Is Tae Kwon Do for Me?

I could stand to look and feel more bad ass.
Is martial arts right for me? Is it super expensive?
Will the instructors point and laugh because I'm a lazy girl with no coordination?

I'd suggest boxing instead. It will help with coordination, strength, and laziness.

Hmm, I didn't consider boxing.
Thanks!

Perhaps Aikido?

Ooh, Aikido. It sounds like I won't get hurt and bad guys will just roll right off me. That sounds cool too.

Get your ass beat once. Its amazingly motivating.

it really is.

i did ITF-style TKD for five years. i loved it, and most schools will give you several free lessons to try it out and see if it's your style.

in general, it's a hard style comparable to Karate -- in fact, one of the versions of its history is that its modern form developed as a direct counter-point to Karate during the Japanese occupation of Korea. it's a ton of fun, and a motherfucker of a workout. if you have long legs and are a mid-to-long range fighter, you'll excel.

if you just want to cripple someone / defend your life though, a combo of jujutsu and krav maga will likely serve you better. they're the ugly, vicious, i'm-not-fucking-around-i-will-kill-you martial arts.

krav maga: the zen and art of kicking a man right the the jimmy.

Karate. Nothing better. Aikido is for the pretentious art students over in that other thread.

What would Catwoman take? That's who I want to be like.

Not sure about Catwoman, but you could read this.

I think you should go with Tae Kwon Leap . Boot to the head !

You're premise was that you want to look and feel more badass. If that's your goal, do Tae Bo or some shit. If your goal is to beat someone up, then I suggest seeking psychological counseling and staying far far away from martial arts. We don't need anymore of you weirdos.

Thank you for saying this. The point of martial arts is not to incur violence, or really to even be violent at all. It is an art, just like bonsai and tattooing. Its focus is on form, execution, technique, style, and focus - just like photography and singing.

"look and feel more badass" from someone with Kitten in their name doesn't really scream aggressive psycho to me. starting out in a martial art for the sake of a workout or fitness in general is perfectly valid. also, some of the heroes of martial arts got their start as brawlers.

read this, and please try to be less stupid in the future.

ahem. back on topic:

- no, martial arts are not always expensive. you should be able to find a local school that you can afford. check with a gym, fighters are often employed as personal trainers and they'll know all the best schools in town.

- no, they will not point and laugh, they'll work your sorry ass into shape, and they'll help you with your balance and coordination. many beginner's martial arts classes are taught by assistant instructors who are just high-level students -- they don't get paid much (if at all) and they're only there because they genuinely want to help people learn.

hope that helps

Right. Reading wikipedia makes me less stupid.

Yes, and looks can be deceiving. She declared her intentions, and I responded to her stated intentions.. My impression is that, no she's not an aggressive psycho, but it's necessary to nip-it-in-the-bud if you will.

As far as martial arts heroes are concerned, some of mine are soldiers from the 14th and 17th century Japan. It doesn't apply to modern America (something to consider). There's no reason anybody should be going out looking to beat people up. I'm sure you'd agree to that. Self-defense is one thing, aggressive assholery is another (which is what I was referring to when I said someone looking to kick ass). If that wasn't clear, then I apologize.

Addressing this specifically, WHY? There are other things that will address this much more efficiently. Why learn something that you could potentially and accidentally hurt someone with if you only care about the fitness aspect of it?

it's not a quick fix, but it couldn't hurt in your case.

Oh please. My eyes cannot roll hard enough right now.

Kitten, fuck the haters.

Tae Kwon Do is a twentieth century art/sport that brought in elements of traditional Korean martial arts like Tae K'yon, and melded them with karate. The exact history and derivation is contested, but General Choi is usually credited as being a significant figure in its development and propagation. Obligatory wiki.

I learned my Tae Kwon Do under two master instructors who trained with General Choi as young Korean men, and I loved it.

Note that there are now (at least) two major and distinct styles of Tae Kwon Do -- ITF (the more traditional style associated with Choi) and WTF, the style now on display in the Olympics.

ITF is more oriented to self-defence. It's full bodied, meaning you train the arms as well as the legs. Kicks, punches, strikes, the full monty.

WTF was developed more as a tournament sport -- it's very fast, but mostly kicking, often without a lot of force. Ace for fitness, less so for self-defence.

I've sparred with WTF "players" (as they referred to themselves), and they were quick -- like, really quick -- but they didn't block well. I spar from a boxer's stance, they sparred with arms dangling.

One guy once blocked one of my kicks by raising his leg. I kicked his shin. He hurt. A few minutes later, I kicked again, he blocked by lifting his other shin. He was hobbling before he sat down, muttering "Man, your kicks are hard." I wasn't sure if (or why) he'd expected them to be soft!

Give. Me. A. Break.

If you enjoy it, then (a) it's fun, (b) it builds confidence and coordination, (c) it's fun, (d) you can be more motivated to attend a regular martial arts class and see yourself progress in ability and rank rather than just turn up to a spinning or pilates class twice a week, and (e) it's fun.

I sparred with a couple of those guys when I was taking karate in high school. Yeah, they kick fast... but you'd swear they didn't know arms and punches existed. Those matches ended up pretty ugly. One guy yelled at the ref because I "wasn't allowed to do that!!!" (punch at him). The ref was less than impressed with that.

OMG, and your post was to prove what? You have hard shins? I'm laughing although I love you to death.

Simply, I conceded that I may have been a bit over ambitious in my post, but I mitigated by citing the OP. You don't like that fine. You want to cite your marital credentials, then be my guest, but please refrain from rolling your eyes at me. Like I said, I still have made love for you, but this is ridiculous.

IF you do such a thing, do it seriously. I don't mean you have to become a black belt in two years or become some kind of world champion. Just don't treat it frivolously.

If you do this, ANY decent instructor will treat you properly. Most new students suck ass at any martial art.

When I was a senior member at my last club, my seventh dan Master Instructor would put me or someone else in charge of the coloured belts, while he'd take all the beginners down to the back of the hall and go through the basics with them. Walking stance, back stance, lower section block, raising block. Over and over.

When one of the other seniors asked "What do you do when someone can't even coordinate their two arms for something as simple as a lower section block?" He smiled and said "Work on left arm first, again and again. Then right arm, again and again. Then put them together."

Anyone makes fun of you, that's a good sign you should switch clubs.

You may disagree, but I still say seek physical improvement elsewhere. There's a spiritual aspect to marital arts and when it's not recognized by those seeking "physical betterment" then it's a detriment to the process as a whole--not to mention the people that just want to beat people up (to which I alluded to in my original post). The whole martial process has been fucked by people who "just want to get fit" and those who want to "beat people up." Call me an elitist, but I'd prefer not to deal with either of the two... They can go elsewhere.