Savate
Boxe française
Savate — boxe française (French boxing) — is an elegant French kickboxing art that permits only kicks with the feet (not shins) and punches. Practitioners wear specialized chaussures (shoes) and are graded by colored glove levels.
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Savate develops exceptional kicking precision and footwork. Its unique shoe-based kicking system — featuring the fouetté (whip kick) and chassé (piston kick) — offers techniques not found in any other striking art.
At a Glance
Who It's For
What You'll Learn
Fouetté (whip kick — round kick with the shoe)
Chassé (piston kick — side thrust kick)
Revers (hook kick — reverse sweeping kick)
Coup de pied bas (low kick to the shin or calf)
Western boxing hand techniques — direct, crochet, uppercut
Elegant footwork and distance management — décalage (shifting)
Your First Class
Wear a Savate tenue (uniform) or athletic clothing, and bring clean indoor shoes. Expect footwork drills, basic kicks (fouette, chasse), and pad work. Classes run 60-90 minutes.
Watch & Learn
Legends of Savate
Charles Lecour
Charles Lecour transformed Savate from a rough Parisian street kicking game into a refined combat sport by integrating English boxing punches with French footwork. His codification in the 1830s created the elegant, technical art that would become France's national combat sport.
Gerard Gordeau
Gerard Gordeau was a Dutch Savate champion who reached the finals of UFC 1 in 1993, proving the effectiveness of Savate kicks against larger opponents in the earliest days of mixed martial arts. His performance was one of the first demonstrations of traditional European striking in no-holds-barred competition.
Nicolas Saignac
Jerome Le Banner
Related Styles
Kickboxing
Kickboxing is a stand-up combat sport that combines boxing punches with kicks. It encompasses several rulesets including full-contact, low-kick, and K-1 rules.
Boxing
Western boxing — historically known as pugilism, and often called the "sweet science" — is a combat sport focused exclusively on punching technique, footwork, and defensive head movement. It is one of the oldest and most widely practiced combat sports in the world.
Taekwondo
Taekwondo (태권도) is a Korean martial art known for its fast, high, and spinning kicks. It is one of only two martial arts in the Olympic Games and is practiced by over 80 million people worldwide.
Karate
Karate is a Japanese striking art that uses punches, kicks, knee strikes, and open-hand techniques. Originating in Okinawa, it emphasizes kata (型, forms), kihon (基本, basics), and kumite (組手, sparring).
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