# How to make kickboxing more popular amongst fans and martial artists?



## Freestyler777 (Jun 11, 2008)

How does one make kickboxing more accessible to regular people?  Many people don't like sparring and contact.  Is there any way to teach self defense in a non-competitive, non-athletic way?

And in the spectator aspect, will kickboxing ever reassert itself?  It seems like all the young guys watch MMA, and the old guys like boxing.  I like kickboxing better than MMA.  

Just looking to spark some lively discussion.

Thanks.


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## DavidCC (Jun 11, 2008)

Freestyler777 said:


> How does one make kickboxing more accessible to regular people?


Charismatic, popular competitors with some popularity outside the ring.  Maybe David Beckham coudl start fighting?




Freestyler777 said:


> Many people don't like sparring and contact. Is there any way to teach self defense in a non-competitive, non-athletic way?


Well, I don't think this has ANYTHING to do with the sport of kick-boxing.
Many schools of self-defense are non -competitive.  My wife accuses me of being non-athletic so......   Whne I was just a white belt beginner I met Lou Angel (a 10th degree in Goju Karate) and he told me the MSOT important thing for a beginner was to not be out of shape "all the technique in the world will do you no good if you take one punch to the body and fall down puking on yourself."  (language cleaned up a bit haha)




Freestyler777 said:


> And in the spectator aspect, will kickboxing ever reassert itself? It seems like all the young guys watch MMA, and the old guys like boxing. I like kickboxing better than MMA.


Teach Roy Jones to kick.  Sign Scarlett Johansen to a 3 fight contract.


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## girlbug2 (Jun 11, 2008)

The kickboxing classes I have attended did not involve sparring, although I suppose they could and some kickboxing classes probably do. The only contact was with the bag and the pads -- but how can you really know if you are throwing effective punches and kicks without some contact, at least once in a while? How else do you gague the power, esp. as a beginner? (perhaps the more experienced MAs can practice exclusively in the air?).

Now I would think that without the athletic aspect of kickboxing it would be very boring to watch, indeed!


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## Freestyler777 (Jun 11, 2008)

What I was trying to ask was, is there anyway for a non-athlete to become a self-defense expert.  The reality is, athleticism and conditioning is a big factor in SD.  But I think everyone should do MA, so how do you teach contact to no contact people?  I think some kind of sparring is essential to MA.


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## Xue Sheng (Jun 11, 2008)

Put on a redman and let them practice hitting, kicking and screaming. 

Pretty much has been done before in some woman's SD classes already.

But if you are looking to be an SD expert you need one hell of a lot more and training, drills, sparing, contact and injuries are all part of it. 

You can give them some tools, you can give them some confidence but it is not all that effective unless they train it, train it and when they are sick of training it....train it some more.


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## Freestyler777 (Jun 12, 2008)

I guess what I knew all along was true- you have to be a good athlete to know self defense really well.  Size, strength, and athleticism counts!

There are old tai chi/kung fu masters who can beat young men, but they've been practicing and conditioning themselves all their lives, so it's not the same thing as a 50 year old taking up MA for self defense.


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## Xue Sheng (Jun 12, 2008)

Freestyler777 said:


> I guess what I knew all along was true- you have to be a good athlete to know self defense really well. Size, strength, and athleticism counts!
> 
> There are old tai chi/kung fu masters who can beat young men, but they've been practicing and conditioning themselves all their lives, so it's not the same thing as a 50 year old taking up MA for self defense.


 
There are degrees of athleticism required, I do not think you need to be in the shape of an Olympic athlete to be able to learn martial arts and be able to defend yourself but you do have to put time in training and it will not come quick and easy.

My 70 year old taiji teacher is half my size and can throw me around like a rag doll while looking disturbingly relaxed if you are the one being thrown, but he has been training taiji and only taiji for over 50 years. However I do not think the average 70 year old that decides to take up taiji could do as well


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## Freestyler777 (Jun 12, 2008)

So you agree that there are no shortcuts?  Some athleticism and strength is needed, but, a lifetime of technique and training compensates for the relative strengths of attacker and defender?


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## Xue Sheng (Jun 12, 2008)

Freestyler777 said:


> So you agree that there are no shortcuts? Some athleticism and strength is needed, but, a lifetime of technique and training compensates for the relative strengths of attacker and defender?


 
I agree there are no shortcuts to be a martial artist. 

If someone says they will make you a martial arts master in a week or a month or a year they are not telling the truth, it is all sales and they are best avoided. However you can take a self-dense class, if it is done properly and be given some tools to use. But without training those tools are useless.

You can also train 30 years and be considered a Shaolin Long Fist master but if all you have ever done is forms and applications in controlled environments and you have never really been hit you may find all you have learned is useless after the first time someone really hits you.

Also Yang Chengfu at near the end of his life was close to 300 pounds but I would not want to have been on the receiving end if I was an attacker. And there are Videos of some rather tough old Bagua masters that are far from svelte you couldn&#8217;t have paid me to go up against.

You can learn techniques to get away such as eye gouges, step on the knee or instep. throat strikes, etc that can help if one trains them but go to one or two classes get shown one or to times and never do them again... chances are if an real attack occurs those will be useless. 

Much of it is all training to make things automatic. I know of a woman that trained Sanshou for many years that when attacked did what came naturally, punched her attacker right in the face. He got up and tried again and she punched him in the face again he got up and ran away. But it was automatic no thought just punch and that type of response does not come from one or two classes.

But the best defense, if possible, run.


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## LanJie (Jun 29, 2008)

I think that the problem in this case is that traditional martial artists, myself included do not like kick boxing or MMA because for the most part they are sport and not self-defense. 


I do not like the way that MMA competitors conduct themselves. They act like WWE wrestlers and conduct pre-fight interviews and talk trash. I want to see technique not bulling or trash talking. I also believe that If a person wants to immobilize their opponent, using Chin Na techniques and staying off the ground is a much safer and quicker option, especially if you are fighting multiple opponents. 

I have seen very few good kick boxers that were not from Thailand. I have seen a few very good fighters who are traditional Muay Thai Boxers. The example I saw was from a cable television show called Deadly Arts: Muay Tai.

The fighters I saw trained from about age five and are competing in full contact matches around 8 or 9. These fighters have nearly inhuman endurance and I have seen one fighter knockout their opponent with a high roundhouse kick to temple quicker than you can blink a eye.
http://fittv.discovery.com/tv-schedules/series.html?paid=56.14652.108911.27369.6

I believe that spotlighting these fighters would create great interest in kickboxing because these fighters are strong, lightning quick, and deadly. It would definitely appeal to the traditional martial artist.


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