how to recognize different martial arts in youtube videos?

TKD_luver

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In terms of the basic martial arts, aikido, boxing, TKD, judo, hapkido, ninjutsu, karate, etc., how do I know the difference between one martial art and another in a youtube video? I mean, if I'm watching a fight between someone who knows Tang Soo Do and someone who knows TKD, how do I know which fighter is using which one? Are there differences? I mean, especially between like karate and kung fu or two similar arts like that. I can see the difference between TKD and hapkido, but some things like Karate and TKD or kickboxing and MT look almost the same. Yes, I know in the MT example that MT would use more elbows and knees but just in general.

I know I used Tang Soo Do as an example, but I mean with most of the basic martial arts. I guess things like hapkido and tang soo do can be included.
 

Jaeimseu

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In my experience it's often quite difficult to tell. There's so much overlap these days, plus when people start fighting (at least with no style specific rules) they tend to look the same.

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skribs

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Keep in mind that for a lot of arts, especially Asian arts, the name is more where it comes from than what it is. "Karate" has several different trees with different philosophies in each. Some karate might look more like kung fu, others might look more like tang soo do.

Having done TKD both as a kid and now, I can tell you there are a lot of differences even within the same TKD organization. KKW testing is based on forms, so some schools (especially those known as belt factories) largely focus on forms, which tend to place an emphasis on deeper stances, blocks, and hand strikes. WTF sparring (which KKW and WTF are largely associated with each other in terms of people ranked by KKW tend to do WTF sparring rules) emphasizes kicks for scoring, so a school that focuses on competition will largely use shorter stances and a lot of kicks.

Then you have the self defense skills that can be overlooked by a school that focuses on rank and/or competition. The defense skills I've learned use similar principles to arts like Wing Chun/Krav Maga ("bursting" or simultaneous attack and defense) as well as grappling skills that are similar to Hapkido (which comes from the same place as TKD). One could argue that this portion of my class looks a lot more like TSD than TKD.

Competition will vary within the art as well. ITF and WTF TKD have different rules, and there's smaller organizations that have their own sets of rules.
 

oftheherd1

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First, look at the title of the youtube peice, then for lettering on the uniforms or signs in the background. Other than that, probably the best that can be done is trying to say it is a striking art or a grappling art. Some weapons if used may give a clue, but you seem to be leaning towards sparring videos so that may not work.
 

MJS

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In terms of the basic martial arts, aikido, boxing, TKD, judo, hapkido, ninjutsu, karate, etc., how do I know the difference between one martial art and another in a youtube video? I mean, if I'm watching a fight between someone who knows Tang Soo Do and someone who knows TKD, how do I know which fighter is using which one? Are there differences? I mean, especially between like karate and kung fu or two similar arts like that. I can see the difference between TKD and hapkido, but some things like Karate and TKD or kickboxing and MT look almost the same. Yes, I know in the MT example that MT would use more elbows and knees but just in general.

I know I used Tang Soo Do as an example, but I mean with most of the basic martial arts. I guess things like hapkido and tang soo do can be included.

Sometimes, if there's a description of the video, it'll be there. Of course, if you do a search for certain videos, ie: BJJ vs. TKD, well, that's obvious. Sometimes you can get a basic idea of the fighting style from watching the fighters. Other than that, I'm not really sure.
 

wingchun100

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Unfortunately you can't always tell. You can't even rely on the video titles. I saw one that was "wing chun versus aikido." The guy who was supposedly wing chun starts throwing these wide, looping, haymaker-type punches. A wing chun practitioner would do nothing of the sort. I never thought such an insane First Amendment fan like myself would say this, but the internet is TOO free LOL. What I mean by that is anyone from any part of the world can put a video and say, "Hi, I'm a wing chun/karate/TKD/what have you expert." We have no way to prove them otherwise unless we dug around, but who has the time to expose EVERY fraud? And then if they suck, the general public takes that as a sign that the style is garbage too.
 
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TKD_luver

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So you couldn't tell like TKD vs Karate per-say?
 

Tony Dismukes

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If you're talking about free-form fights between practitioners of different styles as opposed to demonstrations, it can be hard to tell.

If the practitioners don't consistently train for free-form full-contact fighting against opponents who don't use the same style, then their technique will tend to fall apart under pressure and not resemble the theoretical ideal of the art at all.

Many arts have become stylized in a way which means that the normal mode of execution you see practiced in the training hall will not work unless the opponent attacks in certain stylized ways - which will generally not happen in these style vs style matches.

Suppose you do have practitioners who have trained in such a way that they are able to exemplify the principles and body mechanics of their style in a real fight. In this case, the difference between the movement styles of two individual practitioners of the same martial art may be greater than the average difference between two distinct but related martial arts. On other words, the difference between Anderson Silva and Vanderlei Silva (who practice the same arts) is greater than the difference between an average Shotokan stylist and an average Wado Ryu stylist.

You can sometimes make some very general inferences from watching fighters ("that guy looks like he has some wrestling background"), but you're not going to be able to narrow it down far enough to distinguish between a TKD stylist and a TSD stylist in a real fight.
 

wingchun100

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So you couldn't tell like TKD vs Karate per-say?

Honestly, I personally could not. I know the term "karate" is sometimes translated as "empty hand," yet I see a lot of karate practitioners who kick more than they punch. And then of course I am aware of TKD enough to know it heavily favors kicking. So when I see two people kicking a lot and I am told one is karate, I wouldn't know which one.

Some of this stems from my lack of specific knowledge on the arts. (I grew up at a time when KARATE KID was the biggest hit and made tons of kids flock to karate schools, but I never took the style myself.) However, another problem is that there are a lot of videos out there done by amateurs who, when they spar, look like they are doing the same generic moves you could find in an average cardio kickboxing class.
 

chrispillertkd

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In terms of the basic martial arts, aikido, boxing, TKD, judo, hapkido, ninjutsu, karate, etc., how do I know the difference between one martial art and another in a youtube video?

For me the easiest way is to read the description of the video :)

Otherwise, a certain familiarity with various arts is needed. I don't mean you have to have personally trained in a particular art to identify it, but to have at least observed it being performed at a tournament, in a demonstration, etc. I've trained in Taekwon-Do for 28 years and have little trouble identifying it when I see it. My experience with northern Praying Mantis is much more limited and while I can still tell it apart from, say, Southern Mantis there are some other Mantis styles that I would not be able to tell it apart from. On the other hand, I would be at a complete loss at differentiating some of the various karate styles. Shotokan I can identify, Goju Ryu I can identify, Uechi Ryu I can identify but even within those styles there are variations based on lineages and organizational differences which I wouldn't be able to pick out. On the other hand, I can at times tell if a student has studied with a particular Grand Master in ITF Taekwon-Do depending on how they perform certain techniques.

I mean, if I'm watching a fight between someone who knows Tang Soo Do and someone who knows TKD, how do I know which fighter is using which one? Are there differences? I mean, especially between like karate and kung fu or two similar arts like that. I can see the difference between TKD and hapkido, but some things like Karate and TKD or kickboxing and MT look almost the same. Yes, I know in the MT example that MT would use more elbows and knees but just in general.

There are differences between all the arts. The problem is being able to know where to look. Indeed, sometimes you don't even know what you're looking for in the first place. Sometimes you can tell arts apart based on the type of techniques being used, but other times you have to look for how power is being generated, how people step, how they form their fist when punching, etc.

Pax,

Chris
 

TaiChiTJ

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I always find it interesting to watch Mike Pattersons competition team.

 
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jks9199

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Lately, in sparring... Good luck. So many have adopted pretty much the same stances and tactics, whatever their art teaches, to play the game.

Otherwise, you need to know a bit about different arts to recognize elements. I couldn't tell videos of the same karate kata apart, though I could probably identify them as karate, and likely distinguish from TKD. Contrasting them with kung fu/wushu -- yeah, pretty confident I could separate them, but I wouldn't want to bet on which kung fu/wushu system.
 

Marnetmar

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If it helps most of us WC guys will look like we're slapping each other to death.
 

wingchun100

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Lately, in sparring... Good luck. So many have adopted pretty much the same stances and tactics, whatever their art teaches, to play the game.

Otherwise, you need to know a bit about different arts to recognize elements. I couldn't tell videos of the same karate kata apart, though I could probably identify them as karate, and likely distinguish from TKD. Contrasting them with kung fu/wushu -- yeah, pretty confident I could separate them, but I wouldn't want to bet on which kung fu/wushu system.

I'm glad someone else feels the same way as me. I was worried it might look like I was bashing every karate style in that one statement, simply by saying they are indistinguishable from one another! But again, that is only due to me being unfamiliar with what makes one style different from the other.
 

skribs

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Wing Chun. It's a specific type of Kung Fu that focuses on the power of the center-line (from my understanding). A good example is in the movie Ip Man starring Donnie Yen, which you can probably find on a lot of movie streaming sites.
 

wingchun100

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Wing Chun. It's a specific type of Kung Fu that focuses on the power of the center-line (from my understanding). A good example is in the movie Ip Man starring Donnie Yen, which you can probably find on a lot of movie streaming sites.

Centerline, speed and sensitivity over strength, proper body mechanics to deliver power instead of just pure muscle power...although being in better shape will certainly help. :)
 

skribs

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Yeah but it's a different type of shape you want to be in than say for a KO-punching boxer.
 

Marnetmar

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Yes, you're going to want to focus on strength in the triceps, hip flexors, etc. The reason I made the "slapping each other to death" comment is because probably 90% of Wing Chun people you see on youtube are kids who think they're invincible after a week of training because too many Yip Man movies and Bruce Lee.
 

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