I was trying to nap a little earlier, but a perturbing paradox has been pestering my cognizance for the past few hours (it has had me tossing and turning, more tossing than turning mind you) and I can not seem to discredit its infallibility.
Now that I deeply catechize my ratiocination in an awakened state, with the aid of the written (or typed as it may be in this case) word, I see things a little more clearly.
I truly believe that kicks from a Traditional Martial style are more effective for street combat than Muay Thai kicks.
Allow me to provide an example or two old chaps.
Muay thai kicks are designed to slowly wear away at an opponents legs and body for the duration of a MT bout, causing bruising, swelling and some pain to the opponent.
However kicks from a TMA backgound such as Karate, TKD, Kenpo give the street smart practitioner the ability to put their would be attacker in severe danger.
Let me give you a for instance...
One evening I was perusing a mall in the Southern Californian area when I was presented with a fellow who tried to abscond with my wallet. I immediately delivered a scintillating thrust kick to his solar plexus region, launching him through a nearby window as I had seen Steven Seagal do in a movie. I left the scene immediately with my wallet intact.
Had I of attempted a Thai low kick, it would have surely angered this man and it would have turned into a brawl with punches in bunches and we all know what can happen in a throwdown hoedown like that...ANYONE can get caught.
MartialArtsfan...I think Koreans have incredible kicks and they probably do have the best kickers, but not for the street. I don't think kicking over waist high is wise in the street. Since the rules in TKD don't allow for groin strikes, they also don't teach their fighters to protect the groin. I like to kick low, when facing someone who likes high kicks, especially the hooking type of high kicks. TKD also does a lot of kicks that expose the back.
I prefer the kicks of Kenpo, but of course I admit to being biased.
BTW, a good Thai kick (or Kenpo kick) to the leg can end a fight.
I was talking about Thai style round kicks in general, they may sting a little, but aren't exactly fight ending like a standing side kick or front thrust kick.
"BTW, a good Thai kick (or Kenpo kick) to the leg can end a fight."
SPK I guarantee you aren't ending a fight with me with a blasted leg kick old chap!
I guess you have never done MT, have you? Lots of MT guys use front kicks, I have even seen side kicks (not so common).
I fought a MT/BJJ guy in my last fight, he kicked front kicks about as much as round house kicks.
MT can end a fight just as easy as any other kicks. In a MT or MMA fight the guy you kick is trained so kicks do almost never connect 100% the times they do is when you have a KO.
The Thai kick is used & practiced in allot of TMA's. Look at Mas Oyoma he used it allot & could break baseball bats with his shin. Most TMA guys dont train with the level of intensity & resistance that the Thai fighter trains. I'd much rather face an average guy with a TMA background than even a mediocre Thai boxer any day.
The problem wiht most TMA'ers is that they do not train for full contact, so most of them do not know how you get power. Especially the touch for point competitions make them kick and punch without power they practically only tap each other. The ones that do strike with power uses much the same techniques as MT, boxers, mma fighters do.
And what most TMA guys do wrong so that they do not have much power is that they do not commit and they do not use their hipps enough.
A kick is a kick, a round house is a round house, a front kick is a front kick. Those who kick with power moslty kick them the same way. (I know there are more variations of all the kicks, and good kickers can kick most of the variations with power no matter which style they come from.)
Had I of attempted a Thai low kick, it would have surely angered this man and it would have turned into a brawl
Da Swede has blasted the correct...I personally have used the MT leg kick on the street twice and both times the fight was over after the 1 single kick (I have a BB in Kyokushinkai). 99% of people dont train for leg kicks.
TheBaron...while a leg kick might not be my first choice, I could take out somebody with on. Since you don't think it would hurt, would you like a demo old chap? Even if the kick didn't end the fight, it would open up my opponent for a barrage of follow up strikes.
"I was talking about Thai style round kicks in general, they may sting a little, but aren't exactly fight ending like a standing side kick or front thrust kick. "
The only time iver ever hit someone with a Thai kick outside of the gym was on a friend of mine. We were half fighting half joking around and he started thinking he was cool and throwing pucnhes at me. I backed up and threw a leg kick. I held back, and he still dropped to the floor. If that hadnt ended it and we were really fighting, the flurry of soccer kicks and stomps delivered afterward would have.
" I'm not sure muay thai low kicks are that great. You hit with the shin, and if for whatever reason you hit another bone your leg can get broken pretty easy."
Not true. It can cause injury, but your shin is not gonna shatter like people have seen in some videos unless there is a preexisting injury. But never the less, there is chance of injury and thats why PEOPLE WHO DONT KNOW HOW TO THROW LOW KICKS SHOULDNT THROW THEM! your just embarasing yourseld anyway.
"I'd rather do it with the shoe which is tougher and you can kick from farther away"
The more I think about it, the less I believe that a rubber sneaker is gonna hurt more than a bone shin. Besides dont u think u can fuck up your toes pretty bad?
you cant reinvent a kick " that was totaly a MT low kick.. not a kenpo low kick and definatly not a TKD low kick!" a kick is a kick, they are designed to do the same thing. Who gives a shit what "style" of kick it is as long as you get the result.
I am pretty sure MT low kick = Kyokushinkai low kick
...May depend on the Kyokushin achool. The leg kicks as I was taught werent thrown using as much rotation of the hips and not as powerful, but even then they ccould still do alot of damage.
"I was talking about Thai style round kicks in general, they may sting a little, but aren't exactly fight ending like a standing side kick or front thrust kick. "
Have you been kicked by a good MT guy? And either way like Sam Pai said, it opens up oppurtunity for the follow up punches. But a good thai kick to the ribs could end any fight. And I say thai kick because of the use of the shin rather then the foot.
If someone can land a low kick on you, then they can land a second and a third and a fourth.
It doesn't HAVE to be a one shot deal. Only a head kick is a one shot deal (the exception being against an untrained opponent, in which case ANY kick can be a stopper).
Until you've trained MT with someone who knows their shit, you don't know what your missing. Mark DellaGrotte at Sityodtong does just an amazing job of teaching you how to leg kick. It takes a while to get it but once you do you'll be a believer. I sometimes find myself reverting back to my old karate type kicks but at least I realize the mistake I'm making.
So NO, TMA kicks are NOT better for the street. The real danger of TMA kicks is that they breed bad habits. God I wish I'd never learned them.
One time on ESPN I saw a K1 championship tournament. If someone can help me figure out who the fighters were I be extreamly appreciative. I can only describe what they looked like.
They were both black. The shorter one wore shorts that looked like something out of Spartacus (or something a Roman warrior would wear). He was very well built too. The taller one's name I believe was something like Bojevini although I could be completely wrong. I saw it on tv about a year and a half ago. The taller guy won.
The put on the BEST demonstration of leg kicking I've ever seen. Just amazing. If someone can tell me their names, I'll try to find a link to their fight.