Honest review: Kickboxing is brilliant but the counterintuitive feel of catching kicks is real

Kickboxing has been one of the best decisions I've made for my fitness and mental health. The jab-cross-kick combination and the deeper setting up kicks with punches keep training mentally engaging in a way the gym never did.

But I want to be honest: the counterintuitive feel of catching kicks. Nobody told me about that before I started and it caught me off guard. Invest in proper shin guards early — again, something I wished I'd done sooner. K-1 rules learning came later than I expected but when it arrived it was worth the wait. Four stars rather than five because of that one persistent issue.