When I think of kickboxing, one of the movies that come to mind is the many sequels of Kickboxer with Van Damme. As fluid and invigorating as his fight style may look in a traditional ring, one can’t help but question if kickboxing will suffice in a real-life self-defense situation.
The strong and high kicks, reflexes, awareness training, and self-control learned, make Kickboxing very effective during self-defense situations, even though kickboxing won’t teach you grappling, it will certainly keep you from being restrained by your attacker in the first place.
Below we look at how kickboxing benefits self-defense and how it can easily be adapted to make it very effective.
Self-Defense Is More Than Just Kickboxing Classes
In our experience, self-defense doesn’t necessarily mean going to kickboxing classes. Basically, it boils down to reacting quickly enough to avoid your attacker. That entails:
- Developing awareness of your surroundings,
- Being mentally prepared to defend yourself,
- Being fit enough to stand up to an attacker and
- Knowing effective defense techniques.
But How Can Kickboxing Classes Help In Self Defense?
Learning curve
Kickboxing is not only an effective fight technique but it’s a lot easier to get into than some of the more formal, structured styles like Karate or Kung Fu. Beginners at kickboxing tend to progress faster, which when all you’re interested in is holding your own in a fight can be a major drawing card.
Muscle Memory
Kickboxing training generally involves practicing moves repeatedly until you can perform the moves properly without thinking about what you’re doing. This is called “motor-learning” or “muscle-memory”. It’s the same concept that musicians use to learn a new piece of music. You play the notes with difficulty at first but repeat it over and over until you don’t need to think about which one comes next.
It’s the same muscle memory that allows a trained fighter to react quickly in combat situations: you’ve practiced your reaction to a particular type of attack so many times that when you’re approached in that way, you carry out your defense without having to think about what it is that you need to do.
Combat Experience
As a combat sport, kickboxing involves practicing those moves on real people, who are practicing their moves on you at the same time. It’s one thing kicking around a stationed punching bag and another trying to land a powerful kick on a moving target that would rather strike you first.
It takes practice to get it right, and if you’re up against a stranger in a dark alley, that practice will put you at an advantage. Additionally, combat can be quite shocking if you’re not the type that usually gets involved in street fights and this can be enough on its own to overpower you.
Being subjected to violence and aggression can leave you so stunned that it takes a while to react, and that delayed reaction could cost you dearly.
Does Kickboxing Actually Teach Self-Defence?
Although kickboxing teaches defensive techniques, that’s not the same as self-defense. Self-defense is not a sport. An attacker in the street will not follow any rules. He will use the dirtiest, meanest ways he can think of to overpower you. That said most kickboxing instructors will at least demonstrate how the defense moves you learn in class can be adapted to defend against other types of attack.
Kickboxing Defence Techniques
Kickboxing will obviously teach you different types of kicks and punches, suitable for different situations.
- Uppercuts and knees work well if you’re already closer than you’d like to be to your attacker,
- Front kicks and punches if you’re aiming to keep them at bay.
- A well-placed roundhouse kick can disarm an assailant with a weapon.
You’ll also be taught how to defend yourself against these moves, either by blocking them or avoiding them and how to respond once you‘ve done so. Although you won’t learn grappling techniques, some moves such as sweeps, are designed to knock an opponent off their feet.
Using Kickboxing In A Self-Defence Situation
Kickboxing techniques are a great way to disable your attacker quickly, giving yourself a chance to flee and call for help. Relatively basic moves will give you all you need to block an initial attack and counter with the power necessary to knock your opponent back plus your fitness will put you in good standing to outrun them.
What Kickboxing Won’t Teach You
One major downfall of kickboxing when it comes to self-defense is that it doesn’t teach any grappling techniques or groundwork. In real life or in a street fight, an attacker is quite likely to attempt to restrain you in some way or tackle you to the ground. The techniques to avoid that kind of attack or fight back once you’re on the ground are easily learned with practice, but unfortunately, they’re not taught in kickboxing.
Why Not?
That’s because, like most martial arts sports, kickboxing is restricted by a set of rules. Some moves are prohibited, which means you aren’t taught to use them or defend yourself against them. Quite often moves are prohibited precisely because they inflict the most damage on an opponent, like groin shots or eye gouging. These techniques might be valuable in extreme situations but would make the sport unpleasant to take part in on a regular basis!
So What Do I Do?
If kickboxing is your only fight training, you might want to practice a little floorwork and self-defense techniques on the side.
Can Cardio Kickboxing Also Be Used For Self-Defence?
In short, No. Cardio kickboxing is an awesome low-impact, high-intensity, fat-burning workout. It’s great for core strength, balance, flexibility and coordination but that’s about all it’s intended to be an ideally not an option for self-defense.
Although the moves resemble actual kickboxing moves and a lot of cardio-kickboxing instructors have some training, they’re not training you for any contact. It’s an aerobics class that draws inspiration from kickboxing to spice things up.
How Is Cardio Kickboxing Different?
There’s a big difference between punching air and punching another person, and there’s a lot of technique that goes into hurting the other person rather than yourself when you punch or kick.
Kicking or punching a target requires a lot of work on balance to counter the impact when you hit it. Without that balance, your strike is going to be pretty weak and might end up toppling you. Proper kickboxing technique teaches you to kick and punch with the full force of your muscles, which is surprisingly more difficult than you might imagine.
If you’re used to punching air you might find yourself disappointed with how weak your punch is when you’re trying to hit a person, and the last place you want to find yourself feeling weak is when you’re under attack. Aside from that, a poorly landed punch or kick can actually cause you serious pain, even broken bones, which won’t help you in your fight.
Importantly, cardio-kickboxing is non-contact, so you never gain that all-important familiarity with combat situations. Your experience punching air or even contact pads will leave you just as startled as someone with no fight training whatsoever if you’re attacked on the street, and that is your attacker’s biggest advantage. He was expecting the fight, he’s probably been in a few before, he is confident that he can beat you and he expects you to react with fear.
Can Cardio Kickboxing Be Of Any Use In Self-Defence?
That said some cardio-kickboxing instructors (particularly those with a background in martial arts) will make a point of introducing an element of self-defense to their classes. More and more are using contact pads to get participants accustomed to the feel of punching a target and develop better technique.
When no pads are used instructors sometimes train participants to punch with open-palms or finger jabs, which can save them from injuring themselves if they end up in a fight. Some classes incorporate additional movements that are more practical in real-life defense situations, such as blocking, and use of elbows and knees. Some use actual moves that could be employed in an emergency as part of their choreography, so that participants have a “ready to go” sequence of moves in a tight situation.
While cardio-kickboxing can be tweaked to make it a little more useful in a self-defense situation, you’d be much better advised to take an actual kickboxing class if you think you might ever need to defend yourself. The workout is just as intense, if not more. You’ll develop more strength, balance, coordination and reflexes than you can in a cardio class. You’ll engage your mind as well as your body and it’s a great way to take out your frustrations after a long day at work!
There are some combat styles that are more commonly recommended for self-defense, particularly those that involve a lot of grappling, like Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but they’re not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea. Kickboxing is a very effective fight form and no doubt if you’re ever in a situation where you need to defend yourself, you’ll be grateful if you know it.
