CheekyMusician Posted June 17, 2003 Posted June 17, 2003 I really want to start another martial art. I already do Shotokan karate and had given Aikido a shot before and enjoyed it, although I left because I didn't really like the way we were taught. Anyway, I reckoned grappling would compliment my karate well and was considering judo. I was uncertain of it, though, because I'd found falling really hard at Aikido, and obviously I'd need to master it for Judo. Then a friend suggested going to kickboxing with me. I think kickboxing would be good for fitness, but I've always kind of looked down upon it and not seen it as a "proper art", but rather a sort of martial arts aerobics. Plus, I worry that a kickboxing club would teach me bad kicking and punching habits. Any advice? Are my preconceptions about kickboxing totally wrong? Smile. It makes people wonder what you've been up to.
Treebranch Posted June 17, 2003 Posted June 17, 2003 Why do you want to study MA in the first place? I think Kickboxing is a great sport, there's nothing wrong with it. It is what it is. What do you want to gain from Martial Arts? "It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.""Lock em out or Knock em out"
CheekyMusician Posted June 17, 2003 Author Posted June 17, 2003 Well I want to study martial arts because I love the spiritual side involved in the more traditional arts. I love the constant learning curve, and I love being able to see myself improve physically, mentally and spiritually from them. I want to do judo because of these above reasons, but I would like to do kickboxing as I believe it would do more for my fitness, and plus I'm sort of known as the "bossy one" in my group of friends and would like to let my friend have her way for once (she's been wanting to start kickboxing for a while, but wants company). My main worry with kickboxing is that it would somehow screw up my karate. Obviously, that wouldn't be a big a worry with judo as grappling and striking are so different. Smile. It makes people wonder what you've been up to.
G95champ Posted June 17, 2003 Posted June 17, 2003 Shotokan can mix pretty well with most arts. Its pretty well rounded. Judo is a nice add compliment because Funakoshi trained with many great Judo teachers and took a lot from them. Although you don't think of Shotokan as a throwing art we have some and its a nice completion. Nothing wrong with Kickboxing. IMO MT and Shotokan are the 2 most powerful arts and with the 2 combined one could learn to throw some serious power. (General George S. Patton Jr.) "It's the unconquerable soul of man, and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory."
JohnnyS Posted June 17, 2003 Posted June 17, 2003 Kickboxing would improve your punches and kicks, especially if it's a good school. BJJ - Black Belt under John Will (Machado)Shootfighting - 3rd Degree Black BeltTKD - Black Belt
Fenris-wolf Posted June 18, 2003 Posted June 18, 2003 Hmm, I won't get offended, because I admit that I too used to have a certain prejudice against kickboxing/boxing, and to an extent it's still there, but... Kickboxing is just a westernised style of Muay Thai. While Muay Thai is not nearly as formal as many Karates it is as much a martial art as Aikido. I know what you mean about the spiritual side of martial arts, that's actually what puts me off boxing a lot of the time. But Muay Thai does have it's little ceremonies. First, there is a series of bows called the Wai Kru which are performed before class much like in Seido Karate, which I used to attend. These are signs of respect, the first bow to your trainer, the second to the lineage of your trainer (ie: your trainer's trainer etc) and the third is to the club. (If anyone else tells you otherwise it just means they were taught differently, but the general idea's the same. eg: I have read that the third bow is religious, but I'll just stick to what I was taught) Also, there is a dance or ceremony called the Ram Muay which a fighter performs before his fight. These used to be specific to a club, so you used to be able to tell where they trained by which Ram Muay they performed, and a lot of the audience would use the quality of the Ram Muay to judge the prospective quality of the fighter. It is used to demonstrate your skill and also to settle the fighter's mind before a fight. So you see, it is not completely devoid of anything but sparring! To actually answer your query, I wouldn't personally recommend mixing it with karate. I used to do karate and there are a lot of small but telling differences between the arts that could conceivably really screw with you. The most prominant being that a Muay Thai fighter kicks with a straight leg. I won't even go into how long it took me to stop flicking my kicks at the end! Also, the guard is very different and we don't use any of the stylised blocks. This probably wouldn't be a problem with your cross-training, but in terms of what you're used to you should remember we allow head strikes. I hope that helped, I'm afraid you just got my started on one of my favourite topics! Let Us Turn The Jump Rope In Accord With Socialist Principles!
Treebranch Posted June 18, 2003 Posted June 18, 2003 CheekyMusician said My main worry with kickboxing is that it would somehow * up my karate. I don't think it would hurt your Karate at all. It would probably help it. Sometimes when you compare one thing with another it opens you up and you learn more. "It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience.""Lock em out or Knock em out"
monkeygirl Posted June 18, 2003 Posted June 18, 2003 Don't confuse kickboxing the martial art, with kickboxing the fitness system. A lot of schools have Cardio Karate or Fitness Kickboxing classes, which are like Tae-Bo. They're for people who want to get in shape, but don't really want to learn a martial art per se. Unfortunately, a lot of schools and their students will just shorten the name of the class to "kickboxing", and thus confusion arises. Kickboxing as in Muay Thai, is a very good stand-up art. Cardio Kickboxing is very good for physical fitness. Just make sure you're clear on which one your school does, or you could be greatly disappointed. I'm going to move this to the Boxing/Kickboxing/Muay Thai forum. 1st dan & Asst. Instructor TKD 2000-2003No matter the tune...if you can rock it, rock it hard.
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