Which style should I choose to learn? Tae Kwon do or Kung Fu?

Question

I want to learn one of these but I don't know which one is better or the difference of them

Answer 1

you need to know what you are learning for.  I dont mean to sound philosophical or anything but Tae Kwon Do has a vast tournament history, sports organizations-not to mention the olympics-and also a very strong, straight design to it.  lots of kicks, very linear.  Of course any martial art has practical applications as far as the fighting goes- but hopefully your not wanting to learn so you can get in fights.   Kung Fu (which ever style is available to you) will be more of a fluid type of art.  It has more "roundness to it".  it is still very powerful and beautiful at the same time.  I know there are tournaments you can compete in but i would say you wont find the general availability to them as you would tae kwon do.  

If you want to learn for self defense and the chance to compete for sport than go with tae kwon do. just look at any martial arts supply store, online or catalog- most of the stuff they sell is for either TKD or Karate.  Kung fu gets a few pages here and there.  at some point though you should try both and get a feel for them.  sit in on a class.  most placed have some type of free first class or week or something.  you'll learn to fight either way.    

Answer 2

Dah!! Taekwondo!!

Answer 3

Tae Kwon Do is a much more aggressive type of fighting while Kung Fu isn't. Tae Kwon Do is much more practical, and relies more on kicks and I'd say you're going to have to be well conditioned to do it. Kung Fu is what you would see in old chinesse karate movies..lol

Not to talk down to Kung Fu, But I would deffinitley take Tae Kwon Do instead. But, if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't just take my word, I would go sit in on a Kung Fu and a tae Kwon Do class. That should clear up any concerns.

If you have any spare time, go to www.fight-site.com

There is an article on Muay-Thai, which is closley related to Tae kwon Do. Although there are some differences, you would get an Idea of what you're getting into.

I hope this helped a little.

Answer 4

Are these your only two options?

The teacher is what makes any art the best for beginners.

A far as complexity, authentic kung-fu schools offer the most varied training. But there are some other styles that offer great training also. If you can only pick one of these two then you should pick the one with the best instructor to begin with. As time goes on you will know what you want or what you need. Eventually jump ship if you need to and don't hesitate. In the end the martial arts are truly only about you.

Answer 5

Kung fu, Depending on your art it is very beautiful and unique. Taekwondo is punching and kicking and kung fu is shifting weight into different stances... they wont teach you how to do the moves to where they become self defense unless your sparing...but tone the moves up and some of the kung fu is very lethal... however it is all for grabs one is chinese the other is korean... I would go with Ju jitsu as it is a good way of restraining people and locking

Answer 6

I have studied Tae Kwon Do a few years back (for a few years), and have studied with people who also trained in Kung Fu. Here's what I can say from what I've heard and learned.

Tae Kwon Do is martial art which you may think of as similar to Karate. It has several types of kicks (9 I think), and several types of punches, and many diffence techniques and stances.

In your training you learn the difference techniques and also practice them by doing Pumsees (Katas). As in other martial arts you can compete against others in combat, and practice smashing things to pieces with your bear hands and legs (which I think is cool).

As for Kung Fu, I think it has many styles and you'll need to decide which kind of kung fu you'd like to learn. I think kung fu is a "sexier" martial arts, with all of the movies protraining it as the ultimate martial art (kung fu panda :) ). There are some basic differences between Kung Fu and Tae Kwon Do (like the way you hold your hand), which in my opinion suggests that you wouldn't want to switch between them once you got used to one of them.

Bottom line: if I had to choose now, I would have chosen Kung Fu, if only because it has so many styles where you can develope to.

Answer 7

It would depend on the competency of the instructor, not so much the style, because even with a good style an incompetent instructor is not going to do much for you.  Here is my own personal list of martial arts, from best to worst, the criteria used here being, how good each art is at efficiently using the body's resources in the fastest possible time, as speed naturally is essential;

1)  Tai Chi Chuan, Yang Long Form, all 5 frames, rarely taught to students not carefully chosen by a genuine master of the style who practices as a martial art.

2)  Shaolin Kung Fu (north or south, though only north survived), or the Tibetan Crane Style of Kung Fu.  Incidentally nothern Shaolin has a synthesized version of the Crane style form, 108 steps long.

3)  Shuia Jiao, king of the grappling arts.

4)  Karate or Tae Kwan Do, trained in "old school."  The WTF is aware of the fact that not everybody wants to do TKD for sport, so in Korea at least, I know the option exists to practice it either as a sport, or as a martial art.  Practiced as a martial art the approach is totally different.

5)  Catch Wrestling (all techniques learned) or Judo; they are practically the same thing.  At the turn of the century early 20th, there was a rivalry between catch and Judo, in which initially catch beat Judo, until Japan, incensed, sent a better Judoka to deal with the catch guy.  However the match ended in a draw.  Despite initial racism on the American's part, and despite initial rivalry, in time the two grapplers (the catch guy and the better Judoka) respected each other.  So much so that they exchanged training techniques.  The reason you see hip throws in collegiate catch wrestling, and high level high school, is because they learned that from Judoka.  Conversely in Judo the reason you see the equivalent of a double leg takedown is because they learned that from the catch guy.  The reason Judoka number 1 lost against the catch guy, was because of poor conditioning; see, because many old strength training methods had been forgotten, Japanese Jiu Jitsu, and later on Judo experts had absolutely no clue at all as to how to build strength.  Thus in the end the Judoka's poor conditioning caught up to him, and the catch guy made short work of him, a dude who reportedly could do 1,000 pushups in a row.  Judoka number 2, fought him to a draw; his conditioning was also bad, but the reason the catch guy did not have a conclusively victory, had to do with Judoka number 2 being way more skilled.  Meaning, J2 was extremely slippery.  Early catch's emphasis was all about power moves, while early Judo was all about leverage, but it was not too well developed.  Basically, because the catch guy was clueless as to the nature of leverage in grappling, the Judo guy kept slipping from his grip.  Mutually impressed though; the Judo guy learned some power techniques and strength conditioning from the catch guy, while the catch guy learned some leverage stuff from the Judo guy.  Later on the catch guy went on to learn some stuff from none other than the great Gama (Indian Wrestler).  Basically, because the Judoka of Japan improved upon what the catch guy taught that turn of the century Judo guy, and because American catch is a synthesis of Indian, classic Lancanshire Catch AND a little bit of Judo, both grappling styles are therefore equal.

6)  Old School boxing.

7)  Muay Thai

8)  Krav Maga

9)  Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

10)  Sanda, not to be confused with Sanshow although for some odd reason wikipedia and google keep saying they're the same thing when they're not.  One has a limited arsenal, the other a more complete one.

Hope the list helps!

Answer 8

Kung Fu

Answer 9

Tae kwon do

Answer 10

I would first read some history about each style first. I also recommend if you want to see what kung fu is watch the movie Fearless starring Jet Li. Actually, the first martial art style that I started with was Tae kwon do. I did like it, but the style involves alot of kicks and breaking boards and bricks was a big thing too. I then went on to Karate ( watch the karate kid), and then traditional kung fu. There is actually two forms of kung fu, but there is many styles with in the kung fu family tree. basically have Northern kung fu which is traditional kung fu, and Southern Kung Fu which is called "WuShu- martial=wu and art=shu". Wushu is what Jet li did and Jackie Chan did traditional kung fu. Wushu is used more for competition. What I did was that I tried a style that I came by and read about the history. Keep going until you find a style that is right for you. I found my two styles which are brazilian jiujitsu and muay thai kickboxing which is a form of mix martial arts.

Answer 11

kung fu has more training you should try wing chun

Answer 12

try them both and go with the one that makes u happier  

Answer 13

Tae Kwon Do is traditionally a sport orientated martial art.  Kung-fu is more self-defense orientated.

This is why TKD is in the Olympics and Kung Fu is not.  It will mainly depend on what you are interested in accomplishing.  Make sure you choose the best martial art for your overall goal.

I have written a full article on choosing martial arts/martial arts schools on my website if you are interested.  Link below.

Answer 14

Eventually I plan to look into Aikido..