Earliest age for a child to start kickboxing.
- Thread starter Srengam
- Start date
Depends on the self defense. In wado ryu we were told that you cant defend yourself a gun, but we did lots of training with bat / weapon defense (only blunt objects in the class though).
There wasnt a single person in the class that could actually land a single hit on our sensai when he demonstrated asking people to hit him with a club, and complaining if they didnt try it on him full contact o.O.
They just all ended up on the floor completely disarmed with the club then in the sensai's hand.
Associate
can you source this as to my knowlege the kumatai is a fictional event in the film bloodsport
Soldato
- Joined
- 12 Dec 2002
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- 2,950
I would say no age is too young to do any sport. But, problems arise when people start either getting too pushy or start making kid start working out. Any pre pubescent kid can badly affect their growth by doing weights etc..
Also people(parents) must understand most kids as they hit puberty will lose a bit of hand eye/hand foot coordinaton because if the kids has a rather large growth spurt the brain needs time to adjust to the ever lengthening extremitys...
Also people(parents) must understand most kids as they hit puberty will lose a bit of hand eye/hand foot coordinaton because if the kids has a rather large growth spurt the brain needs time to adjust to the ever lengthening extremitys...
Associate
Hmm, I'd just be careful with something hard like kickboxing at a very young age.
Don't want them picking up early injuries which could harm any further training (or their life in general!). I remember a nasty experience with TKD when I was about 11, being paried against a tough adult with supposedly "light-contact semi-free sparring" not being so "light", and getting injured in the neck by a subsequent kick. Thankfully nothing severe, but there have been other such incidents in different styles.
Certainly good idea to start something gentle at >3 years, to keep up flexibility and gradually develop strength, and amp it up as they go.
Might sound like a strange one, but starting taichi (or similar) from a very young age would be fantastic (certainly one of my biggest regrets, instead of messing around with other things). Slow gain, and a silly amount of mental discipline required (which I struggle with immensly), but the skill that can be acheived is truly mind boggling.
Don't want them picking up early injuries which could harm any further training (or their life in general!). I remember a nasty experience with TKD when I was about 11, being paried against a tough adult with supposedly "light-contact semi-free sparring" not being so "light", and getting injured in the neck by a subsequent kick. Thankfully nothing severe, but there have been other such incidents in different styles.
Certainly good idea to start something gentle at >3 years, to keep up flexibility and gradually develop strength, and amp it up as they go.
Might sound like a strange one, but starting taichi (or similar) from a very young age would be fantastic (certainly one of my biggest regrets, instead of messing around with other things). Slow gain, and a silly amount of mental discipline required (which I struggle with immensly), but the skill that can be acheived is truly mind boggling.
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Tai Chi and Kung Fu in general for a child is all about balance and becoming rooted (steady stance), strength from Kung Fu is a bonus from working your body hard, Being elastic as a child it is so much easier for them to do it and maintain that as the grow than it is for us older peoples to re train our body.
Children that grow up with Martial arts of any kind are less likely to have a fight, because of the training, and more likely to use evade and block rather than to strike back.
http://www.wutan.biz/wutan.html
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You can try and find a club where you can opt your kids out of sparring.
Karate would be better for that as they can do do katas instead.
Yup there are some who can do it - bet hes been in a few proper fights - at the end of the day tho theres a world of difference between an experienced sensai sparring against people half-heartedly trying to hit him and not actually trying to hurt him and someone actually trying to do damage against someone semi-competent in martial arts... if he tried that against someone with a bit of fighting experience who'd learnt not to telegraph their moves it would probably end up a bit different tho I wouldn't want to bet on who came off worse.
Back on topic wouldn't it be better to start the kids off with something a little more "soft" defence focused i.e. judo and get them into kick boxing later? - not really that knowledgeable on kick boxing but from the people I know who do it I get the impression its more offensive defence at best.
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Should see the Thai Kids in Thailand and when they start. Totally mental!
What age is suitable will depend on the gyms and trainers you have at your disposal. Some will be more geared towards younger students than others. Go chat to some prospective ones and get a feel.
What age is suitable will depend on the gyms and trainers you have at your disposal. Some will be more geared towards younger students than others. Go chat to some prospective ones and get a feel.
Associate
It is totally down to the child and how well devolved they are only you know, If you have had experience try teaching a little to them and see how it goes.
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zzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I train Muay Thai boxing. I do not ever plan to use it on the street. It's just a really good way to keep fit.
Bruce Lee would have disagreed
Oh ju jitsu is different, weight helps there because its all about grabs / throws.
Bruce Lee was actually strong though (I do think his feats of strength have been exaggerated quite a bit however). If you can manipulate your opponent's weight, there is very little they can do to defend against that. I mess around with some friends doing boxing and Brazilian jiujitsu, one of them is about 13 stone, and I'm about 20 or so. I can completely manipulate his weight so I can move and throw him about easily, he can barely move me at all, on top of that, chokes, holds and moves that he can do simply don't work on me because of the differences in strength. I can bare his chokes, even when he's got straight access to my neck and anything else he can do. Same goes for the instructor we were training with as well, I can bare his chokes, holds and resist things like armbars, I'm bigger and heavier than him too.
Now I know it's not entirely based on the size and weight of someone, but it definitely helps a huge amount. If you can't apply enough strength to perform a maneuver, then having all the technique in the world is useless. I think the main situation where a weaker person with technique can overcome some one much stronger, is when the stronger person has absolutely no technique and is slow and cumbersome.
From my own perspective and experience, you need a good combination of strength and technique. When I started learning bits of jiujitsu, I could resist and defend easily enough, but couldn't perform anything outside of brute force "bend arm until they tap out" types of things.
I'm not sure what age is suitable to get them in to it, but I myself would love to have started this type of stuff at an early age.
Weight matters in throws/grabs?
I think not! Plays a very little part, it's all down to technique. It might be harder to throw someone of greater weight but this should play a small part of the moves overall success. If weight is dis-advantaging you THAT much your technique is off.
I think not! Plays a very little part, it's all down to technique. It might be harder to throw someone of greater weight but this should play a small part of the moves overall success. If weight is dis-advantaging you THAT much your technique is off.
Associate
+1 weight has nothing to do with it as you use your opponents weight against them to use throw/grab techniques
If you can't move your opponent, it's somewhat of a "game over" situation. People say things like "use their weight against them" but that's assuming the heavier person will just be charging around like a bull throwing their weight around and nothing else.
I know how to effectively use my weight to my advantage in defense terms as well, such as planting myself. Friends who I spar with can't do anything about that because they don't have the strength to move me.
Strength matters most in throws and grabs, if you can physically pick up your opponent off the ground and throw them, you have a massive advantage, even more so if you're more weight than they can deal with.