Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Martial Arts — TKDLouisville

All across the world, people have heard about it and possibly even witnessed it first hand or on television - the furious punches, bone crushing elbows, lethal and piercing kicks, and the unforgettable knees.  Although watching it on television is great, nothing begins to compare to seeing these moves executed live - with thousands of fans cheering the fighters on.

This is the wonderful world of Muay Thai kickboxing.  Muay Thai is a martial art that is unlike any other, rich in the proud heritage of an entire nation.  The style is interwoven into the well known history of the Thai people.  Even though they are gentle and fun loving people, they’ve had to defend both themselves and their land for many years against the aggressive powers and thieves.

To protect what they had, the Thai people developed a fighting system of close combat techniques that were suited to the type of rough terrain they would be fighting in.  Over the years, it eventually become a rite of passage for all Thai men to train in this amazing martial art.

In the beginning, Muay Thai proved to be a dangerous and deadly art, with the fighters having no safety gear or protection - all they had were lengths of cords in which they would wrap around their fists as gloves.  As the years progressed, rules were written into the equation to establish some protection for the fighters.

Over the years, Muay Thai has progressed as both a martial art and a style, attracting people from all over the world.  There are training facilities in Russia and the United States, with qualified instructors to help teach Muay Thai to interested students.

These days, Muay Thai is one of the most popular sports in the world.  There are a lot of television networks that broadcast Thai bouts on a weekly basis, pleasing avid fighting fans from all over the world.  International boxing is another popular sport, although most successful International boxers got their start in Muay Thai.  This goes to show why Muay Thai training is so popular - and so lethal as well.

Normally, Thai bouts are fought with 5 three minute rounds, with a two minute rest period in between the rounds.  All fights are preceded by a dance, which gives the contestants the opportunity to pay homage to their teachers.  The dance is an excellent exercise to warm up with, with plenty of symbolic meaning towards the style.

During the fights and even with training, you’ll see that each Thai boxers wears armbands and a headband.  The headband that fighters wear is believed to have been blessed by a monk or teacher, and will bestow luck upon the fighter.  Thai boxers take a lot of pride in their training and fighting, with the headband being a source of inspiration and pride for the fighter.

During training, Thai fighters will learn a lot about their spiritual well being, the history of Muay Thai, and the skills they need to survive.  Fighters that plan to compete in Thai fights will need to practice a lot, as the fights can be very demanding.  Thai training can be very brutal, all depending on where you study.  If you are studying the ancient arts of Thai boxing, you can count on the training to be very rigorous and demanding.

Although Muay Thai can be a tough art to practice, it is one of the best martial arts that you can study.  The techniques are lethal, the training is tough - yet the competitions make it all worth while!

Technorati Tags: kickboxing, Martial Arts, muay thai

A majority of the offensive techniques that are used in Muay Thai utilize a students hands, feet, elbows, and knees to strike an opponent.  In order to bind the opponent for both defensive and offensive reasons, there is a small amount of grappling on the feet that is used - the clinch.

The clinch occurs when someone gets in your circle of radius, inside of your comfort zone.  To execute knees and short kicks from the inside, the clinch can be very useful.  The Thai fighter makes great use of the clinch, tying up on opponent on the feet then pounding his stomach, ribs, knees, and legs with brutal knees. Knees are very popular techniques with Muay Thai, as Thai fighters spend a lot of time training their strikes - especially knees and elbows.

Although high kicks to the opponents head looks amazing during the fights, experienced Thai fighters always say that knees and elbows have a lot more impact, and they do the most damage to the body.  If a Thai fighter is very experienced and has enough power in his strikes, he can quickly and easily kill someone with his techniques.

In all Muay Thai techniques, two in particular have become very popular with other styles of martial arts.

The roundhouse kick
The roundhouse Thai kick is a very useful technique for both self defense and competitions, proving to be very efficient when it is executed properly.  Thai stylists execute the roundhouse kick by a straight leg and the entire body rotating out from the hip.  The hip is locked shortly before the thrown leg makes impact with the opponent.  If executed properly, the roundhouse kick can easily render someone unconscious.

The low kick
The low kick is a common Muay Thai attack, that involves a circular movement from the stylist’s body to kick the opponent in his upper shin area.  If the low kick isn’t blocked or defended, it can quickly lead to fight being ended.  After a few well placed low kicks, the opponent will be unable to put pressure on his legs due to the bruising, and will eventually crumble.

With other martial arts styles, such as Tae Kwon Do, stylists use snapping kicks that are indeed faster to execute, although they have less power. Muay Thai on the other hand, teaches stylists to follow through with kicks, using the shin instead of the foot.  Nearly all of the techniques involved with Muay Thai emphasis movement with the entire body, which means rotating the hip each time the stylist kicks, punches, or blocks.  The techniques are slower, although they are far more powerful that techniques found in Tae Kwon Do and even Karate.

As a lot of people already know, the training and conditioning training found in Muay Thai is nothing short of legendary for the intensity and rigorous training.  The training in Muay Thai aims to harden the weapons used in the martial art to a high degree.  Students who have been training in Muay Thai for many years can absorb a beating, yet if they land a shin kick it will feel as if you have just been hit with a sledgehammer.

All in all, Muay Thai is a very dangerous martial art that teaches punishing blows with very little grappling.  Thai stylists are physical strong, capable of taking an opponent out with just one well placed strike.  Muay Thai is also one of the most well known and most popular styles in the world today - which is why you shouldn’t hesitate to study.

Technorati Tags: Martial Arts, muay thai