An internet martial arts instructor compared TKD kicks to muay thai and said that TKD kicks had no follow through. I think this is an uneducated thing to say. I think i understand the purpose of one compared to the other in each discipline but to say this of TKD kicks is unreasonable. Can anyone compare the two for me? or is he right?
there seems to be a small trend of muay thai videos whos instructors IMO pigeon hole TKD or Karate kicks as being just a snap from the knee with little else. I'd like to know their experiences in the other disciplines for them to come to that conclusion.
thank you
The reputation comes from the influence that sport has on the arts. TKD has much more point style fighting which leads to fast snappy kicks being more effective. To say that all TKD kicks have no follow through is ignorant, but I've known schools where they only train the sport style of the art.
A fast snappy kick can still knock someone out, but points style fighters will almost always be run over by someone much less skilled who can take a hit and then kick a hole in their legs.
In the video you can see Serkan Yilmaz, a Turkish Taekwondo fighter. He was ace in K1, and in my opinion lost an unfair decision against Masato, one of the top K1-MAX fighters. You can see that his kicks have plenty of follow through.
Yeah, this is why the sport rules for arts matter. Eventually, they have a huge impact on the culture of what is trained, and how. 
Yeah, what Elias said. a lot of TKD techniques originally are meant to have follow through (think Cro Cop head kick or Joe Rogan spinning back kick). Same thing as in BJJ where people now fight for advantages and stall instead of fighting for a submission like BJJ is at its core.
An old schoolmate of mine is a 7th degree BB instructor in Tang Soo Do, which is a traditional style of Korean Karate similar to TKD. He kicks like a mule. VERY heavy legs.
Also, unless there are different competition rulesets that I'm not aware of, TKD rules state a kick must be landed with "trembling shock" for it to score a point. Meaning, it must observably jar or shake the opponents body. A tap or touch doesn't count.
Ninja Lee -
The reputation comes from the influence that sport has on the arts. TKD has much more point style fighting which leads to fast snappy kicks being more effective. To say that all TKD kicks have no follow through is ignorant, but I've known schools where they only train the sport style of the art.
A fast snappy kick can still knock someone out, but points style fighters will almost always be run over by someone much less skilled who can take a hit and then kick a hole in their legs.
In the video you can see Serkan Yilmaz, a Turkish Taekwondo fighter. He was ace in K1, and in my opinion lost an unfair decision against Masato, one of the top K1-MAX fighters. You can see that his kicks have plenty of follow through.
so how exactly is muay thai not point fighting? i mean less protective equipment and the intention seems to be to trade at a closer range. perhaps more fights end in finishes. I don't see it being greatly different.
and what are point style fighters compared to anyone else? I mean how do you define a point fighter. I appreciate your comments BTW. How do you know that point fighters are run over by, i assume you mean, mma or muay thai type fighters? Michael Page said muay thai fighters would get frustrated sparring him as he wouldn't stand in front of them. that's more a comment on the movement and intention in a mauy thai match.
I would argue that the TKD player has a lot of dexterity in their legs and can choose how to throw certain kicks. a roundhouse can be fast or thrown broader to hit harder or in the case of a double roundhouse the hips are turned over and the kick can be fairly powerful. sry my points are a bit scattered. thanks.
HefX - An old schoolmate of mine is a 7th degree BB instructor in Tang Soo Do, which is a traditional style of Korean Karate similar to TKD. He kicks like a mule. VERY heavy legs.
Also, unless there are different competition rulesets that I'm not aware of, TKD rules state a kick must be landed with "trembling shock" for it to score a point. Meaning, it must observably jar or shake the opponents body. A tap or touch doesn't count.
aren't there different rules for the different associations? wtf, itf ata etc?
I took TKD from age 10 to 18, i got my black belt at 16. There are some kicks that have follow through, and are very hard kicks. I think the main kicks Muay Thai compares to TKD, and critisize are TKD's front snap kick, which is similiar to MT's Teep. TKD's version is a snapping kick, you chamber your leg, throw the kick, and you chamber it back immediately. MT's Teep has no chamber and is meant to go through your target.
TKD Version
Muay Thai's version 
(Anderson knocked out Vitor with a TKD style Rear leg Front kick, I'll have to watch again, but i'm pretty sure he chambered, kicked and rechambered. )
Same with what we called the roundhouse, similiar to MT's rear leg, body, or head kick.
IN TKD you chamber, kick, then chamber it back,, In MT you throw it from the ground straight at your target like a baseball bat.
An example of a TKD kick that you follow through on is the Spinning back kick.
Spinning heel kick in TKD varies, Uriah Hall chambers his and releases the kick, then rechambers it. When he knocked that kid out on TUF, you see how much control of his leg he has when he releases the kick, and rechambers it before setting it down.
You can look up videos on different types of kicks and see how they differ from Muay Thai.
I use mostly Muay Thai now, It was hard for me to go from chambering my kicks, to throwing them straight with no chamber. But when i got it down, my kicks had more power, a lot more.
I still like to practice spinning kicks, side kicks, and whatever i think would work.
The biggest difference is that TKD round kick lands with the instep and MT lands with the shin. Also, MT tends to stay more upright when kicking. 
HefX - An old schoolmate of mine is a 7th degree BB instructor in Tang Soo Do, which is a traditional style of Korean Karate similar to TKD. He kicks like a mule. VERY heavy legs.
Also, unless there are different competition rulesets that I'm not aware of, TKD rules state a kick must be landed with "trembling shock" for it to score a point. Meaning, it must observably jar or shake the opponents body. A tap or touch doesn't count.
Yep I started into MA training with Tang Soo Do many years and was taught to kick right through the target even aim for the other side. It gave me an advantage when transitioning to MMA and Muay Thai I already knew how to get power into the kicks because of that training ...
Ghost of Retard -
I took TKD from age 10 to 18, i got my black belt at 16. There are some kicks that have follow through, and are very hard kicks. I think the main kicks Muay Thai compares to TKD, and critisize are TKD's front snap kick, which is similiar to MT's Teep. TKD's version is a snapping kick, you chamber your leg, throw the kick, and you chamber it back immediately. MT's Teep has no chamber and is meant to go through your target.
TKD Version
Muay Thai's version
(Anderson knocked out Vitor with a TKD style Rear leg Front kick, I'll have to watch again, but i'm pretty sure he chambered, kicked and rechambered. )
Same with what we called the roundhouse, similiar to MT's rear leg, body, or head kick.
IN TKD you chamber, kick, then chamber it back,, In MT you throw it from the ground straight at your target like a baseball bat.
An example of a TKD kick that you follow through on is the Spinning back kick.
Spinning heel kick in TKD varies, Uriah Hall chambers his and releases the kick, then rechambers it. When he knocked that kid out on TUF, you see how much control of his leg he has when he releases the kick, and rechambers it before setting it down.
You can look up videos on different types of kicks and see how they differ from Muay Thai.
I use mostly Muay Thai now, It was hard for me to go from chambering my kicks, to throwing them straight with no chamber. But when i got it down, my kicks had more power, a lot more.
I still like to practice spinning kicks, side kicks, and whatever i think would work.
how long did you full contact spar in TKD? and i believe there is a push kick in TKD, I'd imagine that the push kick would be more comparable to the teep than the front snap kick.
firstrodeo -Ghost of Retard -I t
<br /> <span class="User-351498" id="userPost51346860">how long did you full contact spar in TKD? and i believe there is a push kick in TKD, I'd imagine that the push kick would be more comparable to the teep than the front snap kick.</span></blockquote>
I started tournaments right off, When i was 15 i did the adult division which is full contact, I was also doing kickboxing at that time, Troy Dorsey reffed my first fight, which was cool.
Yeah your right there is a push kick, but most people still chambered it, and didn't throw it like the muay thai guys.
I think Karate is great for mma if its applied right, there's a lot of things i got from TKD that helped me alot along the way.
I've done both. TKD can be point sparring for "touch" (ATA style) or to move the body (Olympic style). Muay Thai is more for damage. TKD is horrible for hands since no punches to the head are allowed. Scoring with a body punch in Olympic style sparring is really difficult (a light touch in other point sparring styles is sufficient).
It depends on the kick but muay thai kicks do seem more powerful with more follow through. However a lot of tkd kicks are quicker and dont over commit you to the move.
This is all generalization though because there are also quick kicks in mt( foot jab) . and there are def power kicks in tkd. Pettis' kick off the cage is a good example of this.
The heavy use of forms in TKD means that part of the time you are not training for power but conditioning the mind on holding back.
frederic - The heavy use of forms in TKD means that part of the time you are not training for power but conditioning the mind on holding back.
sorry but how do the use of forms condition the mind to hold back? Do you mean the practice of movements not relative to something else, or someone else conditions the individual to spar a certain way?
learning balance and coordination can be learned in different ways. I don't think forms should be undervalued.
firstrodeo -I agree. VU.frederic - The heavy use of forms in TKD means that part of the time you are not training for power but conditioning the mind on holding back.
sorry but how do the use of forms condition the mind to hold back? Do you mean the practice of movements not relative to something else, or someone else conditions the individual to spar a certain way?
learning balance and coordination can be learned in different ways. I don't think forms should be undervalued.
As a motor skill, forms are different enough from actual fighting to not cause any interference or negative transfer.
They will not teach you to hold back anymore than shadowboxing will.