Kickboxing: anything I should know?

Beginners classes should have you set away from the intermediates. You'll be run through the basics, whilst the tutor gets a feel for your learning type, current abilities and limits and after that you'll be given drills to practice, practice, practice. You should leave the class with homework. You should also have been told why you are practicing what you are practicing and what your goals are and why. Questions should be allowed and celebrated, not berated or mocked. Don't pay for any arrogant tough guys to run you through some ambiguous wax on wax off bullsh*t. Get the knowledge you pay for. You should leave every class knowing more than when you went in.

Do not fall for the exercise loop. It's a money scam. This is where you turn up to lets say an hour class and the tutor gets you running laps, doing a few burpees, shouts at you to do a few push-ups and then in the last fifteen minutes he'll teach you a new move as some kind of reward. This is designed to slow your learning, and getting you paying for more classes, very often used to slow gifted students by money grubbing tutors. Do not pay to do push-ups, pay to learn what the class is teaching you. Get fit in your own time, your tutor should provide you with an exercise plan. If you want a class that makes you fit, pay for a fitness class, it'll be more dedicated with faster results.

In terms of making the most of your classes, make sure you've got water, don't be afraid to ask questions and make sure to put the time in at home because nobody can learn martial arts of any kind to a decent standard any time soon in only one hour a week. You've got to feel it, not just know it, physical skill requires physical training.

Kickboxing focuses a lot on, you guessed it, kicking and boxing. It's slightly outdated in today's world of MMA, Krav-Maga and Systema which all encompass realistic situations, grips, groundwork and weapons and are designed to be fast learning (and as such are often taught to our military personal between tours); however kickboxing has become a sport with rules to abide by set for a ring-type regulated situation. Also most martial arts in fact, such as Karate and Aikido for example have become watered down for the west since their birth in ancient times. This is due to sports rules and ring regulations, and diluted teachings from slightly uneducated western tutors. To get the real stuff you would have to go to Japan for the real Karate, or at least make sure you have fully traced the lineage of your tutor to an original tutor in, off the top of my head, Shotokan for example.

My advice, and I've got some decent experience, if you want quick, hard, fast and useful in day to day violent situations go for Krav Maga. If you want a lifestyle, are prepared to put the time and understanding in, I'd say chinese kungfu (go for Fujian White Crane it has a traceable lineage). MMA is very well known and thus thrown about, but it's regulated (they won't teach you to rip an eye out if someone's threatening you with extreme nastiness, if your going to spend money you want something you can use, not just a cool t-shirt and gel-filled gloves).

Martial Artist all my life.

Don't wear tennis shoes. Better off using a pair of minimalist shoes so you're feet are flatter on the floor. Also keep your wrists "tight". Don't relax them especially in boxing because it's so easy to sprain them if you do. And try to make sure your supporting leg's toe is pointed 90 degrees opposite the kicking leg on round house kicks. This will help to keep from torquing your knee on the supporting leg.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

glassofroses wrote: »

I have Nike Free Socflys, will they be okay?

Great advice on the wrists, thank you. I'll be extra aware of them just in case. Same with the toes. I'll probably have to get up and do it to see how it looks to remind myself, but better to be prepared than unprepared.

No. Look at some minimalist shoes.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Very fun, and breath, don't hold your breath with each hit. Thumb on the outside of fist not the inside lol...hey some do...