A Kickboxing History

A Kickboxing History

I have been practicing, teaching and competing in kickboxing for over 26 years. I believe that the physical efforts of practicing kickboxing are probably one of the best forms of physical fitness training that someone can do.

Now I am talking about western kickboxing here with the use of modern kick and punch bags and strike shields for kicking and punching techniques. The thing I am getting at here is that I am not talking about an aerobic dance session that has some kind of kicking and punching routine built into it. I am only talking about real kickboxing training here.

So what is kickboxing and where does it come from. We can look back over many years to see the development of what you could call modern western kickboxing as it is today. There are many different ancient styles of kickboxing and martial arts from all over the world. These styles vary greatly with some even having throwing, take down and wrestling techniques within the style. A lot of styles you may never even have heard of before. I will go over a select few ancient styles from different parts of the world.

Bando Kickboxing is a style that derives from Burma. The ancient style was called Lethwei and included strikes with hand, feet, elbows and even headbutts. There are now Bando Kickboxing associations all over the world and they hold major competitions.

 Muay Boran is a kickboxing art that comes from Thailand and is quite similar to Lethwei as in it permits the use of strikes with hand, feet, elbows and headbutts. Muay Boran is believed to be the predecessor of the modern day Muay Thai Boxing.

Muay Thai Boxing is the modern art of Thailand and is in fact their national sport. It still allows the use of full contact knee and elbow strikes but head butting is no longer allowed.

Indian Muki Boxing is also known as Southern Kalaripayattu. This Indian system is probably the oldest fighting system known to man. There were other similar styles for Norther and Central Kalaripayattu. But the southern style was practiced by the Nairs who were a Indian martial cast people of Kerala in India. This style included strikes with feet, hands, knees, elbows and forehead. The system was also devised into dance routines.

Savate Is a style of kickboxing normally associated with France. However there are links with the same style developing in North West Italy and North East Spain all around the same time. This style (in modern days) only allows strikes with the hands and the feet. In modern Savate practitioners still wear their shoes, in fact the word Savate is taken from the French word for “Old Shoe” or “Old Boot”.

Full Contact Karate is more likened to a set of rules than a fighting style, but basically hand and foot strikes are allowed and a win by knockout is allowed.

Sanshou or Sanda is a Chinese style (Kung Fu/Wushu) of kickboxing which allows striking with hands, feet, elbows and knees. Throws and takedowns are also allowed but not wrestling or ground fighting.

Shoot Boxing is a fighting sport from Japan founded in 1985 by Caesar Takeshi. The sport has weight categories and an established set of rules. This is extremely popular in Japan. Rules allow strikes with feet, hands, elbows and knees. Combatants are also allowed to use throws and takedowns. They are also allowed submission techniques while standing but not on the ground as in wrestling.

Freestyle Kickboxing (sometimes known as Oriental rules Kickboxing) is a modern style of kickboxing that allows strikes with the hands and feet. You are not allowed to use elbows or knees but you are allowed to strike with kicks below the waist. The combatants strike to their opponents thighs and calves with their shin bone. This is purely a standing fighting style.

Full Contact Kickboxing is another modern style of kickboxing. This style also allows strikes with the hands and feet but not with the elbows or the knees. Combatants are also only allowed to kick above the waist, similar to western boxing where punches are only allowed above the waist. Competitions in this style of kickboxing usually have a minimum kick rule per round. This is most commonly between six to eight kicks per round with points deducted for not reaching that target.

K1 Kickboxing is not actually a style of kickboxing or martial art, but many people think it is, so that is why I have mentioned it here. K1 is actually a Promotion Company. It was founded by Kazuyoshi Ishii in 1980 in Japan. The rules have changed many times over the years to suit a changing audience and now K1 is famous around the globe. Right now strikes are allowed with hands, feet and knees. No elbow strikes are allowed. Originally K1 stayed in Japan and you could only compete by invitation. Today (July 2011) K1 faces an uncertain future as a promotion company due to financial difficulties.

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is the most modern version of kickboxing as a sport. This combines western boxing and  Muay Thai boxing stand up fighting techniques with the ground fighting techniques of Brazilian Ju Jitsu. MMA is one of the fastest growing sports in the world right now.

When most people talk about kickboxing though, they are talking about either Muay Thai Boxing, Freestyle Kickboxing or Full Contact Kickboxing. When I train my students I use a combination of all three styles. This gives my students a fantastic workout. I will talk about the workout side of kickboxing in further articles.

ps. You will probably find more fighting styles from around the world if you look hard enough, however it was not my intention here to list EVERY single style known to man that has a link to kickboxing. It is only an overview to give you an idea as to where the modern term and style of kickboxing came from. (so sorry if you practice a style I left off the list).