>> ^xxovercastxx:

>> ^TheFreak:
Don't know what's been happening with tae kwon do in the past decade. It's developed this strange focus on ineffective spinning-jumping kicks. More like gymnastics than martial arts.
Government interference is what happened.
First they pressured the separate kwons to unify in an attempt to form one universal Korean martial art. This is what created TKD (in name, at least). Then they sought ways to make it a symbol of the country, to give the Korean people something to be proud of. Ultimately this culminated in an effort to introduce it to the Olympics. In order to accomplish this, they had to turn it into a sport. The military style of TKD still exists but, aside from the actual military, it's hard to find anywhere that teaches it inside Korea.
I have a friend who is from South Korea. He was adopted and brought to the US when he was still a baby. He's a TKD black belt. He's taken trips back to Korea and he's sparred with people who have learned TKD there and they are all horrible because they've been taught to dance rather than fight.
The only fighting they know is point fighting so they do not learn to defend and they do not learn how to generate power. They are incredibly fast but, in a real fight, he had no doubts that they would pose little to no threat unless he was greatly outnumbered.


Interesting, I was unaware of most of that.

I was talking to one of my older Aikido students last night who's been teaching TKD for a long time. I'd judge his style as very martial and effective based on the punches and kicks he was using while we compared notes. We were discussing how the tai sabaki from Aikido has influenced his TKD and I asked him about the change in TKD. He brushed it off and pointed out how he teaches both point fighting and martial effectiveness and distinguishes between the two to his students. His only thoughts on the current state of some TKD was that it was a passing fad.

>> ^TheFreak:

Don't know what's been happening with tae kwon do in the past decade. It's developed this strange focus on ineffective spinning-jumping kicks. More like gymnastics than martial arts.

Government interference is what happened.

First they pressured the separate kwons to unify in an attempt to form one universal Korean martial art. This is what created TKD (in name, at least). Then they sought ways to make it a symbol of the country, to give the Korean people something to be proud of. Ultimately this culminated in an effort to introduce it to the Olympics. In order to accomplish this, they had to turn it into a sport. The military style of TKD still exists but, aside from the actual military, it's hard to find anywhere that teaches it inside Korea.

I have a friend who is from South Korea. He was adopted and brought to the US when he was still a baby. He's a TKD black belt. He's taken trips back to Korea and he's sparred with people who have learned TKD there and they are all horrible because they've been taught to dance rather than fight.

The only fighting they know is point fighting so they do not learn to defend and they do not learn how to generate power. They are incredibly fast but, in a real fight, he had no doubts that they would pose little to no threat unless he was greatly outnumbered.

Don't know what's been happening with tae kwon do in the past decade. It's developed this strange focus on ineffective spinning-jumping kicks. More like gymnastics than martial arts.

Of course, nothing wrong with that. It looks cool, takes practice and commitment and provides exercise. Which is really the only thing martial arts are for anyway. So, I guess I answered my own question.

Never mind, carry on.

^ All a matter of context I suppose. As I recall Bruce thought the same at one time, never make kicks above the waist. Your far better off targeting the shins, knees, thighs, and midsection. Mainly because their closer to the foot, utilizing both travel time and energy. Lower kicks can also fall beneath an opponents guard very easily. However, after training with several strong high kickers (i.e. Chuck Norris) Bruce changed his tune slightly, if the opportunity presents itself even a flashy high kick can be extremely devastating. Take one from the master, "be as water" nothing should be written in stone.

The problem is, the most popular dojos/dojangs you find today are either Tae Kwon Do or Karate and anyone who's been to a TKD/Karate tourney knows that high kicks are the only way to score points.

>> ^xxovercastxx:
That guy is a serious asshole. I can understand the 'victim' losing his temper but the Taekwondo mime had no part in it and wasn't even looking when the prank went down. He just sees a guy running from someone else and decides to kick him in the face.
ps. Firefox spell check suggests "Wonderbra" as the correct spelling of Taekwondo.


Totally disagree. Tae Kwon Do mime sees a dude in sunglasses running like a thief would from guy who's yelling after him, makes a judgment call, decides to stop him... very effectively. Most of the force of that hit was the dude running into his foot, anyway. These Candid Camera guys know the risks of fuckin' with people. No sympathy.

>> ^gorgonheap:
The writing on his uniform and background are Korean. The art would be Tae Kwan Do not Karate.


Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay after the fact, my girlfriend confirms: that is a Tae Kwon Do tournament.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'ol, taekwondo, boot to the head' to 'ol, tae kwon do, boot to the head' - edited by MarineGunrock

People sometimes forget that we laugh at the things that make us uncomfortable. I did laugh but it was while I was saying "OH MY GOD". The video just shocked me and I had to laugh it off. The shock. And I felt a little bad afterwards, yes.

I really can't think of many things that would be more painful than this. Especially because it looks like he would've had to stand there with his foot in the wall for a LONG TIME.

I think my point is just that I was laughing at my own stupidity. I didn't see that coming at all and I've been in Tae Kwon Do for a long time, ie: I've broken a lot of bricks with my foot. I've also broken a lot of bones, mostly when I was a kid and didn't know any better.

I can certainly understand your disgust qualm. But I can also see why some might have to laugh this off. I can also see that some people (not pointing fingers on the Sift) are heartless fucking bastards.

Hopefully I'll remember this the next time a really fucking stupid yet seemingly simple idea comes into my head.

Just call me Ryjkyj. I was born and raised in Vancouver, Washington. (which is not in Canada)

I was a lurker on the Sift for about a year or two before I signed up. Some of my friends turned me on to it and I've been coming here ever since. I have what's considered by most to be a sarcastic and negative sense of humor, so I'm sorry for offending any/all of you with anything I've said in the past. George Carlin is my hero.

I am 28 year old high school dropout who now lives in New York or The City. I moved here because my girlfriend (now my wife) wanted to go to school out here. My background is in home remodeling and coffee for the most part and I got insanely lucky when I moved to New York to get a job here:

www.outsourceconsultants.com

So now I make way more money than I thought possible for my status and spend ALL OF IT on a tiny basement apartment that's more expensive than I could've imagined.

I used to be a gigantic stoner as only someone living on the I5 corridor can be but I stopped all that when I moved here. Now I barely even drink

I am still however, a pack-a-day smoker which has kind of limited my ability to practice my only real interest which is the martial arts. I do not respect Jean Claude Van Dam. I was in Tae Kwon Do from the time I was five until about 18. I know, I know, it's only a sport. Keep telling yourself that, couple it with the fact that I have never hit nor been hit by anyone in anger and take it how you will.

Now I basically just eat salty food and watch TV, though I do love to take long walks around this city and spend a lot of time at the museums here. I also spend any down time by picking up anything that even resembles a weapon and swinging it around like some crazy raver/Jackie Chan wannabe on speed until my arms nearly fall off. A pastime I have enjoyed since before I can remember.

I still haven't even bought a computer out here so literally all of my sifting time comes from screwing off before or after work. I miss all my friends at home (if any of them ever read this) but I love coming here and getting all the different perspectives from people around the world and watching videos until my eyes dry out and I start to lose depth perception.

Thanks to every single one of you, including Bill O'Rielly and even QM for making this a great place to hang out.

Doc_M, I'm on my way out the door and won't be back until Sunday evening, but let me say quickly that you're a worthless piece of shit and everybody hates you. I won't say this to your face, of course, because I don't want your tae kwon do having ass breaking something off in my rear.

I see you answered that silly roast questionnaire. Number 24, your best memory is sitting in your dorm window? Was your second favorite moment brushing your teeth this morning? It's obvious it takes very little to please you, and you were probably inspired deeply by your elementary school principal. And who's the fucktard that writes these damn questions who can't figure out how to spellcheck? It's 2008, spellcheck is automated in most word processors these days, so get rid of your Word Perfect 1.1 and bit torrent a copy of Microsoft Word, you worthless sack of non-typing shit.

I don't know much about you except you're a French Onion Soup eating, Rob Roy drinking, golf playing doctor. Actually, when you think long and hard about that, I think I do know a lot about you. Here you are looking fabulous after a shot down the 18th hole. Poke it out for the world to see, Doc!

Okay scrubs, I'm out. Have a great roast. The timing for this one is terrible for me. Later gents!

Here is Doc_M's response to his roast questions. Use it for ammunition.

1. What do you do when you are not at the computer?
Work... usually in the lab. Otherwise, music, tae kwon do, golf, etc.

2. What is your favorite of your posted videos?
I think, either the HBO intro from the 80's for nostalgia or of course this for the shear "holy crap" effect.

3. How many avatars have you had since being a member? What were (are) they?
I might be the only one who can say this, but 1, you're looking at it.

4. What non-self-involved site do you visit most often?
Neatorama.com and Gizmodo.com... I'm easily entertained... and a geek.

5. If you had a time machine, would you go to the future or the past? And why?
Past... very... as in millions of years.

6. What is your ratio of pairs of shoes to underwear?
3:30 or something like that.

7. Is that underwear boxer, brief, or birthday?
A little from column A, a little from column B.

8. Do you run a Mac OS, Windows, or Linux?
Vista. Oh, I'm gonna get grief for this one...

9. Would you most prefer to be involved in a monumental one-of-a-kind hiking expedition, working on a breakthrough cure for a debilitating illness , or presenting the discovery of a revolutionary new way to parse data?
How about finding a breakthrough cure for a debilitating illness while on a monumental one-of-a-kind hiking expedition? Heck, Ventnor is all about that kinda stuff... granted, he's kinda on the rich side.

10. What is your favorite ice cream topping?
Peanuts

Favorite (non-ice-cream-related) spice?
Rosemary or perhaps turmeric.

11. Are you a breast, butt, or legs man?
Face, but a perky rack is a nice bonus.

12. What kind of pet(s) do you have? Include name(s).
I used to have fish. They never told me their names.

13. What scares you most about Rosie O'donell?
The open threat of Kooshballs of mass destruction. That and she's nuckin' futs.

14. What is your favorite kind of soup?
French Onion... hands down.

15. What is your most frequented source of news?
Drudge hehe... I'm gonna suffer for that one too.

16. What is your beverage of choice?
Starbucks stuff when I'm feeling less poor, Coke when I'm feeling more poor, Rob Roys when I'm out on the town.

17. Have you ever been arrested?
Nay, but I once killed a man with my bare hands ... ok, that's not true, but if it were, that'd be far more interesting.

18. What’s your go-to move for making a good first impression?
Good old fashioned confidence is a powerful thing.

19. How would you describe your coif: bangs, balding or rug?
Mop on even months, spiky on odd months.

20. Is your face clean-shaven or do you have a beard, a goatee or a mustache?
Clean.

21. List your five most cherished possessions.
I really don't value "stuff" too much, but I guess I could say the "stuff" I would not like to lose any time soon includes:
My PC
My Lancer
My crate of vinyl
My piano
My WoW character <.< >.> <.<
22. What religion, if any, did you practice as a child?
Christian

23. What about now?
Same

24. What is your favorite memory?
Sitting in my dorm window after my last final in college. It was one of those perfect moments.

25. What was your favorite childhood television show?
Fraggle Rock!

26. How would you describe your personal style/sense of fashion/taste for life/artistic flair?
Hoodies, more or less trendy T-shirts, and jeans.

27. What is a reason not to go to Burning Man?
I was at Flaming Woman that day.

28. Who is your favorite Sift Hero?
QuantumMushroom. Isn't he everyone's hero?

29. Do you have any image(s) of yourself online that you're willing to share?
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e194/GenGradPSU/Me.jpg

30. What goal to you have while a Videosift member?
Inform/entertain/rock the boat a bit.

31. Do you upvote comments more for their originality, sense of humor, or self-deprecation?
Humor for sure. Also information, insight, and stuff I particularly agree with.

As a twenty-five year student of Tae Kwon Do...

I declare that this movie looks AWESOME!

A: Of course you've never met anyone who thought Tae Kwon Do was made for cage fighting. I was being facetious:

You're full of horse puckey, putting it lightly. If you were being facetious, you wouldn't be getting your panties in a knot.

The reason that I said it was that scholars and practitioners generally agree that grappling with limited striking is the best form of one-on-one, unarmed combat, which people love to bring up when talking about Tae Kwon Do. And, which I tend to agree with.

What scholars and practitioners generally agree with that? Bullcrap. I have never heard anybody but non-fighters say that, nor is there a general consensus that there is any single perfect mixture of striking and grappling in MMA. Hell, most of the wins in the UFC title bouts recently have been won through striking: Gonzaga's, Serra's, GSP's, Rampage, etc.

In fact, the general consensus among MMA fighters is that there is no single best combination of striking and grappling. The mixture of grappling and striking is always dependent on the background of the fighter and calibrated to his particular technical and physical abilities. And I've never heard a good fighter with "limited striking" skills, that is unacceptable for any good fighter. A good fighter, even one who's a submission specialist, will have proficient striking skills at the very least, or he's not a good fighter.

But not all fighting takes place one-on-one, or on even, equally familiar ground. (i.e.: a cage fight) The martial arts merely train you in different ways to be prepared for given situations.

I agree that not all fighting takes place one-on-one or on even ground. I do, however, hold that MMA-style training is the single most effective form of training for any kind of unarmed combat, period. I also do not believe that any unarmed martial art will adequately enable you to actually fight multiple opponents with a greater chance of winning than losing.

B. Forms are not the only thing you need to learn to fight. I agree, but they do help impart technique and physical fitness. Otherwise, why do boxers shadowbox? Why do pilots fly training missions? Why do hunters practice shooting targets? Martial artists punch bags, break boards, spar and use all sorts of different ways to train. No combat art relies only on forms, and even modern MMA fighters don't train ONLY in the ring.

Forms are not good at imparting technique, they're a waste of time if you're trying to learn to fight. Sorry. Boxers shadowbox because it is a dynamic exercise, in which there is no set order of technique. That's why they move the same way that they do during a fight, with no pre-conceived list of things to do. Shadowboxing is not comparable to doing forms. Boxers are not just standing in horse stance or front stance and throwing chambered punches, then maybe sidestepping, because a pre-memorized complex set of motions like a traditional form will never be applicable in a fight, individual techniques must be learned in dead drilling, but they must be chained together during dynamic training. Pilots fly training missions, similiarly, because it is a dynamic exercise, that's why they don't just fly the same mission over and over again, they run many different scenarios with things changing every time.

Modern MMA fighters do not train ONLY in the ring. However, good MMA fighters NEVER try to train by:
- breaking boards
- doing forms

They DO train by:
- dead drilling: for re-enforcing a SINGLE new technique being learned, this is largely de-emphasized when a fighter is preparing for a fight
- shadowboxing: dynamic movement, takes up a small percentage of training time, mostly done for warmup
- doing padwork: dynamic movement against a moving target, and sometimes resisting opponent, takes up a medium amount of training time
- doing bagwork: dynamic movement against a moving target, takes up about a medium amount of time
- sparring: dynamic movement against a resisting opponent, takes up a large amount of time

Forms are a waste of time if someone's trying to learn how to fight.

C. Yeah, your not bursting any bubbles here. I know that you think you're smart but I've had the same thought about fighting multiple opponents, as have millions of other people. I never said that I could take on 8 opponents. What I said was that I visualized 8 opponents when practicing a form. It's a way of keeping focused. I don't believe I would have an advantage over anyone, alone or otherwise, before I fight them. To do that would just be asking for failure. I'll tell you this though: If I ever DO have to fight more than one person, I'm not going to say "Hey guys, wait here while I run home and get my 1911 and my baseball bat." I, unlike you, am hopefully going to confront the situation in a realistic manner.

Ok, so remind me again how all this visualization during forms is going to carry over to a fight? Confronting a situation in which you need to fight unarmed against multiple opponents in a realistic manner means acknowledging you're going to get your ass kicked if you try fighting back unarmed, and the only reasonable solutions are: stopping the fight, running, or using a force multiplier (i.e. weapon, friends, etc.). Unlike me. Uh-huh. Please tell me exactly how I'm being unrealistic about this. How exactly would YOU plan on confronting a situation with multiple opponents?

I hate to burst YOUR bubble but fighting in cages has been around for a lot longer than the late 80's. Not to mention, I never said anything about MMA in my first post. You pulled that one right out of your cock holster.

Oh really? Cage fighting's been around since before the late 80s? There's a reason why cagefighting is nearly synonymous with MMA. Hm. Ok, I'll give you the early 80s, maybe even late 70s if you push it. Oh, you meant before that? Please cite your proof. No, seriously. I'm waiting. Oh, and Bloodsport and Mad Max don't count as historical documents. Me and my cock holster will be waiting. I shoot from the hip. Or pelvis, if you want to be specific.

Wow Rembar brilliant fucking insight right there.
Let me make myself a little clearer:

A: Of course you've never met anyone who thought Tae Kwon Do was made for cage fighting. I was being facetious:

FACETIOUS, [fuh-see-shuhs]
-adjective
1. Not meant to be taken literaly.
2. Lacking serious intent.

The reason that I said it was that scholars and practitioners generally agree that grappling with limited striking is the best form of one-on-one, unarmed combat, which people love to bring up when talking about Tae Kwon Do. And, which I tend to agree with. But not all fighting takes place one-on-one, or on even, equally familiar ground. (i.e.: a cage fight) The martial arts merely train you in different ways to be prepared for given situations.

B. Forms are not the only thing you need to learn to fight. I agree, but they do help impart technique and physical fitness. Otherwise, why do boxers shadowbox? Why do pilots fly training missions? Why do hunters practice shooting targets? Martial artists punch bags, break boards, spar and use all sorts of different ways to train. No combat art relies only on forms, and even modern MMA fighters don't train ONLY in the ring.

C. Yeah, your not bursting any bubbles here. I know that you think you're smart but I've had the same thought about fighting multiple opponents, as have millions of other people. I never said that I could take on 8 opponents. What I said was that I visualized 8 opponents when practicing a form. It's a way of keeping focused. I don't believe I would have an advantage over anyone, alone or otherwise, before I fight them. To do that would just be asking for failure. I'll tell you this though: If I ever DO have to fight more than one person, I'm not going to say "Hey guys, wait here while I run home and get my 1911 and my baseball bat." I, unlike you, am hopefully going to confront the situation in a realistic manner.

And one last thing.
I hate to burst YOUR bubble but fighting in cages has been around for a lot longer than the late 80's. Not to mention, I never said anything about MMA in my first post. You pulled that one right out of your cock holster.

Have a great day.

One common misconception about Tae Kwon Do is that it was designed for some kind of cage fight. Tae Kwon Do is a military dicipline. Whenever I practiced a form in TKD I was told to visualize 8 opponents. (who would presumably be less disciplined.)
The application of any art changes according for the situation. But if 3 people jump you on the street, just try tackling 1 of them Brazilain Jiu-Jitsu style and see how far it gets you.