Tom Yum

Yep. The first time I sparred with contact in muaythai, I went into slight shock from getting hammered by a thai kick and that was with my guard up...

And those strikes come at you, from such short distances and unexpected angles. You don't see them, but you sure can feel them.....

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new_guy

I'm just starting out too and had to make the choice between Kenpo and Muay thai. It was a tough decicion because the kenpo instructors at the school I looked at are more qualified to teach kenpo (6th degree black) than the muay thai instructor is to teach muay thai. I also liked the kenpo school quite a bit.

I ultimately chose muay thai becasue I'm a conditioning fanatic. Conditioning is important to me and I wanted something on the more intense side and MT seemed to have a much greater emphasis on conditioning. (Be carefull what you wish for, right?

In regards to that MT round kick and it's power, I let two sneak in Friday while sparring a very large opponent. It's Sunday and I'm still not able to squat down. Uggh.

I have respect for both styles, any style and any person who reaches his/her full potential at there chosen art. I applaud everyone on this board for not letting this thread deteriorate into one of those retarded "my style kicks ass and your style sucks" debacles.

viralhed

Yeah, my kicks REALLY need some work..i kick my training bag and it takes about 1.25 seconds to draw back (i know its kinda pathetic) so i might just check out muay thai..maybe i can convince a couple buddies to join too, we shall see!

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slayer31

i think thai boxing's combination of weapons, conditioning, and simplicity make it an easy choice.

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Tom Yum

As a follow up, Kenpo will take a longer time to develop more serious fighting skills compared to muay thai since sparring and conditioning are mt's focus.

Both are traditional martial arts, despite the fact that muaythai is practiced more for combat sports. However, the kenpo stylists whom have developed their fighting skills to that level will hit you with stuff you've never seen before guaranteed, whereas now adays muaythai is becoming more and more common.


Long-range fighting
Kenpo karate stylists are indestinguishable from other karateka in the long range. They throw lunge punches, reverse punches, front snap kicks, round house kick, side kicks and spinning back kicks. Absent are the hook kick and crescent kicks, which are present in other okinawa styles but they use those four kicks rather well. Keep in mind, alot of light sparring drills in kenpo are done bare handed or with minimal protection (kenpo gloves).

Muaythai fighters use your basic jab and cross for hand techniques, probably a bit more powerful than the kenpo karatekas long range punches and maybe faster, if they cross train in boxing. They use the teep (push kick) and infamous thai-round kick, which is so effective every style borrows from it.

Infighting
Kenpo karateka use backfists, hammer fists and chops to hit soft targets. What's special about the backfist? The kenpo karate backfist is to the TMA world what the thai kick is to the MMA world. Its not snapped, its whipped and more circular using the hips and legs to generate power, furthermore they use it in different angles so as to hit around someone's guard or their blocks. Higher ranked BB use alot of short and circular palm strikes and generate a lot of power in a small arc (think of western boxer Arturo Gatti who does the same thing with his hooks). They also use knees and stomps on entry and can use simple-economic joint locking infighting (unlike more complicated aikido or some hapkido locks).

Kenpo teaches weapon disarms as well, which is something not taught in muaythai and teaches a few traditional weapons. Muaythai has weapon sets (krabi krabong) but these styles are still rare here in the west.

In addition to western boxing hooks and uppercuts, muaythai stylists use elbows, knees and headbutting (illegal technique). If they hit anything, it either cuts or breaks something - add to that some MA styles and most untrained folks do not know how to defend agains them. These strikes can be delivered at face-to-face distance or from the clinch. Thai clinch control uses the opponents head and if you control their head, you control the body. Clinch control can set up your opponent to run into your knee or elbow and keep them off balance from launching their own strike. Sweeps and throws can be done from the clinch as well.

Both styles use destructions (striking an attacking limb) and do so economically, but kenpo has more sophisticated arm destructions that lead into joint locks, seeing its a Chinese style and emphasizes hands. Muaythai uses elbows for simple and direct destructions.

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millie

hitting hitting hitting hitting
the ultimite goal of martial arts is self persivation
with this in mind the art should reflect the students enviorment
be still and listen
avoid conflict
harm not
practice one style one technique one mindness