I am thinking of joining karate or taekwondo? What is the difference?

Question

Also, I am not so strong in my upper body strenght but my lower body strenght is pretty good. I like to use my feet to attack and I know that is what taekwondo focuses on but I also want to know if karate also uses a decent amount of kicking? Anyway, I'm 14 and I weight 155 pounds.

Answer 1

Taekwondo emphasizes kicking, but is not limited to specifically kicking, nor is it all 'high kicks to the head' as someone else here mentioned. Taekwondo utilizes the legs due to reach and power, but if taught properly also emphasizes strongly the use of legs in stance and hand/elbow strikes, as well as ridge hand techniques.

Karate is a mixture of both if it's taught right, but finding a good Karate school in the USA is tough.

My honest opinion? Hapkido. It's a Korean art that mixes the kicking and core power of Taekwondo with opponent manipulations, throws, locks, and disarming techniques. Additionally, it has a fair amount of hand striking techniques that are very effective. It has been my experience that this art is the best of both worlds.

But this is my opinion.

Answer 2

karate involves a lot of principles of all the body parts in self-defense but taekwondoe is more offensive iz kinda like kickboxin almost

Answer 3

Before you decide, check out the internal martial arts of Hsing Yi, Ba Kua, and Tai Chi where you will learn rooting and the development of internal energy that you borrow fromt the earth and transmit to your opponent.  We've had black belts from Karate and Tae Kwon Do come into our internal martial arts school, challenge the master, and become defeated within 15 seconds.  Internal is not for everyone.  It requires patience, the ability to relax, and mental focus.

Answer 4

No difference, they've both been "commercialized".

Answer 5

taekwondo would be a good fit for you but, if your looking for something that will make you over all better in the long run i would suggest karate,

upper body strength isn't required. to be a good fighter. all that is required is knowing your enemy's strengths and weaknesses.

Answer 6

The difference?  One calls itself karate and the other calls itself taekwondo.   Taekwondo claims to have more kicks, but you only find that among beginners.  

This wikipedia article on Tangsoodo tells the truth about karate and taekwondo:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangsoodo

" Tang Soo Do (Hangul: 당수도) is the Korean pronunciation of the Chinese characters 唐手道. In Japanese, these characters mean "karate-do", but in contemporary Japanese karate-do is written with different characters (空手道). The Japanese pronunciation of both sets of characters is the same, but the newer version means "Way of the Empty Hand" rather than "Way of the T'ang (China) Hand", although it could also be interpreted as "Way of the China Hand".

"Prior to the unification of the Kwans under the Korea Taekwondo Association, most of the major Kwans called their style Tang Soo Do, Kong Soo Do, or Kwon Bup."

Now that said, there are two major branches of taekwondo: ITF and WTF.  Do some googling to find out more details.

Bottom line:  look for a school where you feel comfortable and start practicing.  You can get picky and persnickity later.

Answer 7

What style of karate? There are numerous style that are broken down into three main catagories:

1) Okinawin- Karate originated in Okinawa, and true Okinawin karate is more then blocking, punching, and kicking. It contains numerous Locks, throws, sweeps, take downs, chokes, and clinch fighting techniques. The stances tend to be more upright, closer to a boxers stance, for mobility. Most styles are a blending of hard and soft techniques, and very few are flashy, and are focused on effective self defense motion. Okinawin karate tends to suit smaller people very well, because quite honestly your average okinawin is on the small side.

2) Japanese styles- These on average tend to be more sport oriented, but if taught by a good instructor are more then adiquate for self defense. These styles tend to have lower stances, which are great for power, but they sacrafice some mobility. Most japanes estyles that I know of would fall more into the hard style catagory.

3) American Hybred styles- These are styles that people have made up, and run the gammit from excellent to not worth c***. These are the ones you really want to check out the instructors credentials and who developed the style, and find out how well respected they are in the martial arts community.

Realize that this is just a very broad veiw, and I could go into really greater detail.

TKD is a korean style that does essentially emphisize kick, especially if it is an olympic style school. Traditonal TKD also contains many punching and grappling techniques, unfortunatly schools that teach it are few and far between.

My advice is do some research, and visit all available schools in your area. There are many answers on here about how to find a good school, a good instructor, and what to watch out for, just use the search feature.

Remember more importent then style is the quality of instruction you can find, whether the school trains realisticly with resistance and contact, and what style fits you.

Edit for Desk 3- No disrepect intended at all, but Isshin-Ryu is a combination of hard and soft.

Answer 8

Tae Kwon Do is 70% high kicks.

And depending on the style of Karate: 40% kicks to 50% kicks.

1. Tae Kwon Do is a hard style.  TKD does not believe in pressure points or deflecting away a punch or a kick.  Tae Kwon Do believes in using the strongest part of your body (leg) against the weakest party of your opponents body (head/neck).  That is why TKD is 70% kicks to the head.  You want to break his neck with one shot (ending the fight).

2. Karate has both hard and soft styles.  Shotokan and Isshin-Ryu are hard styles.  While Goju-Ryu is a mixed hard/soft style; and Uechi-Ryu is a soft style.  Soft styles believe in pressure points and soft blocks with hard punches.

Okinawan style karate tends to emphasize physical conditioning; while Japanese style karate tends to emphasize aggressive/spiritual attacks.  Japanese Karate fighters have the unnerving habit of trying to beat you to the punch.

Answer 9

I would suggest doing TKD since most of the karate in the U.S. is pretty watered down.

If you can, I would checking out a few different schools before signing up with any. Compare hours, prices and the seriousness of the teachers. A lot of time its the teachers that make the difference in your progress, not the styles.

Answer 10

Desk3Bound answer is bunk - 1. Tae Kwon Do is a hard style. TKD does not believe in pressure points or deflecting away a punch or a kick. Tae Kwon Do believes in using the strongest part of your body (leg) against the weakest party of your opponents body (head/neck). That is why TKD is 70% kicks to the head. You want to break his neck with one shot (ending the fight).

This is not true at all.

Everyone else above me is about on point. TKD teaches grapleing, joint locks and other inclose combat skills as well.  You just have to find a good school. TKD also most certainly does teach you to block. A block is a deflection and they also teach to hit pressure points.

Wow some people. They go to a bad school and apply what they were taught as law. Grow people, Grow! Expand your world. What you see around you is not all to the universe you know.