The clue as to what kickboxing involves is conveniently hinted in its name. A combination between the punching normally associated with boxing and the kicking that is used in the martial art Karate, kickboxing seamlessly blends the two disciplines into a singular, and hugely popular sport.
Background
Compared to the ancient historical backgrounds of most martial arts, kickboxing is a fairly young discipline. Kickboxing traces its roots back to the 1950s when a famous Japanese boxer called Osamu Noguchi joined forces with the martial arts expert Tatsuo Yamada to create a remedy to the non-contact rules of traditional Karate. They took the key aspects of each of their respective sports and combined them to create kickboxing.
Variations
There are two main kickboxing disciplines--full contact and cardio kickboxing. Full contact kickboxing focuses on competitive bouts where participants are allowed to strike their opponents with their feet and hands in the hope of overcoming them. Practices involve sparring between opponents, and competitions are fought to decide championships. Cardio kickboxing, on the other hand, focuses on the fitness benefits of the sport, offering a non contact way for people to get involved in the discipline.
Who Can Kickbox?
Because of its variety of styles, kickboxing is suited to virtually anyone. Kids can get involved from an early age and often enjoy the competitive nature of the sport, carrying it on into adulthood, whilst anyone up to elderly ages can choose to get involved in the cardio side of the sport to experience its health benefits.
Techniques
Kickboxing has a few main techniques. In terms of kicking, kickboxers use a roundhouse kick where they switch legs to kick into the body of a target, a front kick which kicks in a raised leg movement straight ahead into a target and a side kick which kicks out in a horizontal movement. Punches range from the straight forward shoulder height jab, the cross, which moves across the body from behind the shoulder and the upper cut which travels from the waist directly upwards into a target.
Benefits
Kickboxing can improve the cardiovascular fitness of participants by exercising heart and lung functions, offering increased lung capacities and heart strength. Kickboxing is also useful for weight loss, burning calories and fat reserves by working nearly all body muscle groups and increasing metabolism. Kickboxing also benefits discipline and mental strength too, as it focuses closely on individual technique and, rather than violence, actually teaches control of aggression.
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