Learn karate or tae kwon do for basketball player?

I play basketball quite often and i want to take a gym class next year. I am deciding between karate or tae kwon do. which will be better for flexibility and leg stregnth or other traits needed for basketball?|||i think that tae kwon do would be the best because it is a martial art that deals with leg strength and leg conditioning in my opinion.|||Karate could help you but most schools focus more on power and self-defense then doing jumping kicks . i suggest you do TaeKwonDo most schools in it emphasis on Flying kicks and flexibility, and allot of them have a healthy sports aspect to them|||I am a 3rd degree black belt in Unified Tae Kwon-Do (UTKD), recognised by both the International Tae Kwon Do Federation and the World Tae Kwon Do Federation (ITF and WTF, respectively) and have personally trained with one of the co-founders of UTKD. I have 11 years of experience, 8 of which I taught. In those years I became quite flexible, which is a feat for me, because as a bigger guy (five foot 9, 200 lbs) I was able to almost do the splits at the height of my training (almost an inch from the ground which is freakin amazing to see a big guy almost do the splits).





Along with stretching, we did a lot of cardio, plus strength training including pushups and situps and flying kicks (doesnt sound like strength training but its ownderful for the legs -sounds like it would be good for your basketball training).





All in all, I would highly recommend this sport for you. And who knows, you may end up liking it.|||For basketball specific, I%26#039;d have to say TKD.





TKD has way more %26quot;jumping kicks%26quot; and %26quot;high kicks%26quot; than karate does.





Sometimes TKD classes just jump as high as you can for 10 to 20 minutes, rotating from 180 degrees to 540 degrees while your in the air. While these skills may not be the most practical for self defense, they can definitely translate to basketball.





Nothing against karate, it%26#039;s a great martial art, but for basketball, I%26#039;d have to say TKD is your best bet.





James|||Definitly TKD.|||taekwondo.|||I would say karate. They focus a lot more on physical aspects like muscle strength than tae kwon do. In tae kwon do they mainly just focus on flexibility and technique.|||taekwondo





it is great for muscle building and flexability|||I say karate because if someone blocks your shot you can just karate chop him in the Adam%26#039;s apple and I bet he won%26#039;t do that again.