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AdrenalineJunky · August 16, 2001, 07:58 PM

"As for the effectiveness of Hapkido kicks and punches, well, I regard them to be about as realistic as Tae Kwon Do kicks and punches.

Checkout a boxer or a Muay Thai fighter and see how their kicks and punches fare compared to Hapkido or Tae Kwon Do (or even Shotokan) kicks and punches.

Skorzeny"
--------------------

I can offer a little bit of personal experience here. I have been practicing Muay Thai for a while and, aside from a little Tai Chi, it's the only form I've practiced. When I was in training there weren't a lot of people in the class. In fact, our class lost several people to the local Tae Kwon Do class. In their defense, my teacher was very strict and expected you to work hard regardless of your age. He didn't teach us knee and elbow strikes until we'd reached the "advanced level." Anyway, since the nearest Thai school back then was in San Francisco (some 150 mi. away), we began sparring with the TKD class.

Now, these were bouts, we were competing, but we were fully padded(I was only thirteen at the time). The first guy I went up against was a couple years older than I was and about 15/20lbs heavier. He could do full splits and amazing aerial kicks. He had been to several M.A. camps and was working on his black belt. I was just shy of a year's training and was the most advanced student in the class. Needless to say, I was scared sheetless.

I very quickly found out that the TKD kicks he was throwing were much less effective than the round kicks and push kicks I was throwing. Same thing with punches. No throws or elbows(or head-butting) were allowed. It was very easy to tell that we were trained to fight in the ring and their training was more for "show." I don't think the word "show"is accurate, but it's the only word I could think of.

Thai fighting is very easy to master because there are very few offensive and defensive positions, and very few strikes. The difference is in conditioning your body to take high-impact strikes and returning with a high-impact strike. TKD students could do some visually amazing things, but they weren't conditioned to participate in "brutal" battles in the ring.

August 16, 2001, 07:58 PM	#24
AdrenalineJunky Member Join Date: July 16, 2001 Location: Ukiah, CA Posts: 47	Well... "As for the effectiveness of Hapkido kicks and punches, well, I regard them to be about as realistic as Tae Kwon Do kicks and punches. Checkout a boxer or a Muay Thai fighter and see how their kicks and punches fare compared to Hapkido or Tae Kwon Do (or even Shotokan) kicks and punches. Skorzeny" -------------------- I can offer a little bit of personal experience here. I have been practicing Muay Thai for a while and, aside from a little Tai Chi, it's the only form I've practiced. When I was in training there weren't a lot of people in the class. In fact, our class lost several people to the local Tae Kwon Do class. In their defense, my teacher was very strict and expected you to work hard regardless of your age. He didn't teach us knee and elbow strikes until we'd reached the "advanced level." Anyway, since the nearest Thai school back then was in San Francisco (some 150 mi. away), we began sparring with the TKD class. Now, these were bouts, we were competing, but we were fully padded(I was only thirteen at the time). The first guy I went up against was a couple years older than I was and about 15/20lbs heavier. He could do full splits and amazing aerial kicks. He had been to several M.A. camps and was working on his black belt. I was just shy of a year's training and was the most advanced student in the class. Needless to say, I was scared sheetless. I very quickly found out that the TKD kicks he was throwing were much less effective than the round kicks and push kicks I was throwing. Same thing with punches. No throws or elbows(or head-butting) were allowed. It was very easy to tell that we were trained to fight in the ring and their training was more for "show." I don't think the word "show"is accurate, but it's the only word I could think of. Thai fighting is very easy to master because there are very few offensive and defensive positions, and very few strikes. The difference is in conditioning your body to take high-impact strikes and returning with a high-impact strike. TKD students could do some visually amazing things, but they weren't conditioned to participate in "brutal" battles in the ring.