I'm currently doing jiu jitsu and i really like it but also like to improve my punching/ kicking, so i thougth about a second sport, in my town i can choose between tae kwon do and shotokan karate, my question 'What is the big difference?' i would really appreciate if someone told me a litle about those 2 sports
thanx.

Oooh! This is a tough question to answer.
One could make the obvious generalisations about the differences between Karate and Tae Kwon Do.

I suggest you go and see/try both classes and decide on the basis of the quality of the instructor and the class.

You should also consider which best complements your main art as it sounds as though your not really interested in learning either fully.

Do you have friends skilled in any punch/kicking arts that can help you with this it may be more useful to book a squash court now and again and get a freind to teach you the basics of punching & kicking.

What you might need more that deciding what style is good, is to figure out who is the better teacher.

Mark Groenewold

Tae Kwon Do is mostly kicking. Thats in my opinion.

LV,
Firstly well done for considering cross training. Either of these would complement your current training.

It is true that you should examine each school and teacher first.

I study Shotokan, my wife Tae Kwon Do.

On the surface both arts are quite similar. The difference comes in how the techniques are applied and the overall emphasis.

Although TKD is renown for its powerful, high kicks, but it also has punching, striking, grappling and throws.

Shotokan is probably one of the most popular forms of Karate and generally has a more traditional approach.

If you have any more specific questions there is a TKD forum, read other entries in this forum, or post them here and I will try to answer them.

Budo.

choose a good and tough karate school.....not a mcdojo!

Here is another side, Tae Kwon Do is a Korean Art and you could learn about the Korean culture and philosophy. I just recently learned how Korean accupunture differs in approach to Chineese or Japaneese accupuncture. Shotokan is steep in Japaneese tradition, yet is actually an Okinawan art. Much to learn about Funakoshi Sensei's life as well. The approach to the arts, while still being Karate may be different, or may be the same, that is for you to decide.
As far as this McDojo thing, I think that it is really hard for a new student who knows little about the Arts to decide what is true and what is McDojo. We can see through a lot of imitation schools after having trained for years, yet a newbie may not. There are in deed, pseudo schools, yet they must fill a need as they have students who follow them. I have a very dear friend who has a Mcdojo......He really cares about his students, is a great friend, wonderful human being, but he can't get by the club atmosphere and his practice reflects this. It is not a hard workout, or staunch in tradition or history. Yet he has students. So we need to watch what we call McDojo as it may fit someones needs.

TKD BLOWS!!!!! IM JUST KIDDING DON"T HATE ME PLEASE.. IM KIDDING

*smack
*thump
*stab
OUCH!

If it were up to me, I'd just say to hell with BOTH of them, lol!

Find a decent KICKBOXING school that SPARS and you'll be better off (if self-defense is your goal).

Good luck!

-John

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JKogas:
If it were up to me, I'd just say to hell with BOTH of them, lol!

Find a decent KICKBOXING school that SPARS and you'll be better off (if self-defense is your goal).

Good luck!

-John[/QUOTE]LEt Me guess,Something a white belt would say. [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/biggrin.gif[/IMG]