Anthony Bourdain in Korean dojang

[Tengu]

Okay so I believe it was last year Anthony Bourdain the host of No Reservations on the travel channel went to Korea. If you never seen his show, its one part travel and one part food show. While he was in Korea he went to a dojang and saw a demo by the champion k tigers. The first thing that made me a little sick was that the black belt students were actually combing awful dance moves with martial art techniques. OMG even the host was making fun of them! Second thing is just look at how paper thin the boards they are breaking. They’re like Styrofoam plates. Even the host casually broke two. Nothing like the boards I always had to break. Sure it will help develop accuracy but not power. Why sacrifice one for the other? I’m not sure but I believe a lot of dojangs in Korea are this way. Too much flash not enough substance. Tae kwon do is an amazing art and to see things like this makes me sad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDrH6bBCbHA&NR=1

 

[exile]

Migod, that was lame... and what the hell are the two of them doing wearing black belts, when neither one of them knows how to throw a half-decent punch... what a crock, eh?

If this is the state of the art in Korean TKD, then things there are way worse than even us proponents of a completely North-American, combat-ready, neo-Kwan-era-based TKD had thought...

 

[Dao]

This really making me sick. I can't belive the crap goes on. I might convince myself to take up JeetKuneDo instead. It's no wonder many people in other martials think taekwondo is crap.