Ive been doing tae kwon do for about a year and have decided its not the martial art for me, i want to start either kickboxing or kenpo and to help me decide id like to know the differences and similarities between kickboxing and muay thai, also what does a standard kickboxing lesson consist of, and what are your favourite elements in your training and in kickboxing in general, do you learn any street defence, is kickboxing a good Martial art for use in street defence ie are the techniques usefull in a self defence situation, do schools tend to be more focused on the sport side or is it taught more as a martial art, what is the ratio of hand to foot techniques, do you wear a gi or dobok or anything like that, would my tae kwon do pads (headguard, gloves, shinguards, footguards, groin guard), sorry for all those questions but i want to get as much info on kickboxing as i can before i start, if you could answer some or all of those questions id ber very appreciative, thanks
To start you off, my kickboxing FAQ is pretty good (if I say so myself ): http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34907 A typical lesson consists of a warm up, stretching, technique/sparring/combination work, fitness work, and cooling down. My favourite aspect of the training is the heavy emphasis on fitness. If taught rightly, your fitness levels will improve dramatically. GUARANTEE. In a street situation, is is very effective. It is a simple, to the point martial art. Think of boxing, and add karate kicks.It's not a complicated mess of oriental names, marching and d3dly techniques (eye gouges etc which cannot be practiced properly). Most gyms now tend to follow the sport side. This is the most popular aspect of kickboxing. Ratio of hand to foot techniques: hmm, tricky one. In what we learn, it's about 50/50. In what we use (commpetitions etc), it is about 70/30 in favour of punches (American rules), but the competitions which allow leg kicks have FAR more kicking. Ultimately, the ratio of hand/foot techniques is down to YOU. Equipment: We wear... •Trousers/shorts depending on rules. To train in, we wear either + a tee shirt. •The usual equipment from TKD, but you must use BOXING gloves. Not TKD mitts. Anything else?
Muay Thai translates to Thai Boxing, it's basically just the kickboxing style that started in Thailand. Primary difference between kickboxing and Muay Thai? Thai allows elbows, knees and kicks to the legs. Personally, I prefer muay thai and in competitions between the two I think the muay thai guys usually do better.
And then there's Savate! Yes, and then there's Savate to consider. Like Muay Thai it has been around for many many years and stood the test of time. The major difference, of course, is that Savateurs wear shoes on their feet when competing, and they use those shoes - as weapons - to very great effect. Pugil
muay thai and kickboxing are similar but at the same time quite different. muay thai tends to focus mostly on the things that arent in kickboxing (american kickboxing anyway) like the clinch, knees and elbows, and leg kicks.
Muay Thai, Thai Boxing, and Thai Kickboxing are the same thing. Tae Bo is not, and I repeat not related to them at all.
Tae bo/Thai bo, created by Billy Blanks, is not kickboxing! It is basically "kickboxercise" (kicking and punching the air to loud musics with no force behind the attacks) - developed for fitness. In fairness to the guy, he never made any claim to it being a martial art.
bollocks- he never openly claimed it was a martial art. but I think we ALL know the image he created with it definitely points in that direction. the name itself is a dead giveaway to that, tae (from taekwondo which is huge in america- and the word funnily enough sounds exactly the same as thai) bo (boxing) he doesnt directly come out and say "it will help you defend yourself" because he knows that he would get in a storm of faecal matter for that so instead he uses the way peoples minds associate sounds to sell his product. clever guy.
Well regardless, if someone wants to do it, they're free to. He gave it a pretty sneakily name, I'll give you that But if anyone does something for self defense because it sounds like Thai boxing then they're retarded.
LOL the diff between thai and kick,.. depends on what style of kickboxin you practise teach. Many people have differing approaches to teachin Kickboxing you see.
