How long kickboxing black belt

All of these programs are prime candidates for some sort of ranking program. For those not wanting to spar, fight, or compete, these may be just the option they are looking for.

Fun and fitness is the goal with the added benefit of self defense techniques and a bit of toughness gained in the end. If this is your main goal, then regular training in a fun and safe way should be how you accomplish goals. These goals could be in the form of rankings, belts, or levels, or it could be weight or colestoral lowering.

Whatever the goal, Kickboxing in this recreational way can be a great choice. There are even studies linking positive benefits for people with disabilities participating in fitness oriented Kickboxing classes.

In a study , researchers out of the University of Dayton, Ohio found that sufferers of Multiple Sclerosis gained many benefits from its practice. Students who are willing to spar with others, especially with those who have more experience, will find that they improve faster than other students who hold back.

Over time, for those interested in competitions, a great way to showcase your skills is to join tournaments with bouts against others who have studied kickboxing. While some kickboxers will wear a black belt in the ring, this does not necessarily mean that they are better than the other fighters since the rankings are not used in this sport. During competitions, kickboxers are able to showcase their skills as they compete against other students.

Over time, they can learn how to beat others and they may win championships. Some of these championships may provide some proof of a win, like a championship belt, but these just showcase that the kickboxer won in that meeting, not that they are a black belt or any other color of belt. There are some kickboxing schools that have arranged themselves in a way that they use the Judo or Karate style belt system.

Some do this in order to motivate their students to work hard, some do it as a way to earn money, and some do it as a way to combine some lessons of karate in with the kickboxing as well.

While this ranking system is not traditionally found with kickboxing, it is something that is growing. There are several well-known Western kickboxers who fight with their belts on to show their ranks as well. There is no such thing as a black belt kickboxer though as this is not how the system works.

His system is one of the few in the world to be recognized by the major governing bodies in Japan as an official martial art. His system is a modern synthesis of traditional Karate, Boxing, American Kickboxing, and his own blend of application techniques and philosophies. To train in his system is to train in a full martial art program with all of the trappings. It is much more than simply a ring sport. To have a full belt ranking progression, this well rounded sport and self defense art is a must.

Muay Thai is a popular system of Kickboxing with the rise of Mixed Martial Arts and those competitors having an affinity for the style. It came specifically out of Thailand and originally was a battlefield tactic added to double sword wielding warriors. Later it developed into a hard hitting sport. Some of the confusion about whether kickboxing has a black belt or not is because of the ranking system used with Muay Thai.

This is a unique form of boxing that uses the whole body of the participants, rather than just the fist. For example, the participants are allowed to use various parts of their body, including knees, elbows, and takedowns, for defense in the bouts. In Muay Thai, fighters will wear a set of armbands that are meant to represent categories that show their personal position in the sport.

These are a little bit different than the karate belts that we see in many Americanized versions of the sport. A beginner in Muay Thai may wear an armband that is white, yellow, or orange. There is a lot going on in the world of Kickboxing and we appreciate that it can be a little daunting sometimes, so we put together this FAQ to help you find the information you need as quickly as possible!

Always the most obvious question and always the most complicated answer Kickboxing is a combat sport combining hand strikes, kicks, blocks, movement and even gymnastic feats. It's great fun, fantastic for fitness, gives you the option of taking part in am amazing competition scene, and teaches practical self-defence techniques as well. If you'd like a more detailed breakdown of the different Kickboxing disciplines, we have a whole page just for you:.

Some Ring Sports disciplines Full Contact and K1 use a similar scoring system, but obviously do not penalise athletes for excessive contact: knock-outs are not only permitted, but result in immediate victory. They may, however, still penalise athletes for "wild" techniques.

If an exact "strike for strike" scoring system is not used, the bout will be judged based on ring-control, technique, variety, damage and aggression i. The exact break-down of each will again vary, but the emphasis is typically on ensuring that each technique demonstrated is performed as accurately and effectively as possible. Forms and Self-Defence demonstrations are usually pre-choreographed, where as "Trick Battles" are more informal, with each practitioner attempting increasingly difficult tricks or even combinations of tricks.

As with any form of exercise, you'll get out whatever you put in, so individual gains will vary, but with such variety within the sport there is plenty of scope for improving your aerobic fitness, strength, power, flexibility, dexterity and agility. Kickboxing is also great fun and the combination of it being an individual sport practised in a positive team environment means you'll be working hard and hardly realise!

Anna from Surrey joined her Kickboxing club at around 5ft 5 and weighing 20 stone. She worked hard and stuck to the guidelines laid out by her NHS appointed dietitian, and to begin with was losing roughly a stone per month! Within 12 months not only had she halved her weight meaning the NHS no longer needed to recommend her to a dietitian , but she had also progressed to the point where she no longer required counselling or psychiatric support.

She became an ambassador for her club and even started working towards becoming a coach so that she could help others to experience the benefits of Kickboxing training! Competing in Kickboxing is easy We generally recommend that you wait until you have achieved at least your first grade in Kickboxing before taking part in competition, but individual clubs will have different policies concerning this, so it is best to check with your coach.

There are two main ways to compete in Kickboxing: Tournaments and Fight Nights. You can find a comprehensive list of events on our website: Event Calendar. Most amateur Kickboxing tournaments are "Open" events; this means that they do not require membership to a particular organisation, nor do you have to qualify by first competing at another event.

Some tournaments operate on a round-robin basis, meaning that you get the chance to fight everyone in your section to decide an overall winner, but most are "knock-out" style events. Of course in this case by "knock-out" we don't mean that people will actually try to knock you out unless you're competing in full-contact , it just means that winning each bout allows you to progress to the next round, whereas losing typically removes you from the competition.

There are a few tournament series with a league format, meaning that an eventual Grand Champion winner is decided at the end of the year by pooling together each fighters' performances throughout the year. Almost all amateur tournament focus on Points Semi-Contact , Continuous Light-Contact and the various types of Forms, although some events, like our own British Championships, do also include Full-Contact sections.

You will compete in a given category or section see: "How are competitors matched at tournaments? You will generally have to pay to take part in these grass-roots style events, although some offer the chance to win prize money or free equipment for winning certain sections.

The aim of competing at this level is to gain as much "mat time" that is to say, experience in a competitive environment as possible, so they are well worth it! You never know who you are going to be up against at a tournament, which is half the fun, so it teaches you to adapt quickly to different styles and more easily spot and exploit weaknesses. In contrast to tournaments, Fight Nights pit you against a "matched" opponent; this is typically someone with a similar record to you e.

Mastery of kickboxing technique requires years of dedication and disciplined practice to achieve. Kickboxers receive different-colored belts as symbols of rank until they receive a black belt, which is the symbol of basic mastery. Black belt kickboxers who continue to hone their mastery in a formal dojo setting may continue to progress through the ranks of the dan system of expert martial arts ranking.

New kickboxing students begin by wearing a white belt that signifies the inexperienced student's blank slate of knowledge. As a student demonstrates mastery of more challenging kickboxing techniques, he will earn colored belts that mark his progress; although the specific colors may vary by dojo or training system, the color system usually proceeds from white to yellow, orange, purple, blue, green and brown belts.

When a kickboxer demonstrates sufficient mastery of all basic elements of the art to his instructor, he receives a black belt, the final step on his progression through the various belt colors. For most people, it takes at least six years of strenuous training to attain a kickboxing black belt from a reputable school.

Because there is no regulatory organization for kickboxing instruction, every school or teacher sets his own subjective standards for attaining the belts of various colors. For this reason, it is impossible to define specific requirements for colored-belt progression. When a relatively inexperienced local kickboxing instructor awards a black belt to a student, it doesn't carry nearly the same gravitas as a black belt earned at a top gym or instructional academy.