a spon would not have changed the fact if te diamonds were or were not there.
i agree on topic: i'm a huge hkd freak, but i picked up tkd because of the sparring-aspect + competition ofcourse we spar in hkd, but not that much in tkd we spar every training i also discovered that where hkd is more an explosive sport (short rushes of energy), tkd is more aerobic (constantly moving/jumping/feet moving) use everything judge not
Taekwon-do gave me a good base on which to start hapkido from, as I was happy kicking and punching and had developed good body control,balance and flexibility which made learning some things a little easier, but I still had to "empty my cup" a bit, on the whole if I had to choose one or the other it would be hkd, in and ideal world I think they are both worth learning as they compliment each other well, but in my own opinion i would go for hapkido as it seems to cover more angles of combat.
ok, i've never actually studied hkd but am 1st dan tkd. reading the last few post alot of people seem to think that hkd would be better in a street self defence situation and thats ok, but, if a tkd student was to apply his or her techniques proplerly (which are mostly a wide variety of kicks and thus long distance) wouldn't they to be affective. there is no use saying any one style is better than the other, that depends on the situation, the student, etc. if a person is profficient in their style then self defence on the street should not be an issue. so what i've think i've said is (and this is getting off thread a bit i think) any one style, wether its hkd or tkd is as good as the other if your dedicated and devoted enough to studying and mastering it.
I would agree with you though that it really is the individual and that individual's training that makes a difference... much beyond the name of the style you practice.
well i think you can say as an integrated system hapkido offers you more tools. what you do with those tools is up to you.
Hapkido vs. Taekwondo Debate I'm new here so let me introduce myself. My name is Steve Hartsock. I have been studying Taekwon-Do (ITF) for almost 22 years. The question was raised. Why would one choose TKD over Hapkido when Hapkido offers all of the kicks, strikes, etc. that Hapkido does PLUS all of the joint-locks, takedowns, throws, etc... 22 years ago, it was very difficult finding a Hapkido dojang. Heck, it was even difficult finding a martial-arts school in the area where i lived. There were 2 schools. One and Isshin-Ryu Karate-Do Dojo about 20 minutes away and an ITF TKD dojang about 5 minutes from my house. Since I was 10 and my parents were taking me. Guess which one i had to attend? That being said, I fell in love with TKD almost right away. Watchin the black belts sparring and punching makiwara boards and kicking heavy bags, doing forms. I love Taekwon-Do in the fact that it contains MANY techniques and variations of techniques. Over 3200 techniques make up the bulk of TKD study. Under the instruction of a competent instructor many of the techniques can be used for more than one thing. Example your basic "low block" can be used to block a front kick.. but why? Good way to break your arm if not conditioned correctly. A more appropriate use would be to break someones hold who has you by the wrist. There are just so many variations like this that arent being taught and its a shame. Taekwon-Do is an art you can practice alone at home. You can practice your forms, your basics (strikes, blocks, stances, breathing, stretching, balance) in your bedroom. This is one area that Hapkido differs. It's kind of hard to practice throws and joint-locks by yourself. For this you always need a partner. Im not putting down Hapkido. It is a great art. But most of what I have seen of Hapkido is NOT hapkido but a few basic self-defense moves taught by Korean "Masters" to lure more people into paying higher prices for classes. Hapkido is a fine art. But if you want to maximize the learning of joint-locks, throws and takedowns, you WILL need a partner or two. Trust me. I also train in Aikijujitsu, so I know this to be true. Hope I havent rambled on too much, Sabum Steve Hartsock
Hapkido training There are different parts in any training shcedule. Hapkido has 10 kicking techniques and a number of strikes. There are also Dan Jun Hohup breathing excersises. For some parts and levels of training a partner is needed but by no means not all! www.millersmudo.com
You of course have a valid point, however if Hapkido contains all of the things listed above (strikes, blocks, stances...), a Hapkido practitioner can practice those things from home just as easily. TKD sparring or one steps are not as easily practiced in your bedroom alone. As far as practicing joint locks and throws, I shadow them all of the time by myself. Sure it doesn't even come close to a live partner, but I find the exercise to be somewhat difficult to imagine a person there. While solo training is very important, partner or group training should be required in every art. Don't get me wrong I started with TKD and I still practice my forms regularly. What I will say for TKD is that it is easier and faster to get proficient in the techniques because it, for the most part, encompasses punching and kicking. While a Hapkidoist must learn several different types of technique sets, and it can take a while to be as proficient as the TKDist at punching and kicking depending on how dedicated you are and how quickly you learn.
I am just crazy about Taekwondo I suppose Taekwondo is made up of 3200 fundmental techniques which include striking, blocking, parrying, kicking techniques, let blocking, dodging, etc. To become proficient in all aspects of Taekwondo takes decades as well. Im not doubting Hapkido at all. I find the joint-locks somewhat more useful in self-defense than the throws however as the joint-locking techniques can be learned much faster and applied somewhat easier than a throw. I do not practice Hapkido, but one of my good freinds is an avid student of Aikijujitsu. Most of what i know of joint-locks, throws and takedowns I have learned from him. Sabum Steve Hartsock
I have seen some posts here and other threads saying that some arts offer the same and more than other arts. Sometimes it has to do with number of techniques learned. Can I just say something for NOT learning too many techniques? The less techniques you are learning the better you get at the ones you learn, I feel. This is one problem I had with Bujinkan, which I decided not to study. There is way TOO much in the system (among other things). What I am trying to say is, number and variety of techniques isn't necissarily important as long as the basics are mastered. That's why there are different arts. You learn one than can move on to another.
Greetings The more you learn the more possiblilties you have to defend yourself. I to studied Bujinkan Tai Jutsu I don't think they had too many techs. A boxer only has 4 punches in the limited scope of what they do it works, in anything goes and probably will you need to be prepared in all ascpects of combat. That takes time an effort and more that a few techs.
