For self defense, taekwondo is not without its advocates: * When taekwondo was originally developed (see: Traditional Taekwondo), its focus was indeed combat (in fact, military combat) rather than sport. Pioneer practitioners such as Nam Tae Hi were famous for their lethality. Even now, taekwondo styles such as ITF-style, Jhoon Rhee taekwondo, and Chun Kuk Do place a strong emphasis on the self defense aspects of the art. * More than some martial arts, taekwondo tends to emphasize kicking, especially high kicking, the idea being that your legs are longer and stronger than your arms and therefore should be more effective in a fight. That's if - and this is a big if - if you can train your legs to become as fast as your arms. Human reflexes in the arms are inherently, biologically fast