Is "Hwardo" Bullshido?

**Emerald Torch** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 7:15pm

Hey. Noob posting on Asian Martial Arts. Anyways, I really want to take Hapkido, but my mom doesn't want to take me because she thinks its too far. She instead wants me to take this much closer school, called "Hwardo." I attended one class, and it seemed like complete bullshit. Apparently, the Grandmaster is 10th Degree Black Belt in Hapkido, 9th degree BB in TKD, 8th Degree BB in Kung Fu, 9th degree in Kum Do, and 9th degree in Kickboxing. WTF!? Here's the link: http://www.hykwon.com/ Can anyone confirm my bullshit detector?

**Chuan** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 7:34pm

well some big red flags on the BS meter:

10th Degree Black Belt
Sparring King of the World Tournaments for Grandmasters

9th Deg. Black Belt - Tae Kwon Do
(Pro Tae Kwon Do)-8th deg. Black Belt W.T.F (Kuk Ki Won)

8th Deg Black Belt - Kung Fu
9th Deg. Black Belt - Kickboxing

**AnOddParadigm** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 7:37pm

Look at the members section. You can find it with you eyes closed since when you highlight it you hear a mortal combat voice saying "membership". Look at the criteria for a child to win a gold medal. Then look to see what it takes for an adult to earn a gold medal.. sweet merciful crap. Some places I would give the benefit of a doubt, but this is just crap. Look at the movie section. While I wouldn't expect to see sparring videos, I would at least hope for some questionable technique. We do not even get that, we only find what is essentially cheap magic tricks with a martial art twist.

If you give us your general location someone can probably recommend a school. It sounds like you are still a student, does your school have a wrestling team?

**Stick** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 7:38pm

I think I remember this. Hey, that's right we have talkd about Hwardo before. Come to think of it we've talked about it a pretty good deal.

The long and short of it is, yes Hwardo is horse **** and you need to learn to use the search function.

**Emerald Torch** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 7:54pm

Originally Posted by AnOddParadigm

Look at the members section. You can find it with you eyes closed since when you highlight it you hear a mortal combat voice saying "membership". Look at the criteria for a child to win a gold medal. Then look to see what it takes for an adult to earn a gold medal.. sweet merciful crap. Some places I would give the benefit of a doubt, but this is just crap. Look at the movie section. While I wouldn't expect to see sparring videos, I would at least hope for some questionable technique. We do not even get that, we only find what is essentially cheap magic tricks with a martial art twist.

If you give us your general location someone can probably recommend a school. It sounds like you are still a student, does your school have a wrestling team?

I live in Fairfax, VA. I want to go to a place called Oriental Sports Academy, which teaches Hapkido (BTW, can anyone tell me if Hapkido's actually any good?), and I like boxing and kickboxing with my friends and brother, although no formal training. And yes, my high school does have a wrestling team, but I always thought wrestling was useless. Am I wrong?

**Chuan** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 8:05pm

Originally Posted by Emerald Torch

I live in Fairfax, VA. I want to go to a place called Oriental Sports Academy, which teaches Hapkido (BTW, can anyone tell me if Hapkido's actually any good?), and I like boxing and kickboxing with my friends and brother, although no formal training. And yes, my high school does have a wrestling team, but I always thought wrestling was useless. Am I wrong?

Try here instead:

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Richmond, VA
Richmond's only Blackbelt in Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Learn
priceless self defense while getting in the best shape of your life!
10354 Leadbetter Rd
Richmond, VA 23005.
http://www.bjjclub.com
wcma@comcast.net

or here:

Global Martial Arts Academy
Muay Thai, Jun Fan Kung Fu, Submission Wrestling, Philipino Martial Arts
1421 Kempsville Road Suite D+E
Chesapeake/Virginia Beach
Virginia United States
Mateo De Los Reyes
(757) 436-0515
mateo@gmaacademy.com

or these:

The Academy of P. H. A. T. Jiu Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai Kickboxing, Vale Tudo
442 Westfield Road
Charlottesville, VA 22901 USA
434-825-2734
Lamonte Bryant Tyler
ttyler001@yahoo.com

Pedro Sauer Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
George Mason University Aquatic and Fitness Center
Fairfax, VA USA
703-993-3939
Eddie Edmunds
edmunds8@yahoo.com

**Crabxcore** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 8:21pm

And no, wrestling is far from worthless. Wrestling will teach you takedowns, takedown defense, positioning, give you lots of opportunities for live training and probably get you into awesome shape while you're at it. So if you want to be a sprawler and brawler, or a grounder and pounder, seriously consider wrestling.

AND its almost bullshidoproof. Which is a HUGE plus.

P.P.S. Watch some videos of Matt Hughes, Dan Sever or Rampage Jackson if you want to see good wrestler in action. Granted, they have done extensive cross-training, but they have a definite wrestling base.

**Emerald Torch** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 8:32pm

Originally Posted by Chuan

Try here instead:

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in Richmond, VA
Richmond's only Blackbelt in Gracie Jiu Jitsu. Learn
priceless self defense while getting in the best shape of your life!
10354 Leadbetter Rd
Richmond, VA 23005.
http://www.bjjclub.com
wcma@comcast.net

or here:

Global Martial Arts Academy
Muay Thai, Jun Fan Kung Fu, Submission Wrestling, Philipino Martial Arts
1421 Kempsville Road Suite D+E
Chesapeake/Virginia Beach
Virginia United States
Mateo De Los Reyes
(757) 436-0515
mateo@gmaacademy.com

or these:

The Academy of P. H. A. T. Jiu Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Muay Thai Kickboxing, Vale Tudo
442 Westfield Road
Charlottesville, VA 22901 USA
434-825-2734
Lamonte Bryant Tyler
ttyler001@yahoo.com

Pedro Sauer Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
George Mason University Aquatic and Fitness Center
Fairfax, VA USA
703-993-3939
Eddie Edmunds
edmunds8@yahoo.com

...
Wow. Thats alot of BBJ.
But can anyone also tell me if Hapkido is any good?

**pauli** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 8:33pm

i would like to see emerald torch's mom's reaction to him suggesting she drive him to va beach a couple times a week.

there's lots of stuff up here in nova, though. good bjj places, for instance. which, for a high school student, is secondary to being on the damn wrestling team, setting up a foundation for future training.

are you actually in/around the city of fairfax, or somewhere in fairfax county?

**Ronin.74** · Posted On: 7/21/2006 8:36pm

Please, please make it stop. That website is total horseshit. King of the World tournament Champion my ass. I was training in Korea from 99-03, I never heard of any such tournament being held.

As a matter of fact large scale MMA/NHB tournaments did not start being held until April of 03, I know because I was there for the first one. Prior to that, MMA tournaments were very small with maybe 7-8guys showing up per weight division, with 2 weight divisions. These things were so far off the radar that they oftern got lumped in to the same category as Korean Pro wrestling (the lowest form of professional athlete in Korea, really more farce than fight). They would have like maybe 30-50 people show up to watch the fights. These small time tournaments were held maybe once or twice a year generally in the middle of nowhere. I went to the last small tournament in Jan. of 03 I think, barely any spectators and so far out that if someone had killed me, my body would have never been found.

Was there a tournament like the one that HY Kwon claims to have participated in? It is entirely possible. Was it called King of the World? I doubt it. Did he face any serious competition? Probably not. From what I saw of some of the early NHB fights only about 10-15% of the guys competing had some skills, the other 85% had no business even claiming to MAist of any kind, so if he really did participate in a tournament like this he probably did not face any real challenges.

More importantly why is there no record of this tournmaent being held? 1999 wasn't the dark ages the internet was everywhere in Korea. There should at least be pictures or video out there somewhere. Google turned up nothing. I'll try to look around a Korean search engine, buy my search fu in Korean is quite limited.

Hey Dai if you could link that other thread that talked about this guy I would appreciate it. it sounds like it would be some good reading. I'll try to find it myself as well.