Why TKD?

[Wheels]

Nihilanthic:
"Many have a problem with TKD being ineffective, having poor, unrealistic training, being geared more for point-sparring tournaments than a real fight. I've yet to see a school that had full-contact training, good conditioning, bag work, and self-defence training that doesn't have the same rules that are in TKD competition."

I agree. I just ****ing hate Point sparring... Never in my life have I heard of such a ridiculous and pointless system until I moved to the U.S. Luckily, my Muay-Thai instructor being the really nice guy he is, he doesn't mess around when it comes to real training. We do all the things you mention above, and we train specifically for Boxing techniques, kicking, and full contact sparring with protective gear to keep from unnecessary injuries that would keep anybody from keeping a regular training schedule. He doesn't care about money either. The tuition is dirt-cheap ($15 a month) and he actually has hooked me up many a time. Our space is not the best, and even crammed at times, but I feel very lucky to train there.

Oh wow, and here I thought I came up with the "McDojo" term. Good ****.

Mad respect for you bro. Where do you train Capoeira? What state?

[Nihilanthic]

Ugh... Point Sparring is supposedly good for practicing technique without worry about injury, or playing fancy tag and impressing girls / people who don't know better. It just kills me that there are "black belts" that go out and think they could defend themselves because they have done well point sparring. The rules are restrictive to an extreme, the "legal target area" is total crap, counting a technique as blocked is just by putting your arm in the way... and on top of that you get in trouble for being too aggressive or hitting too hard. This is reason #1 so many TMArists are poor fighters.

Some arts, Kyoukoshin, for instance, belives more in hard-sparring, conditioning, pushing the body to its limit. Those would be examples of GOOD TMAs. But, while I'm on Kyoukoshin, it does have some restrictive rules in its competitions, such as no punching to the face, ect. Its refreshing to see these rules being re-evaluated because of MMA events, K-1 would be one example. Now, if only full clinches, throws, and elbows were allowed in K-1... (I think knees are allowed). Redman suits allow extremely safe striking, maby with more research things like them could be used to allow full-tilt fighting without suffering a real injury in the future.

<Me> John, what do you know about Zen Buddhism? <John> *smacks me*
<John> I'd have to smack you sometime...