How to Kickbox

Series Summary

Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) kickboxing, normally associated with cage fighting, blends many different fighting forms including: Muay Thai kickboxing, judo, Brazilian jiujitsu, boxing and wrestling. MMA has gained in popularity since the first Ultimate Fighting Championship won by Royce Gracie. MMA fighters have historically trained in a specific martial art such as Muay Thai boxing or Brazilian jiujitsu before combining the techniques; however, students have begun to train specifically for MMA. In this free video series, martial arts teacher, John Graden, demonstrates several self-defense and fighting tactics. Graden reveals the methods and techniques used in kickboxing, judo, taekwondo, karate and mixed martial arts. These techniques are use to deter and defend against aggressive opponents. Graden also demonstrates how to develop the chi, teach kids self-defense, choose a school and how to select an appropriate instructor. Watch these videos and learn several tips for martial arts combat today.

Video Transcript

"Hi everybody. I'm John Graden from the Martial Art Teachers Association and johngraden.com. How do you kick box? I'm a kick boxer. I love to kick box. Here's some distinction. I came up in a traditional Tai Kwon Do school. And traditional punches and traditional kicks typically are done for form. In other words, the form and posture of the punch is what you were graded on in your exam. The form and posture of the block is what you were graded for in exams. The form and posture and lines of your kick, notice I kind of held that out there for a second? That's to demonstrate the lines. All of that goes out the window in kick boxing. Last thing I want to do is hold my hand out there and take a picture while this guy's trying to hit me. So one of the key distinctions between kick boxing and traditional martial arts is that the punches snap right back. Some are fire punches so they come right back. Just like I've rolled up a towel, I'm going to snap my buddy with it, it comes right back. That's the snapping technique that you'll see from good kick boxing. The punches snap. And here's what's interesting. When you start to snap your punches people fall down. It takes a lot less effort and its a lot more effective. Traditional karate teaches you to thrust your punches. Kick boxing is the exact opposite. Your punches are going to snap. Another distinction, traditional karate is going to pull the hand back to the hip. This is the ready position. The problem with that is its not really serving a defensive purpose. My heads open, my ribs are open, I'm in trouble. So a kick boxer is going to fire that punch, he's going to use this arm to shield. See if I open the hand it covers even more of my face. So the punches snap and the arm has only two jobs to do. Its either firing or its protecting. Its never just kind of hanging out. See traditional karate is going to be down here. That's not protecting anything. I want to protect myself. So here's a traditional reverse punch, chin up for form, shoulder down for form, locked balance hand to hip. The kick boxing punch would look like this. I've curled my shoulders up to protect my face, I've chunked my chin down, I've got my all the weight tight, I'm going to snap that punch right back. Same thing with the kicks, they're going to pop and come back. So in kick boxing we combine the punching techniques of boxing with the strong kicking techniques from martial arts. I'm John Graden. That's kick boxing and I enjoyed the a whole bunch, thanks."