help me start

[1kickKO]

It's exactly the same. All power...whether in karate, kickboxing, muay thai, etc... comes from the hips. It's similar to baseball, in order to be a good pitcher, you have to have a strong trunk of the body (chest to feet), because it's not just a push off of the mound that gets the ball throwing hard, it's when you put yoru whole body into the pitch. Similar to kicking. You don't want to swing your hips too much because this will telegraph your kick, they'll know it's coming, and your kick will get blocked and countered. Being a soccer player you have a strong advantage because your legs are already built up, helping you extremely with your kicking abilities. How flexible are you? Be sure to stretch when kicking because the more flexible you are, the higher and harder you'll be able to kick without hurting yoruself. But lek I said, if you're performing a front kick, then you thrust your hips forward along with your leg. But there's something called a 4-count kick. This means, if you're doing a front kick, lift your knee up, kick out, bring your knee back to you, then drop your leg. This is like a "formula" for kicking so that your kicks don't get caught. But to get good powerful kicks have a good strong base along with strong legs...same with a punch..it's all in the hips(well, maybe not ALL, but about 80% of it is).

[1kickKO]

as for the website, here's a link for a Muay Thai School Listing:

[1kickKO]

Whoops, you'll have to copy and paste that link

 

By the way, I'm not sure if they'll have any listings up yet, so if you don't find any, or they don't have any up... go to google.com and try a search on "Muay Thai School Listings" or "Muay Thai Instructors" or "Muay Thai Schools in West Virginia" etc... by the way whereso in WV do ya live if I may ask? Because I was just recently up there for a tournament in Clendenin.

[soccerghost]

I am not incredibly flexible I can only kick about my chest heightwise. And I live in Washington, thats WA unless i am mistaken which is definitely possible. Do you travel much for tournaments? Are there many restrictions in tournaments?

[soccerghost]

I checked out that site and i found a school about a half hour drive from my house. thanx I call and check it out

[1kickKO]

Glad you found a school, so I take it you're going for Muay Thai? Well good luck and I hope ya find it useful and fun. Oh and sorry, I overlooked the WA and thought it read WV for West Virginia. Yeah, I travel quite a bit for competitions, actually I will be travelling to Rome, Italy and Dublin, Ireland for competition to win the 9th Irish Cup with Team America. Um..I practice Ko Sutemi Seiei Kan Karate and jujitsu, so I go to karate/jujitsu tournaments which are completely different from Muay Thai tournies. Restrictions at my touries are basically no below the belt, no face contact (until you are 17 or older and a black belt) no groin shots, knee shots, hair pulling, eye gouging, you know, the "cheap shot" kind of stuff. In Muay Thai tournies, the rules will be a little different, but not much. Kicks can be anyways besides groin, and as for all the "cheap shots" those apply as well. You could google that as well.

[soccerghost]

yeah i decided that muay thai sounded like it would fit me well. thanks for your help

[1kickKO]

No problem, hope you really like it. If ya ever need any help or anything at all feel free to e-mail me at nmoccabee@yahoo.com.

[1kickKO]

p.s. Welcome to the martial arts ..oh..this might add on to a whole 'nother convo, but I'm pretty interested in what made ya decide to start martial arts..everybody has their own reason...mine personally was it sounded like fun and mainly for self defense...and travelling and competing didn't sound too bad either.

[soccerghost]

pretty much the same reasons as you fun , fitness, and competing sounds cool too