A few years back, one of the best-known memes in the world at the time was Chuck Norris, a legendary movie acter who filmed martial arts movies where he destroyed his opponents without showing any emotion. Well, as popular as he was, people turned against him due to this invincibility in movies, and they’ve made him out to be the most powerful beings in the universe.
The reason why we say this to introduce Tang Soo Do is because Chuck Norris is arguably most famous practitioner of this martial art. Tang Soo Doo is a Korean martial art that was created a few centuries ago that utilizes elements from Karate and Tae Kwon Do, among others. However, it’s not as known as these two highly popular martial arts. So, are there any merits of Tang Soo Doo as an effective martial art?
Is Tang Soo Do effective?
We wouldn’t go so far as to look into Chuck Norris movies to assess the legitimacy of Tang Soo Do. But we can still make our deductions based on the basic principles of Tang Soo Do. Namely, there are some legit strikes and kicks that can be used in competition and in street fights.
And the fact that the practitioners are taught to learn how to control their breathing is also a thing that can help practitioners significantly in improving their fighting skills – as being able to breathe properly means that you can remain calm under incredible duress and that you can control your energy levels a lot more efficiently. So, there are definitely some nuggets that can make training Tang Soo Do worthwhile – despite the fact that it’s not one of the most popular martial arts in the world.
Does Tang Soo Do have grappling?
No, Tang Soo Do does not have any grappling. So, if a Tang Soo Do practitioner wishes to complement their fighting skillset with knowledge of the grappling arts, then they need to look into other martial arts such as BJJ. Since BJJ is all about grappling, it means that it’s in every way superior to Tang Soo Do when it comes to ground fighting. But the fact that BJJ doesn’t use any strikes means that Tang Soo Do practitioners will have an edge if they don’t get taken down.
Is Tang Soo Do aggressive?
It all depends on how you use it. There are strikes and kicks in Tang Soo Do that can be characterized as pretty aggressive. However, this is not what Tang Soo Do is about. The core tenets and principles of this martial art are peace-loving and peace-preserving. Tang Soo Do is about respect – and in use of martial arts techniques only to subdue the opponent without critically hurting them, while protecting yourself and your close ones. In this regard, Tang Soo Do is similar to BJJ. Though we have to admit that BJJ techniques such as chokes are known to constrain opponents without hurting them much more effectively than the striking techniques of Tang Soo Do practitioners.
What is Tang Soo Do similar to?
Since we’ve already mentioned that Tang Soo Do uses many similar techniques like Karate and Tae Kwon Do, it means that this martial art is most similar to these two others. Don’t let the fact that Tang Soo Do is less popular than the others fool you for a moment. In fact, many other obscure martial arts including Dumog are very effective. There are some interesting concepts and techniques that can serve to upgrade your knowledge of the fight game no matter the level of your knowledge, all if you train Tang Soo Do.
