im starting karate soon(for sure) but im wondering whether to start tae kwon do as well.i know that it mostly emphises on kicking and also has a few hand tequniques. i just want to know what its all about :confused and what advantages its got over karate and visa versa.

if you happen to live in oxford and you know any good clubs please tell me. [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/biggrin.gif[/IMG]

I think Taekwondo or Karate are both good choices, as well as many other martial arts. As long as you enjoy it and work hard at it, that is all that matters. I work with a young lady who did Karate and is a black belt and I'm very interested in the things she does as they use weapons where as in Taekwondo you don't learn this till after you are a blackbelt. I also work with a guy who is a brown belt in Kungfu which is also interesting.

Go watch classes from either or any of the other arts to see what you like best about each and then make your decision. I got lucky as I did not shop around but joined because of friends (who all dropped out). What is nice about my school is we are taught traditional techniques with a little of the sport but not emphasized. Our instructor also has a black belt in Jujitsu so we do ground work. He's also cross trained in judo and kungfu plus we've even done Greco Roman wrestling. It's a good balance. Good luck to you on any of your choices, just work hard and enjoy.

Tae Kwon Do and Karate ( of the Shorin and Shotokan lineages ) share common roots, so it's difficult to talk about individual advantages as they're so similar in some ways. In my experience, Tae Kwon Do will teach you more and better kicks than Karate, and will also get you into sparring faster. Depending on the specific lineage, Karate can give you better hand techniques and better form ( I was with a branch of JKA Shotokan, little sparring, but absolute dedication to perfection of technique ).

There are other considerations though. Many instructors don't like their students crosstraining in other arts. Furthermore, the instructors may want identical techniques done very different ways. The TKD school ( if ITF ) may want you to emphasize the sine wave in stepping techniques, while the Karate school may want you to keep your body absolutely level stepping. By advancing in one style you may actually regress in the other.

The simialarities far out way the differences.

thanks for the help guys

karate is a much more balanced MA. it is 50%hand 50% kick. TKD however is in fact 30%hand 70% kick. Karate has more hard core hand techniques and throws. TKD has countless hardcore kicks. like roundhouse, frontsnap, back hook, flying roundhouse, flying back hook( which has ended more fights than I would have prefered to be in)
back kick, dbl. jump kick, sissor kick( great against graplers.) or my favorite of all side kicks.