I think Taekwondo is Underrated

[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:

[quote]Sentoguy wrote:

[quote]Loftearmen wrote:

[quote]shadowbobo8028 wrote:

[quote]Facepalm_Death wrote:
Doing any high kicks you run a risk of getting countered hard in many many ways, especially if someone knows you do TKD from the beginning[/quote]
Body kicks are super effective. I personally see low kicks as useless[/quote]

I am pretty new to martial arts but I guarantee you if I caught you in the thigh with a round kick it would change your mind about leg kicks’ effectiveness. There are plenty if guys out there who can throw them faster, harder and more effectively than I can too. It really sounds like you just haven’t fought anyone who was very good.

Also, Where the hell do you get a black belt in Muay Thai?[/quote]

You don’t; Muay Thai doesn’t have a colored belt system.

I’m pretty sure that anyone here is any kind of experience would change the OP’s mind (Pidgeon, Myself, Big Boss, You, Robert, any of us). Also, it’s not just about how hard you can throw them, but also your accuracy in throwing them (hit the right spot and you’ll feel it even if the kick isn’t that hard), especially if you haven’t spent years deadening the nerves in your leg from conditioning them.

It’s pretty obvious the OP was just trolling, or incredibly naive.
[/quote]
I AM incredibly naive. This is the one and only Muay Thai fighter I ever fought and I won with flying colors so I lost a little bit of respect for it (though I prob shouldn’t have)
I fought the Muay Thai fighter and he kicked me in the legs so many times. I was just like “Wtf…” cause none of them hurt and they ended up being distractions from his main attack: face punches. I soon figured that out and that’s how I countered and beat him. Hell I even managed to land a HIGH kick (hence his black eye).

Btw the kid did MMA if that makes more sense. His friends told me he was a black belt. He does Muay Thai, boxing (or so it seems), and jujitsu.

Also you guy realize that taekwondo cannot be effectively done by weak people out of shape right? TKD is a very “hard” art (as opposed to soft art) and is 90% power driven. A REAL TKD practitioner should not be out of shape with poor cardio & lack of strength. Years of TKD + squats helped build my legs so none of his low kicks hurt[/quote]

Your last comment is 100% correct, but that goes for any real Martial Art (even armed ones IMO). Like I said in an earlier post, you take any “art” (and really they are all just variations on the same theme, as there are only so many ways that the human body can be effectively used to damage another human being), train it realistically, and put it in the hands of a tough, athletic, well conditioned person and it can be effective (whether it’s TKD, JKD, Wing Chun, Savate, Muay Thai, BJJ, Judo, Wrestling, Sambo, Krav Maga, etc…etc…etc…).

Regarding leg kicks, the guy obviously lacked in accuracy, because a correctly placed and executed low kick attacks the nerves or joints of the lower limbs. That doesn’t mean that you might not be tough enough to take a few, but they will eventually shut your legs down and render you unable to stand or walk (and that’s just the ones directed at the muscles/nerves, in the old Siamese kickboxing they used to actually aim for the knee joint itself and try to cripple the opponent), no matter how muscular your legs are. Yes, it’s possible to check them and therefore absorb or deflect some of the force as well as making it more difficult to access the nerves (at least to the outside of the thigh), or shin block them (and, if you have conditioned your shins for this and they have not, potentially hurt them more than you yourself are hurt), or knee block them (which can break the opponent’s lower leg, see Anderson Silva vs Chris Weidman). None of this changes their effectiveness though if targeted, timed, and executed properly. Clearly this individual simply wasn’t as good as them as he or his buddies thought.

Oh man. I’m sorry I missed this thread the first time it appeared.

[RANT BEGINS]

There is such confirmation bias in martial arts.

The Fresh off the bus Martial Artist, 6 months deep in his chosen style is all: “I do Hu Flung Dung, therefore it is the best.”

My response: “Oh dear, was ‘Hu Flung Dung’ terrible before you started? Thanks for saving Hu Flung Dung!”

Says the noob, “I saw a grainy video of an indistinct style being used in a street fight between to middle schoolers and the video title is HFD is the best… The HFD guy totally smoked that Muay Thai black belt kid.”

I’m not really that angry with the OP. I’m angry with the ratchet ass guy with an effin Muay Thai black belt. How effin isolated do you need to be to never stumble on the fact that Muay Thai is not belted?

[RANT ENDS]

On a more humorous note, I’m pretty short so all my kicks are low kicks. Even if I could kick someone much taller than me, that guy would only still only be like 5’8". Come at me bro

^^^Yeah, the other supposed “Muay Thai Black Belt” is definitely to blame for giving the OP an unrealistic picture of MT’s effectiveness. Maybe the dude was a BJJ Black Belt (from a purely sport BJJ school) and had just started doing some Muay Thai and boxing (and therefore pretty new to striking ) in hopes of eventually transitioning into MMA and that’s what his buddies conflated to mean that he had a “Black Belt in Muay Thai”. At least I hope that’s what happened.

Shadow. I’m sorry, I’m struggling to take your posts seriously.

You realize you fought a guy that is DEFINITELY training at a McDojo. If I placed you in the ring with a 16 year old Nak Muay from a no name brand Thai gym, the kid would hurt your legs. I don’t care how many squats you’ve done.

Also, what does “90% power driven” even mean? That’s non-fact. What’s the other 10% consist of? A mother’s love?

You’re also arguing that TKD in the ring isn’t real TKD. Cool story bro. maybe go piss of a boxer with a bunch of fights in the ring under his belt in a bar sometime and see how quickly he educates you on this silly position of yours. Just because something is codefied into a sport doesn’t mean it is useless. And just because your secret sauce TKD isn’t a ring sport, doesn’t mean it will take you places.

And that leads me to my final point. Start challenging your preconceptions by challenging your skill. Spar with tested opponents, study other styles and stop making inane “No true Scotsman” claims about how a real martial artist does this or that.

[quote]Pigeonkak wrote:
Shadow. I’m sorry, I’m struggling to take your posts seriously.

You realize you fought a guy that is DEFINITELY training at a McDojo. If I placed you in the ring with a 16 year old Nak Muay from a no name brand Thai gym, the kid would hurt your legs. I don’t care how many squats you’ve done.

Also, what does “90% power driven” even mean? That’s non-fact. What’s the other 10% consist of? A mother’s love?

You’re also arguing that TKD in the ring isn’t real TKD. Cool story bro. maybe go piss of a boxer with a bunch of fights in the ring under his belt in a bar sometime and see how quickly he educates you on this silly position of yours. Just because something is codefied into a sport doesn’t mean it is useless. And just because your secret sauce TKD isn’t a ring sport, doesn’t mean it will take you places.

And that leads me to my final point. Start challenging your preconceptions by challenging your skill. Spar with tested opponents, study other styles and stop making inane “No true Scotsman” claims about how a real martial artist does this or that. [/quote]

Exactly what I was trying to say!

I saw that Anderson Silva was recently removed (?) from the Brazilian TKD team. I was hoping to see him bring attention to the sport.

Start competing against experienced people (i.e. not random guys who think MT has a belt system) and you will likely change your mind, especially about the leg kicks. Do you have any proper MT gyms in your area? Swing by and ask an instructor to kick you in the leg and see if you feel it.