street

[cbraves85]

I was thinking of joining a tae kwon do/ kickboxing school in my area. I was wondering if this would be effective in sel defence/ street fighting or just competition?

[Andrew Green]

Depends on what they are doing and what you mean by "effective"

[Hwoarang]

Look, the best defense is to go away....never go to a martial art class if you want to kick some a**** it will not help.

[mma_ryan]

hi all i am pretty much new to this website and yehh
i absolutly agree with the above statement
well i am a student of kick boxing and one thing tht i ve learn is u learn the most from actuall sparring and i think tht tae kwon do/ kickboxing will help u on the street but it also will depend on how u are being trained
and another this is i recoment any type of martial art because it also helps alot with your confidence
Ryan

[alcapone]

cbraves85 - I currently practice TaeKwonDo and was practicing Kickboxing a few months ago. I would recommend both for self defence, but, to be honest, when it comes to defending yourself on the street, a beginner kickboxer would be more "effective" than a beginner TKD practitioner (in my opinion).

At the end of the day, if you're drunk, walking out of a pub and someone starts on you, the last thing you should do is try a flashy reverse roundhouse kick or a hook kick, the chances are you'll land on your ass, then you'll be in serious sh*t! U will get your head stamped on!!!

I believe kickboxing is brilliant for self defence, or "street fighting". TKD is also excellent, but once you have reached a certain level in your training. I say this only because of the lack of emphasis on punching at the lower grades.

Kickboxing for a quick solution. TKD if you want to be dedicated. If you stick at it, TKD is a formidable MA to be trained in.

Hope this helps

AL

[Scott194]

look into Krav Maga

[Snakescales]

I agree with some of the guys above, most martial arts are not really suited for people, especially beginners to engage in street fights. Kickboxing is more of a sport and the other guys aren't going to follow the usual rules, they'll grab your leg if you kick or they'll break a cue over your head, or pull a weapon you're not really trained for that. TKD is really meant for knocking people off of horseback so more than anything being really aware of your surroundings and being well conditioned and in great shape will contribute more to a street fight than anything. If you can get out of it without a fight of course that's the best option. And if the person in question happens to be a good enough martial artist to handle it, he won't get himself into that situation in the first place.

-Andres

[morphus]

Training in martial arts gives confidence - which is good & will help you on the street, not to be a victim.

Training for competition will also help as you learn to face a aggresive opponant.

But if you want to be able to win in a street fight you have to train in street fighting - tha art of winning at all costs. This will mean doing things that a competition fighter cannot & perhaps does not train for. You have to learn that although it's not ok to bite the other guys face off(last resort), you are willing to do it if the situation dictates.

[Joe karate]

kickboxing should be great! It lets you use techniques at full power. True he may not deal with weapons or eye gouging..... but he is training. His punches kicks will come naturally and he will posses good evasive movement.

To trash kickboxing for street is ludicrous.
Instead take the kickboxing and practice the "vicious" stuff on the side.

People need to incorporate the MMA perspective of full contact training with rules and the no rules "reality" fighting of TMA.

[Shadow_Blade]

I think it would depend on your instructor, how you use the methods and whether it is a purely sport type of kickboxing. In sport, you usually fight with rules, however there are no rules on the street. Nevertheless, the skills you learn in the ring such as strikes, power, reflexes, stamina can all help you in the street. But if someone aims a knife at you, or sneak attacks you, none of those skills can really help you unless you feel maybe you are good enough to perhaps kick him before gets a chance to do something. The kickboxing I take is more of a mixed martial arts system and geared more towards self-defense. It teaches you things like locks and takedowns and even how to defend against a knife attack. However, if it came down to a good ol' one on one street fight, a kickboxer is a very dangerous foe to mess with. A good idea would be to take kickboxing for a while to build the power and reflexes and then maybe supplement it with another art such as judo or jujitsu to learn the more practical self-defense aspects. In short, any martial arts will help you with self-defense it just all depends on how you apply it. Even with sport kickboxing, which is more offensive. But sometimes, the best defense is offense!

[Greg-VT]

Originally posted by Hwoarang
Look, the best defense is to go away....never go to a martial art class if you want to kick some a**** it will not help.

That’s ridiculous.

[tai-gip]

im all with alcapone
in kickboxing they push you hard for strethcing/conditioning and fitness they teach a limited amount of techniques more advanced kickboxers use the same simple techniques but with better positioning and timing
tkd teaches you a lot more techniques and is to be treated more as an interest for the style itself
accepted that a lot is dependant on the individual most comparisons friends and i have done prove the kickboxer to be the more effective fighter after one years training

[Combatant]

I don't understand how people can say that martial arts or kickboxing are not good for the street. Most of these arts were designed for warefare. ALso that is one of the best reasons you can take up a martial art otherwise its just a dance. I am not trying to encourage anyone to pick streetfights but

Both of your options are great but for me KB is better for the street.

I recently got into an encounter that could not have been avoided, (short of me leaving my phone car and wallet for them to steal) I put up my guard and took the fight back to the 2 lads. I blocked against a few of there punches and only had to throw 2 kicks to scare them off. If it wasnt for my MT then I would have froze and took a beating.

To me, martial arts is about learning to fight but obviously not everyone does them for the same reasons.

[AsSaSiN]

Depends what you want from from your training. I think MA experience will definately help you, but to what extent depends on the person. The main thing in these "street" situations is mindset anyway, fear plays the main factor.

[pocketwarrior]

As Assasin mentioned the main problem in street situations is fear and adrenalin. Technically brilliant martial artists have been known to throw big "haymaker" punches in fights purely because of this.

If you want to learn self defense then you must find a club that deals with adrenaline training or one that tries to simulate adrenalin as much as possible. Most martial arts do not involve any sort of training that involves the sudden rush of adrenalin resulting in F or F. How often in your class do you encounter someone snarling in your face shouting obscenities that would make Ice-T blush, holding a broken bottle, with about 30 people watching you outside the 5 star kebab Shop?

Not very often.. Obviously we can't all train this way but you need to try and recreate these scenarios as realisticly as possible, because that's what it's like. You will never completely be able to control your adrenalin but you must learn not to freeze and still be able to think clearly, if you have time...

That aside go for a club that mixes things up with combined ranges and styles, you have to be adaptable. Quick simple techniques that are easily remembered are best, not long set pieces where you go through about 4 or 5 different locks and techniques because usually they are too long to remember.

I went to one ju-jutsu club that offered self defence and when i was practising a technique on the syllabus the instructor came over to go through it with me... Anyway halfway through he says:

"Well actually if i was in the street then i wouldn't do this technique, I'd just kick him in the T-bags and gouge him"

So what was the f*^*ing point of learning it then i thought!

Use your own judgement and think to yourself, would this really work?

In the end though i still prefer Geoff Thompsons theory of pre-emptive strikes because from what I have seen 9/10 the person who get's the first blow in usually wins...

[Chris J.]

Hi,
It would probably not be as pertainent as some older arts would be. Depends on how much outside influence has been put in the style, etc. Better to go back to the source though.

If nothing older is available then go for it. You might research older styles and histories first before spending money on something like that.

Older systems use training that might sometimes not be obviously applicable at first. Be careful to find an instructor who has learned past this and knows the older meanings for the movements. Unfortunately, this may be hard to find. If an instructor is pissing in the wind, that they can best only teach you to do the same thing. ;)

-Chris J.

[leo]

i do korean kickboxing but it is a joint class with taekwondoe, we all train and fight together, if u can get a club like this it is good because it is more like muy tai with weapons than nething else and is very useful for the streets.you also get to use any weapon you like but usually we use nunchakas, carbon rod staffs, stick boxing type sticks and sai daggers.
i have tried lots of martial arts and i would say kickboxing/muy tai is by far the most practicalm, although i havent tried wresteling, that looks quite practical too.

[Hapkido]

Look, the best defense is to go away....never go to a martial art class if you want to kick some a**** it will not help.
pardon my french but what the hell are you thinking? if u cant defend yourself adequately by your first belt promotion leave your school. im at a loss of words for this complete stupidity. of course martial arts help you in self defense, put me up against anybody whos never had any fighting training of some sort and ill kick their ass unless their 4x my size. sounds like youve been going to the wrong schools bud

[Yukimushu]

If we're talking street defence, i'd suggest Kickboxing over Tae Kwon Do, simply because of the focus on the boxing and hand techniques.

[booj]

[booj]

Pocket Warriors post explains it all!

Whilst any form of MA training will no doubt help, it all goes out the window unless you know what to expect from a confrontation on the asphalt arena!

[Sandy]

Both of your options are great but for me KB is better for the street.

I recently got into an encounter that could not have been avoided, (short of me leaving my phone car and wallet for them to steal) I put up my guard and took the fight back to the 2 lads. I blocked against a few of there punches and only had to throw 2 kicks to scare them off. If it wasnt for my MT then I would have froze and took a beating.

When I was younger I had a very similar experience and the Thai boxing I was doing at the time saved my neck from a rather nasty situation. Despite the explicit sport focus, I have found that Thai/kick boxing translate well to self defence. Though I agree with everyone here about it being best to avoid trouble ... perhaps sprinting is the best self defence training.

[Hannibal]

pardon my french but what the hell are you thinking? if u cant defend yourself adequately by your first belt promotion leave your school. im at a loss of words for this complete stupidity. of course martial arts help you in self defense, put me up against anybody whos never had any fighting training of some sort and ill kick their ass unless their 4x my size. sounds like youve been going to the wrong schools bud

I think you'll find what he is saying is that no martial art is a guarantee of success on "the cobbles". Certainly I would not expect to have a low-level martial artist to have an "I can now successfully defend myself" approach. I would much rather they have an "oh my god! I hope I never ever get attacked" approach because they will be far more mentally alert and avoid most trouble before it even starts.

And be careful about "untrained" fighters - they don't have the skill level but are nastier, and attitude wins as many fights as ability

[bigd]

I was thinking of joining a tae kwon do/ kickboxing school in my area. I was wondering if this would be effective in sel defence/ street fighting or just competition?there both effective in street and competition,but there is a difference,if your talking about competition,thats fine but in the street real fighting,then you better work every part of your body.real fighting is more than just a competition,so in competition its fine to just train,but on the streets, you; better get serious, train serious and harder,in every aspect.

[K93200]

I was thinking of joining a tae kwon do/ kickboxing school in my area. I was wondering if this would be effective in sel defence/ street fighting or just competition?

It sort of sounds of okay to all three, self defence because you'll have variety, and competition because you can now combine some new moves together, and even experiment with combos a little bit

[K93200]

there both effective in street and competition,but there is a difference,if your talking about competition,thats fine but in the street real fighting,then you better work every part of your body.real fighting is more than just a competition,so in competition its fine to just train,but on the streets, you; better get serious, train serious and harder,in every aspect.
Just don't push yourself, street fighting isn't so bad if you be careful

[Spanky]

ya it would help but i think normal boxing would help more
but you shouldnt kick above the knee because it will proberly be caught then your in trouble

[K93200]

ya it would help but i think normal boxing would help more
but you shouldnt kick above the knee because it will proberly be caught then your in trouble
Oh yea i hate when that happens, but when it does sometimes i just let the person throw me or i just jump on their head and beat them.

[Sanitarium]

Kickboxing is like, 100x better for streetfighting than TKD.

Even better, Thai kickboxing (Muay Thai). Combined with some groundwork.

[shootodog]

knowing kickboxing is a good start. you have to factor in a lot of things though.

just remember these three things: 1) there are no "illegal" moves on the street. 2) there are no "illegal" moves on the street. 3) there are no "illegal" moves on the street.

[Spike!]

I thought i was pretty set on going the TKD route but from what im reading maybe muay thai is better for me. Im kind of a wuss when it comes to fights only been in one and i really wanna get over it b/c i have been confronted a number of times and if i wasnt so slick would have gotten my A** handed to me seeing as though they have always been 2x as big. YIKES!!!!

Rob

[novicio]

Shootodog,

where is that clip from? It looks painful!

[HearWa]

Looks like a "grappler vs. striker" graphic to me. Looks like the striker won that one. :) Strikers are winning more and more now in the UFC. They are getting smarter and learning some fundamental grappling moves. They see it coming.

[hedgehogey]

More like MMAist vs MMAist. That's Gomi vs one of the younger gracies.

Gomi is a wrestler primarily.

[Jame$]

I train in muay thai kickboxing and find it very useful for street defense. Mainly because you deal with a wide range of close contact techniques. I may be wrong but from my observations tkd works at keeping people at a distance....What if they penetrate your defense? Then you have to deal with the headbutts, the elbows and the relentless onslaughts right in your face...end of story.
Don't get me wrong, I have tremendous respect for both the arts but have found the close contact sparring and furious guard work of thai kickboxing helps prepare you for the brawling involved on the streets.