Thread: mt or kempo?
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Old 02-06-2007, 03:51 PM   #15 (permalink)
Britt
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I think anyone of any martial arts background can benefit from at least cross-training Muay Thai. The emphasis on conditioning and the power of the techniques is phenomenal. I feel like just the short amount of time I spent in Muay Thai improved my kicking many times over, and the guys who actually train full time and compete...sheesh, fughhedaboutit. I'd rather be hit with a baseball bat than kicked by a Thaiboxer.

I have great respect for Kempo as well, too. There's a perception that it's just a bunch of flashy high-speed no-contact hand strikes for show, i.e. "POWPOWPOWPOWPOWPOW! I just hit you 1000 times!" but if you've ever trained with a Kempo stylist who knows what they're doing, really knows what they're doing, those strikes have some real power behind them. My kickboxing trainer never thought much about Kempo until he attended a seminar and got a demonstration from a high ranking Kempo guy. The problem is that the learning curve is really high; you'll learn more that you can use more quickly in Muay Thai, and Kempo takes years to pay off. Still, if you like both and can train both, I would.
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