Why do people say that Tae Kwon do is useless?

Question

I always read peoples comments about how they think that TKD is useless in a real fight...

How can kicks like these be useless?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=RAhEvJMSlHg

I'm pretty sure that if I got into a real fight that one of these kicks would knock them out...I mean how can kicks this powerful not have any significance? Kicks to the head and neck can be pretty dangerous, so I don't see how one could say that they can't be used in a street fight.

And if TKD is useless and not strong why would they make you wear so much protective gear while sparring?

What do you think and why?

Do you think that TKD is "useless"?

Answer 1

Yes, you do have some great points. I mean the kicks are a good weapon, but it would many people say tae kwon do sucks because most schools don’t work on hand techniques that much. I mean a lot of people in TKD wouldn’t know what to do if one tried to punch him/her in the face. Yes, most schools do have a self defense drills, but it is way different when one really needs to use it. I believe that martial artists need to simulate as close as they can to a real fight (when sparring). Furthermore, WTF (World Tae kwon do Federation) sparring is horrible. I feel as if WTF is taking the Kwon (hands) out of Tae Kwon Do. That’s not to say that its all bad. TKD WTF will give you a great work out and will teach you how to use your feet well. Bottom line, its not the style, but its how the most popular organization is affecting the style. I feel that TKD sparring should be like K-1 kick boxing (since for the most part it doesn’t deal with grappling).

Answer 2

I think you need to not think of this in terms on generalities. In any Martial Art, there are good schools and bad schools. You should really shop around and evaluate any school before joining it. Don't be fooled by fancy kicks or grappling. There are two elements to learning any martial art, what you bring to the table and what your school brings to the table.

So shop careful and be wary of belt factory schools. Remember, the most effective fighter in ANY contest or fight is the one that is MOST PROFICIENT in his/her style. There are no short cuts in Martial Arts.

Answer 3

People probably say this because of all the reasons stated above.  Too many McDojo's (mediocre instructors and black belt mills), too much focus on one aspect of fighting, and entirely too much focus on the sport aspect.  

I work in Seoul.  TKD dojangs are eeeeeeverywhere, it's common to see kids running around in a gi, it's part of the culture.  But half of them are blackbelts, and in my humble opinion, black belts should not be given to anyone under the age of 16 if for any reason but that of maturity.

There are some MMA fighters here in South Korea that use TKD as their stand-up style, but at least these guys will acknowledge the style's limitations and cross-train in something like judo, jiujitsu or submission wrestling.

Leaving out the ostentatious acrobatics, yes the kicks are powerful and devastating if they land, but what are you going to do if you're inside kicking distance, in the clinch or the ground?  Remember, there's no referee.

Answer 4

I'd just like to know when you plan on back flipping into kicking some 12' giant, or running on top of a bunch of people to kick another giant. Or when you're going to twist like a tornado or kick a roundhouse by just bending your knee.  

TKD itself is not necessarily usless. Though most of the schools that teach it are making it just a meager art for real world self defense. Kicking is a good ability to have, but that should not be the only ability for the sheer fact that if somebody is able to avoid your kicks then you're finished. Another disqualifying factor is the fact that the dojo is completely different from the street, especially one that emphasizes points for contact, and restricts the attacks and defenses.

Answer 5

The short answer is that they don't know any better.

Taekwando is the most widely used martial art by military around the world. It is now slowly being replaced. That is a subject for a very long answer.

Taekwando was developed specifically for unarmed militia in Korea. It is very formidable when taught properly. unfortunately it's wide popularity has caused a lot of inferior schools to proliferate around the world. Add to that the sport fighting which is become popular amongst many schools and the art has become watered down. If you can find a traditional instructor who is willing to not hold back and unlock this art for you you can quickly see how the Koreans were so formidable in unarmed combat.

I have to add that Taekwando is not all about kicking. Traditional Taekwando teaches take downs, locks, holds, various punching techniques, etc.. There are also many hidden techniques in the basic moves. There are at least two in the white belt form my instructor showed me. He is the only one in years I have ever seen teach them.

Answer 6

If you like Tae Kwon Do you should do Hapkido, ridiculous kicks but some amazing throws. However no martial art is useless, they all have their benefits.

Answer 7

Because 90% of tkd dojos promote their students primarily based on attendence. In my opinion belts should be given out only to people who have reached a certain skill level rather than their attendence and keeping their dues current.  Ive meet alot of tkd blackbelts that are ineffective in a fight due to the lack of full contact sparring.  Also tkd has alot ofpoint fighting tourneys which teaches the participant bad habits that are ineffective in the real world

Answer 8

Drew and Bunji and Arron J all have good answers. Traditional TKD taught old school is an extremly effective art for self defense. They do not teach many kicks to the head for self defense, but the theory behind it is that the harder and faster you can kick high, the more powerful your kicks will be when they are lower. Traditional TKD does in fact teach locks and chokes, as well as throws, it just doesn't focus on them.

Beware kicking at someone's head on the street. The higher you kick the more likely you are going to slip and fall.

Answer 9

Good TKD kicks can be a good weapon.  But they aren't enough to validate the system as a fighting system.

Why?  Because they are hard to land, energy intensive to throw, and easy to defend against.

Also, TKD is a limited art.  There are little throws, ineffective training in hand technique, and no grappling whatsoever.  Many schools don't include a weapons element either.  

So for fighting against a good opponent?  Yes, TKD is useless.  Take my word for it, I have a black belt in TKD, and from what I would consider a "self defense" oriented TKD school.  

Or don't take my word for it.  How long did it take you to get that blue belt?  six months?  One year?  Spend that same amount of time in an MMA camp and you'll never look back.  You owe it to yourself to try, trust me.

Answer 10

Tae Kwon Do is great.  It's a rightful Olympic sport and it requires a lot of discipline.

Take My Dough sucks.  It is about selling belt tests, belt test stripe tests, breaking boards you wouldn't make a bird house out of, and many other BS tactics.

With the popularity of MMA, TKD has been somewhat discounted because it is not a predominantly an effective submission wrestling style.  On the flip side of the coin, you don't see many MMA stars taking full contact TKD bouts either.  They're just different sports - like comparing how a basketball player would do on the football field or visa versa.

As far as self defense goes, Bruce Lee said it best "there is no style".  Some TKD instructors also excel at teaching self defense.  Using sport TKD as self defense is going to be as limited in its effectiveness as using boxing, or wrestling, or BJJ, or any other style by limiting it to the sport rules.

Answer 11

This answer pretains to serious practioners of TKD, and serious instructors.

This is a good question, and there is actually a very simple answer: There are alot of tkd moves (kicks in paticular) that are really flashy, and are very hard to land, i know this cause im a second degree black belt in tkd. Most people who say that is useless are right, but not in the sense that you would think. That video that you have posted is showing ORGANIZED fights, in which, u are supposed to use those tkd moves, where as the people who say it is useless are talking real life situations. Like, at school, the clothes that i wear constrict my kicks, rendering most of them useless, but there are other aspects of the martial art that are still effective, so those people aren't completely right about it being useless. Just remember that there is a big difference in organized fighting, and real world fighting, and it all depends on the circumstances.

My opinion: No, it isn't all useless, bu there are some aspects that i would stay away from in a real life situation (unless you are super adept in tkd to a bruce lee extent) such as a 360 degree round house kick ( unless you practice kick, it is difficult to land, and tends to be showy).

Some parts of all martial arts are crowd pleasers, some are meant for competion, and some are meant to protect yourself. TKD is no different. It isn't useless, but becareful about what you do use a a real life fight.

Answer 12

i tried it for about 5 weeks...it was way too close to dancing and way too far away from fighting...

their kicks are excellent, but not practical in many defense situations

Answer 13

Great. Another one. Half the people that answered haven't even taken a class.

Because they fallaciously think judging something by it's bad press is a valid way of judging a martial art in it's entirety.

We all know that TKD has bad dojos, but what F****** art doesn't have any? Honestly? There aren't any right now. You can get shifted in any style, which is why STYLE (Or should I say system) should be taken out of this judgment.

It doesn't make any sense. It would be like me watching someone brawl in MMA, and then conclude that MMA is a bunch of thugs trying to fight for money. If you don't take the time to actually understand all the parts to a whole (Or only get your knowledge of a style from hear say and youtube videos; Never taking the art, or at least reading unbiased information on it), then your comments can't be taken seriously. The only thing you have to watch our for is how the school decides to explain itself. There are sport TKD schools that don't have self-defense in mind at all. There are mixed schools, and there are traditional schools that don't have any sport involved. Many styles are like that.

Theres 18 different forms of sparring in TKD. Full contact included, and no that isn't a game of foot tag.

The logic behind the kicks (As said above me) is that the wild kicks enhance your basic kicks. That's there purpose. You aren't ACTUALLY suppose to do a 540 tornado kick in a fight, but high kicks? You should precede them with low attacks, and then if you have enough skill, go for a high kick. This can be explained to you.

I have experience with good and bad dojangs. There's a LOT of differences. The good ones don't have point sparring. It's medium or higher. You don't pay extra to spar in good ones. In bad ones, you do. You have to EARN your belt, and it's at the DISCRETION of the instructor at a good dojang. The bad dojangs let you test when you have the money.  A good dojang will tell of TKD limitiations (But all styles have limiations, so that's another fallacy in itself to say it's useless because of it), and may offer you a means of fixing that (Such as adding grappling, but I don't see how that would be different from a boxing school offering a BJJ class for the same purpose). A bad dojang will not.

I'm neutral on the hand thing, but every dojang (Good and bad) have told me to keep my hands up. My last one (Albeit a bad dojang) had a kempo-esque hand concept too: One low, one high, to block weapons at different levels.

And speaking of grappling techniques: they are taught, but not utilized in sparring. What arts are also like that? Hmmm.. Muay Thai maybe? Oh yea. I guess that's the same as not training in them at all, because the only standing grappling you get is striking in the clinch. HURR HURR HURR. Those throws don't exist! ONE!ELEVEN!!!1!

The only problem I can see is mcdojoism (Again: It happens in every style, so why bother?), poor training methods (Which is a school thing), and the type of sparring (/styles) offered. That's something anyone can find out about.

It has a lot of bad schools. No one is arguing against that, but trying to judge the merit of a style based on it's ratio of bad schools to good (Especially when you have no OBJECTIVE means of actually making this conclusion other than anecdotes) is fallacious from the get go.

Answer 14

TKD isn't useless it just has a lot of useless instructors who were promoted by the methods listed by the 1st answerer.

Kicks are good but you better make the 1st one count in a self defense situation as you won't get a chance to use another he will be on you like white on rice.He is not going to stand there while you do some martial ballet.

Answer 15

someone once told me that in TKD many of there kicks come around. which means you can tell when they are about to kick, so it makes it easier to block the kick. this is one reason it could be considered "useless" but i wouldnt take it that far

Answer 16

Ok well here's what I thought about TKD. I joined it when I was little and it was good for me, I actually had a real instructor who also taught kickboxing and did jiujitsu, so he wasn't one of those skinny asian douschebags that made you do stepsparring all the time and perfecting everything. I go there 3 times a week for two hours each time, and we do sparring about twice a week and we use the mats and do full contact MMA... but I just got my blackbelt and i'm quitting after this year and I think i'm going to go on to BJJ to learn grappling. Taekwondo has great standup and my teacher actually taught us some grappling and self defense moves, triangle chokes, armbars but that's a rare exception. If you want to see a professional Taekwondo MMA fighter search up Lukasz Jurkowski on youtube.

Answer 17

Tae Kwon Dae is great for sport but not as a self defense. I took TKD and I am a blue belt but I realized that most high kicks have a low percentage of landing in a streetfight. I mean, honestly, if you were in a streetfight, would you go for a big roundhouse kick to the head? No, because it is not practical as a self defense other self defense moves. Also, TKD teaches no ground game, no grappling, and no clinch tactics.

It is useless in an MMA match but great for sport.

Answer 18

Because TKD is one of the number one Mcdojo makers. While there are many instructors out there that teach well, a lot are just salesmen trying to "take your dough". Also since the rise of MMA, most people rather ground-fight to stand-up which is what TKD is. There are many "masters" that will claim they were able to teach TKD to themselves or that they found the mostly deadly technique in the world. Taekwondo has many strong techniques, however it has so many con artist trying to make money from it that people lose respect for the art.

Answer 19

The fact is tae kwon do is not useless

the only time its useless is when someone who has studied it for year's cant use it right in a fight.

Personally I have seen people use the tae kwon do kicks in a fight and win.

When you get into a fight you have a habit of letting your emotions get the better of you so you only think of throwing punches, people who have truely trained hard will be able to use all there kicks and attacks with the fullness of strength and effectivness.

People who say its useless have either

studied under a weakling who has a "mc dojo" or "black belt Factory"

Or they just never found out how to use it right.

Those sparring matches they make you do so many of actually are what teaches you to use your techniques properly with fullness of power and ease.

But alot of people who say it sucks have just never seen someone who knows how to use it, use it.

And Never studied under someone who knows how to use it.

Answer 20

I think a lot has  to do with the level of the teacher and the popularity of the art.

TKD attracts a lot of mcdojo's which inevitably does not benefit the reputation of the art.

bad teachers set bad examples and thus spread a bad image.  when properly taught it is a very effective art that can cause serious damage.