Muay Thai or Karate? Want to start training one of them.

[Dr Guildo]

Im 25 years old and wanting to start practicing Karate or Muay Thai. My ambition is to get good at it and maybe start competing at some level. I will go into it with quite much ambition and train as much as possible. I want to become as secure as possible and knowing i could defend myself if anything would happen. Just the feeling knowing it (have never been in a fight so im no street fighter at all and dont want to be)

I am choosing between Muay Thai and Karate (preferable Kyokushin but its not a must)

Someone who have experience training in both these styles? I would be very glad to hear the difference in training sessions and what you feel gave you the most of these two styles.

One thing i like about Karate is that it seems to strengthen you mentally very much but am a bit afraid its TOO much with breathing, Katas, discipline (but maybe thats just good?) etc.

There are many clubs of both Muay Thai and Karate, seems to be several different styles in the Karate-dojos around and would also appreciate some info on different styles.

Would really appreciate your thoughts and experiences from training in these styles.

(sry bad English, am Swedish)

 

[Cam Zink]

Have you trained before?

I have no exp. in Karate, only 3-4 years of muay thai, but the trend i see nowadays is that kikcboxing and mma are the most popular ones, especially mma in Sweden.

So I would say go for muay thai.

 

[used2wrestle]

for self defense, 100% MT. Kyokushin you can't punch to the head so you learn to block punches to the body with your forearms and you learn to punch to the body. Also, it's like rock'em sock'em robots where you just go forward punching.

It'll still be useful if you have no experience whatsoever but in terms of practicality on the streets, you need to block your chin and you need to punch the guy in the chin to knock him out. Also, it's a completely different game if you can only punch to the body because getting hit in the body isn't that bad, once you take even a light punch on the chin or feel how solid it is to even connect lightly on the chin, you'll realize it's not a game you wanna play.

On the other hand if you don't want to get concussed and stuff like that, karate would be much safer, even though you can still get your nose broken by those kicks and concussed, much less likely.

Also my friend that is karate crazy will go to the gym beforehand which is an obvious sign it's not a crazy workout; I wouldn't work out before my kickboxing class and I'll leave dead tired.

That's my advice.

Not sure if it's your english but the way you wrote your post makes it sound like you're really new at combat sports and you're somewhat tepid so despite what I said, karate might be a good start.

 

[CinemaKingdom]

I'd probably recommend going to a Muay Thai school unless you know of a Karate school around that really focuses on combat and isn't a McDojo. Karate is good, it's just hard to find a good place. Train Muay Thai but also pick up Machida's DVD set, read articles on Machida and Karate from Jack Slack and study Machida's fights. Then you can mix the two and get a deeper understanding of what works and what doesn't.

 

[Dr Guildo]

Have you trained before?

Nope, not Martial Arts. Am a fit person tho and have trained other sports.

 

[Cam Zink]

Like used2wrestle said mt will teach you to block and defend correctly, and also it's way more effective than karate.

 

[ktkraft]

In terms of self defence, Karate might teach you some more specifc techniques, but you will also learn allot of redundant stuff, and unless you do something like Kyokushin, Im not sure how realistically many styles train. Muay Thai is allot more striped down and sport focused, but I think you would become allot better at defending yourself and more confident in a much shorter period of time.
As far as competing, are you talking about for MMA, or in the respective diciplines? For MMA, some guys have made it work, but i think you'd still need to patch in holes with Boxing training if u did Karate. There should be plenty of opportunities for competing in Muay Thai or Karate in most places in Europe I imagine.

 

[Lyoto Jackson]

If you were a kid or even a teenager Karate would be a viable option for you as it would really teach you to move in and out of the pocket and laterally in a way that boxing styles don't. However if you want to be fighting before you're 30 you need to be working on your boxing skills. So I'd go with MT now.

Sorry, I was assuming that you meant to start fighting MMA. If this is not the case, then figure out which of the two gyms is better at what it does and go there.

 

[Dr Guildo]

Muay Thai is allot more striped down and sport focused, but I think you would become allot better at defending yourself and more confident in a much shorter period of time.

In Karate?

About competing im talking about in respectively style, not for MMA.

--

Hows the mental aspect of Karate. Would you say you get more mental toughness and discipline from Karate than in Muay Thai?

The clubs around in Karate are good i Think, one is leaded by this guy Tamas Weber who is quite known in Karate-society. He is 10th Dan, the only one outside Japan together with one other who has 10th Dan, he is founder of a style named San Shin-Karate. The Kyokushin club is leaded by a 7th Dan.

One other is Goju Ryu Karate, lead by a Japanese 7th Dan.

 

[Cam Zink]

At the end of the day it doesn't matter what we say, only matters what you want to start.

 

[calisoul]

I think you should take feng shui. You would be good at it. It is a very underrated martial art.

 

[Dr Guildo]

I think you should take feng shui. You would be good at it. It is a very underrated martial art.

Heh :icon_neut

 

[+Gulo+]

In Karate?

About competing im talking about in respectively style, not for MMA.

--

Hows the mental aspect of Karate. Would you say you get more mental toughness and discipline from Karate than in Muay Thai?

The clubs around in Karate are good i Think, one is leaded by this guy Tamas Weber who is quite known in Karate-society. He is 10th Dan, the only one outside Japan together with one other who has 10th Dan, he is founder of a style named San Shin-Karate. The Kyokushin club is leaded by a 7th Dan.

One other is Goju Ryu Karate, lead by a Japanese 7th Dan.

You won't find a lot of TMA (traditional martial arts) stolwarts on an MMA site, because the evolution of MMA has really shown how nonsensical most of them are. Go watch a few videos of those Dans getting their butts handed to by jujitsu practitioners and you quickly realize that much of what they are is mystique.

Basically, like science, if a martial art isn't tested and train for routinely with what it's supposed to do, then you have no way of knowing if it works. Boxing, wrestling, kickboxing are all sports that have been continuously tested for an aeon. TMA, more like a religion, is largely relegated to studying technique, training in a non-combative environment, or, if it is combative there's so many rules as to make it impractical for a real fight. I'm not sure how much this applies to Kyokushin or the like, that have actual ring fights, but I think that poster above who talks about body punches was on the right track.

Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand. It's tried and tested and will provide you with solid skills if you want to be a great striker. Also, rather than Muay Thai, you can go with dutch-style kickboxing too, a la the K-1 Grand Prix fighters.

My experience: trained kenpo karate in a dojo for 4 years and have freelanced in different styles ever since. Karate is mostly a waste of time compared to other combat sports unless you're in it for the cultural aspects. Lastly, I don't know that any martial art has a monopoly on mental toughness. I think the important thing is to do it and push yourself and confidence/motivation/resiliency come with along with it. Cheers.

 

[jeremi87]

Shotokan

 

[Dr Guildo]

But you do train punches to the head in karate, Its just it isnt allowed in competition right?

 

[used2wrestle]

But you do train punches to the head in karate, Its just it isnt allowed in competition right?

not from my knowledge. punches to the head are not allowed. it's not that they're not allowed in competition. you don't train chokes in wrestling because it's not allowed in the sport.

edit. referring specifically to kyokushin, as previously mentioned in my original post.

 

[used2wrestle]

You won't find a lot of TMA (traditional martial arts) stolwarts on an MMA site, because the evolution of MMA has really shown how nonsensical most of them are. Go watch a few videos of those Dans getting their butts handed to by jujitsu practitioners and you quickly realize that much of what they are is mystique.

Basically, like science, if a martial art isn't tested and train for routinely with what it's supposed to do, then you have no way of knowing if it works. Boxing, wrestling, kickboxing are all sports that have been continuously tested for an aeon. TMA, more like a religion, is largely relegated to studying technique, training in a non-combative environment, or, if it is combative there's so many rules as to make it impractical for a real fight. I'm not sure how much this applies to Kyokushin or the like, that have actual ring fights, but I think that poster above who talks about body punches was on the right track.

Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand. It's tried and tested and will provide you with solid skills if you want to be a great striker. Also, rather than Muay Thai, you can go with dutch-style kickboxing too, a la the K-1 Grand Prix fighters.

My experience: trained kenpo karate in a dojo for 4 years and have freelanced in different styles ever since. Karate is mostly a waste of time compared to other combat sports unless you're in it for the cultural aspects. Lastly, I don't know that any martial art has a monopoly on mental toughness. I think the important thing is to do it and push yourself and confidence/motivation/resiliency come with along with it. Cheers.

what you're saying is encompassed in this video:

 

[shinkyoku]

Please be aware that while Muay Thai is more or less united under one set of rules, Karate is very much not.
Karate is fractured under many very different sets of sport rules and organizations, that have very little to do with each other.

These types of karate-






-have very little to with these types of karate (and these have very little to with each other aswell.





Trying to talk about karate as if it is one generalized entity that is the same anywhere, is... very uninformed.

 

[rac2]

In Karate?

About competing im talking about in respectively style, not for MMA.

--

Hows the mental aspect of Karate. Would you say you get more mental toughness and discipline from Karate than in Muay Thai?

The clubs around in Karate are good i Think, one is leaded by this guy Tamas Weber who is quite known in Karate-society. He is 10th Dan, the only one outside Japan together with one other who has 10th Dan, he is founder of a style named San Shin-Karate. The Kyokushin club is leaded by a 7th Dan.

One other is Goju Ryu Karate, lead by a Japanese 7th Dan.

As a Shotokan purple belt, I wouldn't exchange training San Shin with Tamas Weber with any martial arts training at all in the world. Even with others saying there are more 'effective' combat sports (I personally disagree), you'd be getting 'creme de la creme' top level specific 'state of the art' Karate training from maybe the best outside Japan. Nothing compares to that 'priviledge'.

Boy I envy you.

 

[shinkyoku]

Dan grades in karate are pretty subjective. You cannot compare grades from one style with the same grade in another style. They do not follow the same standard.
Also, no matter which style or organization, at higher grades it becomes more political than skill based.

Since you are talking about Weber -who has a dojo in Stockholm, and a kyokushin dojo headed by a 7th Dan. I assume they you are talking about Stockholms kyokushin, headed by Shihan Brian Fitkin (affiliated to shinkyokushin).
Shihan Fitkin is a pretty competition driven instructor of the old school. Second to none. World famous fighter back in the 70ies.
Very much into knockdown and full power fighting.

This is the type of karate he teaches. (Fitkin is seen as a referee in the background in some fights)