chrissyp

Yes we are allowed kicks to the head. I'm wondering if the rules we train under are based around the local tournaments? I was just curious as to why we have such a limited variety of punches to use, where are some styles of no strikes to the head, or the ability to use any punch. It just feels like an odd middle ground. I might just be unsure of the rules, so i'm gonna double check with my instructor.

and foot sweeps. foot sweeps all day. such an amazing technique no ome practices

I've been doing karate for about four years now. I've been kickboxing for about six months, though due to time constraints on training I'm still embarrassingly bad at it, same for BJJ, and I've hardly progressed in shotokan since coming back from a one year break I took a year ago. The reason I'm considering dropping karate rather than kickboxing is mostly due to the locations. kickboxing is at the same place as BJJ, a ten minute walk from where I live, and I can get very frequent training very cheap. It takes longer to get to karate, even though I go by bike, and the training isn't frequent enough to fit my schedule . Out of interest, which elements (specific to shotokan karate) do you think would incorporate well into MMA? I always thought the moving aside, grabbing and removing of your opponent's guard might go well. I haven't sparred MMA in ages though. the hand techniques, like you said. redirecting my opponents hand and counter attacking. it's also opened my mind to different striking combinations.

Just curious to who's done this, and what was your motivation for doing so? Or prehapse you take your own spin on a system, and make drastic changes while still retaining the heart and the basics? What did you decide to change, and what did you decide to keep?

Prehapse it's just my school? I'll double check, but Id like the idea of being able to throw more hand techniques to the head, makes it more realistic.

I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me on why in kumite, the only strikes allowed to the head are backfist, reverse punch, and ridge hand? What's the philosophy behind only using these strikes?

I was wondering, to be able to start your own school in karate (in this case, lets say Shotokan), do you have to be certain Dan to teach? I'm just not really sure if there is certain requirements are not. Just curious is all.

I'm all for it! I worked at a mental health center, and I worked with kids with various diagnosis. They would benefit so much from martial arts, but it takes so much patience and understanding to work with them, but it's very rewarding! And these kids need this kind of disipline and outlet.

I've had the same issue, I started of doing Thai boxing, and then picked up shotokan. My biggest issue at first was trying to fuse too much, too soon, while not having a full understanding of karate techniques. Some techniques you'll find work well in kickboxing, some not so much, but would also instead work in MMA (if that sorta thing interest you) I personally feel you can get a lot out of karate, but just keep in mind not everything is going to translate into each other, and to keep and open mind...and personally, if you enjoy it, i'd stick with it for kicks and giggles. How long have you been doing karate? If you're really passionate about the kickboxing, then maybe you might want to put Karate to the side to focus on that, but ultimately it comes from what you want to get out of it.

Who said it meant non contact?

Being as this was posted about a year ago, ill give you an updated...as I became more versed in Shotokan, i've started to successfully be able to implement the techniques, it took a lot of work to get out my comfort zone, but it's been worth it. I've learned so much more, for both MMA striking and kickboxing, it's helped my left handed game (i'm a righty) significantly, and it's made me fall in love with martial arts all over again. What you said about the it taking awhile for the fruits of my work to be enjoyed, you were spot on it...it did take me a while, but it's been so worth it. My mind has been opened now to so many things now, it's been quite a great journey!

I can't believe how long this has been since I read this post! I've gain so much perspective since then. Great feed back! I no longer just "block", I deflect and create openings while striking the limb.

You are right, good points. There are some "traditional" MA's that are just crap. Lyoto is a great example and is an inspiration for how I fight and train. He's someone who took his shotokan based, trained it realistically, made it effective. He put the time and work in. That's my big reason I think people write off shotokan, to be good at it, and to use in a real combat situation/MMA fight, the techniques have a higher learning curve to be efficent in them, compared to boxing or kickboxing, and requires more work and effort to use them properly...at least this is how I felt with my personal training. I picked up boxing and muay thai much easier.

(This is not a debate between which is better, but just by observation on why I believe traditional martial arts are written off.) So for starters, a little bit about myself. I've trained boxing and muay thai mostly...though I started with tae kwon do years ago, my experience is mostly been in full contact styles. And like most guys who train full contact, we tend to write off the traditional arts do to the lack off full contact sparring and training. We think it's "unrealistic" and "not effective" As over the last year, I've been learning shotokan, mostly for kicks and giggles...but as I've progressed and learned, i've had this realization why people have this mentality about traditional styles. I've learned and realized, shotokan is a VERY effective style...and MMA fighter can gain a LOT from it...but the problem is for most people, they're not willing to put the work in. In my opinion, to be effective with Karate techniques, you have to train in not only realisticly, but diligantly. That the learning curve is much greater then boxing or kickboxing...to get the techniques to be practical and useful, takes more time and effort...and most people want a quick fix...so they never see or realize what they can truly offer, because they've never put the work or time in to make it useful. Thoughts? Opinions?

That's what i'm thinking...see the whole thing that struck me as "scamish" because i"m thinking they're gonna have ten belts, and you only can progress one belt a year just sounds very odd to me. I'm gonna talk to the teacher directly and get more information, I just never heard of this practice before which sounded odd to me.

So I found a school i'm interested in...but they said that ALL ranks, only test once per year....something about this strikes me as very odd from my experience....He says his school his kyokushin based, which i'm not familiar with, so is this a normal practice or does this sound scamish?

Thank you! I agree completely. I think thats why a lot of MMA fighters and gyms suck,is because they lack certain basic fundamentals...and i'm not sure if its the teacher, or that nature of how full contact gyms are structured, without a belt system/rank. That's one thing I did like about traditional schools, they instill the hell out of the basic and expand on it

So, i'm gonna start teaching kickboxing/muay thai in a few months, and i'm trying to figure out where to start, how to create a curriculum for teaching. I have a wealth of knowledge, but i'm not really sure how to begin the process of teaching, how to structure a class, so i'm trying to get insight on what you do, thoughts, feedback, ect. So i'm thinking about doing 90 minute class with the following: Warm up, with a focus on fundamentals; Pad/bag work, strengthening the basics and refining technique the second part of the class would be a hands on teaching of a few techniques, maybe 2 or 3, and really break them down, how the work, why they work, just develop an understanding of a things at a time, instead of trying to overwhelming them trying to cram in too much at once. usually whatever techniques I'll teach the day, will be able to corilate together, how they can work together by them selves and with the basic fundamentals of the art, and then of course there will be partner drills designed to emphisis use of application of what was taught. Mostly those would almsot be like very light, borderline sparring. Live drills that involve thinking and actual application with another person, I would then offer sparring after class to those who wanted to do it, I don't believe in making sparring madatory ever, UNLESS they're going to compete. Like I said, i'm just trying ot figure out a class structure, the best way to go about instilling knowledge. Any thoughts and feedback are appreciated.

So, when I first started kickboxing, my coach was an old school full contact stylist...and when I told him I wanted to learn kickboxing, he made me learn traditional boxing before he'd go into more with the kickboxing. I'm just curious if anyone else was taught this way, and if so what they thought about it?

So i'm wondering, for those who've trained in both styles, has kyokushin helped up your muay thai game any? I've thought about picking it up, to improve my striking...just wondering if anyone has any thoughts if they compliment each other or if i'm wasting time?

Just curious, how far of commute do you take to get to your gym/dojo? I've traveled up to an hour to train, because there is nothing where i'm from :/ just wondering if anyone out there makes the same kinda sacrifice.

Hi there, i'm trying to up my Muay Thai game, by adding in more combinations. Just wondering if anyone has some favorites they've had a lot o success with? Also, I was wondering from those who are from a karate background, if they've had success with a particular technique or combination? I've been watching a lot of kyokushin videos, and have picked up the axe kick pretty well, and i've noticed one particular combo, a 1-2 to the body and kick to the head is pretty effective, but does it translate well to thai boxing? Just trying to think outside the box here, any suggestions are welcome!

Not yet, but I did find someone else looking to start a tournament doing the samething in france.

What is a kru exactly? is it just a thai word for teach, or is a rank? If it is a title/ ranked earned, how does one go about it? Do you have to achieve such title to have legit thaiboxing school? I've seen places online selling "kru" classes for a few thousand, and it 5 days you recieve kru certifcation... something about that just don't seem right, is legit? Someone educate me!

This inspired by the other topic, but what's you opinion of schools who let their students wear anything they want in the dojo? My School does this, she only reinforces it for competition training, but most times we wear whatever.... and it's not because my Sensei is against tradition/doesn't like them, it's because she teaches everything out pocket mostly, she knows Gi's can be expensive, specially when you're dealing with low income families. Just wondering thoughts on this.