Why I Don't Train in (Kick-) Boxing

Image Source

The gym in Seoul, Korea, that I am associated with, in other words, where I am an instructor, provides a good spectrum of training. At 'The Way' Martial Arts & Fitness we offer Taekwon-Do (ITF for adults and WTF for children) augmented with Hapkido, an amateur MMA program, and Cross-Fit training. The MMA program contains two types of classes: stand-up fighting classes based on Boxing, Muay Thai, Kickboxing and ITF Taekwon-Do; and ground-fighting classes based on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Yusul (Korean jujitsu).

I'm one of the primary instructors for ITF Taekwon-Do and Hapkido and also occassionally help out with the grappling class. However, while I sometimes join the stand-up fighting classes, there are certain exercises, particularly those from Boxing and Kickboxing that I opt out of; in particular, I refuse to practise in the slipping, and bobbing and weaving drills.

Don't get me wrong, I think Boxing (and by implication I include here the hand techniques of Kickboxing) is very effective, and even for street fighting purposes people with a good foundation in boxing can often handle themselves very well (although they often break their hands which are not used to the impact of an unpadded fist on a naked skull, but that is besides the point). Some of the fighters I know personally and would not want to fight are trained foremost in Boxing.

There is very little one can do to improve on the offensive techniques in boxing. There are basically only four offensive techniques in boxing: the jab, the cross, the hook and the uppercut. Boxing has pretty much mastered the mechanics of these techniques and I don't mind training in them. And when I do, I am reminded of my instructor who often said: "Taekwon-Do is firstly Boxing." It is, however, in the defensive techniques of Boxing that I feel ill at ease, particularly those techniques that tilt the spinal alignment from the straight posture where the head is over the centre of gravity and the shoulders, hips and feet are in equilibrium.

The video above demonstrates the defensive method
of slipping and rolling (or weaving) used in Boxing. 

Within the close fighting context of Boxing as a combat sport the defensive techniques of slipping and weaving is valuable. It allows one to avoid attacks without losing ground, which is a sensible skill if your aim is to stay withing the close fighting range.

However, for me specializing in a traditional martial art fond of kicking and with a self-defence focus, I find slipping and weaving contra-productive to the types of skills I wish to engrain. Firstly, slipping and weaving makes sense in a fists-only context, but the moment you bring leg attacks (kneeing and kicking) into the equation, slipping and weaving just becomes dangerous. You are in effect lowering your head towards the opponents knees or kicks! Not wise. With the exception of kickboxing, if we can apply the term "martial arts" to include kickboxing, I cannot think of any other martial art that trains in kicks and also slipping and weaving. (An exception may be Capoiera, but there is diffferent dynamics at play in this Brazilian fighting-dance.) Even a long established combat sport like Muay Thai does not use slipping and weaving as primary defensive movements.

Also, slipping and weaving requires you to shift your head's position away from its prime balance position over the centre of gravity. The traditional martial arts puts a lot of emphasis on keeping correct posture and ensuring a balanced position. The head is almost always kept directily over the centre of gravity and the shoulders and hips are usually in line and balanced relative to the knees and feet. Once a person has his head positioned away from its primed balanced position, take downs  and throws become much easier.

In ITF Taekwon-Do, my base style, I can think of maybe five fundamental techniques where the posture is not erect. Considering that ITF Taekwon-Do allegedly containts over 3000 techniques, that should speak volumes about the principle of keeping an erect, well-balanced posture. My other training in Hapkido and Taekkyeon puts similar emphasis on keeping an erect posture and I can assume the same for many of the other styles I had dabbled in.

Of course, it is necessary to mention that there is good slipping and bad slipping. Good slipping is only the slightest amount of tilt and movement that allows the opponent's fist to miss its target (your head); then there is bad slipping which is an exaggerated bend in the posture. For a good exposition on both good slipping and bad slipping, read "How to Slip Punches" at ExportBoxing.Com.

And so, whenever I join the stand-up fighting class at my gym, I train in most of what the class has to offer, but deliberately sit out whenever slipping and weaving is practised. Again, I don't doubt the value of these defensive motions in the confined context of competition sparring where hand techniques and close range fighting is preferenced. ITF Taekwon-Do athletes have incorporated some of these bobbing weaving motions for tournament sparring and within this confined context there might be value at the close fighting ranges and since knee kicks, grabbing and throwing are illegal in ITF tournament sparring, some of the dangers that slipping (particular of the bad type) presents, are less worrisome. For other contexts and particularly the self-defence contexts, exercises that compromise erect posture, and therefore optimum equilibrium, are not the types of exercises I want to ingrain. 

Early Influences on Taekwon-Do

Taekwon-Do was established when a group of Kwan merged together under the umbrella term Tae Kwon Do. The word Kwan 관 / 館 is a Korean word that literally means house, building, hall, gymnasium or school, but has the connotative meaning of a family or clan—a martial art clan; i.e. a group of martial artists that share the same culture, philosophy and technique. In the 1940s the original five Kwan were established: Song Moo Kwan, Chung Do Kwan, Moo Do Kwan, Chang Moo Kwan, and Jidokwan. In the 1950s a further four Kwan were established: Han Moo Kwan, Oh Do Kwan, Kang Duk Won and Jung Do Kwan. (See this French website for a quick overview of how the nine Kwan fit together.)

By looking at what martial arts were practiced in these original Kwan and/or by their founders we can get a good idea as to which martial arts contributed to what are the actual roots of this modern Korean martial art known as Taekwon-Do. The umbrella name Tae Kwon Do was accepted in 1955, and the official Korea Taekwondo Association was first established in 1959/60 and finally affirmed in 1965. To complete this exercise our focus will be on looking at the martial arts practised in these Kwan by 1960; in other words, those martial arts that contributed to “original Tae Kwon Do.” Taekwon-Do has changed dramatically since 1960; however, our aim here is not to see how Taekwon-Do had turned out, but merely to see what the original ingredients for Taekwon-Do were.

Song Moo Kwan founder Roh Byung Jick is said to have practiced as a child techniques that he saw practiced at local Buddhist temples. It is uncertain what exactly the martial art was that was practiced at these temples. Later in life Roh went to Japan to study where he practiced Shotokan Karate under Gichin Funakoshi.

Chung Do Kwan founder Lee Won Kyeok secretly practised Taekkyeon as a child. Later he also went to Japan to study and practised Shotokan Karate under Gichin Funakoshi. He claimed to have also traveled to China were he practised Kung Fu. It is uncertain what style of Kung Fu he had practised; he was however the first to use the term Tang Soo Do (Chinese-Hand-Way) for his style. However, Tang Soo is the Korean rendition of Kara-Te or Karate. The original forms practised by the Chung Do Kwan was the Pyong-Ahn forms, which are basically the Pinan kata from Okinawa that were used in Shotokan Karate under the name Heian.

Moon Duk Kwan was founded by Hwang Kee. He supposedly studied Taekkyeon by himself as a boy by copying a Taekkyeon expert he saw in his neighborhood; however, he didn't have any formal training in Taekkyeon. As a railway worker he often travelled to Manchuria (China) where he practised Kung Fu. In 1957 a librarian from Korea National University in Seoul gave him access to the Muye Dobo Tongji, an ancient Korean martial art manuscript. From this he extrapolated Soo Bahk, an old Korean form of combat. Because Hwang Kee did not want to unify into the new Taekwon-Do system, it is uncertain how much his martial art knowledge contributed to what became early Taekwon-Do.

Chang Moo Kwan was founded by Yoon Byung In who had studied Kung Fu (Baji Quan known as Balji Kwon in Korean) in Manchuria under a Mongolian instructor. He also practised Shudokan Karate in Japan with Kanken Toyama.

Jido Kwan founder Chun Sang Sup practiced Shotokan Karate under Gichin Funakoshi in Japan. Although he called his style Kong Soo Do, it was basically just Karate. Chun Sang Sup was also close friends with Yoon Byung In (Chang Moo Kwan) and frequently trained with him. They sometimes travelled to Manchuria together where they practised in Kung Fu, probably Baji Quan. The Jido Kwan also had Judo ties. (It was the first gym to teach Judo in Korea.)

Han Moo Kwan founder Lee Kyo Yoon was originally a student of Chun Sang Sup (Jido Kwan). His style was most probably based on Shotokan Karate with some Kung Fu influence and may have included some Judo.

Oh Do Kwan was founded by General Choi Hong Hi (known as the “Father of Taekwon-Do” and Nam Tae Hi (Choi's “Right-Hand Man”). General Choi practiced in some Taekkyeon as a child and later studied Shotokan Karate under Gichin Funakoshi while at university in Japan. The Oh Do Kwan system was used in the South Korean military. Most of the military instructors that taught the Oh Do Kwan system was originally from the Chung Do Kwan, including Nam Tae Hi.

Kang Duk Kwan was founded by two Chang Moo Kwan students, Hong Jong Pyo and Park Chul Hee. It is accepted that their style was not much different from Chang Moo Kwan: Kung Fu (Baji Quan) and Shudokan Karate.

Jung Do Kwan was founded by Young Woo Lee, a former student of Chung Do Kwan. It is accepted that their style was not much different from Chung Do Kwan: Mostly Shotokan Karate with some Taekkyeon and Kung Fu incluence.

From this list we can get a good idea of the original influences on what became known as Taekwon-Do. The strongest influence was undoubtedly Shotokan Karate. Other influences were Taekkyeon and Kung Fu, probably Baji Quan. We can expand this list by looking at the “Original Twelve Taekwon-Do Masters.” This group was put together by the Korea Taekwon-Do Association in 1960 to promote Taekwon-Do. Apart from their training in Taekwon-Do under the leadership of General Choi Hong Hi and Nam Tae Hi, some of them were also versed in western boxing, Judo, and gymnastics. It is also believed that General Choi Hong Hi incorporated Hapkido (at the time probably Hapki-Yusul) into the system to expand the self-defence arsenal. General Choi Hong Hi who was the first person to write a book on Taekwon-Do and later also the ITF Encyclopaedia had the strongest influence in standardizing the original syllabus that was used by the Korea Taekwon-Do Association, therefore his martial art experience in Taekkyeon and Shotokan Karate is the be considered the most influential, particularly as far as ITF Taekwon-Do, of which he was the founder and first president, is concerned. Also strongly influential on ITF Taekwon-Do were the original instructors that were mostly from the Chung Do Kwan. Again Taekkyeon and Shotokan Karate are the major influences, along with some Kung Fu.


Regarding ITF Taekwon-Do, which is my primary style and the main topic on this blog, I stand by my view that Shotokan Karate and Taekkyeon are the two main roots. Other noteworthy influences of which we can observe some technical material in ITF Taekwon-Do are Western Boxing, Judo, Hapki-Yoosool and maybe some Kung Fu.

What I Have Against Tournament Sparring -- Part 2

In my previous post I voiced my disagreement with the overemphasis of tournament sparring. One of my arguments was that tournament sparring creates a mindset that is contrary to the mindset one needs for a self-defence situation. As I mentioned in the previous post, tournament rules condition you to think of a physical encounter as something that happens between exactly two individuals, using a particular set of attacks, aimed at a few specific targets, for instance the head, chest and obliques. Not only does this condition you to ignore other highly effective techniques like biting, you are also less likely to consider other very vulnerable targets like the knees. In this post I'd like us to contemplate the effect of tournament rules on one's fighting paradigm.

In WTF Taekwon-Do tournament sparring, the competitors wear body armour and a head guard. Hand attacks to the head are illegal. Because of these safety rules, practitioners are not very concerned about blocking. They rely on distancing, the body armour and the rules to keep them safe from punches to the head. Now, in an actual fight, the ability to use your hands for protection is essential. Unfortunately, WTF practitioners tend to fight with their hands down; a very bad habit if one were to fight outside of the ring.

Western Boxing is the opposite of WTF Taekwon-Do as it focus on hand strikes only. Some boxers even learn how to (illegally) use elbow-strikes in their sparring. Unfortunately, boxing does not prepare one for low attacks, such as kicks to the legs or take downs.

ITF Taekwon-Do' tournament sparring is a little better as body armour and head guards are not worn and both hand and foot techniques are encouraged; however, some of the best self-defence techniques like elbow-strikes and low attacks are illegal. Because ITF practitioners use a lot of kicking they may not be used to sparring at close range, like boxers are, and since low attacks are illegal, they may not know how to defend against low attacks.

One would think that Muay Thai, which includes elbow-strikes, knee kicks, and low attacks, is better. Unfortunately, Muay Thai has its own bad habits it enforces. Muay Thai focus primarily on power attacks, which are slower, and sometimes even cause practitioners to turn their backs on their opponents. In Muay Thai many vital spots are also open. Of course, these practitioners are extremely conditioned, but such open vital spots are still bad in a self-defence situation where you can never be sure that your opponent does not have a weapon. Taking a kick to the ribs is one thing; a knife stab to the ribs is something completely different.

Taekkyeon tournaments are interesting because they allow both high and low attacks. The low attacks are much more varied and effective than the simple roundhouse kick to the thigh one sees in Muay Thai. Taekkyeon also allow sweeps and throws. The bad thing about Taekkyeon tournaments is that hard hand attacks like punches are not included.This might mean that Taekkyeon practitioners are not adapt at blocking certain types of attacks.

How about the grappling styles, like for instance Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu? BJJ is wonderful as it gets you accustomed to fighting on the ground. The problem of defending against different types of strikes while on the ground aside, BJJ's strategy to go to the ground could be a dangerous one in the streets. Their might be glass, rocks and other harmful objects on the ground. When you are on the ground fighting your opponent you are a very easy target for your opponent's buddies to start kicking you. It is true that your opponent's buddies could attack you while you are standing also, but in a standing position you are much more mobile. Street fighters know that more people die on the ground than when standing up. Granted, defending yourself against multiple attacks while standing is not easy, but it is easier than while you are on the floor.

BJJ and Mixed Martial Arts that often spar on the ground are not without their problematic rules either. In MMA fights, grappling often results in technical knock outs with such techniques as the rear naked choke, triangle choke and the like. Were you to change one or two simple rules to make these fights more “street accurate” most of these winning techniques will not work as effectively any more. Include, for instance, biting or attacking small joints. Once you are allowed to bite, or bend over fingers, there is suddenly a host of escapes from these grappling techniques. Furthermore, biting will make ground fighting a much more risky activity. Were people allowed to bite and attack small wrist, MMA fighters will suddenly spend much less time embracing each other, and instead try and keep their distance.

If we are competing in tournament sparring purely for its sport value, then I have no issue with tournament sparring. My issue is that people often confuse tournament sparring with self-defence training. Tournament sparring could have a peripheral value for self-defence training, but generally I think that an overemphasis on tournament sparring could actually hamper preparation for self-defence. And I am not alone: self-defence guru Marc "Animal" MacYoung has similar sentiments in his book A Professional's Guide to Ending Violence Quickly: How Bouncers, Bodyguards, and Other Security Professionals Handle Ugly Situations. Tournament rules create a confining box, which I believe could be negative for self-defence situations. Often the tournaments of specific styles only prepare one to defend against someone that fights like that style. If your tournament does not allow low kicks, you probably won't know how to defend against low kicks. If your tournament have no ground fighting you may not know how to defend against a grappler. If you are a grappler but have never been bitten before, because biting is illegal in your style, you may find yourself suddenly with a chunk of biceps-muscle bitten off as you attempted to do a rear naked choke!

Image Sources:

ITF Sparring -- Personal

WTF Sparring -- Focus Fitness Centre

Boxing -- Heavy Fists

ITF Sparring -- Taekwon-Do Sweiz

Muay Thai Sparring -- Thai-Blogs

Taekkyeon -- Wikimedia Commons

BJJ Grappling -- Nässjö Grappling Center

MMA -- MSG: MMA in the Ring

How "Fist of Legend" Helped Me to Understand Taekwon-Do Better

One of my favourite kung-fu films is Jet Li's Fist of Legend. The first time I saw it, I got an epiphany about the development of Taekwon-Do, even though the film actually never officially mentions either Taekwon-Do or Korea.

The context of the story is 1937 with the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, China, at the start of the Second Japanese War (1937-1945). Chen Zhen, the main character played by Jet Li, is a Chinese student studying at a university in Japan. He is trained in traditional Chinese martial arts, undoubtedly of the soft style variety. During one of the early fight scenes he uses standing grappling techniques, in other words trapping and joint-locking, known in Chinese martial arts as chin-na 逮捕 and in Korean, I think, as 체포 techniques, from the verb 체포하다 that basically means arresting or apprehending; i.e. techniques involving grabbing or seizing an opponent.

This first fight scene starts at around 3:30 in the YouTube video below:



Later in the film Chen Zhen is taught another Chinese style Mizyongyi which is related to the Northern Long-Fist and is therefore generally considered to be a hard style. Nonetheless, as you can see in the video below of a practitioner performing a Mizyongyi form you will notice that it is still very much imbued with circular motion techniques, typical of many Chinese martial arts and often associated with soft style martial arts.



Mizyongyi is known for its deftly footwork and feints.

Chinese styles are not the only exposure Chen Zhen gets. In one scene he duals a Japanese master called Funakushi Fumio. The name is clearly meant to remind the viewer of Funakushi Gichin, the founder of modern Karate (Shotokan). Funakushi Fumio uses a typical hard linear Japanese style, which, judging from the inferences, we can assume to be Karate. Chen Zhen and Funakushi Fumio ends the fight in a dual. Funakushi then teaches the young Chen to “learn to adapt.”

Chen Zhen finally faces Gō Fujita who also uses a very hard style, also depicting a very hard style Karate. (Fujita is played by Billy Chow, a real-life kick-boxing champion.) Chen Zhen soon finds out that in order to win Fujia he cannot rely solely on his Chinese martial arts, he has to include hard linear motions. His attacks starts to include hard linear strikes and kicks. Furthermore, he changes his footwork dramatically, adopting shorter stances in which he “bounces” on the balls of his feet similar to Western boxing. The footwork is reminiscent of footwork we see in Taekwon-Do sparring. What he starts to do is a hybrid style which looks very much like I “grew up” with in ITF Taekwon-Do.



(If this is not similar to the Taekwon-Do you are familiar with, I would not be surprised. Because of the focus on tournaments, most Taekwon-Do schools don't practise a multitude of techniques and fighting has become narrowed down to the limited techniques allowed for tournament sparring. The video above—kungfu movie theatrics aside—is, however, very much like the Taekwon-Do I learned when I just started Taekwon-Do under Sabeomnim Johan Bolton. I even learned those punches to the armpits!)

In an earlier scene in the movie, around the end of the first third, Chen Zhen talks about “Japanese Style”; however, while the concepts of speed and precision are part of modern Karate at the time in which the story is set, the kick he demonstrates is not “Japanese Style”. It is a reverse side-piercing kick, straight out of a Taekwon-Do manual, circa the late seventies; a technique that was developed after the setting of the film. Furthermore, the footwork he demonstrates at the end of the film is something more evocative of Western boxing, i.e. the bouncing in a neutral stance, but also the way he would switch his feet or turn his facing posture is textbook Taekwon-Do sparring.

So this is what I got from the film. This is a movie about Chinese and Japanese martial arts and the result one would get when mixing the two. Korean martial arts are known for their kicking techniques, of which Taekkyeon is the most probable parent, but which influenced by Northern styles, since Korea is a peninsula attached to the north of China. Because of the Japanese influence Korea also got a strong dose of Japanese hard style, as we well know, in the form of Shotokan Karate. The result is a hybrid of the two, developed in a modern time when Western influences, including Western boxing started to be introduced to the Orient. The film, I believe, brings tribute not only to the martial arts from China and Japan, but also to the new martial art that develop in Korea, the little country flanked by China and Japan.

My interpretation of this movie could very well be completely off and merely be a subjective imposing of my Taekwon-Do paradigm onto the movie. This is quite possible the case; nonetheless, it was this movie that opened my mind to the reality that ITF Taekwon-Do is actually a combination of hard / linear techniques and soft / circular techniques. Because I recognised Taekwon-Do so clearly in the hybrid style the lead character demonstrated at the end of the film, I started to seriously look into Taekwon-Do's techniques, trying to understand the different influences that played into it. I have come to the conclusion that ITF Taekwon-Do is both a hard style, because it is so strongly based on Karate, and a soft style based on soft style circular movements which I now know to be rooted in Taekkyeon, but of which the basic principles derived from Chinese martial arts. (Since the time I started Taekwon-Do it has evolved to include even more soft style characteristics.) It also has some concepts derived from Western boxing. My instructor, Sabeomnim Johan Bolton loved to quote Grandmaster Hee Il Cho saying that “Taekwon-Do is firstly boxing.” I've never been able to find the source of this quote, but I don't doubt the authenticity of it as it is very much in line with Grandmaster Cho, whom mentioned his approval of boxing training as part of Taekwon-Do in numerous interviews.

This is the Taekwon-Do I practise—this lovely hybrid of linear and circular with a drizzle of boxing for good measure.

Post Script: My purpose of this essay was not to claim that Taekwon-Do is better than either the Chinese Martial Arts or the Japanese Martial Arts; rather that Korean Martial Arts were heavily influenced by both Chinese and Japanese Martial Arts and that ITF Taekwon-Do adhere to principles prominent in both circular / soft styles and linear / hard styles.