Here's an article in today's National Post (from Canada) newspaper talking about how "tough" hockey players are, playing with serious injuries, needing painkillers. Personally I think it's crazy, and I hope no TKD schools expect similar "toughness".
Here's something to think about when someone talks about how tough the training at a particular school is or isn't...
Suppose you wanted to do some weight lifting to get stronger and you were scouting out potential gyms. A friend tells you "at gym A everybody bench presses 350 pounds, but at gym B everybody only bench presses 60 pounds. Gym A is obviously the real deal, and B is a McGym."
Would that even make sense? Weight lifting is a progressive form of training. In order to get results, you need to start out at a level your body can safely handle, push your limits just enough, then gradually increase your weights as your body adapts and gets stronger. This has to be geared to the individual. Asking a professional football player to practice curls with 5 pound hand weights is a ridiculous waste of time. Asking an out of shape, 110 pound, 50-year old woman to deadlift 500 pounds is an abusive attempt to injure someone. One size does not fit all.
Why should martial arts training be any different? Different people are physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared for different levels of training intensity. The appropriate level of training for a Navy Seal is not the appropriate level of training for a naturally non-aggressive couch potato who has never been in a fight or played a contact sport. Just like weight training - you have to find the right intensity for an individual, then take them just far enough outside of that comfort zone that they can grow. Remember, the individual's mental/emotional readiness is just as important as their physical readiness.
There is the complicating factor that martial arts is normally practiced with training partners. (Unless you practice an art which is all about solo kata.) This limits the ability of a teacher to completely individualize the level of training for each student. Still, you can have separate classes for students who are ready for different levels of intensity. Within a class you can adjust the levels of intensity by assigning appropriate training partners and fine-tuning the training drills as needed.
In summary, it's not the absolute level of training intensity that matters. It's finding the right level of training intensity for the individual student to learn and grow.
I agree with what you said. So, my issue is not that the out of shape student can't do the same things as the in shape student, it's that they don't even try. And, when pushed to make themselves better, they either quit or rationalize their performance.
To use your example with the gym. For the group of people who can only bench 60lbs; I'm fine with this if it's the best the can do. Two months later if they can still only bench 60lbs; then I say they aren't trying or their not serious about getting better.
Martial Arts is not a sport. In sports usually the best get the best training. In Martial Arts we look to be the best we can personally be regardless of the skill levels of others. All I ask is that a student give me their best. What I can't stand is students who coast through class then lament about not progressing the way they want, or saying they aren't being challenged with advanced techniques. You can't compare two staudents and say "Why can't you do what that other person is doing?" It's not fair. But, you can say that student is giving me their best, why can't you give me your best.
I once said "at least try" to a kid who was giving maybe 25% effort during a poomsae practice. His answer was unfortunately factual, "ah, it's good enough to pass my belt test".
I am now wise to know that for myself, I am better off to stop if continuing will worsen the injury. I mean both at the time of the injury, and also over the future days/weeks/month.
Hah, yeah, I learned that one the hard way. "Oh, it doesn't hurt that bad, I'll just take some Tylenol and stretch", and I ended up needing surgery, when maybe it would have healed on it's own if I'd stayed off it for a few weeks.
Because people usually sign up, or sign their kids up, for TKD and similar because they want a fun exercise class that will help them be more discipline and confident and maybe learn a little self-defense. They don't sign up for really seriously tough training, and will likely complain if they get it. Just like if you signed up to do Zumba and you got there and it was a Crossfit class. But if you marketed your TKD school as a great place for adults to kick each other in the head and get ripped, then whatever students you got would probably be happy for a really tough class.
