Taekwondo Self Defense

A street fight involving taekwondo from YouTube

Taekwondo is sometimes criticized as not being the most effective martial arts when it comes to self defense. Arguably, there may be some merit to this critique: martial arts such as Krav Maga and Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) intentionally incorporate new techniques from many diverse martial arts in order to maximize their lethality. Others, such as Kung Fu and Ninjutsu, prefer to stick to their traditional roots. Taekwondo tends to fall somewhere in between these two extremes, as it continues to evolve.

For self defense, taekwondo is not without its advocates:

• When taekwondo was originally developed (see: Traditional Taekwondo), its focus was indeed combat rather than sport. Pioneer practitioners such as Nam Tae Hi were famous for their lethality. Even now, taekwondo styles such as ITF-style, Jhoon Rhee taekwondo, and Chun Kuk Do place a strong emphasis on the self defense aspects of the art.
• Probably more important than the style of the martial art is how long you stick with the martial art. Speaking purely from the standpoint of self defense, an average person who's studied (say) Krav Maga for only a few months would probably struggle against a person who has studied any other martial art (including taekwondo) for several years. Continued study of any martial art will improve your strength, dexterity, agility, limberness, power, stamina, timing, and technique. From a self defense standpoint, these attributes are at least as important as the martial art style. (Of course in a fight it's often helpful to have size and youth on your side as well, though martial arts can to some extent even the playing field there a bit.)
• More than some martial arts, taekwondo tends to emphasize kicking, especially high kicking, the idea being that your legs are longer and stronger than your arms and therefore should be more effective in a fight. That's if - and this is a big if - if you can train your legs to become as fast as your arms. Human reflexes in the arms are inherently, biologically faster than in their legs. With training, however, some people can also make their legs lightning fast. Especially if one wants the fight to be over quickly, the ability to close fast and strike hard while still out of your opponent's arm reach can be very effective.

Self Defense Training

Taekwondo schools that train for self defense may incorporate many of the following elements:

• Training in street clothes rather than taekwondo uniforms
• Education in how to be more aware of one's surroundings, with emphasis on potential threatening situations
• Training in environments outside the taekwondo school (parking lots, alleys, etc.)
• Avoidance of combat via techniques such as verbal de-escalation and calls for assistance
• Training to escape or evade a threatening situation
• Self defense against armed attackers
• Self defense against multiple attackers
• Identification and use-of improvised weapons
• Self defense from ground positions (e.g., grappling)
• Self defense when at a disadvantage (hands full of groceries, protecting a child, etc.)
• Understanding of laws pertaining to the use of self defense
• What to do after defending one's self (getting to safety, calling the authorities, getting medical attention)

References

• Sang H. Kim's on the use of Taekwondo for self-defense on Amazon.com
• Taekwondo Self Defense on Taekwondo Animals
• http://www.centralfloridatangsoodo.com/uploads/ho_sin_sul_self-defense_tec.pdf
• http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/14-tae-kwon-do/116049-tkd-tips-tactics.html

Videos (Warning: Intense Content)

There are numerous "real world fight" videos on YouTube, many of which involve the kinds of high, turning kicks associated with taekwondo. Those types of videos are not embedded here due to their intense content. Examples however can be seen here:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QUqnjA4XsE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYUb--qGkMc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwpywVd2cfc
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh0gLD64zzk

The use of taekwondo or any martial art for anything other than self defense is not advocated, and in fact runs contrary to essentially all martial arts, including taekwondo. In taekwondo, this philosophy is symbolized by the fact that essentially all taekwondo forms (hyeong, poomsae, and teul) begin with a block rather than a strike. The assumption in all taekwondo practice is that the student is responding to an attack.