It is said that it takes over 50.000 yrs for the human genome to evolve and we have really only been civilized that last 100 years though most would say we are still pretty savage……..so I’m sure when we practice some form of Martial Arts we are tapping into our warrior spirit. 

I see it all the time when I slip some gloves on someone I don’t care if it’s a man or women 20 yrs old or70yrs old when I put on the focus mitts and they start punching at me ……they just get into that paleo zone……. 

For good health benefits you don’t have to necessarily spar full contact I think just Kicking a heavy bag , focus mitts or a little friendly grappling is all you need with out risk if injury. 

I’m a lifelong Martial Arts practitioner. I started training in Tae Kwon Do and received my 1^st degree Black Belt about 25 yrs ago. I now teach and practice Muay Thai Style Kickboxing 

I train under an excellent Instructor Larry Borden based in Ft Lauderdale , Fla. At the Hammer Gym .Larry is the real deal a Former Professional Muay Thai Fighter and a great Instructor.  

Note: I’ll be including some articles with Kickboxing drills and interview Martial Artist so stay tuned. 

History & overview of Muay Thai 

The word muay derives from the Sanskrit mavya and Thai comes from the word Tai. Muay Thai is referred to as the “Art of Eight Limbs” or the “Science Of Eight Limbs” because it makes use of punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes, thus using eight “points of contact”, as opposed to “two points” (fists) in Western boxing and “four points” (hands and feet) used in sport-oriented martial arts. 

The punch techniques in Muay Thai were originally quite chodee being crosses and a long (or lazy) circular strike made with a straight (but not locked) arm and landing with the heel of the palm. Cross-fertilization with Western boxing and western martial arts mean the full range of western boxing punches are now used: straight right/cross, hook, uppercut, shovel and corkscrew punches and overhands as well as hammer fists and back fists. 

As a tactic, body punching is used less in Muay Thai than most other striking martial arts to avoid exposing the attacker’s head to counter strikes from knees or elbows. To utilize the range of targeting points, in keeping with the centre line theory, the fighter can use either the Western or Thai stance which allows for either long range or short range attacks to be undertaken effectively without compromising guard. 

The elbow can be used in several ways as a striking weapon: horizontal, diagonal-upwards, diagonal-downwards, uppercut, downward, backward-spinning and flying. From the side it can be used as either a finishing move or as a way to cut the opponent’s eyebrow so that blood might block his vision. The diagonal elbows are faster than the other forms, but are less powerful. 

There is also a distinct difference between a single elbow and a follow-up elbow. The single elbow is an elbow move independent from any other move, whereas a follow-up elbow is the second strike from the same arm, being a hook or straight punch first with an elbow follow-up. Such elbows, and most other elbow strikes, are used when the distance between fighters becomes too small and there is too little space to throw a hook at the opponent’s head. Elbows can also be utilized to great effect as blocks or defenses against, for example, spring knees, side body knees, body kicks or punches. 

Kicking 

Straight Kick 

Roundhouse Kick 

Diagonal Kick 

Half-Shin, Half-Knee Kick 

Spinning Heel Kick 

Down Roundhouse Kick 

Axe Heel Kick 

Jump Kick 

Step-Up Kick 

The two most common kicks in Muay Thai are known as the teep (literally “foot jab”) and the teh chiang (kicking upwards in the shape of a triangle cutting under the arm and ribs) or angle kick. The Muay Thai angle kick uses a rotational movement of the entire body and has been widely adopted by practitioners of other martial arts. It is superficially similar to a karate roundhouse kick, but omits the rotation of the lower leg from the knee used in other striking martial arts like most karate or taekwondo because like Kyukushin, Goju, and Kenpo it is done from a circular stance with the back leg just a little ways back in comparison to instinctive upper body fighting(boxing). This comes with the added risk of having the groin vulnerable at all times which is agaisnt Karate and Tae Kwon Do ideology in general except for brief moments after a kick for example. The angle kick draws its power entirely from the rotational movement of the body; the hips. It is thought many fighters use a counter rotation of the arms to intensify the power of this kick, but in actuality the power is from the hips and the arms are put in said position to get them out of the way. 

If a roundhouse kick is attempted by the opponent, the Thai boxer will normally check the kick, that is he will block the kick with his own shin. Thai boxers are trained to always connect with the shin. The foot contains many fine bones and is much weaker. A fighter may end up hurting himself if he tries to strike with his foot or instep. 

Muay Thai also includes other varieties of kicking such as the side kick and spinning back kick. These kicks are only used in bouts by some fighters. 

Knee Strikes: 

Straight Knee Strike 

Diagonal Knee Strike 

Curving Knee Strike 

Horizontal Knee Strike 

Knee Slap 

Knee Bomb 

Jumping Knee 

Step-Up Knee Strike 

(Jumping knee strike) – the boxer jumps up on one leg and strikes with that leg’s knee. 

(Flying knee strike) – the boxer takes a step(s), jumps forward and off one leg and strikes with that leg’s knee. 

(Straight knee strike) – the boxer simply thrusts it forward but not upwards, unless he is holding an opponents head down in a clinch and intend to knee upwards into the face. 

Foot-thrust (teep) 

The foot-thrust or literally “foot jab” is one of the techniques in Muay Thai. It is mainly used as a defensive technique to control distance or block attacks. Foot-thrusts should be thrown quickly but yet with enough force to knock an opponent off balance. 

Straight Foot-Thrust 

Sideways Foot-Thrust 

Reverse Foot-Thrust 

Slapping Foot-Thrust 

Jumping Foot-Thrust 

Clinch & Neck Wrestling (Muay Thai clinch) 

In Western boxing the two fighters are separated when they clinch; in Muay Thai, however, they are not. It is often in the clinch where knee and elbow techniques are used. To strike and bind the opponent for both offensive and defensive purposes, small amounts of stand-up grappling are used in the clinch. The front clinch should be performed with the palm of one hand on the back of the other. There are three reasons why the fingers must not be intertwined. 1) In the ring fighters are wearing boxing gloves and cannot intertwine their fingers. 2) The Thai front clinch involves pressing the head of the opponent downwards, which is easier if the hands are locked behind the back of the head instead of behind the neck. Furthermore the arms should be putting as much pressure on the neck as possible. 3) A fighter may incur an injury to one or more fingers if they are intertwined, and it becomes more difficult to release the grip in order to quickly elbow the opponent’s head. 

A correct clinch also involves the fighter’s forearms pressing against the opponent’s collar bone while the hands are around the opponent’s head rather than the opponent’s neck. The general way to get out of a clinch is to push the opponent’s head backwards or elbow them, as the clinch requires both participants to be very close to one another. Additionally, the non-dominant clincher can try to “swim” their arm underneath and inside the opponent’s clinch, establishing the previously non-dominant clincher as the dominant clincher. 

Muay Thai has several other variants of the clinch, including: 

arm clinch: One or both hands controls the inside of the defender’s arm(s) and where the second hand if free is in the front clinch position. This clinch is used to briefly control the opponent before applying a knee strike or throw 

side clinch: One arm passes around the front of the defender with the attacker’s shoulder pressed into the defender’s arm pit and the other arm passing round the back which allows the attacker to apply knee strikes to the defender’s back or to throw the defender readily. 

low clinch: Both controlling arms pass under the defender’s arms, which is generally used by the shorter of two opponents. 

swan-neck: One hand around the rear of the neck is used to briefly clinch an opponent before a strike. 

Defense against attacks 

Defenses in Muay Thai are categorized in 6 groups: 

Blocking – defender’s hard blocks to stop a strike in its path so preventing it reaching its target (e.g. the shin block ) 

Redirection – defender’s soft parries to change the direction of a strike (e.g. a downwards tap to a jab) so that it misses the target 

Avoidance – moving a body part out of the way or range of a strike so the defender remains in range for a counter-strike. For example, the defender moves their front leg backwards to avoid the attacker’s low kick, then immediately counters with an angle kick. Or the defender might lay their head back from the attacker’s high angle kick then counter-attacks with a side kick. 

Evasion – moving the body out of the way or range of a strike so the defender has to move close again to counter-attack, e.g. defender jumping back from attacker’s kicks 

Disruption – Pre-empting an attack e.g. with defender using disruptive techniques like jab, foot-thrust or low angle kick (to the inside of the attacker’s front leg) as the attacker attempts to close distance 

Anticipation – Defender catching a strike (e.g. catching an angle kick to the body) or countering it before it lands (e.g. defender’s low kick to the supporting leg below as the attacker initiates a high angle kick). 

Punches and kicks 

Defensively, the concept of “wall of defence” is used, in which shoulders, arms and legs are used to hinder the attacker from successfully executing techniques. Blocking is a critical element in Muay Thai and compounds the level of conditioning a successful practitioner must possess. Low and mid body roundhouse kicks are normally blocked with the upper portion of a raised shin. High body strikes are blocked with the forearm, glove, elbow or shin. Mid section roundhouse kicks can also be caught/trapped, allowing for a sweep or counter attack to the remaining leg of the opponent. Punches are blocked with an ordinary boxing guard and techniques similar, if not identical, to basic boxing technique. A common means of blocking a punch is using the hand on the same side as the oncoming punch. For example, if an orthodox fighter throws a jab (being the left hand), the defender will make a slight tap to redirect the punch’s angle with the right hand. The deflection is always as small and precise as possible to avoid unnecessary energy expenditure and return the hand to the guard as quickly as possible. Hooks are most often blocked with a motion most often described as “combing the hair”, that is, raising the elbow forward and effectively shielding the head with the forearm, flexed biceps and shoulder. More advanced Muay Thai blocks are usually counters, used to damage the opponent to prevent another attack being made. 

Conditioning 

Muay Thai has a heavy focus on body conditioning. Muay Thai is specifically designed to promote the level of fitness and toughness required for ring competition. Training regimens include many staples of combat sport conditioning such as running, shadowboxing, rope jumping, body weight resistance exercises, medicine ball exercises, abdominal exercises, heavy bag training and in some cases weight training. 

Training that is specific to a Muay Thai fighter includes training with coaches on Thai pads, focus mitts, heavy bag, and sparring. The daily training includes many rounds (3-5 minute periods broken up by a short rest, often 1–2 minutes) of these various methods of practice. Thai pad training is a cornerstone of Muay Thai conditioning which involves practicing punches, kicks, knees, and elbow strikes with a trainer wearing thick pads which cover the forearms and hands. These special pads are used to absorb the impact of the fighter’s strikes and allow the fighter to react to the attacks of the pad holder. The trainer will often also wear a belly pad around the abdominal area so that the fighter can attack with straight kicks or knees to the body at anytime during the round. 

Focus mitts are specific to training a fighter’s hand speed, punch combinations, timing, punching power, defense, and counter-punching and may also be used to practice elbow strikes. Heavy bag training is a conditioning and power exercise that reinforces the techniques practiced on the pads. Sparring is a means to test technique, skills, range, strategy, and timing against a partner. Sparring is often a light to medium contact exercise because competitive fighters on a full schedule are not advised to risk injury by sparring hard. Specific tactics and strategies can be trained with sparring including in close fighting, clinching and kneeing only, cutting off the ring, or using reach and distance to keep an aggressive fighter away. 

Due to the rigorous training regimen (some Thai boxers fight almost every other week) professional Muay Thai fighters have relatively short careers in the ring. Many retire from competition to begin instructing the next generation of Thai fighters. It is a common myth that Thai boxing causes arthritis[citation needed]; this is not true, and it is in no way more damaging to the body than other sport or even running. Most professional Thai boxers come from the lower economic backgrounds, and the fight money (after the other parties get their cut) is sought as means of support for the fighters and their families. Very few higher economic strata Thais join the professional Muay Thai ranks; they usually either don’t practice the sport or practice it only as amateur Muay Thai boxers.