San Antonio Self Defense

  • Tae Kwon Do Do Among Other Martial Arts
  • Tae Kwon Do is a way of life that promotes peace through strength. The most widely practiced martial art in the world today, Tae Kwon Do promotes self-improvement through regular and vigorous exercise of the mind, the body and the spirit.
  • Tae Kwon Do differs from other martial arts such as Japanese Karate, Chinese Kung Fu, Hapkido, Judo, Yusui (Jujitsu) and kick-boxing because of its emphasis on kicking techniques. Tae Kwon Do has more than 50 different kinds of kicking combinations and foot blocks—no other martial art encompasses that many kicking techniques.
  • Tae Kwon Do, the art of foot and hand fighting, believes that the foot is more useful than the hand in defending oneself. Generally, a leg has a longer reach and is more powerful than an arm. An assailant attacking with his fist cannot teach the distance that can be reached by the leg of the defender. Therefore, the defender in Tae Kwon Do can easily defeat the assailant with a trained kicking technique. This is especially true if the distance between the people is even just a few inches longer than an arm’s length. However, this does not mean that Tae Kwon Do ignores the importance of hand movements. Hand techniques are considered vital for blocking and attacking in Tae Kwon Do. 
  • This concept is clearly seen as the beginning students are taught: first, the basic blocking and attack movements with the hands; and then, they are instructed in the more difficult blocking and attacking leg movements.
  • Tae Kwon Do is also internationally renowned for its vertical and horizontal jumping skills. It is common to find a Tae Kwon Do partitioner who is capable of kicking a target up to eight (8) feet above the floor, and be able to jump fifteen (15) feet or more horizontally over obstacles to kick a target. Therefore, it is understandable why many people consider Tae Kwon Do to be the finest martial art in the world today!
  • Hapkido, a way of unifying spirit, is a specialized area of Tae Kwon Do. It specifically emphasizes the self-defense techniques and the spirit of unification of inner self. In the initial stage of development, the Hapkido student learns a variety of twisting, pressing and going-against joint techniques which are also found in the later stages of Tae Kwon Do training.
  • Kung Fu, a Chinese martial art, utilizes circular motions with poking and grabbing techniques to defend oneself from the assailant. It trains its practitioners with various dance like patterns which were derived from the wild animals in the untouched forests of the Orient. 
  • Karate, a Japanese martial art, literally means "empty hand", and emphasizes straight forward motions of the upper body. It stresses the importance or deadliness of a hand technique, such as punching.
  • Judo, was also developed in Japan and introduced to the western world after World War II. It literally means "soft way." Judo is designed to utilize the assailant's weight distribution and balance in defending oneself. Any person who is unbalanced while attacking can be thrown due to their over-commitment at the moment of attack. 
  • Yusui, sometimes called Jujitsu, is similar to Judo. Literally, it means "soft tricks." It devises its name from the fact that it sets up a trap for the assailant, and works on his unbalance as in Judo.

  • This discussion represents an opinion of an individual who has been exposed to many forms of martial art, and has personally been involved in the martial arts for more than five decades.
    The basic characteristics and principles of the various martial arts are almost identical to one another. However, they slightly differ from each other in how they achieve their goals.