Korean Job Discussion Forums

[captain kirk]

i would be interested to hear about other foreign teacher's experience taking taekwondo class in korea. i would like to do so because taekwondo is so korean,and doing so would be an immersion into a korean activity. if you've taken taekwondo, or are taking it, what might you like to say?

[beebee]

I would say :

met many Korean friends that allowed me to speak Koream

made genuine Korean friends where we shared an interest in a martial art

lost 5 kilos

mentally very relaxed

flexibility best since ballet classes when I was 6

more energy on sexual adventures

saved myself from being raped once in China and twice in Korea

[Rand Al Thor]

Same as BEeBee except I took hapkido. I need to get back in it, because I've gained that 5kg back.

[IconsFanatic]

Anyone ever try Ssireum (traditional Korean wrestling)?

I used to do sambo (wrestling/judo hybrid) back in the day, and thought about getting back onto the mat once I'm in Korea....

[Zyzyfer]

I took Hapkido. It was worthwhile, but there is the potential for personal injury. Martial arts are still a sport, and one night during a spar, I impressed everyone in my showing against another student, but I managed to sprain my ankle, wrist, and shoulder in 10 seconds.

[JackSarang]

I took Hapkido as well. Incidentally, its much better that taekwondo... TKD is such utter useless crap unless you're doing it for excercise... but thats a digression. It was great, it was incredibly cheap (4 days a week for 80,000 a month). Now my lessons were one on one with the Gym Master, not even his flunky... I earned my second belt. Sadly I had to stop because my schedule changed.. and now the only available class is with 10 year old kids.. which I simply can't do. I want to start up again soon, definately worth it.

There are numerous other Martial Arts you can do in Korea too.. TKD, Hapkido, Yudo (Judo), Boxing, Gumdo (Kendo/sword fighting), Ssireum.. there is also this ancient 3000 year old traditional korean martial art but I forget the name and there is also Gi Chon, which is like a cross between Tai Chi and Yoga.

[peter07]

TKD is useless as it is taught now because it is so popular as a sport. Don't forget, martial arts were originally taught to get out of a bind.

That said, hapkido is a more fluid and self-defense art. There is also Korean kickboxing called gyucktoogi. I read in Blackbelt magazine that it is one of the more impressive arts.

For those who want to just know self-defense, teukgong moosool is the way to go. It's similar to the stuff taught to US special forces and stuff. And there is even a place where you can practice jeet kune do, the fighting way of Bruce Lee, in the Gangnam area of Seoul.

The biggest problem in Korea is finding an adult class. I trained in TKD with some little kids and couldn't stand it.

[Hank Scorpio]

I don't know about martial arts in general. Great exercise, yeah, and I can see it being helpful for people that aren't confident about fighting, but too much of it is just flash.

The most important thing if you're really in a life or death situation is to realize that you are going to get hurt. There's no way around it, so just try and do as much damage to the other guy as quickly as you can. Try to stay on your feet, because going down pretty much renders you helpless. With that said, a punch to the throat will put anybody down, regardless of size. Same with a hard punch to the solar plexus (the flat area in the middle of your chest), you get hit there and your breath is gone; forget fighting. An eye is extremely easy to pop out, just hook your finger and stab. The tried and true shot to the nuts will also put someone down quickly. The key to all of these is that you keep bashing on the other guy until you're sure that they're not getting back up. A lot of this can sound fairly nasty, but there's no such thing as a fair fight.

[ste bass]

I beg to differ on TKD's usefulness, if you train in anything it will be of some use to you. It depends what you want to use it for.
If your talkin about a martial art that's going to help you batter people in a pub tear-up, it's probably not the best - try muay "I'm a double hard b'stard" tai.
Studying any martial art, in a less than "martial arts are my life" kind of way, is gonna be useless for those wishing to be bad assses. A couple of hours a week won't turn you into Bruce Lee.
If you want to defend yourself against a mugger or such like, buy a pepper spray - a lot cheaper and less time consuming.
If you want to improve your physical state (fitness, flexibility, speed and stamina) and your mental state (excercising your will and testing your powers of concentration), then TKD is good.
Oh yeah, and knowing that you can kick people in the head several different ways is pretty cool.

[IconsFanatic]

[Zyzyfer]

[feckingreal]

tried it once...too much fun tho...that was the problem...

[Ukon]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Don't do it - you'll get a black belt in less than a year and then feel like an idiot because you'd still get your ass kicked by anyone who has a real yellow belt in any other discipline.

[bogey666]

I guess it really does depend what reason you're doing it for.

for PRACTICAL purposes however..

tae kwon do is fairly useless - I took it for a year or so when a teenager in the US btw..

the major issue with taekwondo is that it focuses on ranged fights, when we all know that in a real fight things get close and personal very very quickly.

it was once said that the best martial arts combo was thai boxing and taekwondo..

well guess what .. muay thai is that combination, for all effective purposes.
combine that with submission holds and you have what almost every other in K1 and the UFC fights with.

hapkido is also "practically more useful and "better" than tae kwon do .

but if you're looking for some exercise and Korean friends/interaction, nothing wrong with tkd.