u/Even-Pangolin3307

Hello,

In November I will go to my first Open Tournament which is hosted by the independent taekwondo organization in Germany.

The ruleset here is closer to my roots in karate compared to the taekwondo WT ruleset because fists are allowed. Sweeps are too but no low kicks or elbow /knee. We have 2 disciplines, first is point fighting which I am used to because most karate tournaments have this. But the other is "continues fighting" we do not stop after the point but keep going on. So it's more kind of kickboxing without low kicks. The techniques still need to be good so it's not just simple brawling but needs to look like actual martial techniques.

I am asking here because most of my opponents will come from taekwondo schools.

Do you have some experience in this kind of fight? Are there some good YouTubers that teach about this? Thank you.

Hello guys,

I am still fairly new to taekwondo and need to learn the whole taekwondo dictionary l but I found a difference in the writing.

1- Hana - Anna

2- Dul - dool

...

5- Dasot - dasaul

...

Back to start - Pakkat - bakat

Finish - Paro - barrol

L stance - Hugul sogi - niunja sogi

This is only a small part, the differences are sometimes small sometimes big. So what is true now?

Hello,

I am still new to taekwondo and did a variety of fighting styles but mostly karate 1 Dan.

My fighting experience is mediocre but I would say I tend to like my hands more because they are so fast.

But in my hall we have a guy who is heavier and bigger than me and comes from Thai boxing. Each time I want to get close he demolished me so I tried to go more on range and footwork and worked pretty well except that I couldn't really "score".

I would say we have the same speed but he has more experience in fighting.

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What could I look out for next time in sparring?

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It's not about just winning here, I love sparring against him because he gives me an absolute challenge and we have good chemistry but with my size of 171cm and 70kg I will have more opponents in future that are at least taller than me.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about how martial arts training compares to how we actually fight today, and something feels off.

When you start training, everything is about basics. Stances, punches, kicks, throws. Slow, controlled, structured. You build movement patterns that honestly don’t look anything like a real fight. Techniques are often practiced in isolation—clean, linear, and powerful.

Then at some point, you go to a tournament. And you get a reality check.

Fights are fast, chaotic, and shaped by rules. People fight for points, not for damage. You get hit, but it’s rarely meant to end the fight. It’s more about speed and timing than actual impact. And suddenly you realize: this doesn’t look like what we’ve been training for.

So why is there such a gap between training and fighting?

Looking into older martial arts practices, one thing stands out—conditioning. Not just cardio or strength, but conditioning the actual weapons, especially the hands. Things like makiwara, rice buckets, wooden dummies.

And I don’t think this was because they lacked better equipment. They could have made heavy bags or similar tools. It seems intentional. They weren’t just learning techniques—they were building bodies that could actually deliver them.

Today, we wear gloves. And honestly, gloves are mostly there to protect your hands. The human hand is fragile. If you throw full power punches bare-knuckle, there’s a good chance you injure yourself.

Most people who’ve trained long enough have met someone with heavily conditioned hands. You know the type—everything they throw feels different. Dense, solid. Like getting hit with something structural, not just flesh. They don’t have to hold back in the same way because their body can support the impact.

It makes me wonder if we’ve lost something important.

A lot of traditional techniques—straight, linear, “destructive”—start to make more sense if the body is conditioned to actually handle them. Even blocks could potentially damage an opponent if both people are trained that way.

Curious what you think...

Is modern training just optimized for rulesets, or did we move away from something essential?

Hello,

I switched from karate to taekwondo to try something different. In karate it's plenty easy to find grand masters (4th Dan and higher) doing Kata Especially interesting to watch the Olympics or world cups but.

But I find it extremely difficult to find traditional hyongs done by masters online. Some black belts but none above 50 or something and each one seems to have some variations from the "tkd bible" ("taekwon-do – the art of self-defence")

Is there a reason for that?