This is a really good question. You have to ask yourself what is it that you want to gain from doing a martial art. We can explain what we strive for at our club. The Magua TKD club is focussed on gaining the main benefits, namely effective self defence, responsible mindset, building members inner confidence, improving physical well being and top notch competitors for those interested in competing.
Let’s discuss a bit about other styles of martial art. Allot depends on the style and the instructor teaching it.
There are traditional martial arts and other combat sports who are typically under the martial arts banner to the lay man. In fact so called traditional martial arts are by definition actually correctly termed as martial arts and others are ring sports.
Traditional Martial arts
Our club practices I.T.F Taekwon-Do also with the unique Magua Hosin-sul (Self defence syllabus) it is a traditional martial art with a ring sport competition aspect as part of what makes it up. Competition Sparring(ring sport aspect), set sparring, patterns, Breaking, Self Defence, special techniques (Traditional).
The difference, traditional Martial arts were originally created for the purpose of self defence in war that is what the martial stands for. The art stands for the exercises within it in order to build up a person to achieve the ability to afflict the necessary self defence. Many of these exercises include strikes etc to vital spots on the body in order to maim or even kill. Traditional martial arts often include Patterns which are a sequence of self defence techniques against an imaginary opponent.
Over the last couple of years some ring sports have labelled these sequences as un- realistic and not applicable to self defence. The reason for this is that if watched from eyes that don’t understand the application for these techniques and stances it might be easy to miss their true value. Often the sequences are practiced with long stances and exaggerated movements. The reason is because under pressure movements tend to shorten. The exaggeration takes that into account.
Traditional arts also tend to condition their fists, forearms etc. This is also useful for breaking wood, tiles or ice which generally forms part of the sylabus. Yet again some ring sports dismiss this as, the wood stands still and doesn’t hit back. Well this is quite obvious. The real benefits being overlooked, such as an attacking tool that is conditioned and strong enough not to break if actually hitting someone. Also the bravery and spirit it brings out in a student is undeniable. It is extremely different to hit someone with a glove on as opposed to hitting with no gloves. Striking with an unconditioned had can actually cause you more pain than the person being hit.
The traditional arts also tend to practice something called set sparring where an attacker throws a strike and the defender blocks and counter attacks with control not making contact but stopping centimetres in front of the target. Again there is criticism on that. The fact of the matter is that these techniques are generally aimed at vital spots which are illegal in any ring sports. If contact was made there would be no students left :)
Within the traditional martial arts there are many forms of competitive sparring from 1 point stop to continuous. Our clubs practice continuous because it tends to be harder and more close to a real fight. Rules are applied in order to keep the competitors relatively safe while bringing out the necessary fighting spirit, dodging and evasive fluidity.
Most traditional arts are striking/standing based as opposed to ground grappling based. Having said that, our clubs have defences against common grappling and ground and pound etc built into the syllabus. The reason that most traditional arts have striking and or staying on the feet as their base is because they were originally designed for battle, rolling around on the floor is not ideal in battle or now on the street(too many unknown variables such as multiple opponents, floor surface etc). One should not be contained by an assailant and if they are, would use far more effective, more like animal instincts, to get the person off you. Grappling tends to leave a person vulnerable to being bitten, raked, ripped, poked stabbed etc. In our clubs students are taught to not go down to the floor on purpose, if they land on the floor, many techniques can then be employed to get one back up.
Our club focuses on the effectiveness of the original purpose by combining all of the sections of Taekwon-Do in order to create a complete martial artist.
The down fall of many traditional martial arts is that they are watered down versions of what they were created to be. Some don’t use realistic attacks to practice against and only use their traditional exercises as exercise without the correct mindset that was originally intended. Also some employ no contact or only touch contact in competition sparring which is good for the young kiddies but a harder approach is preferred by us with the older groups in order to be tough enough for real combat. The students tolerance builds up as they move up the ranks and will not be overly forced on one when they begin.
Ring sports
Ring sports often get more attention in the media. This is because that is what they are designed for, entertainment. Often people assume that they are the most effective self defence because surely it must be so because there was so much blood.
While I agree all fighting styles at a certain level provide a level of self defence, or more than one would have had if they had not practiced it.The general toughness developed and aspects like ground an pound are also a help in real self defence. It is how ever a mistake to believe that a ring sport is more effective in a real self defence situation on the street than a well trained traditional martial art. The term self defence needs to me more defined, I will go into that another time.
Also the punishment that can be taken in pro ring sports can be counter active to health therefor going against "self defence".
A person trained to a high level in a proper traditional martial art which focuses on the original purpose of the style will be more proficient at pure self defence techniques designed to take a person out extremely quickly.
The ring sports are often cool to watch and have some really respectable fighters. The reason ring sports have diverted away from being more effective in the real world is that the entertainment value dictates that not dodging, allowing time on the floor in some cases is permitted. Many more effective techniques are dis-allowed (even in so called no rules fighting) and just because they sometimes allow more techniques to be used in competition than some traditional martial arts doesn't mean that the traditional martial arts don’t have far more effective techniques that would be too dangerous to use in any competition. It is generally a perception which is good for marketing. For instance the term MMA stands for mixed martial arts. In fact it is mixed ring sports. The perception to a lay person is that they will get the best of all martial arts if they practice MMA. This is infact very far from the truth. In fact cage fighting, Muai thai , boxing and kickboxing only focus on the ring fighting aspect as opposed to other self defence situations and especially the most common street fight, the three second sucker punch or strike attack.
Also the ring sports are designed to fight opponents of similar size and focus on being most effective while young and strong. True traditional arts will allow one to be effective even when old and against larger, stronger opponents. Taekwon-Do for instance was created by General Choi Hong Hi who was a tiny 100 pounds.
But you will see some Taekwon-Do techniques in MMA. Yes this is true but mainly taken from the combat ring sport side of Taekwon-Do as most traditional techniques and aiming points would not be allowed in that arena.
There are some big names who have used their Taekwon-do knowledge to become champions in that arena, but only limited Taekwon-Do techniques are allowed there and much time is needed on practicing sport grappling because many of the more effective techniques to ward off a grappler are not allowed.
Conclusion
All people are different and know what they want. If the big lights and being put quickly into the fighting arena are what is what makes you tick, for possible fame. Then ring sports are for you.
If you are keen on the discipline, patient to learn in a more technical manner and interested in learning truly effective techniques, self control and to have a future training in the art after ones prime age. Then Traditional Martial arts are for you.
Our clubs focus on the traditional side, with emphasis on real self defence as well as creating competitive champions (ring sport side) who also have the taste for testing their abilities even on the world stage. We see ourselves as offering a true modern Martial art.
I hope this article has given you at least a slight insight into the confusing world of martial arts and can help you make a more informed decision.
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