Posted by: Anonymous
Effectiveness - 05/16/04 05:29 AM
I'm new to the forums and glad to be here, I recently got into TKD and love it. And am glad there is a place where we can discuss things about martial arts.......Ok enough of that. I'm a pretty tall guy, 6'2, have always been tall and for some reason have used kicks and sweeps in fights since I was a kid. Granted, I was fighting for stupid reasons, but since I was tall I always viewed the leg as a great weapon since my upper body wasn't super strong and the legs could keep an attacker at bay. I was inerested in TKD ever since I learned about how much the legs were used and since I liked to kick, I figured it was perfect for me. I read alot of things, I mean alot of things about how TKD would not be effective in a street situation, or say it's a dumb martial art to learn, or it's all flash. I find all of that rubbish and biased..seeing how I am a martial artist and respect I value and therefore I respect all forms and find them all good in their own ways. I say all that to come to this conclusion, I feel, that the effectiveness of ANY martial art relies on the person doing it and their own personal capacity to learn and apply the techniques.......Also, I don't look forward to fighting so I could care less if I can snap arms like twigs because in a street situation, hopefully it is a street level thug fool who knows nothing of martial arts, so pretty much any style would work. I mean, they could know martial arts, but why would a martial artist be attacking someone for no reason, they have no honor if that is the case. And with TKD, yes, there are many, many, many kicks that in a real situation probably would not work, and a skilled street fighter could avoid them.......but......just go with the basics and it should be fine, I feel the things I learned on my first days of class are even good enough to use, if executed properly to defend yourself. But also think of the adrenalin dump thing also, and martial artists worry about that, but I mean someone with no knowledge of any MA would probably have it even worse, and just by chance you tried one of those spinning kicks and he froze, well....then lights out, cause while they seem not practical, I highly doubt any man could take a well connected advanced TKD kick. That being said, I respect all style for what they are, I find it foolish to call TKD, or any style "dumb", me being in TKD, i'd never call another style stupid or useless, because I believe it all depends on the person practicing it, every technique and style of martial art is effective in the hands of a skilled practicioner.