Has anyone seen Savate??

[jules]

and if so how is it?

[RobertG]

I actually trained in Savate for a couple of years back in high school (which was about 12-13 years ago). In essence its really kickboxing, at least that is how its usually trained. You work a lot of kicks--basically the whole array that you'd see in TKD or something. Spinning kicks, jump kicks, kick combinations--but the resemblance to TKD is superficial only. The kicks ideally aren't just snapped out there, but rather emphasis is put on putting your whole body into the kick. I guess I'd put it like this, if a Muay Thai roundhouse kick is like a baseball bat, then the Savate one is like being hit by a whip or a heavy chain. They both hurt like hell, but the mechanics and the point of contact (shin versus foot) are slightly different. Savate also uses the oblique kick a lot more than most other kicking arts. All the hand training is essentially typical boxing. You certainly aren't encouraged to rely solely on your feet, but I'd say the emphasis is on kicking (maybe 60-65%) and then hands. Savate also uses a lot of sparring. Since its actually now a ring sport, its trained pretty much like the other stand up striking sports (e.g. boxing and muay thai). Heavy emphasis on conditioning drills and sparring.

I'd say as far as training people in stand up fighting its equivalent to MT or boxing. Different, but the emphasis is on producing a someone who can theoretically fight in the ring. Modern day Savate doesn't use knees and elbows, or really any clinch work, so in that sense, its lacking some things you'll find in MT. However, "classical" Savate contains a lot more techniques than the ring art. So the older version of Savate has knees, elbows, takedowns and sweeps, headbutts--all the nasty stuff. There is even some weapons work (though I think it revolves primarily around the cane). So most of what you'll do is kicking, boxing, sparring type stuff, and then, at least as I was taught, there is some focus on self-defense use of Savate and that focuses on some on the "older" Savate techniques (e.g. before it was adapted for the ring).

[JKDBerlin]

Savate is french kickboxing, done with gloves and shoes. You are allowed to kick everywhere (even the back) but you are not allowed to punch the back. While kicking you are supposed to make contact only with the shoe. Due to that, most of the Savate kicks are long range kicks. Punching is like western boxing with the exception of the swing, a wide looping punch done with the fist turned over. Sport rules over here in Europe allows the first 5 tournaments to be "assault" which is light- to no-contact. After these tournaments and a certain degree you are allowed to fight "combat" which is full-contact.

Greetings

[BB Wolf]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the traditional shoes hardened, much like a steel toed boot, to help make the kicks more effective? I've only read a little about it. The oblique kicks look much longer that the Wing Tsung-styled ones I was taught in Kajukenbo.

[RobertG]

Yes, the oblique kicks are totally different than the Wing Chun type. They're delivered with a totally straight leg as opposed to the WC one, which is more of a stomp. Savate Oblique Kick

As for hardened shoes, I'm not so sure. I know Savate has always been done with shoes, and that originally guys would do it wearing work boots. They may or may not have been hardened, but I haven't heard or read anything about that.

[JKDBerlin]

The "original" shoes were hardnened with a leather top part. The competitions nowaddays usually allow grapplings shoes like Asics, Nike and Adidas.

Greetings

[sercuerdas]

i can tell you the kicks that land with the toe of the shoe hurt like hell.

[JKDfreak]

This feels like being hit with a freaking hammer,especially if it's directed towards the liver!!!!!!!!

[JKDBerlin]

Another really good target is the ribcage and the heart.

Greetings

[Jack Johnson]

The advantages of savate are mobility the guard precision and distance.
I think this is in part because of the rules and in part because getting kicked with shoes on encourages you to keep a tight guard and moving around at the limit of the opponents range.