Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Martial Arts — TKDLouisville

David Gilbert unveils the secrets of the Tae Kwon Do Forms. David who believes in the practice of forms reveals secrets that TKD masters don’t want to be generally known. It’s not clear why they would feel this way but David makes clear that forms are an important aspect of learning Tae Kwon Do. Still Martial Artists like Bruce Lee argued for a freeer expression of the art. Who is right? See what David has to say.

Tae Kwon Do Forms - Self-Defense Guidelines
By David Gilbert

I am an absolute martial arts enthusiast. Or specifically I practice the Tae Kwon Do Forms, Tae Kwon Do Sparring and Poomse as well.

Some people practicing Tae Kwon Do Forms might think: what’s the purpose of Tae Kwon Do training if you’re not allowed to use it in the streets?

Myth and Truth

In fact, it’s a myth. There is some style of Tae Kwon Do that focuses on self-defense aspect within the art. The reason many think that Tae Kwon Do Forms is useless on the street is because of the fact that the majority of what others see are the style of Tae Kwon Do that focus on mainly Olympic competition format.

Tae Kwon Do Forms is an exercise. Most Tae Kwon Do instructors don’t want and forbid you to use it because they know that it is useless and they don’t want you to know that. Plain and simple. My view, don’t have to agree. Like most all styles that are “traditional” use kata. You’ll know if it is real. First off a lot of contact when training, I am not saying fighting, but contact. You’ll hurt and get scratches and a little black and blue. If your not, then your in an exercise class, not a class for self defense, at least not an effective and real one.

Self-Defense Guidelines

You can use Tae Kwon Do or any other style of martial arts on the street to defend yourself. And please follow these simple guidelines:

1, It must be to defend only. The law does allow martial artist to defend ourselves. But we aren’t supposed to kill the people that have attacked us with his fist.

2, We are supposed to use some type of restraint. I am not supposed to break 10 bones even though that is what we are trained to do.

3, The defense has to be on the same level as the offense. If a guy attacks with a knife and I disarm him and he is no longer a threat I am supposed to stop fighting. In other words if I take him down and he is now unable to continue to attack I can’t continue to hurt him because I am upset.

4, There are some gray areas regarding the law. It is best that once you have taken the guy down and he isn’t an immediate threat you should leave the area as soon as possible. You don’t have to break every bone in his body are put him in a comma before you stop retaliating.

5, Use the self defense that you have been taught. Don’t go overboard. If you do go overboard you will go to jail. That doesn’t matter if you know martial arts or not. Going to jail is not worth it if you can get yourself out of the situation. If my life or family life is threatened I will respond with the same force. That means I will take a life. I have no choice and the law is supposed to protect me in that situation.

6, You should probably find someone who has been doing karate or kung fu around the same time as you and see if you can at least give him a good fight. If you can’t and the guy totally beats you up then you should consider getting out of that Tae Kwon Do class.

In Summary

At the end of the day, in a life and death situation a swift kick to the shenanigans would be a better form of defense than showing off what you learned at your Tae Kwon Do Form class.

By Clint Leung

The two most common martial arts practiced in North America are karate and tae kwon do. Many wonder what the difference between these two martial arts is. This is especially the case for those who are just starting to look around for a martial arts studio. After all, most practitioners in both karate and tae kwon do seem to wear the same type of white gi uniforms with various colored belts.

Modern traditional karate was developed in the islands of Okinawa in Japan after some influences from Chinese martial arts. There are actually different styles of karate but they are all commonly considered as Japanese martial arts today. The colored belt system was developed to show the various ranks of karate practitioners with white depicting novices and black belts (with various degrees) representing instructor levels and higher. There is a whole range of other different colors in between. Modern tae kwon do was developed in Korea after much influence from Japanese karate during the occupation by Japan. Indeed, tae kwon do is sometimes referred to as Korean karate. The Koreans adopted similar white uniforms along with a colored belt ranking system for tae kwon do. Today, there are two main styles of tae kwon do, one under the International Tae Kwon Do Federation and the other under the World Tae Kwon Do Federation. Many tae kwon do schools have added a black lining to their white uniforms for black belt levels. A V-neck top is often seen in schools affiliated with the World Tae Kwon Do Federation. There are also older Korean styles including tang soo do and moo duk kwan. Some of the more Americanized karate and tae kwon do schools also use uniforms with other colors such as red, black and blue in addition to the traditional white.

It can be generalized that in karate, one would use their arms or hands for 60% of the time for strikes or blocks while the use of legs for kicking will be about 40%. This breakdown is seen in the many forms or katas of karate which are set routines which simulate fighting against imaginary opponents using martial arts techniques. The forms from tae kwon do would have the opposite percentage breakdown with 40% hands and 60% legs. In tae kwon do, there is also more emphasis on higher kicks to the head level than in karate. Tae kwon do practitioners also utilize more jumping or flying kicks where one is airborne while executing kicking techniques. The tae kwon do forms or patterns are generally a bit shorter and less complex than the karate forms. Some tae kwon do schools have been known to use the odd karate form in its curriculum as well.

In North America as well as other parts of the world, there are separate traditional competitions for karate and tae kwon do. However, the open martial arts tournaments in North America often have competitors from both karate and tae kwon do competing together. Some of the larger open martial arts competition events will have separate forms divisions for Japanese karate and Korean tae kwon do competitors but the fighting or sparring divisions will usually be combined. Many black belts in tae kwon do end up studying karate as well and the opposite has been true too. Tae kwon do has received more publicity in recent years since its introduction as an Olympic sport. The style and rules used for the Olympic version of tae kwon do fighting comes from the World Tae Kwon Do Federation (WTF). Both karate and tae kwon do are considered as hard style martial arts in North America today (as opposed to soft styles such as the many versions of Chinese kung fu).