Thinking of taking up Kickboxing - a few tips please

[-westy-]

Hello,

First post for me in this section

As part of a bit of a life change for me, I've decided to take up kickboxing or a similar contact sport - both for the physical benefits, and mental reasons (confidence boosting etc).

I have a few questions:

• I am generally an athletic person - how much does partaking in this kind of activity help?
• Should I be looking to improve my general fitness at the same time, along with flexibility?
• I have a few previous injuries, namely a dislocated shoulder in the past few months, and broke my 5th metacarpal in my right hand last June - What kind of safeguards should I take against these repeating themselves?
• Can anyone recommend any good clubs/trainers in the Guildford/Surrey area?
• Lastly, Can anyone suggest an alternative? I'm looking to increase flexibilty, strength and give myself a confidence boost at the same time. I'm very active so something fast paced would be ideal.

Many thanks.

 

[The IPB]

Hello,

First post for me in this section

As part of a bit of a life change for me, I've decided to take up kickboxing or a similar contact sport - both for the physical benefits, and mental reasons (confidence boosting etc).

I have a few questions:

• I am generally an athletic person - how much does partaking in this kind of activity help?
• Should I be looking to improve my general fitness at the same time, along with flexibility?
• I have a few previous injuries, namely a dislocated shoulder in the past few months, and broke my 5th metacarpal in my right hand last June - What kind of safeguards should I take against these repeating themselves?
• Can anyone recommend any good clubs/trainers in the Guildford/Surrey area?
• Lastly, Can anyone suggest an alternative? I'm looking to increase flexibilty, strength and give myself a confidence boost at the same time. I'm very active so something fast paced would be ideal.

Many thanks.

Howdy, I have been doing kick boxing for about 9 months now and love it. If you are an athletic person already it's good as kick boxing is a really intense workout which will test your cardio and improve your all over fitness.

Your flexibility will come with practice and you should find that you do a lot of stretching before and after the session, depending on how often you go stretching at home would benefit you if you want to be able to kick higher, and more effectively.

Doing anything that will improve your fitness can only benefit you, during sparring there is nothing worse than being out of gas, a truly horrible feeling.

To protect your hands learn to wrap them correctly and buy some decent gloves, im sure someoen at whatever club you choose will be able to show you how to wrap your hands. Im not sure there is anything you can do with regards to your shoulder, but I don't see it being an issue with kick boxing unless you fell on it awkwardly.

Sorry I don't know any clubs in that area.

An alternative would be Muay Thai, which includes elbows and knees and is generally more brutal. Other than that I wouldn't know what to suggest, maybe Kyokushin Karate, probably the most respected and effective forms.

Let us know how you get on.