street fights

[jonbid]

i am about to start kickboxing ( i don't know which type ) an i am wondering how useful is kickboxing in a fight in the street. I would imagine it is.

Oh and i have been wondering what type of kickboxing is the "normal" if there is such a thing.

thanks

[thirtytwohits]

umm... if ur refering to Muay Thai, its highly effective since it IS a combat/war/battlefield art. Muay Thai isnt considered kickboxing to us Muay Thai fighters. kickboxing is an american(sadly) art.

learn Muay Thai, not american stuff, because MT was made for war and has gone through 2000 yrs of development. kickboxing(amercan) is just another sport

[Guest]

jonbid - There are some fundamental differences between Thai Boxing and other forms of Kick Boxing. Both allow kicks and punches to the head and body, but Thai Boxing goes further. Thai Boxers can kick to their opponents legs, and can also use knee strikes. In it's original form Thai made great use of elbow strikes also.

I believe Thai is a better art for the street for these reasons, but i would still recommend that you studied some kind of art to teach you grappling on the ground also, like Judo, or Brazillian Jiu Jitsu.

But if you only have access to Kick Boxing that's ok for the time being. It will give you some great attacking tools, and get you very fit.

[thirtytwohits]

look, street fighters are a bunch of idiots without form. they cant even kick or grapple. the only thing they do is punch, they dont have punching form either. they throw wild punches that leave themselves open to a kick in the head.

from my experiences, i fought many street fighters, and won them in less than a minute. they leave thier face open too much. one elbow to the jaw and their out cold

me
them

[Guest]

I have come across plenty street fighters that have far more in their arsenal than just wild punches. How about this :-

Head butts
Groin Kicks
Bites
Clubs
Knives
Glasses etc.

And, most importantly of all, genuine toughness and viciously evil intent.

Never underestimate a street fighter. No matter who you are and how hard you have trained, there is always someone out there who can kick your arse.

[jonbid]

sorry i didnt mean a "street fighter", i meant some body that might attack you whilst on the street or out somewhere with friends. I started kickboxing, andyes i think it will get me a lot fitter, and the attacks they do look great (not sure if they are effective).

One imparticular was an elbow strike (not sure of the real name). The instructor sort of reaches out to grab, pulls towards him, puts his fist on his shoulder and raises the elbow quite high, presumably to strike the chin of oponent.

How hard is it to implement an attack of that nature to some body in the street? I havent started kicks yet, only simple stuff and general fitness but i like it.

[jonbid]

Just thought i would tell you that it is the american "style" but once i get into this to a reasonable standard the leisure centre also does jui jitsu, however again i'm not sure if it is brazilian???

Is that still a good thing to learn?
I would imagine knowledge of different MA would help

[nickhh]

I think you can learn from any style. Personally, I think Muay Thai is good in the street because most people who teach it also teach techniques on how to avoid trouble. With that being said if you actually did get in a fight what you do depends largely on how you train. For example if you do drills like when some one jabs to practice, switch kick, right cross, left hook, right kick combos more than likely if some guy came up to you and tried to jab you in the face your reflex would be to switch kick etc. etc.

BJJ rocks, but so does Judo as Yoshida just showed everyone in the last pride (he was about to choke Royce out) when the reff stoped it and the fight was ruled no contest

[Sean J]

Originally posted by jonbid
sorry i didnt mean a "street fighter", i meant some body that might attack you whilst on the street or out somewhere ...).

I am pretty sure that's what he meant. And he is right - there are some out there that know more than making a wild swing...

Sean

[Jimbo]

I was involved in a "street fight" a couple of months after I started training.

I was at work at an employee only sale, and one worker, whose day off it was, came in drunk. It was a pretty crammed space, and I was pushed into him. He then tried to pick a fight with me, and after repeated attempts to resolve the situation, he took a very wild overhand right. (I think I remember it being a right). I was able to bob the punch and land left right combination, followed up by a round kick to the leg. The attacking drunk was leveled, and fired the next day.

While I don't glorify my fight, and I do know that my form was probably as ugly as it ever was, I am very proud to know that I kept my cool throughout the whole experience.

I am now studying a little more BJJ, and if it were to happen again with the exact same circumstances, I am thinking I would have taken him down to the ground.

I like to imagine myself in sitautions to determine what I would do. I don't look the oppurtunities, on the contrary, I do what I can to avoid conflicts, but I now realize things sometimes just happen.

My instructor has taught me to be prepared for everything, and decide before hand what you would do. For example, if a perp came into my house with a knife, and threatened my family, I have discussed it with my wife that I will attack, and my wife will run with the kids. This way, there will be no hesitation in my action. My instructor also talks about the male bear who will come to a cave to snack on some cubs. The mother bear will fight and usually win. She is smaller but her dedication is to her cubs, and she will fight to the death. I think in the mothers bear own small mind, this decision has already been made.

Again, I am so limited in my experience and knowledge of the fighting arts, but I don't any style is better than another, but it is the fighting spirit and dedication of the fighter.

[Jimbo]

Don't you hate going back and reading your posts, and finding out how bad your grammar is?

[jonbid]

i found out some poeple in my kickboxing group are boxers and find it very hard to adjust to the long stance and different style of fight. I wondered what is more benefitial, boxing or kickboxing. Boxing seems more close range, where kickboxing longer becuase of kicks.

In the leisure centre i go to, there is a gym which made me wonder, will it slow me down if i go there to build muscle or worse for me, reduce flexibility?

sorry for these questions, i have a curious mind

[terry]

Jonbid, your experience does not match mine. I have found competition level boxers to be some of the best students I have seen. They are relaxed, they have excellent footwork, they understand power, they can absorb pain without loosing composure, they work hard and they're in good shape.

It only takes those guys a couple of times of getting hit with a Thai kick to understand they need to change their foot positioning. Give me a boxer any day.

Terry

[Guest]

"In the leisure centre i go to, there is a gym which made me wonder, will it slow me down if i go there to build muscle or worse for me, reduce flexibility?"

Nope. Those stiff meat heads in the body building magazines are not only fanarics, the are also on steroids. You will never get anything like their size.

Martial Arts punches and kicks need to cut through the resistance of the air, much like a sprinters limbs. Look at thos guys, they use weight to build that speed. Flexibility will be maintained and improved as long as you stretch effectively, so there are no worries there either.

Just don't overdo it. Weight training is actually destroying muscles. Nature builds you back up when you sleep, adding a tiny bit more muscle in response to the work. It is these tiny extras that add up to an increase in strength and power potential. But if you do too much on the weights nature cannot build you up quickly enough, and you will get weaker.

Try once a week and train only a small amount of exercises - one or two major pushing movements (Bench Press, Overhead Press, Dips), one or two major pulling movements (Pull Ups, Bent Rows) and something for the legs and back (Squat or Deadlifts). Many people train to many exercises and just waste time and recuperative ability.

But weight training is an art in itself. For safe, common sense advice on technique go here www.hardgainer.com

Good luck.

[terry]

Yep, I agree with Br Thai on this one. Weight training can be an excellent supplement to martial arts training if done correctly. But it should not be thought of as a substitute for developing technical skill, timing, distance, etc. You have a few options:

Bodybuilding. Bodybuilding's primary goal is to increase muscle size and definition. They push muscles to failure through high reps and fatigue. You don't usually get a as good a return on your investment in terms of performance and you'll also loose speed and flexibility.

Power lifting. Power lifting's primary goal is to increase strength and explosive power. They push muscles to failure through low reps, very heavy weights and straining. With power lifting you get less size though but is great for your hitting skills.

You should note, however, that some very respected people in the martial arts do not think you should do any weight lifting at all, e.g., the Gracies. I can't speak for them, but I can unofficially paraphrase one of Ralph Gracie's brown belts: 1) you should learn to rely on skill, and 2) large muscles require a lot of blood to feed and thus take a lot of energy away from you in a long match. In an hour long jujutsu match the smaller, leaner guy would probably have an advantage over a monster, who is more likely to burn out.

Several of the competitive jujutsu guys I know do circuit training quite a bit instead of power lifting. That is a kind of aerobic weights in which you do lower weight but high speed, high reps and almost no rest interval. This method, from what I hear from other fighters, is perhaps the best match with competitive fight training.

My advice would be to get with a trainer who has enough experience to push you without injuring you, a professional. A good trainer will turn years into months and will keep you from getting injured.

Terry