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The inherent flaw in most tae kwon do dojangs is that they focus on kicking way too much. Another is the organizations which sprang from the creation of TKD. The WTF, ITF, and (ugh)ATA are all jokes meant to rake in more mindless money wasting drones. You think TKD is only shitty in the U.S.? Korea is just as corrupt and full of s**t. Expecially the WTF.

Tae Kwon Do or Take Your Dough?

true true, especially since thats the MA that I do

Go on www.youtube.com and type in tae kwon do vs karate or the other way around and it is great, this TKD guy spends the whole time kicking, the Karate guy taked it, and with one propper hit the TKD guy is on the floor. Classic!

Obviously you didn't focus your ki and jump kick your opponents as if they were mounted on horses.



Oh and fyi to all you WTFers out there. Tae Kwon Do is not over 2000 years old nor was it based off of taekyon. Taekyon is much different with the only similarity being the kicking involved.

Sarcasm.

Oh...haha, I see.....very good, I can't hear your voice that's why.

if that's not a joke im gonna cry

I agree with most of what Wolf3001 said in his first reply, with the exception of the kick comments. Maybe fighting against a novice or intermediate TKD practitioner, you might be able to grab his leg when he is kicking. But against someone who is a good martial artist and is properly trained in TKD, it would be hella difficult to grab a kick. I doubt anyone outside of TKD trains as much with their kicks, so I would say it is a safe assumption to say that a good TKD artist definitely has stronger kicks. And other martial arts that train to catch kicks probably don't train against someone with a TKD-level kick, so in practice it is much more difficult. I compete in open tournaments, where breaking bones isn't always a DQ. An opponent of mine tried to capture my leg when I aimed a round kick at his ribs, and he suffered three broken ribs and how to bow out from the remaining rounds. So IMO, it's a legitimate martial art.

That being said, I differentiate between Fighting Sports and self-defense martial arts. I hold no delusions of being able to jump into a UFC octagon and winning against anyone with just my kicking power. However, in my experience, Olympic-style TaeKwonDo has much faster kicks than any other art. That is not to say it is BETTER, but the kicks' speed are no joke.
It is quite thrilling, but point-sparring is annoying as can be because there is no chance for setting your opponent up, so I don't approve of it at ALL.

Also, while TaeKwonDo may be mocked and what have you by martial artists because of it's easy adaptability to a sport-style, true TKD styles are not all high kicks. I train with my hands equally, because I know if someone gets in past the range of my kicks, I'll have to use my fists.

TaeKwonDo has it's limits, as do other martial arts. Anyone calling themselves a martial artist should realize that, and make an effort to better themselves by finding any faults and correcting them somehow.

And in the United States, Kung Fu and Karate have worse reputations than any other martial arts. This is sad, but it's only due to people thinking they know everything about everything and people who run their mouths too much. Also, Hollywood movies don't help at all either, i.e. The Karate Kid. x___x