Which Martial Art For Fitness/Flexibilty?

Taekwondo or Kickboxing would be my choices for flexibility. Both should improve your flexibility more than Judo/Jujitsu type MAs will I would have thought. I've done Jujitsu for a year now almost and I'm still not that much more flexible than when i started :p
 
Taekwondo without a doubt. What style tkd did you do and what federation was it? black tag at 10 years old seems a little ambitious for a club to grade you at that age. why did you stop when you were one grade from black?
You should definitely reconsider taking it up again. Depending on your fitness, conditioning and how much of the syllabus you remember, they may start you off at a coloured belt.
 
another vote for Taekwondo
I'd go WTF instead of ITF - main difference is WTF is full contact and ITF is semi, the patterns are different too.
the WTF will have better fitness as sparring sessions are more intense, though you could argue that all the padding in ITF means you sweat more and so is a harder workout I guess!!
I have my 1st Dan in WTF and found both the flexibility and fitness brilliant. be warned though, I'd recommend another sport at the same time....continuous training on the balls of your toes can cause your achillies to shorten or tighten (like mine) and mean regular injuries. To avoid this, just go running or something else fairly regularly.
 
Taekwondo. Use to do ITF when I was younger and it was fantastic for flexibility. Loved to watch TKD in the olympics. They look soo light on their feet.
 
odoliam said:
another vote for Taekwondo
I'd go WTF instead of ITF - main difference is WTF is full contact and ITF is semi, the patterns are different too.
the WTF will have better fitness as sparring sessions are more intense, though you could argue that all the padding in ITF means you sweat more and so is a harder workout I guess!!
I have my 1st Dan in WTF and found both the flexibility and fitness brilliant. be warned though, I'd recommend another sport at the same time....continuous training on the balls of your toes can cause your achillies to shorten or tighten (like mine) and mean regular injuries. To avoid this, just go running or something else fairly regularly.
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There are quite a lot more differences than the 2 you have mentioned. Im not going to get technical cos I will be here for hours. ITF is well known to be considered the original taekwondo form, as created by General Choi Hong Hi. WTF was created by the South Korean government, when they took Gen. Choi's ideas and capitalised on it by turning it into a sport and showcase for Korea. WTF is now a sport more than a martial art for self defence (which is how it became an olympic sport)....fact.
ITF have hand & foot guards, as well as helmets and a box....how would that weigh you down when in WTF you have to wear bodyguards?? You cant say that WTF have more intense sparring sessions as each club ITF or WTF will have its own training methods. In ITF there are continuous sparring rounds.....in WTF you get stopped after every point you score!

Plus, you should see a physiotherapist about you achilles.....ive been training for years in many different arts and have never had problems, and niether have any of my friends. You should analyse you warm up techniques.

I recommend that if you want to take up tkd, you try several different dojangs both ITF and WTF and see which you prefer.
 
quackers said:
is kuk sool won a form of taekwondo?
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Not entirely sure but I think thats a mix of the traditional korean martial arts and other asian stuff too...So TKD, hapkido even some kungfu stuff i think.
 
Personally id say capoeira for flexibility...Amazingly acrobatic..

Forget about any fighting aspects of TKD..its really pretty cruddy.
 
Some of the Chinese arts (Wushu or Shaolin based stuff) require a lot of flexibility and fitness, so they may be worth a look - as with anything in the martial arts, you'd have to check out the individual club to see how they train.
 
panthro said:
There are quite a lot more differences than the 2 you have mentioned. Im not going to get technical cos I will be here for hours. ITF is well known to be considered the original taekwondo form, as created by General Choi Hong Hi. WTF was created by the South Korean government, when they took Gen. Choi's ideas and capitalised on it by turning it into a sport and showcase for Korea. WTF is now a sport more than a martial art for self defence (which is how it became an olympic sport)....fact.
ITF have hand & foot guards, as well as helmets and a box....how would that weigh you down when in WTF you have to wear bodyguards?? You cant say that WTF have more intense sparring sessions as each club ITF or WTF will have its own training methods. In ITF there are continuous sparring rounds.....in WTF you get stopped after every point you score!

Plus, you should see a physiotherapist about you achilles.....ive been training for years in many different arts and have never had problems, and niether have any of my friends. You should analyse you warm up techniques.

I recommend that if you want to take up tkd, you try several different dojangs both ITF and WTF and see which you prefer.
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Thanks for the replies. I stopped doing TWD at age 10 because Crewe Alexandra School of Excellence asked me to play football for them & as it was on the same night as TWD I chose football! I must have been in ITF when I used to do it as the competitions I was in you didn't stop after every point, you just fought through.

I'm not sure if I'd remember any of it though, its been 13/14 years now since I did it.
 
Balddog said:
Personally id say capoeira for flexibility...Amazingly acrobatic..

Forget about any fighting aspects of TKD..its really pretty cruddy.
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And capoeira is?? Capoeira is glorified dancing that has no practical martial application. Dont generalise tkd as being cruddy....what exactly is your experience of tkd? if its olympic tkd then fair enough. You will find that ITF syllabus (and WTF) syllabus incorporates a lot of self defence, and all patterns are relelvant to fighting and self defence.
 
quackers said:
is kuk sool won a form of taekwondo?
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Its a Korean martial art, but it isnt a form of TKD. Im not clued up much on Kuk Sool Won, but its basically a modern approach martial arts system to incorporate many of the ancient Korean martial arts. Its actually a copyrighted name. It includes extensive weapons training, as well as some locks and throws, on top of the striking.
 
panthro said:
And capoeira is?? Capoeira is glorified dancing that has no practical martial application. Dont generalise tkd as being cruddy....what exactly is your experience of tkd? if its olympic tkd then fair enough. You will find that ITF syllabus (and WTF) syllabus incorporates a lot of self defence, and all patterns are relelvant to fighting and self defence.
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I didnt say that...Capoeira is rubbish as well, but the guy wanted flexibility :dunno:

My experience of TKD? Well ive lived in korean for a year and a half now and every single kid here learns TKD...I see it being used in ACTUAL fights quite often. I see the classes very often. I see drunk American soldiers beating the utter crap out of high belt TKD guys with nothing more than drunk brawling.

I have about half a dozen friends who have served in the korean military..Its mandatory service...and ive spoken at length with these friends about TKD and its failings...Modern TKD outside of the military is a joke, even in Korea..Let alone some guy who teaches it abroad to foreigners.
 
I agree fully with baldog TKD especially how it is taught in UK TAGB is probally one of the worst for self defense there are some exceptions of course depending on which classes you go to.

If your looking for a martial art for fitness and flexability then pretty much every martial art covers this it is just a case of choosing something that you enjoy, get out and try a couple of different class in your area see which one you enjoy the best. Then pick one and concentrate on that..
 
wozzizname said:
Some of the Chinese arts (Wushu or Shaolin based stuff) require a lot of flexibility and fitness, so they may be worth a look - as with anything in the martial arts, you'd have to check out the individual club to see how they train.
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Used to do some Shaolin stuff, very good for flexibility, the forms were a lot more varied and complex compared to Taekwondo after seeing what my old housemates had to do.
 
Balddog said:
I didnt say that...Capoeira is rubbish as well, but the guy wanted flexibility :dunno:

My experience of TKD? Well ive lived in korean for a year and a half now and every single kid here learns TKD...I see it being used in ACTUAL fights quite often. I see the classes very often. I see drunk American soldiers beating the utter crap out of high belt TKD guys with nothing more than drunk brawling.

I have about half a dozen friends who have served in the korean military..Its mandatory service...and ive spoken at length with these friends about TKD and its failings...Modern TKD outside of the military is a joke, even in Korea..Let alone some guy who teaches it abroad to foreigners.
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I agree with you about South Korea and every child learning taekwondo. Your used to seeing WTF Kukkiwon tkd. Any muppet can call themselves an instructor and teach poor tkd, which is the case in south korea as well as every other country.

Without sounding too offensive, nearly everyone in Korea (South) is taught WTF tkd, which is a pile of carp. The original concept of Taekwon-do as devised by General Choi Hong Hi is imo an amazing artform and self defense system. Its within the WTF that you see all the ridiculous aerial kick, etc that would serve no purpose on the street or in self defence.

The trouble is, as with most martial arts, once it begins to spread, you get people who think they can improve it, and sometimes they do, but as in the case of South Korea and the WTF it has changed for the worse....from a defense system to a sport.

In the case of ITF tkd, it is constantly evolving to get the most out of the techniques it teaches, while still staying true to the original concept.

I am instructed and under the wing of the BUTF, which is chaired by Master RMK Choy VIII Dan as graded by Gen. Choi Hong Hi. The taekwondo we learn is as close to the original syllabus as you can get and when you meet people like Master Choy and the other senior instructors and masters who have dedicated their lives to ITF Taekwon-do it truely inspires. In fairness, a lot of the techniques you see are the high kicks as they look good, but when you get more involved in the syllabus, more advanced defense techniques are involved. You never stop learning.

http://www.butf.com/index.htm

Hopefully that makes sense? :confused: ? lol
Summary: Taekwon-do these days is generalised too much and people instantly think of high kicks and the olympic WTF sport. I did not agree with and found your statement slightly offensive that the fighting aspects of Taekwon-do were cruddy.

Sorry....for the rant, Im passionate about my Taekwon-do :)
 
If everyone in SK and indeed everywhere else, is taught the cruddy version, is it not fair to generalise?

Ok ill change my statement..the VAST majority of TKD is rubbish..Unless you can find a school which teaches a minority version.

PS, you dont need the dash before the do...taekwondo
 
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