Page 10 - Pat O'Keeffe Combat Kick Boxing

Combat Kick Boxing

Introduction

Kick boxing has many aspects that recommend it as a core for a self-defence system.
It has simple, streamlined techniques that can be absorbed quickly and training
drills that emphasise ‘feedback’, such as focus pad and bag training.
Further, the hard conditioning work-outs serve to enhance strength, speed
and stamina beyond that of most martial arts, but ultimately, what sets kick boxing
apart from so many martial systems is contact sparring, that unblinking judge
of all skill that tears away theory and cant. You might look the world in the eye
and tell it that you are a superb fighter with the answer to every situation, but you
can’t lie to your body.
The problem with choosing kick boxing is that it is a sport. It has rules and a
structure that make it unrealistic and artificial as far as self-defence is concerned.
There are no gloves in the street, no rounds, no referee to ensure fair play, and
contact sparring, hard and testing though it is, is only one-on-one.
Therefore the first task to make kick boxing suitable for self-defence is to remove
the rules. This means that other techniques, but more importantly, other targets,
are now available. Approximately 70 per cent of this book is sport kick boxing
techniques and targets. The other 30 per cent is made up of techniques expressly
forbidden in the ring.
Ultimately, what recommends kick boxing is the product: the kick boxers
themselves. When properly trained, a kick boxer is a hard, superbly conditioned
individual with fast, powerful techniques that have been honed to the point where
attack and counter-attack are seamlessly joined; an individual who has chosen to
exist in an arena where the lessons have been hammered home.
In summary, to convert sport to combat kick boxing, we must keep the product,
but remove the rules.
In the first book in this series, Kick Boxing – A Framework for Success, the
requirements to succeed in the sport of kick boxing were set out, examined and
defined with the aim of producing a capable exponent of a martial sport. In this
book we shall take the techniques of the sport and adapt them for the street,
adding new skills and re-examining old ones in the process. Ideally this book
should be read after Kick Boxing – A Framework for Success.
Although this book is aimed at the practising kick boxer, it is relevant to any
person practising a pugilistic martial art, providing that they come with an open
mind and a willingness to learn. The man in the street devoid any of martial arts
training is strongly recommended to seek out a good kick boxing or Thai boxing
club to thoroughly ground him in the basic skills.

10