HM Artist Network

Kickboxing, as it was known by the name of “Muay Thai”‘, originated as the national sport of Thai society, with competitions held as early as 1257-1377 AD.

You might also say that Muaythai was the sport of kings in its early days. King Pha Chao Sua was so involved in the sport he used to disguise himself as a commoner to participate.

He was further so supportive of the sport he ordered his army to be trained in the art, and interest swelled. In 1774, Nau Khanohm Tom, as a captured prisoner of war, fought his way in contest, defeating 10 of Burma’s very best.

The Burmese king, King Mangra, himself so impressed, applauded his achievements, and granted Nau Khanohm Tom his freedom.

Certainly this may have given Mauythai enormous new attention and status to survive in history over the next centuries.

In 1921, although the fighting style had not changed, new transformations were applied with the inclusion and standardization of the 20 Glove 20ft roped ring.

Gloves were introduced as standard in 1923 by order of the police of the interior ministry.

By the 1930s groin protection was introduced. International enthusiasm grew slowly; it was as late as 1995 when the first world Amateur Muay Thai Championships were held.

As a martial art, there is very little equipment required of participants, although it has come a long way since the early days.

Kick boxers will use hand wraps, i.e. pieces of cloth to wrap around their hand beneath gloves.

Today the gloves are much thicker for the protection of an opponent, but light gloves are also available for training against bags.

Shin guards, and groin protectors are also worn. Female boxers may choose to wear a chest or torso protector, although some discussion about these claim they often do more hurt than give protection.

Certainly uniforms should be worn with pride.

Kickboxing is phenomenally popular today. It is possible to find an active kickboxing school near you. Classes may be offered at your local gymnasium, or police and citizens youth club, alongside all respected martial arts classes.

Certainly a grading system exists today as with other martial arts. Grading and competitions are held regularly.

The grades, called belts, are from white-red-yellow, and then continue to orange-green-purple and blue-brown-back.

You continue to further levels beyond black as a master of the art. Kickboxing as all martial arts, is suitable for everyone from children, to women and men.

Full contact is strictly and safely controlled, and participants do not fight outside of their ability. Certainly kickboxing training is an ideal exercise that can be performed at your own individual pace and ability. Many classes are offered as either contact or non contact training.

The choice to train casually or to enter world class competitive events is yours alone to make.

By: Jacqueline Lloyd

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress

Whether you are new to photography or a glowing professional, photography competitions are well worth considering. In order to increase your winning chances, you must first understand that what you consider to be the best image is not always reflected in the final result. This may sound ambiguous to some but certain requirements must be adhered to.

To be successful entering and winning photography competitions one must first understand what the judges and the companies holding these event require. Companies usually have strict guidelines telling photographers what sort of image they are looking for. Most companies will use the winning image as promotional material for their business, so submitting images that don’t meet their guidelines will certainly not be ranked.

Travel companies will be looking for an image that they can use on their brochure – so before you enter in any competition it is well worth while to take a close look at the company and the images they normally use.

Regardless of the type of image entered, photographers must submit images that are technical perfect, with good composition and proper exposure. Submitting poor quality images will waste your time along with the judges.

One of the utmost moments in any photographers career is to see his/her images displayed in the winners section of a website or newspaper or at a prize winners ceremony. This is a moment when a struggling photographer’s business may start to take off or give his studio an extra boost. It is also when the value of a photographer’s images rises.

But to win a photography competition, the right approach is very important.

Your image should hold a theme that will suit the company holding the competition. If the company is travel related they will be looking for an image that has vibrant colours; an image that has life and soul. Energy companies will want an image that will blend their industry and the environment together.

When entering a competition there will be hundreds, if not thousands of photographers with entries. To give yourself the best possible chance of winning, only submit images that you think will have a decent chance. The image that you enter should have impact and must be a photograph that you are proud of – an image that you are constantly showing off to your friends and family.

Prizes on offer vary and can range from cash to equipment. Some of the larger competitions pay out tens of thousands of dollars. Competitions that are free to enter will have smaller prizes but are still worth entering.

One thing you should remember is that some companies hold competitions to get free images. Before submitting your pictures, read the guidelines. Make sure that you will be able to sell the image after the competition and that you are not signing away the copyright of your image. If you are unsure about it and the guidelines are not clear, it is best not to enter.

There are thousands of competitions held all over the world each year. To find out which ones suit your photography contact your local camera club, or look up some of the photography directories on the web. Some of the larger competitions that are open to photographers world wide will charge a submission fee, but there are a wide selection of free competitions out there.

If you are new to photography or unsure about your chances of success its best to try a few free ones at the beginning.

Photography competitions can do so much for a photographers career – some say it’s the taking part that counts – but when the winner receives so much free advertising for their business, plus the large amounts of cash on offer; I think they are worth taking seriously.

By: TJ Tierney

About the Author:

Caffeinated Content – Members-Only Content for WordPress

Martial Arts refers to a systematic style of personal combat. There are many different variations of the arts. Here is an introduction to the subject.

Any discussion of martial art facts should begin with the meaning of the word itself. The term martial arts comes from the Roman god of war Mars. The phrase arc Martialis actually translates as the “arts of Mars.” Although there is no doubt that martial arts was developed in the beginning as a part of warfare, even from the earliest times it had other purposes. Today, marital arts are used for a wide variety of purposes. Some of them are very spiritual in nature and some are non-spiritual. They include self discipline, mediation, self confidence, and sport.

Although martial arts are thought by many to be almost exclusively of Asian origin, the development of formal systems of self defense actually took place world wide. The Europeans developed several unique styles of fighting including savate, the French kick boxing discipline developed by sailors and street fighters. American Indians and Hawaiian islanders both had their own forms of martial arts.

Although certain people brought knowledge of the Asian forms of martial arts to the West from the very beginning of the contact between Asia and the West, martial arts were basically unknown in the United States until after the 1950’s. An example of this lack of knowledge was given in the popular James Bond movie “GoldFinger”, where Bond who was supposed to be an expert in unarmed combat himself displays at distressing lack of knowledge about the nature of karate and judo.

Some non-Asian forms of unique martial arts include khridoli which is a very ancient Georgian form that used mostly bare hands and Glima, which is an ancient Scandinavian martial art that is thought to date back to the Vikings and is still the National sport of Iceland. Today, many forms of martial arts have become sports. Judo and Tae Kwon Do are both events in the Summer Olympics. Archery, boxing, javelin throw, wrestling and fencing are other Olympic sports that have martial arts roots.

Today, the increased media attention has brought the ancient martial arts to a new level of popularity. Martial arts movies and televised competitions have also helped increased the interest and exposure of martial arts. Although many of the ancient forms of personal combat that were developed over the centuries have been lost, martial arts has experienced a revival through sport and competition.

By: Aazdak Alisimo

About the Author:

Kansieo.com

Kickboxing is a sport that is somewhat similar to boxing but allows the use of kicks. This simple change creates many more variables and changes the way a fighter must fight. Kicks can be very devastating, but also tend to be slower than punches. Many of the world’s best kickboxers can deliver lightning fast kicks, and this is how they become the top fighters in their weight class. Your kickboxing drills should stress speed and timing along with raw power. Even if power must be sacrificed, you should always strive for well-timed kicks that actually land on target. A very strong kick that is blocked wastes your energy, inflicts little damage, and scores no points with the judges. Fast kicks that hit their target do a lot of damage even if there is not much power behind the kick. Also, the judges score based on the number of landed strikes, not how strong you are.

Your kickboxing drills should have specific targets that you can kick at full speed. The use of a training partner and pads is the best way to improve your accuracy while boosting your speed. When in a match your opponent will have a certain timing to his movements. It is important to learn how to read the timing of an opponent and throw your kicks at the best moments. Using a punching bag does not help you learn to kick at the right moment, but using a human partner does. Your partner should move like he would in a real match and use arm or hand mounted pads to absorb your kicks. These pads serve as targets for you to hit, and your partner will essentially be a dynamic punching bag that actually reacts like a human would.

Your training partner can also feign strikes at you. This helps you learn to time your attacks along with your blocks and dodges. As your training partner throws a punch you can duck it and then respond with a kick or punch. The goal is to land the strike before his punching arm has time to get back to block. Your training partner should then either absorb your strike with his other arm’s pad, or wear a full body pad to absorb strikes that come too quickly for him. This kickboxing drill helps you learn how to react to an opponent and his timing rather than just learning your blocking and striking separately. In a real match, striking and blocked are interwoven, not separate. Your eventual goal should be that your partner will have to wear full body pads because his hands cannot keep up with your strikes.

Yoshi E Kundagawa is a freelance journalist. He covers the mixed martial arts industry. For a free report on kickboxing drills visit his blog.

By: Yoshi Kundagawa

About the Author:

Create a video blog…instantly.

Walk up to any BJJ expert and tell them that you’re best hold is a double handed choke around their throat, and they will laugh at you. But, against any other opponent (other than a submission wrestler) this might be viable option, and in about 15 seconds. They will respect your submission hold (a double handed choke on the throat).

Frank Shamrock calls this, “the power of a crappy hold.” Even though it’s ugly and it seems like it’s a waste of time, anything that hurts even slightly will cause your opponent to move during an mma match or a BJJ competition. A lot of times, all you really need to get someone is some movement to either: get out of a BJJ choke or hold, or to catch your own BJJ hold or catch wrestling hold.

Let’s look at this more closely, if I have good base, and you can’t arm bar me, and you can’t sweep me. Then you’re going to respect my two handed choke on your throat, and you know what, when you’re struggling, I’m going to get something else, from my crappy hold. Whether if it’s a triangle, top wrist lock, a double wrist lock, a plain a crappy or weird hold is an excellent set up into another “real hold”.

So if you understand how a hold works, you can create one, that might not have all the control of a good one, but I guarantee that it will make the other person move. If you can anticipate that, then you’ve got a great submission combo in the making.

By: Scott Buendia

About the Author:

Create a video blog…instantly.