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Boxing, kickboxing or martial arts?

I'm looking to find a sport that can help me get fit and secure some knowledge about self defence - even if the techniques used will be a bit far fetched.

I know that boxing uses your arms, do you use your legs at all? Do you use your arms in kickboxing too? What about martial arts? I'd that a physical contact sport or would I be better off with my reasonings to go with either boxing or kickboxing?

Also, I'm a girl and am slightly anxious about joining a club full of male members. Any reassurance or advice on which sport to take up?

Thanks in advance!

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Reply 1

hatcs001

Bump

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Reply 2

Rottweiler22

Boxing will give you some insight into punching, but there's not really much you can do if you're attacked with a weapon and so on.

For self-defence, Krav Maga is meant to be a good thing to get into, which I believe is a mixture of various martial arts to their best effect.

Or there are specific self-defence courses, but I think it's a case of looking around for what's in your area.

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Reply 3

lmorgan95

Well i did shotokan karate for around 4 years and almost got my black belt (quit) and took a few boxing classes, and i've read a few books on self defense by Rory Miller and Geoff Thompson (which is probably more than most people on here) so believe me when i say, if you want to do just one thing for self defense, do boxing.

Most martial arts classes are useless when it comes to practical self defense

Reply 4

1343672

Krav Maga is the best for all round self defence e.g knives, guns, more than one person assaulting you. However Krav Maga gyms are limited in most places. Join a boxing or a Muay Thai gym. ALWAYS check if the gym has fighters who fight regularly, that way you know you're joining a good gym.

Reply 5

hatcs001

Thanks guys! There's a boxing club in my area, so I'll take a look at that. I'll also see about those books :smile:

thanks for all your help!

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Reply 6

829384756

Krav Maga is probably the most useless thing ever. The problem with it is the Krav Maga anyone can learn down at the local airsofting range, just quite frankly isn't like the Krav Maga Israeli special forces do. If I were you, I would take up something more practical because you are a girl. Boxing is fine yes, but if you are attacked in the street, someone is likely to come behind you and grab hold of you, not stand in front of you. I do judo, wrestling and kickboxing, and I must say that I think that judo is the most street effective one. This is because if someone wants to mug you, they're going to grab hold of you, and you essentially have to wrestle them off you. Any striking suits more confrontational people who are actually going to hit people, keeping in mind you can easily end up with an assault charge for that. Maybe do both boxing and judo.

Reply 7

hatcs001

Ahhhh, thanks Shane! I hadn't thought of that! I'll look up Judo places now.

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Reply 8

829384756

Judo and/ or boxing are also very good for fitness, more so than the traditional kind of martial arts. The most physically draining has got to be wrestling, but again, for what your looking for, I would definitely go with judo.

Reply 9

Electricity

Martial arts.

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Reply 10

RedArrow

Fighting are for the lozers

Reply 11

honeywhite

Original post by hatcs001

I recommend English (as opposed to Savate or Thai) boxing. Martial arts aren't bad either but you need to pick the right kind. If you're going to do martial arts, I'd recommend Wing Chun kung fu, rather than Hung Gar, unless you're built like Millicent Bulstrode.

Leg use is a serious violation of boxing rules.

Certainly you use your arms in kick boxing/Thai boxing. Eight points of contact: feet, knees, elbows, fists.

Don't worry about joining a club full of boys. Become one of them (of course females can be bros!) and you'll have even more fun than if you'd joined a club with more girls.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 12

Pictraz

The thing with martial arts is that almost all clubs are extremely relaxed. They cater to parents rather than students, acting as a daycare for little kids rather than a centre for learning. However, if you can find a good club, JOIN. They will not only teach you fighting techniques, but also discipline. There is also usually a good gender mix in clubs as well, so you wont have to fight boys if you don't want (but nothing wrong with that, show them who's boss!!!)

Kick-boxing is good too, but that's all it really is - kicking and boxing. You don't learn more advanced techniques such as how to break out of holds or how to disarm an attacker.

My advice: A good martial arts club (karate is good (I do Goju Ryu))

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 13

Urban Ace

I would suggest Karate having experienced all three.

Shotokan,Shotokai, Kyokushin and Wado Ryu are a few names of the different types of Karate (I did Wado-Ryu)

Shotokan is known for deep stances and linear, lunging movements.

Kyokushin is known for its full-contact sparring, which allows full-powered punches to the body and pull-powered kicks to the legs, body and head.

Wado-Ryu is known for combining some jujitsu locks and throws with the stances and strikes of karate.

Goju-Ryu is known for close-ranged fighting that includes grasping motions.

Isshin-Ryu is known for short, snappy punches and kicks, punching with the thumb-up (vertical) fist position instead of the palm-down (horizontal) fist position, and blocking with the meaty part of the arm, instead of the bone, like most other systems.

****o-Ryu is known for its wide syllabus of kata, or empty-handed, dance-like forms.

Uechi-Ryu is similar to Goju-Ryu, but uses more spearing strikes with the fingertips or extended knuckles.

Shorin-Ryu is similar to Shotokan, except that it's more upright and uses more "natural" stances.

Reply 14

JoshBedford

I do kickboxing, karate and BJJ (plus a bit of regular jiu jitsu but I'm not a proper student), and I personally think that having a mix is great. I fight in competitions and tournaments; and I find that the fitness I get from kickboxing and the technique from karate mix really well together. I've done an MMA style fight before (mainly to test my ground fighting skills, there were no knees or elbows allowed) and I found myself preferring to take an opponent to the floor and trying to get a submission. Learning combat skills for self defence isn't necessarily about what is best, it's about what suits you.

Reply 15

JoshBedford

Original post by Urban Ace

I do wado ryu! I've also done Shotokan, which I thought was a bit useless really; the club I trained with used to do sparring where you'd only just touch and then kiyah as soon as you'd hit. I get that it was about control, but half of the black belts we'd taught had never been properly hit before!
What grade are you?