Olympic TKD

[G Rae]

Could you describe the Switch step they use with a rear leg round kick? I have been around a bunch of guys who have trained both more dutch style kickboxing and traditional Thai trained and I have never seen this.

Think Frank is talking about stepping in, with the front foot, to deliver the kick off the rear leg regarding the telegraphing. Said switch by mistake maybe??

[G Rae]

International Tae-Kwon-Do Federation and World Tae-Kwon-Do Federation. WTF is the style at the olympics.

[Muhammad Abdou]

wtf focus on their "olympic sport" of taekwondo etc they'll teach you how to play tiggy with your feet, while itf would teach you what id consider a more realistic self defence system. im pretty sure that some masters under itf would laugh at the wtf syllabus, in other words, they are two very different systems.

[Tim Elliott]

Could you describe the Switch step they use with a rear leg round kick? I have been around a bunch of guys who have trained both more dutch style kickboxing and traditional Thai trained and I have never seen this.

Im guessing Frank means the step in on the rear kick, rather than a switch, otherwise it doesnt make any sense.

[Muhammad Abdou]

this isnt a bad explanation of the differences:
http://www.succeedinmartialarts.com/...-itf-taekwondo
if you want to be in the olympics then pick wtf but if you want to learn a system that incorporates striking to the head and kicking below belt level then learn itf. it sounds like the only reason this guy picked wtf over itf is because of its affiliation with the olympics which seems to be what wins over most of its martial artists. i say screw it. i want to learn how to fight. not get into some glorified commercialised event.

[Jason Mallory]

this isnt a bad explanation of the differences:
http://www.succeedinmartialarts.com/...-itf-taekwondo
if you want to be in the olympics then pick wtf but if you want to learn a system that incorporates striking to the head and kicking below belt level then learn itf. it sounds like the only reason this guy picked wtf over itf is because of its affiliation with the olympics which seems to be what wins over most of its martial artists. i say screw it. i want to learn how to fight. not get into some glorified commercialised event.

That article was ok. You could tell he was biased towards ITF. Both ITF and WTF have to be modified for MMA competition or street self defense. From my experience with both and competing at a national level in WTF, I would say that WTF does a better job of teaching principles of fighting such as distance control, footwork, timing, counter kicking etc... these can then be modified for MMA competition.

These comments in the article illustrated this:

"Here is what I found out quickly. WTF practitioners can cover several meters in a split second, in any direction. My kicks were too short, imagine that… I’m 6’3”, and I didn’t have the footwork or training to move across the mat fast enough to ever hit my opponent."

"If you think about it, the ring in an official WTF match is 12 meters square. That is nearly 40 feet wide, and that ring does get used. Here I am, a highly successful point style fighter, winning first place in practically every tournament I competed in. Then, at nationals, in San Jose, California, I’m knocked out with a swift roundhouse kick to the ribs."

The WTF style advanced and improved while the ITF style remained more or less the same back in the late 80's and early 90's when I competed. Today, ITF competition has improved and they allow punching to the face and have eliminated the point fighting aspect so that there is more continuous action but the competitors still lack some fundamental skills. Not to say that there aren't some tough guys who compete ITF and the will to win sometimes is more important than technique.

Of course the major flaws in WTF competition is the lack of punching to the face and kicking the legs. When you add punching to the face and leg kicks it changes some of the dynamics of a fight but the overall principles of footwork, distance control, feinting etc... remain the same.

[Jason Mallory]

Here are two HL vids that show the difference between ITF & WTF. The first one is with Hyon Lee who I trained with at the Olympic Training Center before the U.S. team trials in 1990. The second is a compilation of ITF Championships. You will notice that the WTF fighters are smoother, have better economy of motion and are more relaxed.

[Muhammad Abdou]

the most obvious difference i find is that the itf guys are trying to deal damage with their strikes while the wtf guys aim to just make contact, you'll never see them try to move through their opponent or aim for a perpendicular angle with a strike and thats why most of their attacks are shrugged off and answered by counterattacks. on the other hand, the itf style looks similar to other contact sports such as kickboxing while it follows different concepts. for this reason, i think that itf tkd is more easily transferable to mma then wtf tkd.

[Jason Mallory]

the most obvious difference i find is that the itf guys are trying to deal damage with their strikes while the wtf guys aim to just make contact, you'll never see them try to move through their opponent or aim for a perpendicular angle with a strike and thats why most of their attacks are shrugged off and answered by counterattacks. on the other hand, the itf style looks similar to other contact sports such as kickboxing while it follows different concepts. for this reason, i think that itf tkd is more easily transferable to mma then wtf tkd.

It may look that way to the eye but trust me, the WTF style kicks have power. I've seem arms broken from trying to block roundhouse kicks and plenty of knock outs in competition.

[Muhammad Abdou]

i believe that the instances where wtf practitioners do deal damage with their strikes is when they dont use "wtf style" kicks and use more powerful traditional kicking technique instead. they've said it themselves, the kicks developed for wtf competition are designed for speed and not for power. i've never seen anyone get more then a slight daze or fall over onto their asse due to their balance being disrupted from a wtf style kick. maybe they have broken arms but that may have more to do with the victim not conditioning their arms to recieve that kind of impact. i cant imagine a forearm being broken by something like a double roundhouse kick but if it really is that powerful then i'd like to see it happen.