Taekwondo and ThaiBoxing, or Muay Thai (as it’s called in Thailand) are two different kinds of martial arts. Both are up-standing fighting styles. Muay Thai is the national sport in Thailand and it is a full-contact sport. Taekwondo is a modern martial art from Korea that is famous for it’s fast, high and spinning kicks. It is now even an olympic event.

ThaiBoxing (Muay Thai) allows using elbows, knees, kicks and punches to almost the entire body. In Muay Thai the fist is seen as the weakest weapon. The elbow on the other hand, plays a big part in Muay Thai. In Thailand the opponent can use the elbows legally to the head and body. Outher countries ban the use of elbows to the head. The USA ban the use of knees in the ring. But without these techniques it can’t be called Muay Thai.
In Muay Thai you can even knock your opponent out with your knee to his face.

In Taekwondo (TKD) you practise punches and kicks, but in competitions it’s against the rules to hit your opponent in the head, only at the vest around his body.

The difference between the kicks in Muay Thai and in Taekwondo are many. In Muay Thai you kick with your shin and in TKD with your foot. The tecniques are also not the same. The kicks in TKD are faster so that the opponent won’t know what’s coming. In Muay Thai the kicks are harder but more visible.

A exemple of an high kick in Taekwondo	A Muay Thai competition in Thailand

In Thailand, the boxers mostly box for money, often to support their family. The competitions in TKD have no money involved.

Taekwondo is a "self defence" sport, but it focuses on high and spinning kicks which are not very suitable for real life, "street-fights". Taekwondo was in the beginning mostly about self-defence, but later on it developed in toa martial art.

"Tae" means foot, "Kwon" means fist and "Do" means "The way". TaeKwonDo really means "The way of Foot and Fist fighting" but fighting doesn’t mean fighting against others, it means fighting against yourself. It is a way of getting mental balance and better control of your body.

In Taekwondo you get a new colour of your belt when you complete an exam (a test). When you begin you start with a white belt, the last belt has the colour black. But there is more than one black belt.

In TKD there’s something called Forms, or "Poomses"as they say in Korea. It’s a series of movements whereyou attack and defend yourself against an imaginaryopponent. It’s a pattern of movements where you learn how to control your body in coordination, balance,breath control, timing and rhythm. There are no patternsin Thaiboxing though.

"Sparring" in TKD is when you practice for a fight.When you sparr with someone you wear protectionfor your legs arms and in full-contact you wear a vest and a helmet.

"Winning is not a sometimes thing
Winning is an alltime thing
You don’t win once in a while
You don’t do the right thing once in a while
We do the right thing all of our time
Winning is a habit, unfortunately so is loosing"

A proverb by Vince Lombardi.

© 2002 Freeway
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