What Kickboxing Workouts Can Do For You
Kickboxing comes in different forms. In Thailand, it is called muay thai although
most Asian cultures have a form of kickboxing as a type of street martial
art. It is not like Japanese karate
because Japanese karate is an art form, a martial art as well as a spiritual
discipline so it has rigid rules of engagement.
It is not like Korean
taekwondo which is purely a martial art.
Also, kickboxing was developed only in the 1960s. One similar martial
art in the Philippines is called “yaw-yan” which corresponds to the last
syllables of two words “saYAW” (meaning dance) and “kamataYAN” (meaning
death). Together the last syllables mean
the “Dance of Death.” Kickboxing is a
kind of dance: the graceful yet powerful moves can be lethal.
Kickboxing’s Asian roots is as a form of sport. It is almost gladiatorial. For centuries, Asian monarchs kept kickboxers
as sort of champions – instead of going out to an all-out war between kingdoms,
they sent champions to fight with each other.
The king whose champion wins the bout will be declared the
winner and lands and other reparations and tribute will be paid to him by the
losing monarch. The kickboxers gain fame
and an elevated status in society.
Kickboxing has been adapted in the West as a form of
gladiatorial or spectator sport. In
places like Las Vegas, Nevada, kickboxing is a sport where placing bets is
encouraged. Kickboxers are sports
celebrities in their own right and they have fans and a following.
Kickboxing is a full-contact sport. Fighters can use their hands, their legs to
either knock down their opponent or else hold them down so that they are unable
to move or fight.
It is kind of like a brawl, really, as, unlike boxing where
there are moves that are considered foul (such as head butting, pushing or
hitting below the belt), in kickboxing, these moves are par for the
course. Kickboxers often get their teeth
knocked out, and their bones broken (even though they win). It is a violent sport.
The kickboxers wear protective gear such as gloves, mouth
guards and groin guards but this is more for protection for the kickboxer than
it is for the protection of the opponent.
It borrows a lot of the names of the punches from boxing such as jab,
upper cut, cross and straight punch. It
also borrows from karate and taekwondo the names of the kicks such as front
kick, back kick, side kick and roundhouse kick.
However, in the US, kickboxing is also a form of popular exercise. Because all four limbs are involved in the
exercise, it is a total body workout. It
also involves strength training because the punches thrown must have enough
power in it to knock your opponent down.
It also develops speed in order to throw punches and kicks in
quick succession. It develops agility:
one must be flexible enough to dart in and out of reach of the opponent’s kicks
and punches. It is a good weight-bearing
exercise because you have to be able to carry your own weight, dance around the
ring and bounce on the balls of your feet.
Roundhouse kicks are difficult to execute because you balance on one leg
while executing the kick. So balance is
required for kickboxing.
The most important part of training in kickboxing – be it for
sport, for exercise or even for professional fights is mental discipline.
A kickboxer needs to be able to anticipate the moves of his
opponent, make many small decisions that might mean injury if they fail. A kickboxer needs to develop strategy, for
this, the kickboxer must be alert and he must be a good tactician and
strategist. He must also have, in his
arsenal, a lot of moves that he has perfected.
© Jeff Davy 2014
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