Welcome again Warriors! Today I thought I’d talk about 2 similar combat sports I’ve been involved in during my life. boxing and Taekwondo. I did Taekwondo when I was a teenager, and now I’m doing boxing as an adult.
Both boxing and Taekwondo are great activities to do to improve your self-defense, your reflexes, and your skills in hand-to-hand combat. And a little foot-to-foot too. While both sports have things in common with each other, they also have their fair share of differences.
Which one should you do? How is one different than the other? Which one will get you the most out of your training? Well, I can speak from experience, because I have done both in my lifetime. Today I’m going to break them both down into the following categories:
- Boxing and Taekwondo, what do they have in common?
- What are the differences between Boxing and Taekwondo?
- What can you get out of Boxing and Taekwondo?
- Which is more popular, Boxing or Taekwondo?
- What was my experience with Boxing and Taekwondo?
- Which sport would I recommend to you?
What do Boxing and Taekwondo Have in Common?
The first thing is that they are both combat sports that teach you how to defend yourself against an attacker. You’re always on the move while facing your opponent, not once are you standing still. Standing still is basically telling your opponent, “Hit me, I’m open!”
Both sports have group training sessions, where a master or a trainer will train you and other people together as a group. Often times they will teach you a move or a maneuver and then you repeat it, similar to Simon Says.
Both Boxing and Taekwondo exercise your mind, as you’re trying to study the movements of your opponent to see what he/she will do next so that you can respond accordingly and quickly, so that you don’t get hit.
What are the Differences Between Boxing and Taekwondo?
According to Boxing vs Taekwondo | Punching vs Kicking | Who Will Win Among 2 Of The Greatest Martial Art? by Makemefine.com, there is a chart that shows the major differences between the two sports.
- Boxing focuses on punching, whereas Taekwondo focuses mostly on kicking.
- In Taekwondo, you mostly give strikes from a distance, whereas in boxing, you mostly give strikes from up close.
- There is no kicking allowed whatsoever in Boxing. However, in Taekwondo, kicking is the primary form of attack.
- There is no submission (where you put your opponent into a lock to make them tap out) in Boxing, whereas in Taekwondo, you are taught how to submit your opponent, and how to escape from a submission. However, submissions are not allowed in competition.
- Boxing focuses more on upper body strength whereas Taekwondo focuses more on lower body strength.
- Boxers generally have better stamina than Taekwondo fighters.
Some other differences between the two in my experience include:
- In Taekwondo, fighters vocalize on every strike (punch/kick). Boxers do not.
- In Taekwondo, your master teaches you the forms every fighter needs to know to increase their rank. Whereas in Boxing, the trainers work with you in a group of other people and show you basic punch combos, engage in rigorous exercises to build strength and endurance, and they can also work with you privately as your personal trainer, depending on what you want to do in Boxing.
- In Boxing, shots to the groin, hips, and legs, as well as kicking, head-butting, spitting and biting are prohibited. By contrast, in Taekwondo, extra points are earned by incorporating jumping and spinning kicks.
What can You Get Out of Boxing and Taekwondo?
Coming from someone who has taken part in both, I can tell you that you will absolutely get more of a full body cardio workout from boxing than you will from Taekwondo. That’s not to say you won’t get a workout at all from Taekwondo. You still have to do push-ups and sit-ups, stretch every part of your body (especially the legs), and you have to learn and memorize the forms taught to you by your master so you can increase your rank.
When you’re training as a boxer, the intensity is a lot higher and it is a lot more physically demanding, as there are more exercises that requires you to use your entire body weight as resistance (like planks, burpees, lunges, squats, and more)
I made a post sharing my workout experience at Title Boxing and what to expect there, you can find it here: My Experience at Title Boxing
Which is More Popular, Boxing or Taekwondo?
According to this poll at Boxing or Taekwondo, Which is Better in a Street Fight by Girlsaskguys.com, there is a survey you can participate in, where you can cast a vote between Boxing or Taekwondo as the more popular sport, in your opinion. After I submitted my vote, the results showed that 66% of all voters voted for Boxing, while 34% voted for Taekwondo.
For men, 68% voted Boxing, while 32% voted Taekwondo. As for women, 53% voted Boxing, while 47% voted Taekwondo.
Based on these studies, we can see that Boxing is the more popular choice between the 2 combat sports. You get a much more intense workout from Boxing than you get from Taekwondo. A lot more body weight exercises, and more training focused on both building strength and endurance.
My Experience with Taekwondo
This is where my fitness journey began. I started doing Taekwondo when I was in middle school, around age 13. I was a scrawny kid with not a whole lot of muscle tone, and I was bullied a lot. So what was my solution? Do Taekwondo to put “meat on my bones” and learn self-defense, discipline, and other positive attributes.
I personally got a pretty good experience out of Taekwondo, but I feel that I got an even better experience out of Boxing. While in Taekwondo I learned a lot and became more disciplined under my Taekwondo master, I was the only kid at my school who did it. Because of that, I was heavily bullied.
I also really struggled with doing the push-ups, as you needed to do a certain number of them each time you got a test to increase your rank in Taekwondo. I struggled because I had low muscle tone at the time. Now that I’m older and a lot stronger, I feel I can do the push-ups a lot better now. I also struggled with the stretching, especially in the legs. I had really tight leg muscles (to this day, I still do)
My Experience with Boxing
My experience in Boxing feels more like an actual workout to me, whereas Taekwondo felt more like a class to teach discipline and respect towards your elders along with everything else they taught (kicks, grapples, forms). At the end of my boxing training sessions (1 hour), I would be completely drenched in sweat from head to toe. Whereas at the end of my Taekwondo classes (I think they were an hour and a half, I don’t remember), I would only be sweating a little.
In my experience Boxing, the people who are training in the gym are all young adults, mostly in their 20s and 30s. When I was in Taekwondo, it was mostly kids between the ages of 8 and 15. There were few adults.
Which Sport Would I Recommend to You?
I would say it really depends on what you want to do and what your goals are. Personally, I would go with Boxing, as it is more physically demanding to the point where you will get a full workout, and you will probably be sore the next day (I know I was sore the day after a session at Title Boxing!). There is no doubt that you’re going to get better at defending yourself, you’ll become more disciplined, and more confident in yourself in both sports.
So what’s my final answer? It’s up to you! Let me know in the comments what you think so we can share our experiences together!