Karate vs. Kickboxing?

Question

Which of both is more efficient as self defense and on the street? Which one can be learned faster? Which one is better?

Answer 1

self defence and on the street karate.kickboxing is for gays and girls.Muay thai is good,but it's a fighting style and isn't good for self defence.if you combine freestyle karate and muay thai you should be able to hold your own in most situations.

A good well rounded style would be freestyle Karate.You will learn stand up,ground,grappling and weapons.What a lot of people don't understand is that freestyle Karate is about practical street defence not who can kick the highest or punch a pad the hardest.It's definitely not a sport martial art like TKD or BJJ.The motto of my style is the best of everything in progression.Basically that means we don't care where the technique comes from we improve it and integrate it into our style while still maintaining tradition as do most freestyle Karate's.
The hardest thing is finding a good experienced instructor.I would recommend Bushi Kai or Zen Do Kai, but if your not in Australia or New Zealand you may have some difficulty finding some one who teaches these styles.These styles also usually have separate classes available to everyone in Muay Thai and BJJ/Submission/Shoot wrestling.If you can't find one of these i would suggest Kempo or Enshin or another freestyle Karate.

Answer 2

"karate was proven less effetive then kickboxing" wtf? When, and by whom? were there rules? "the karate fighter is like 17 and the kickboxer is like 25 so more muscle" Who said there was an age differnce? I swear peoples answers get more eignorant every day on here, and idiots that have no idea what they are talkin about. Have you ever seen a good Okinawin karate-ka fight? It looks a hell of a lot like a Mauy thai fighter, with low kicks, knees, elbows, clinch fighting. Now add to that the fact that Okinawin karate has many locks, throws, take downs, sweeps, chokes, it sheds a whle new light on it. okinawin karate has intense body conditioning. Add to that the fact that karate actually teaches you to move out of the way or move in such a way that it minimizes the damage that you tak, where Mauy Thai is about who can take more punishment. All that being said it all depends on the fighter, and whos rules you are fighting under. Karate allows a lot more targets then kickboxing. In the end though ti is the fighter that will determin who wins, not the style.

Answer 3

Neither of them is better than the other. There is NO Martial Art that is "better" than another because they all have their own strengths and weaknesses. And the Martial Art is only as good or effective as the individual using it.

Kickboxing is the easiest to learn of the two because it only teaches the very basic of punching and kicking with maybe some blocking (that's why you have cardio kickboxing classes in your local gyms because it's done more for the calorie burining side than anything)

Karate or other classical disciplines take longer because not only do you learn the basics, but you learn more advanced techniques, forms, along with learning how to better utilize what you've learned in a more realisitc situation.

So Karate would be the more efficient discipline here rather than kickboxing, unless it's a TRUE discipline of Muay Thai Kickboxing.

Answer 4

if it is Muay Thai then I say that is the better of the two. but what form of karate, that is the question. not all karate's are created equal.
if it is just plain kickboxing, boo to that.

but if it is Muay Thai, then I say it is the better, for it is always having you train contact against people. you get great conditioning and determination. no chi to save your @ss.
my own experience holds this to be true. and all the bouncers in my city are either cage fighters, boxers, or Muay Thai. (or just huge 6'6 150kg mofos that just pull until your arms come off. lol). Jason 'the psycho' Suttie (K-1) was a bouncer for many years, as were most of the guys you see in the circuit that came out of New Zealand. either bouncers or street thugs (mark hunt).

Answer 5

hey not combine the two and make like a kickboxing karate sport?? just a thought....

Answer 6

Kenpo teaches 50% hands and 50% feet!
Kick boxing is probably less useful unless you plan on kicking in most situations you find yourself in... (think about close quarters where you might find yourself, like a bar for instance).
(There are "hard" and "soft" styles of martial arts... Kenpo is a "hard" style).

Answer 7

kick boxing is better .