Hands up?

I dont know if this has been posted before, but why do people in tournaments never seem to put their hands up?

It's probably just a bad habit they picked up.

I used to do the same thing in sparring (I never competed). I guess it was because I wasn't focused so much on my guard as I was on attacking.

Many TKD tournament fighters do not keep their hands up because the WTF rules do not allow hand strikes to the face. Most fighters are quick enough to bring their hands up to block kicks, but keeping them up to defend against hand strikes is unnecessary and therefor a waste of energy.

In my opinion, WTF tournament sparring rules have done more to ruin TKD as a practical martial art than anything since the advent of the handgun.

Because as i was watching this compiled video clips of TKD sparring matches, most of the time when people got hit in the head, it could have been avoided if they had put their hands up.

As fileboy said it's an unnecessary waste of energy in TKD sport fighting. A kick to the head (while not slow) does come at you slower then a shot to the head from an upper extremity does and so one can bring their arms up and have a good chance of blocking the kick.

And then there is the aspect that throwing continual kicks is draining. Just think, when fighters (MMA, boxers, etc.) are punching and as they get tired or fatigued their hands start to drop. The majority can realize this themselves or hear coaching from their corner to bring their hands back up. Now perhaps this was the case in TKD that eventually it evolved to what we see now that many do not raise their hands at all. In my case when we TKD spar we are encouraged to keep our hands up, and we are WTF, but as you get tired as kicking with your legs is far more tiring then punching, that I start to drop my hands and then I hear from the outside to put them back up.

In fact with many of our kicking drill classes we are told to keep our hands up even when going to the back of the line. If one person drops their hands then the whole group has to doing monkey jumps or clapping push-ups. Of course for many school that are just sports orientated that may not be an issue but for a school such as ours that is more geared towards self defense, hands up is a must and is practiced frequently. Punching across the gym ensuring that your jab hand comes back quickly to protect the jaw while the power hand is up blocking the side of your head. These and many other drills just hammers that home.

And don't kid yourself about it just being TKD or just WTF. I have seen ITF people like this and have seen others in Karate too. It depends on the person, where they train, etc.

Not keeping your hands up is a fundemental tactic of the "rockhead" defense.

If you happen to be a rockhead, you are lucky. Blocking with your head is a realtively easy defense to master.

This also bugs me (secondary to limp arms): hands up but arms folded vertically against the chest - like an extra layer of armor. Reminds me of T-rex arms...can't really do anything in that position.

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hands up but arms folded vertically against the chest - like an extra layer of armor. Reminds me of T-rex arms...can't really do anything in that position.

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Not sure what you are saying, what position do you put your arms/hands in for fighting stance?