Did you do any weapons when you studied kickboxing? If so what did you learn? If not, and you had the chance what would you like to use?
Weapons are a rare sight in Kickboxing "gyms" but in "schools" it is usually the weapons of whatever other styles the head instructor has trained in. I've seen students in one school practice three-section staff forms (Lau Gar / Kickboxing) and seen students in another school practising with bo staffs and Katanas (Karate / Kickboxing). Personally I prefer the Sai.
Hmmm is it entirely necessary? I wouldn't say so if you are teaching straight kickboxing.As someone else said in another of your threads,a lot of people do kickboxing to get away from that kind of thing. I mean I do thai boxing and I wouldn't expect to do weapon work as it just doesn't form part of it and if a teacher introduced it for the sake of it I probably would be put off the class. I enjoyed the weapon work we did in lau gar a little,but it's not why I want to train in ma, but that's just me. Personally I would say leave it out.
I started to do more of a "combat kickboxing" class so using weapons is something I'm keen to teach to the students although to date it has been more of a case of using chairs to restrain, rolled up magazines, tv remotes etc I'm looking to go into knifes how to use them and disarm along with sticks and staff (pool cue examples)
Hmmm I have issues with knife defences after studying what I consider to be pretty poor ones in my last style.
The whole "pub" weapons thing is cool. I'd turn up and check it out if there was one nearby. You could even hire a social club for the day for a "seminar" :evil: If you do knives I'd get a big leg of beef,hang it up and slash it with a good knife, then point out their limbs are a lot less muscular than a cow's. (I work in a butchers and did this to sate my own curiosity). Just to make sure no ones under illusions about how much it will ruin their day if they get things wrong with knife attacks. You know.. just so you don't get someone getting 1/2 decent at a few knife catches getting stabbed during a mugging because of disillusion about how dangerous they are.
Maybe I will once I'm settled in a bit more down here! I got into the whole pub thing a few years back when that film "Hunted" was out I think the months leading upto it and after Black Belt or Martial Arts Illustrated Magazine had some Kali fighters in there showing the moves used in the film and what every day objects you could use to defend yourself. Ever since then I have been playing with various items looking at what works and what doesn't and falling back on some more tradition weapon styles as inspiration for using a pen, controller etc Plus being in a wheel chair for a few months really opens your eyes into things you can use when you cant kick or run
Thanks ill give that tip a go! Wasnt there a big problem after a Hapkido conference a few years ago where the instructor was showing how to take down a knife attacker and the first move he done was something like a low block followed by a kick which caused the leg to be over the knife but not just that with the knife under one of the major artery in your leg?
I wouldn't know but it really wouldn't surprise me, there's some mad mad strategies people suggest out there I think you can bleed out in about 4 minutes if that arteries serrated though, at work there are big first aid signs up for that and groin cuts. (although, to be fair to cut you're groin whilst doing what you're suposed to be doing is a bit of a spazz thing to do) Red marker pens and saftey goggles sounds fun too.
Some Thai Boxing places do Krabi Krabong as well, but they aren't common. DOugbug, I would be interested in what experience you have in weapons training, because I don't think it's really the sort of thing you should be teaching without a decent background in using weapons for self-defence purposes.
Yeah sure, well I have a 3rd dan in kickboxing where I have done knife defence and attack through the black belt training (im about to get my 4th in the next few weeks) I was taught by my father since I was 6 and I have been shown how to use a bo/jo, sai, kama and im currently learning how to use twin sticks (kali, escrima depending on your style) I also used the dan bong while studding tae kwon do a few years ago My father had a 5th dan in karate and a 3rd in aikido, I was also shown a few moves by his military friend while defending against a knife attack.
Im just not sure how it would add to a kickboxing class.Sure when weapons are part of the style then it fits in, but generally I dont like the "bits and bobs of stuff for the sake of it" approach.
Why not run it on a different night as "essentialy a different martial art", ie its not a big part of you're grading syllabus, but its there for those who want to come along and try it. That way you won't have people ****ing and moaning about it taking up sparing time or whatever.
I've had a few students ask me about doing it, although 95% of the time I keep it till brown belt and above, mainly for the people who do not want to compete the club offers something new for them to learn. Its also a good way to introduce them into a new art and help them progress along the martial arts path. When I was a boy growing up If I got into a fight all I would have to worry about was not getting hit. These days its all about knifes, guns, gangs and people who are to shy to take you on 1 by 1. If your training cant adapt to the times why bother learning it? Granted Weapons and Kickboxing has never been something you see together, but different times requires different teachings and fundamentals However If they want to do something that is out of my reach then I do try to refer students to local clubs and schools, rather than teaching it for the sake of it as you mentioned
Definitely agree. I would be really annoyed if I signed up for a class and suddenly found it had changed to something else. If you run weapons classes, do them after the main class or on a different night.
It's not crammed into a class just done on side with a small group if they choose to take part. Thanks for the advice and comments I shall take it on board and see If I can extend the class an extra hour or do it on the weekend.
Given the influence of muay Thai on kickboxing, I'm surprised that no one's swinging Thai-style darb swords. I'm not a kickboxer, but usually what I've seen is that old-weapons stuff is something done informally and separately among the few who have some background in some other art. It's almost always karate, and someone's throwing around some Ryukyu-kobudo stuff they learned from somewhere. However, other weapons techniques are sometimes taught if the class is a self-defense class that bases its technique on kickboxing (as opposed to being a class in the sport of kickboxing), and those will usually be borrowed from some other art as well (often knife techniques from Filipino martial arts) if the instructor knows them and teaches them. Dan-i in kickboxing? I didn't know there was such a thing.
Grades have been around in kickboxing for a long time including the dan grades. Although you do not tend to see them in American Kickboxing as much unless the instructor has come from a freestyle karate background or is a member of the WKA
Yea theres a fine line. I came from "freestyle karate" and every other karate I've seen since has have virtually no resemblance to it whatsoever, it was kickboxing with some take downs!
