The Basic Muay Thai Kickboxing Techniques

Unlike boxing, Muay Thai kickboxing uses eight points of contact, which is mainly the hands, elbows, knees and feet. These eight points of contact is used to deliver powerful blows to the opponents and it is also used for defense. In the past, Muay Thai kickboxing was only popular in Thailand as well as other Southeast Asian countries.

Research suggests that the Muay Thai fighting style originated in Chinese and Indian martial arts. Because this contact sport uses eight points of contact, it is also referred to as the Art of Eight Limbs. In the past, the head was allowed in Muay Thai fights. It’s only recently when Muay Thai became an international sport that the head is no longer allowed in the fights.

In Muay Thai, you will see small amount of grappling or clinching between fighters. This technique can serve as a way to defend or attack. Basically, the techniques that you need to learn are divided in to two groups, which are the Mae Mai or the major techniques and the Luk Mai or minor techniques.

You also have to remember that all the techniques used in Muay Thai uses the entire body movement and rotating the hip partially or fully with every kick, punch, and block. This is basically the reason why Muay Thai sets itself apart from other fighting styles or martial arts.

In Muay Thai, you will develop several punching techniques, such as the straight punch, swing, hook, spinning back fist, upper cut, over head punch, and cobra punch.

In Muay Thai, the judges score fewer points to fighters using the punching technique. This is mainly because they are less effective than powerful kicks and knee strikes. You will also find that body punching is used less in this contact sport as it exposes the head of the fighter to the knee or elbow of their opponents.

You also need to develop your elbow techniques, such as the elbow slash, upper cut elbow, horizontal elbow, forward elbow thrust, reverse horizontal elbow, elbow chop, spinning elbow, mid air elbow, and the double elbow chop.

The elbow does a lot of damage to the opponent. Mainly used as a finishing move or in order to cut the opponent’s eyebrow to affect his or her vision, the elbow is a very effective weapon when you are a Muay Thai fighter.

Kicking techniques are also important. In fact, most Muay Thai fighters use kicks a lot and you will need to develop several kicking techniques, such as the straight kick, nutcracker kick, roundhouse kick, half spin, half knee kick, diagonal kick, spinning hill kick, down round house kick, jump kick, axe hill kick, and step up kick.

When using the kicking technique, Muay Thai fighters are often taught to hit with his or her shin. Although the shin is very sensitive for the untrained person, you will find that after developing your shin strength, it will be a powerful and devastating weapon that you can use against your opponent.

You also have to learn Knee techniques, such as the straight knee strike, diagonal knee strike, curving knee strike, horizontal knee strike, knee bomb, knee slap, flying knee strike, and the step up knee strike.

The knees are very effective especially when you clinch your opponent. If used properly, knee strikes can finish the fight early with a KO.

There are a lot of techniques that you have to learn in Muay Thai. These are just some of the basic offensive techniques that you can use when you are a Muay Thai fighter. By developing and perfecting these techniques, you can be sure that you will be able to increase your chances of winning whenever you are inside the ring.
