I'm no expert but I'd put Savate as the most useful martial art when it comes to street fights, even above Muay Thai, BJJ and boxing. I'm always wearing my steel toe shoes at work and on my way home at 4-5am. This and knowing some Savate keeps me very confident. Kicking with the tip of my feet while wearing such shoes could be almost like striking with a hammer, plus it has a longer reach than Muay Thai kicks.
The problem is people confuse self defence with street fighting or young male ritual fighting as the Dog Brothers put it. Saying that, savate is certainly helpful in actual self defence as it is good for fitness, cardio and social skills, with the added bonus of teaching punches, kicks, timing etc...
You may or may not be good at tiddlywinks but you're wise enough not to go winning any fights over who's better at tiddlywinks. I know very little about savate and haven't checked out your channel in ages but I really appreciate the perspective it provides. Thank you.
@@LondonSavate I probably shouldn't ask any specific questions without first watching the videos you've made in the past. Whatever questions I might have you've probably answered them already. When I'm in a better position to ask a meaningful question I may get back with a question or two. I remember seeing some of your videos in the past when I was watching a lot of martial arts content. UA-cam recommended this video out of the blue after several years and it felt like meeting an old friend even though I'd only ever watched your videos casually. I've never encountered anybody who does savate in person, but I was exposed as a boy to the Paul Crompton book about various martial arts and it talked in a very charming way about savate. I read and reread the book enough times to at the least have a respect and appreciation for savate. Come to think of it, I do have a question. Some other quality martial arts content creators have made videos about shotokan karate saying that Gichin Funakoshi's son attended military training school where he was exposed to French military and physical training that involved savate style kicks. The kicking of modern shotokan karate and taekwondo (which largely has its roots in shotokan karate) is rather different from that in traditional Okinawan karate, and the claim is that it was Funakoshi's son who modified it, experimented with and introduced the high kicks to the karate syllabus. The people who were talking about this were very serious karate practitioners who have researched the history of karate deeply. Obviously the different forms of karate and taekwondo have gone in their own directions, but do you have any thoughts about the claim that a form of savate or closely related activity may have influenced modern karate and karate based martial arts?
Hey there! Been awhile, still at it working out, and still thankful for your vids. I work for peace and security in our govt. Community, and yes, savate discipline works well should things go awry. Get well soon man! More power!
Savate will benefit your self defence in as much as you will learn correct / effective distance, control over your limbs, timing, seeing "open" targets and (most likely) being fitter than your attacker...which give you the ability to retreat, run away and not get caught. Savate will not necessarily teach you to read and understand the pyschology of a prospective atatcker / mugger or chancer.... on the street there are varying degree's of violence, once a physical situation has started... it is advisable to take your degree of violence to the highest level imaginable and "take out" any would be opponent as fast as possible, using anything that is available and to hand to give you the advantage - Better to be judged by 12, than be carried by 6.
I love your attitude, I know it may sound really weird to say this but I always loved the martial arts writer daniele bolelli's quote about how self defence is becoming accustomed to taking a punch in the face, because that's what 90 percent of attacks are and when you have removed the fear of that through combat sports etc there's not much else they can threaten you with. But yes I agree with you on avoiding conflict, great video sir.
hey i just got into savate here in southern germany and i really like it! i do feel a bit overwhelmed after those first two training sessions though. so many different kicks and ways to move your feet... plus all the french words and combinations thereof! a little video series where you could explain the basics/essentials for beginners would be amazing. i'd love to really learn savate and practice at home to really nail the technique! thanks very much
Sure. I have a Savate Foundations course in my online academy londonsavate.co.uk/online-academy/courses/savate-foundations-tools/ plus an older one called 'Sofa to Savate' which you can try if you register for free here meantime londonsavate.co.uk/online-academy/courses/sofa-to-savate/
Рік тому+1
Your fitness has always been amazing, James. On the channel, I'd like to know what routine(s) would you advise for folks to stay savate fit (for practise, competition or general health). Cheers. :)
Well, if Karate teaches the sports part and the self-defense part to the students, why wouldn't Savate do the same? therefore, I think it can be useful as a self-defense on the streets.
Sometimes fighting is necessary and Savate was developed for fighting not just for sports. I think treating a martial art like simply a sport takes away from its original purpose, which was hand to hand fighting.
Can Savate be a part of one's self defense, yes absolutely. But more important is exactly what you said: social skills, deescalation, etc. Martial arts wise one would likely also want to cross train in arts that have clinch work and grappling and also get used to getting hit with force and hitting hard, which would be hard to develop only training in the context of assaut.
I have to say as a follow up as someone who trains Jeet Kune Do and BJJ, I recently took up kendo (the gym I train at took a kendo club in after they lost access to their hall), I will say I've learnt more about positive social interaction and de escalation through kendo than any other martial art, because you interact with different sorts of people who unlike the more physical martial arts maybe aren't into fitness or other things like you are or people who cheat etc, so like the tiddlywinks example it's learning not to let people get under your skin.
It depends on your Savate's flavour; for instance, I have a style that favours self-defence, and it works well, but it's very hard to train it safely, and it hurts. Training safely is something that is often overlooked by the self-defence crowd. I think that in the long term sports play with safety rules wins the race. It's fun, great for footwork and builds confidence. After a few lessons your mindset changes and you feel good about life.
Great video. I have two questions about Savate (having never studied it) that might be a little arcane, but maybe you can talk about. 1) I've heard one of the things that makes Savate different is the way it uses the arms to balance out kicks. So the hands go one way, and the feet go the other. Is that generally right? This may be hard to demo with an injury. 2) I have heard that there are connections between the movements of savate and fencing. Is there any truth to that? This one is a bit of a history question, which might be really obscure, so if you haven't seen anything that about it, I wouldn't be shocked. Thanks!
1. In modern Savate we prefer to defend the head as much as possible. You can see early Savate footage or photos with hands extended for balance, but nowadays that's nothing more than an artefact. When learning Savate kicks, you'll be learning responsible defence as well. 2 Some of the first iterations of Savate rules borrowed from fencing regulations and used the idea of saying 'touché' to score hits (source: www.researchgate.net/publication/277077954_History_of_savate) Early pioneers would have practised fencing also, so there is certainly an influence, but that's the only one I can give evidence for.
Savate or any other sport is very different to self defense although they share some techniques. In sports there are rules, in the street there are none, so you have to be ready for unexpected. My favourite joke in self defense traingin is 'I could not defend myself because the attack was incorrect'. The attack in training can of course be unrealistic, and in many videos they are, especially knife attacs. Any sport that do not incude sparring is just about useless for self defense, the harder the better (without causing injuries). So if you train savate you may have some skills for self defense and may not panic (too much) under attack. The mindset is very important.
Thanks for this. One question back: do you imagine there are no rules at all on the street? Not even social rules, or the rules of the culture or time and place you are in? Knowing these rules would definitely be an advantage in handling confrontations.
@@LondonSavate in order to consider rules, one must first survive an unlawful physical attack. If one ,theoritically prevails against the attacker(s) and gains dominance, society's rules become an issue. Prior to that point anything goes, in my opinion.
@@LondonSavate This is a bit semantic, or philosophical, but of course diffrent social rules apply to street situation. Best self defense is of course that you don't need to to anything. I have trained savate defense (or currently named boxe de rue) for about 15 years and we do emphasise that less is better.
From time to time, I've seen Savators compete in non Savate competitions. In most non Savate competitions, the traditional shoes are not worn. How do Savators land their kicks, part of foot used? Thank you.
When wearing boots, Savateurs and Savateuses will use the toe and the heel most often (fouetté and chassé), but also inside and outside edges of the boot (coup de pied bas ; revers frontal), the sole can be used in revers latéral. If not wearing boots, I couldn't say what they would do. Is that the question you were hoping I would answer?
In having trained savate and sparred under other rulsets at other classes there are two main things a Savateur can do when not wearing shoes. Because they cant kick with the toe anymore without the protection that the shoe provides. First is that can can pull the toes back and kick with the ball of the foot like some Karate kicks, or they can change the range slightly so they are closer and hit with the top of the foot, the instep or the shin. Some kickss such as the chasse land with the heel anyway so dont need changing. Arguably some could say its not savate anymore, if you are landing with the lower shin, but you can use the same techniues and footwork just at a modified range.
Its been a month and maybe breakdowns of sparring sessions would be great, just go over the sparring session and break down whichever moves you think should be broken down so more people can find out about savate and learn what it takes to actually USE savate before even learning it that would be awesome I saw a muay thai vs savate fight and my style of fighting is more like François Pennacchio's which made me curious as to what it is and how the momentum and everything else compares to styles like muay thai, karate, taekwondo, capoiera and even kung fuu.
My opinion: if you can only afford high crime living areas, then don't go drinking or hangout out at bars. That avoids alot of assholes and drunk racists who hate you because you looked the wrong way.
I consider myself a pretty average guy, living in a pretty average town in a country (Canada) with pretty low crime rates compared to my neighbors to the south. During my Average life, I have walked into two armed robberies at convenience stores (both with knifes. one I prevented deployment and had to jiu-jitsu the shit out of the guy until the police came. other I distance managed with cans from the shelves until he retreated). Stopped a 350+ Lbs guy from assaulting his girl friend (the guy was so big I could not get my arms around him for a standard BJJ clinch..LOL) at a restaurant filled with big buff guys too scared to do anything. Had drunks swing on me totally out of the blue. been attacked with chairs and a chunk of wood, been bitten, kicked, punched etc...I could go on, but the point is I have had to defend myself scores of times...some of them quite serious...so, I have to admit that when I hear people talking like this, I think they are a bit delusional. Violence is all around us, and what bothers me the most is how many tragedies could be prevented if people were properly trained and had warrior ethics. I grew up with lots of big macho guys all better athletes than I ..and ran like little girls when the poo poo went down-but happy to lie about it later. Watch some of the disturbing surveillance footage that is now very common, of people (often women) being horrible beaten or killed , by simple and rudimentary attacks, as sheep like people stand around and are too shocked or complacent and scarred to do anything. I have to be honest, and don't take it too personally, but I think those kinds of reactions are largely a symptom of the diseases of modern society and your attitude toward self-defense may be part of the problem. "Martial arts" developed for a reason, to train warriors, often just simple citizens, but ones who felt a responsibility to their community or tribe-those values made that community or tribe stronger.To be a warrior was not some modern fantasy about being invincible...it was the simple commitment to be wiling to face violence to protect people. I will take a poor fighter but willing to back me up for real over people with rooms full of trophies and medals anytime. Martial arts to help cultivate this warrior ethos (not to play ego gratifying games)has been a near universal human experience...now its been replaced by combat sports so people can pretend to be warriors, with no risk or responsibility..all for what..? honestly it often looks like little more than cheap ego gratification.
I'm no expert but I'd put Savate as the most useful martial art when it comes to street fights, even above Muay Thai, BJJ and boxing. I'm always wearing my steel toe shoes at work and on my way home at 4-5am. This and knowing some Savate keeps me very confident. Kicking with the tip of my feet while wearing such shoes could be almost like striking with a hammer, plus it has a longer reach than Muay Thai kicks.
The problem is people confuse self defence with street fighting or young male ritual fighting as the Dog Brothers put it.
Saying that, savate is certainly helpful in actual self defence as it is good for fitness, cardio and social skills, with the added bonus of teaching punches, kicks, timing etc...
You may or may not be good at tiddlywinks but you're wise enough not to go winning any fights over who's better at tiddlywinks. I know very little about savate and haven't checked out your channel in ages but I really appreciate the perspective it provides. Thank you.
Thanks. I haven't been able to create much since September owing to injury, but what would you like to know about Savate and I'll see what I can make.
@@LondonSavate I probably shouldn't ask any specific questions without first watching the videos you've made in the past. Whatever questions I might have you've probably answered them already. When I'm in a better position to ask a meaningful question I may get back with a question or two.
I remember seeing some of your videos in the past when I was watching a lot of martial arts content. UA-cam recommended this video out of the blue after several years and it felt like meeting an old friend even though I'd only ever watched your videos casually. I've never encountered anybody who does savate in person, but I was exposed as a boy to the Paul Crompton book about various martial arts and it talked in a very charming way about savate. I read and reread the book enough times to at the least have a respect and appreciation for savate.
Come to think of it, I do have a question. Some other quality martial arts content creators have made videos about shotokan karate saying that Gichin Funakoshi's son attended military training school where he was exposed to French military and physical training that involved savate style kicks. The kicking of modern shotokan karate and taekwondo (which largely has its roots in shotokan karate) is rather different from that in traditional Okinawan karate, and the claim is that it was Funakoshi's son who modified it, experimented with and introduced the high kicks to the karate syllabus. The people who were talking about this were very serious karate practitioners who have researched the history of karate deeply. Obviously the different forms of karate and taekwondo have gone in their own directions, but do you have any thoughts about the claim that a form of savate or closely related activity may have influenced modern karate and karate based martial arts?
@@LondonSavate Wishing you a speedy recovery from your injury.
Hey there! Been awhile, still at it working out, and still thankful for your vids. I work for peace and security in our govt. Community, and yes, savate discipline works well should things go awry. Get well soon man! More power!
Thanks, I'm trying :)
Savate will benefit your self defence in as much as you will learn correct / effective distance, control over your limbs, timing, seeing "open" targets and (most likely) being fitter than your attacker...which give you the ability to retreat, run away and not get caught. Savate will not necessarily teach you to read and understand the pyschology of a prospective atatcker / mugger or chancer.... on the street there are varying degree's of violence, once a physical situation has started... it is advisable to take your degree of violence to the highest level imaginable and "take out" any would be opponent as fast as possible, using anything that is available and to hand to give you the advantage - Better to be judged by 12, than be carried by 6.
I love your attitude, I know it may sound really weird to say this but I always loved the martial arts writer daniele bolelli's quote about how self defence is becoming accustomed to taking a punch in the face, because that's what 90 percent of attacks are and when you have removed the fear of that through combat sports etc there's not much else they can threaten you with. But yes I agree with you on avoiding conflict, great video sir.
Cheers
hey i just got into savate here in southern germany and i really like it! i do feel a bit overwhelmed after those first two training sessions though. so many different kicks and ways to move your feet... plus all the french words and combinations thereof! a little video series where you could explain the basics/essentials for beginners would be amazing. i'd love to really learn savate and practice at home to really nail the technique! thanks very much
Sure. I have a Savate Foundations course in my online academy londonsavate.co.uk/online-academy/courses/savate-foundations-tools/ plus an older one called 'Sofa to Savate' which you can try if you register for free here meantime londonsavate.co.uk/online-academy/courses/sofa-to-savate/
Your fitness has always been amazing, James. On the channel, I'd like to know what routine(s) would you advise for folks to stay savate fit (for practise, competition or general health). Cheers. :)
Well, if Karate teaches the sports part and the self-defense part to the students, why wouldn't Savate do the same? therefore, I think it can be useful as a self-defense on the streets.
Sometimes fighting is necessary and Savate was developed for fighting not just for sports. I think treating a martial art like simply a sport takes away from its original purpose, which was hand to hand fighting.
Excellente vidéo. Votre boxe française est de très bon niveau. Bravo pour votre travail, vous apportez beaucoup à cette discipline.
Merci!
Can Savate be a part of one's self defense, yes absolutely. But more important is exactly what you said: social skills, deescalation, etc. Martial arts wise one would likely also want to cross train in arts that have clinch work and grappling and also get used to getting hit with force and hitting hard, which would be hard to develop only training in the context of assaut.
I have to say as a follow up as someone who trains Jeet Kune Do and BJJ, I recently took up kendo (the gym I train at took a kendo club in after they lost access to their hall), I will say I've learnt more about positive social interaction and de escalation through kendo than any other martial art, because you interact with different sorts of people who unlike the more physical martial arts maybe aren't into fitness or other things like you are or people who cheat etc, so like the tiddlywinks example it's learning not to let people get under your skin.
Yep, you've found the same thing I have.
What's your diet as a savate fighter?
Also what shoes do you wear in the streets?
I guess I’ll have to take a seminar on prison tiddlie winks tactics.. thanks for nothing Savate…
Great video… truly honest..
Avoidance is your best defense. If cornered, turn nasty if talking won't work and get away as soon as possible ..........
It depends on your Savate's flavour; for instance, I have a style that favours self-defence, and it works well, but it's very hard to train it safely, and it hurts. Training safely is something that is often overlooked by the self-defence crowd. I think that in the long term sports play with safety rules wins the race. It's fun, great for footwork and builds confidence. After a few lessons your mindset changes and you feel good about life.
Training safely is important, agree. The 'flavour' of my Savate is set simply by the ruleset of the ring sport, which is what I teach and practise.
Useful as much as boxing or kickboxing.
Great video. I have two questions about Savate (having never studied it) that might be a little arcane, but maybe you can talk about. 1) I've heard one of the things that makes Savate different is the way it uses the arms to balance out kicks. So the hands go one way, and the feet go the other. Is that generally right? This may be hard to demo with an injury. 2) I have heard that there are connections between the movements of savate and fencing. Is there any truth to that? This one is a bit of a history question, which might be really obscure, so if you haven't seen anything that about it, I wouldn't be shocked. Thanks!
1. In modern Savate we prefer to defend the head as much as possible. You can see early Savate footage or photos with hands extended for balance, but nowadays that's nothing more than an artefact. When learning Savate kicks, you'll be learning responsible defence as well. 2 Some of the first iterations of Savate rules borrowed from fencing regulations and used the idea of saying 'touché' to score hits (source: www.researchgate.net/publication/277077954_History_of_savate) Early pioneers would have practised fencing also, so there is certainly an influence, but that's the only one I can give evidence for.
@@LondonSavate Thanks so much. These are great answers to my questions.
Savate or any other sport is very different to self defense although they share some techniques. In sports there are rules, in the street there are none, so you have to be ready for unexpected. My favourite joke in self defense traingin is 'I could not defend myself because the attack was incorrect'. The attack in training can of course be unrealistic, and in many videos they are, especially knife attacs. Any sport that do not incude sparring is just about useless for self defense, the harder the better (without causing injuries). So if you train savate you may have some skills for self defense and may not panic (too much) under attack. The mindset is very important.
Thanks for this. One question back: do you imagine there are no rules at all on the street? Not even social rules, or the rules of the culture or time and place you are in? Knowing these rules would definitely be an advantage in handling confrontations.
@@LondonSavate in order to consider rules, one must first survive an unlawful physical attack. If one ,theoritically prevails against the attacker(s) and gains dominance, society's rules become an issue. Prior to that point anything goes, in my opinion.
@@LondonSavate This is a bit semantic, or philosophical, but of course diffrent social rules apply to street situation. Best self defense is of course that you don't need to to anything. I have trained savate defense (or currently named boxe de rue) for about 15 years and we do emphasise that less is better.
savate monitor, and savate defense, it all depends on the context of the response following an attack. Distances, stress
I think some rehab and stretching would be cool.
From time to time, I've seen Savators compete in non Savate competitions. In most non Savate competitions, the traditional shoes are not worn. How do Savators land their kicks, part of foot used? Thank you.
When wearing boots, Savateurs and Savateuses will use the toe and the heel most often (fouetté and chassé), but also inside and outside edges of the boot (coup de pied bas ; revers frontal), the sole can be used in revers latéral. If not wearing boots, I couldn't say what they would do. Is that the question you were hoping I would answer?
In having trained savate and sparred under other rulsets at other classes there are two main things a Savateur can do when not wearing shoes. Because they cant kick with the toe anymore without the protection that the shoe provides.
First is that can can pull the toes back and kick with the ball of the foot like some Karate kicks, or they can change the range slightly so they are closer and hit with the top of the foot, the instep or the shin. Some kickss such as the chasse land with the heel anyway so dont need changing.
Arguably some could say its not savate anymore, if you are landing with the lower shin, but you can use the same techniues and footwork just at a modified range.
@@LondonSavate yes. Thank you for the response.
@@CMLew thank you. Very helpful.
@@powers39thought your question was worth expanding on ua-cam.com/video/gdYSflTQPRQ/v-deo.html
Its been a month and maybe breakdowns of sparring sessions would be great, just go over the sparring session and break down whichever moves you think should be broken down so more people can find out about savate and learn what it takes to actually USE savate before even learning it that would be awesome I saw a muay thai vs savate fight and my style of fighting is more like François Pennacchio's which made me curious as to what it is and how the momentum and everything else compares to styles like muay thai, karate, taekwondo, capoiera and even kung fuu.
I just happened to be working on a breakdown of a combination from a Savate fight. Should be up tomorrow. Let me know what you think.
My opinion: if you can only afford high crime living areas, then don't go drinking or hangout out at bars. That avoids alot of assholes and drunk racists who hate you because you looked the wrong way.
Hi great videos etc but can you advise for the best stretching for kicks, especially high kicks.
I consider myself a pretty average guy, living in a pretty average town in a country (Canada) with pretty low crime rates compared to my neighbors to the south. During my Average life, I have walked into two armed robberies at convenience stores (both with knifes. one I prevented deployment and had to jiu-jitsu the shit out of the guy until the police came. other I distance managed with cans from the shelves until he retreated). Stopped a 350+ Lbs guy from assaulting his girl friend (the guy was so big I could not get my arms around him for a standard BJJ clinch..LOL) at a restaurant filled with big buff guys too scared to do anything. Had drunks swing on me totally out of the blue. been attacked with chairs and a chunk of wood, been bitten, kicked, punched etc...I could go on, but the point is I have had to defend myself scores of times...some of them quite serious...so, I have to admit that when I hear people talking like this, I think they are a bit delusional. Violence is all around us, and what bothers me the most is how many tragedies could be prevented if people were properly trained and had warrior ethics. I grew up with lots of big macho guys all better athletes than I ..and ran like little girls when the poo poo went down-but happy to lie about it later. Watch some of the disturbing surveillance footage that is now very common, of people (often women) being horrible beaten or killed , by simple and rudimentary attacks, as sheep like people stand around and are too shocked or complacent and scarred to do anything. I have to be honest, and don't take it too personally, but I think those kinds of reactions are largely a symptom of the diseases of modern society and your attitude toward self-defense may be part of the problem. "Martial arts" developed for a reason, to train warriors, often just simple citizens, but ones who felt a responsibility to their community or tribe-those values made that community or tribe stronger.To be a warrior was not some modern fantasy about being invincible...it was the simple commitment to be wiling to face violence to protect people. I will take a poor fighter but willing to back me up for real over people with rooms full of trophies and medals anytime. Martial arts to help cultivate this warrior ethos (not to play ego gratifying games)has been a near universal human experience...now its been replaced by combat sports so people can pretend to be warriors, with no risk or responsibility..all for what..? honestly it often looks like little more than cheap ego gratification.