I think people hate them because they are difficult. TKD is hard, but not impossible. XMA is certainly beyond what I can do right now, with the exception of one kick whose name escapes me. Both styles require a great deal of flexibility. There are many people who are extremely inflexible----in body, mind and spirit. You know how some people are, especially when they are little: if they can't do something, they say it's stupid. It's called sour grapes.

TKD also has a bad rap because there have been a lot of schools who are more money focussed than quality focussed. That said, they still should not paint all of TKD with a bad brush. But, that's what people do. I personally have only seen one school in TKD that was truly a mcdojang. It closed decades ago.

Some people hate or criticize any style that is not their style. I see a lot of karate people and people from internal arts who will bashn on the way TKD forms are done. I used to take their critiques into consideration at first, but then I realized that they are wrong in a sense because TKD is TKD, not karate, not Tai Chi, not Kung Fu, so if they do things differently it is because they are different. Similar, yes, but not the same.

Other TKD people will criticize their fellow TKD practitioners if forms and techniques are executed like they are done in karate or in the internal arts.

Last, you have the people who will criticize any style that is not Japanese, Chinese or from the Americas.

Well I think most people think of martial arts as skill sets that can help a person in violent situations. By itself XMA is as you stated a method of self expression, and is an artist pursuit. In that sense XMA is not a martial art, but it is a rather unique art form. So as you can see the comment is rather on the nature of the practice rather than disrespect on the intensity of it.

Also TKD depending on how it's practiced can start to creep up to becoming xma like and starts to look more like an artistic self expression than a efficient method of self defense.

Once again I'm not saying that martial is better than artistic, but in the way of terming things calling these martial arts is like throwing tomato in a fruit salad because technically it is a fruit.

Martial arts focuses on self defense and offence. If you can do it in a simple way why do you have to do fancy tricks and waste your energy?!! Of course it is great to watch.. but is it always effective? I wouldn't say that XMA is not martial art.. its just extreme added to martial art! If you can do a 540 degree kick then you can surely do a normal roundhouse kick! But as I have mentioned that you do not do fancy tricks when you are in a situation, some people consider that to be the only form of martial art and hence say XMA is not MA!

I have yet to meet an experienced XMA stylist who is serious that his techniques are street effective. What they do they do for the love of competition. Nothing wrong with that. The problem is that the techniques they use are the same or very similar to what we do in martial arts (even XMA uses the phrase "martial arts" in its name) and so many people assume they are the same thing. The techniques may be the same/similar, but the applications are quite different.

Many XMA stylists have backgrounds in Taekwondo, Taekkyon, and/or Capoeira where many of these fancy kicks are also used.

As to "real martial arts"... some people say that sport-only martial arts is not really martial arts, since sport-only means no self-defense, whereas "martial arts" means just that: self-defense. Others say that the techniques are the same, so, they are martial arts. I tend to change my mind on whether or not sport martial arts is true martial arts, but there is no getting around that sport-only stylists can use their skills in self-defense. However, if your training does not include multiple foes, multiple friends, weapons, strike anywhere, strike with anything, law and ethics... then you aren't learning self-defense. Your training is at best incomplete. If you are in an XMA school and you are being taught knife defenses, multiple opponents, and such, then you are learning self-defense.

My question to you is, is your black belt indicative of your ability to defend yourself, or is it indicative of your ability to win a match?

I have never had a problem with TRUE TKD. I do have a problem with the great influx of mc-dojos, sport practitioners, and lil kiddy black belts who have never felt an ounce of pain in their lives.

I have ALWAYS had a problem with XMA bc to put simply Martial Arts > XMA. XMA is not martial arts. Plain and simple. It's all for show, an art form, fancy technique that certainly looks impressive and I wouldn't mind learning for fun, but it does not teach how to fight, how to defend yourself.

We have had XMA people come into our gyms to spar and hang out many times. They are ALWAYS drilled into the ground and very few and have lasted 1 round. It's a fancy art form. Not a martial art.