Beginning Kickboxing

[bakes0310]

Basically im playing with the idea of doing KB ive phoned up the master ( is that what we call them or is it sensei?) but hes out so ill wait till tomorrow. He apparently by reputation is brilliant, he does KB and karate infact he got my dad onto blackbelt in karate and his reputation is brilliant.
Anyway im gonna go once a week and im really excited ive never done anything like this before
Questions ive got:
Whats my few lessons gonna involve
he does class sessions and private sessions whats better
how do you know your improving cause in karate you have belts

 

[MookJong]

Whats my few lessons gonna involve
he does class sessions and private sessions whats better
how do you know your improving cause in karate you have belts

First lesson - I would hope an overview of the system and the school. Warm up excercises, basic punches and kicks explained, maybe a bit of pad work so you actually get to try what you have learnt.

Private lessons are pointless at the moment save them for when you want to work something specific.

Belts mean very little, you'll know when your getting good because you will feel it and so will your sparring partner.

Good luck, hope he works you hard lol

 

[Scrutinize]

Basically im playing with the idea of doing KB ive phoned up the master ( is that what we call them or is it sensei?) but hes out so ill wait till tomorrow. He apparently by reputation is brilliant, he does KB and karate infact he got my dad onto blackbelt in karate and his reputation is brilliant.
Anyway im gonna go once a week and im really excited ive never done anything like this before
Questions ive got:
Whats my few lessons gonna involve
he does class sessions and private sessions whats better
how do you know your improving cause in karate you have belts

EDIT: TOO excited wrong forum

1) What makes you want to take up Kickboxing over something like karate/kung fu?

2) Do you know what style of Kickboxing he teaches? Is it simply a mash of boxing and taekwondo or a variation of Karate?

3) Is he teaching kickboxing as an offensive sport for you to learn to fight or defensive techniques?

I have found that kickboxing tends to result in the highest number of training injuries (from martial arts/fighting) due to the perceptions of people learning it and how they approach their lessons and practice and lack of discipline of students when sparing/training resulting in some nasty unnecessary injuries. The students may subsequently be removed from the club but you never know 100% how they will react until they go OTT.

Also kickboxing seems to lend itself to the "I am invincible and uber" when fighting attitude with some people.

If you already have martial arts experience then KB can be great fun and certainly good for burning the calories and keeping in shape.

I used to do it for a minimum 8 hours per week when I ran our university club and it kept me very fit. The best fighters come comp time were cross discipline martial arts students though. As long as you don’t mind getting hit (and hit hard if your in continuous round comps) then you should enjoy it. Otherwise you can stick to the bag/pad work but if your doing Kickboxing and not enjoying the sparing then there are other martial arts to consider. You will soon get a feel for whether you will enjoy this side of it.

Good luck

 

[bakes0310]

Well ive just phoned up the instructor and he sounds good. My first session is on friday and its going to be a private session for the first one cause thats how he does his inductions. It cost £4.50 a session which seems reasonable and ill be going once a week.

 

[NickK]

Pretty much as the others have said.

I've been doing this for a while now. My instructor competes/teaches Tae Kwan Do, Kick boxing (korean style with TKD feel) and self defence. His brother focuses on the boxing only.

At the school I attend, the taster/trial is basically 3/4 of a beginners class. This means they get the feel of the class.

The beginners classes (10-8 kup) focus on the basics, the correctness of technique, self defense and fitness. There's forms, pad work with partners and also non-contact exercises (such as one partner jabbing to the head, the other blocking or deflecting) where the object is getting the technique right rather than hitting to opponent fast or hard.
Kit includes bag mitts and soft shoes.
You'll find that as you do this your muscles will start out weak (wobbly with a leg in the air, core muscles etc) but by the end of it you will have a very good balance, good core strength and fitness.
This is 2-3 times a week.

Intermediate classes (7-4 kup) the emphasis changes. This is the beginning of the journey to the ring. The focus is technique but also on sparring, additional fitness that ramps up. We also get additional boxing classes.
My kit now includes feet guards, shin pads, full sparring gloves, head shield, groin guard and gum shield.
We now do partial and full round sparring. Although the idea is to, again, practice technique without killing each other.
This is 3-4 times a week.

We also train and spar with the Master classes (4-1+black belts). Where theres a serious push to kickboxing in the ring.

I hope that you enjoy it and if it doesn't get you interested that it sparks the interest in finding a martial art that does. There's no wrong or right martial art - only what works for you.

I'll probably even look into Tae Chi Chen at some point probably via TKD after starting out in kickboxing. Who knows

One last point I forgot.. get that hot bath ready to sooth those tired aching muscles during those first few weeks!

 

[Vibez]

Muay Thai > KB. It's a more complete system with knees and elbows in addition to kicks and punches, I'd advise you do that instead.

 

[IceBus]

Basically im playing with the idea of doing KB ive phoned up the master ( is that what we call them or is it sensei?) but hes out so ill wait till tomorrow. He apparently by reputation is brilliant, he does KB and karate infact he got my dad onto blackbelt in karate and his reputation is brilliant.
Anyway im gonna go once a week and im really excited ive never done anything like this before
Questions ive got:
Whats my few lessons gonna involve
he does class sessions and private sessions whats better
how do you know your improving cause in karate you have belts

Pretty much just echoing what others have said - belts mean nothing. I know terrible black belts and amazing green belts, how you handle yourself as a martial artist in and out of the ring matters a lot more than the belt you wear. Technique and a bit of humility go a long way imo. Just because you can injure someone doesn't mean you should put 100% force into every technique. There will be times when you're practicing technique - this is when you focus on getting it right and keep in mind not to hurt your training partner, then there are times when you're practicing with heavy pads and can really feel the technique with full force. Choosing when these times are is part of the discipline you'll get from any MA.

I'd also say, you will see a marked difference in how fast you improve if you can manage to go to more than one session a week, even if it's not every week. When I started out in taekwondo I was one of the only people to go twice a week and I got the basics down a lot faster than people who went once a week, meaning I got to move on to the newer stuff a bit sooner

Note to forum... it's spelled taekwondo - art of the fist and foot. Taekwando might mean 'I kick your mother' or something

Best advice I can give you is always make sure you warm up and warm down thoroughly, and when you get home, repeat the stretches your teacher taught you at the start of the session - this'll severely reduce next day aches and pains and help your journey to flexibility.

Hope you enjoy and let us know how you get on!

[edit]

Muay Thai aka Thai Boxing is a bit full on for someone who's never studied a martial art before. It takes a fair level of commitment to start smacking your shins and arms with bamboo to condition them up. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're out to learn an art that can maim/kill or have some experience in MA.

 

[bam0]

Muay Thai aka Thai Boxing is a bit full on for someone who's never studied a martial art before. It takes a fair level of commitment to start smacking your shins and arms with bamboo to condition them up. I wouldn't recommend it unless you're out to learn an art that can maim/kill or have some experience in MA.

Don't be silly Conditioning is a progressive thing so you wouldn't start out with the hardest thing at the start, plus I don't know why you'd want to bash yourself with bamboo, all you'll do is hurt yourself and maybe kill off the nerves, bamboo doesn't have the weight to properly condition your bones for that you need lots of heavy bag work.
I'd also prefer thai boxing to kickboxing, more conditioning and fitness required.

 

[bakes0310]

cheers for all the replys

I would like to go like 2 times a week but due to my work hours im only gonna be able to go once a week unless i do a private session each week as well then i could choose my own time then.

Would that be better so:
monday: normal session- ill be taught something new
wednesday: private session- he could make sure im doing it right and improve it

 

[Dr_Evil]

Kickboxing is a nice sport, keep you fit and teach you how to fight, however Thai Boxing is much more efficient when it comes to fighting. It all depends on the trainer how "full on" it is implemented, but it will keep you very fit and you will learn how to fight hard and very efficient. They won't be wasting your time teaching you nice and fancy backspin kicks that are way too slow and can be intercepted/blocked easily. They will teach you how to hit and kick fast and hard and how to block incoming attacks and counter efficiently. It keeps you very fit as training is often very tough.

 

[Depth]

Muay Thai > KB. It's a more complete system with knees and elbows in addition to kicks and punches, I'd advise you do that instead.

In agree, Muay Thai + boxing is the best combo for stand up fighting in my opinion.

Just look how many MMA fighters use it, it must be effective.

 

[bakes0310]

I thought kickboxing was just kickboxing so theres different types then. Could you tell me what they are and whats the difference about them please so i can ask my trainer

 

[IceBus]

I thought kickboxing was just kickboxing so theres different types then. Could you tell me what they are and whats the difference about them please so i can ask my trainer

Kickboxing is more of a sport, thai boxing or muay thai is where kickboxing originated and is a martial art. For kickboxing think boxing with kicking, muay thai is a mixture of knee, elbow, foot and hand strikes in a fighting system.

 

[bakes0310]

Update ive had my induction today.

I started off with some stretches and one of them i done correctly thats supposed to make your wrist stronger and the instructor was impressed as ive never done any martial arts before, and knowone ever gets it right first time.
I then learned 2 punches and 2 kicks and a finally a couple blocks and counters to them. He was over all impressed with them and from the sounds of it i just need to improve my balance a bit when im doing my kicks.

 

[panthro]

Kickboxing is more of a sport, thai boxing or muay thai is where kickboxing originated and is a martial art. For kickboxing think boxing with kicking, muay thai is a mixture of knee, elbow, foot and hand strikes in a fighting system.

Muay Thai is a sport, and the national sport of Thailand. Its techniques were developed from Muay Boran which was the fighting system ancient Thai warriors developed for hand to hand combat once they were weaponless.

Kickboxing is a generic term for western boxing and leg techniques combined. There are so many different styles of kickboxing that its hard to place it under a certain area, i.e. some styles are aimed towards self defense whereas other styles are developed more towards the sporting aspect.