Which to do?

Ger the man

Hi all,
I will be starting martial arts at the end of July and want some opinions on kick boxing v's taekwondo. I know its probably been asked a thousand times before but I dont know the first thing about either of them. I dont want anything too technical but I want to learn something worth while too.

Thanks for replies

--amadeus--

Go down to the clubs, watch a couple of classes, chat to a couple of teh members, watch how the instructor is (does (s)he just focus on the experienced guys or walk the whole room, for example). Do as many trial classes in both as they will allow.

Then decide which you like. Simple!

Thai Boxer

I would also look into muay thai.

I have a few friends who recently started thai boxing after years of kickboxing and they were like "Why haven't I been doing this all my life?".

Whatever one you do end up choosing, you still get to kick people in the head. You can't really get it wrong.

Ger the man

Cheers,
A lot of people are advising the boxing route as you dont need to learn technical fancy moves in Japanese\Korean?

--amadeus--

Thai Boxer wrote: »

I would also look into muay thai.

Absolutely - and any other MA classes in your area take a wander along to them too, never a good idea to make a decision based on preconcieved ideas rather than personal experience.

Ger the man wrote: »

Cheers,
A lot of people are advising the boxing route as you dont need to learn technical fancy moves in Japanese\Korean?

I'm not sure what you mean by that? Are you saying that the boxing has technical moves or TKD does?

Anyway as a novice you'll be concentrating on getting the basics right first - the introductory strikes, blocks and movements. It's only when you are comfortable with those that you'll get more complex moves - and all MA have complex moves for teh more advanced students.

However kickboxing (or MMA, muay thai or the like) won't have forms (also called kata or patterns) and a lot of people don't like them. It really depends on what you're after and only you really know that.

Baggio...

Ger the man wrote: »

Hi all,
I will be starting martial arts at the end of July and want some opinions on kick boxing v's taekwondo. I know its probably been asked a thousand times before but I dont know the first thing about either of them. I dont want anything too technical but I want to learn something worth while too.

Thanks for replies

Have a chat to Jon, he's one of the mods here. He's an awesome TKD coach. Plus, he's got lots of very practical Self-defense skills - if you want to go down that rout. Best of both worlds...

Roper

Where are you based? There's not point in deciding on one art or style if there's an excellent club in the other style near you. Ultimatey, the thing you'll stick at is the one that gives you what you want, not some title of what they train in.

yomchi

Ger the man wrote: »

Cheers,
A lot of people are advising the boxing route as you dont need to learn technical fancy moves in Japanese\Korean?

My advice is, if you don't want to learn anything technical that is, is try an aerobics class.

Boxing - highly technical
Judo - Highly technical
Kickboxing - highly technical
Sport Taekwondo - highly technical
MMA - highly technical
Enter any other sport related art here - highly technical
Aerobics - Just fun

Baggio...

Jon wrote: »

My advice is, if you don't want to learn anything technical that is, is try an aerobics class.

Good point!

Maybe op should go with a kick boxing option then. You can always start of ez and then progress to the more technical side of things, as you get better.

Ger, as a beginner you're going to be starting off slowly anyway, so whatever you decide on, don't be put of because of a technical aspect.

globalkb

I have trained in both styles.

My kickboxing instructor teaches both.

I favoured kb as I didn't really enjoy the traditional side of tkd, I felt I just wanted to focus on more practical things in my training but I joined with competition in mind. It really does depend on what you want to get out of the class.

I compete in kb, train kb 5 days a week but I still go to the odd tkd class to imporve my kicks. Ideally you could do both.

I would also point out there are 2 different types of tkd and 3 different types of kickboxing. they all offer different things to the student so you should maybe look into that then decide which one you prefer.

The next step is, as has been said by the others, finding a club with a good instructor, watching classes etc then deciding.

best of luck!

Ger the man

Well I managed to find a local kick boxing club and paid them a visit today. Bought a pair of gloves and have my first class tomorrow!

yomchi

Ger the man wrote: »

Well I managed to find a local kick boxing club and paid them a visit today. Bought a pair of gloves and have my first class tomorrow!

Which club did you go to in the end?

Ger the man

*Snip* - Read the rules!

Thanks again for all replies