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Muay Thai's Elbow Basics

Probably the most feared of all techniques in Muay Thai is the Elbow Strikes. With good reason! One well placed elbow can put the toughest Thai boxer on the mat.  

There are a number of different Muay Thai elbow strikes from numerous angles. I will try to discuss the most commonly used Thai boxing strikes.

In Muay Thai when you strike with the elbow, you ideally want to hit with the sharp pointy bone. If you were to hold your arm in front of you as if you were throwing a hook punch, the part of the elbow that you want to strike with is the sharp pointy bone on the bottom. Make sure in Muay Thai that you are striking with this part of the elbow rather than flush or with the top part of the bone; you should hold your open palm towards the target.

In Thai Boxing it is very important that you keep your guard high and tight when executing elbows. If you throw an elbow, rest assured in Muay Thai you will be given one in turn. Keep your Muay Thai guard high so that your wrists are at eyebrow level.

In Thai boxing do not reach for the elbow strike. With very few exceptions, the elbows should be thrown at clinching range. They are designed to be subtle, yet quick and powerful. If you extend to far from your body, they lose power and are easily seen and avoided by your Thai boxing opponent.

Because you are standing very close to your Muay Thai opponent, you must widen your stance to maintain balance. Face it, when that close, your Thai boxing opponent will grab you and try to throw you off balance. Learn to use the elbows when clinching... find your opening and strike quickly!

Keep your elbows glued to the side of your body for as long as possible when executing a Muay Thai elbow strike. This makes the elbow harder to see coming. Also, the closer the elbow is to your body the harder the strike will be.

The Horizontal Muay Thai Elbow Strike: Thrown the same exact way as a hook punch in western boxing. Make sure that both feet rotate.

The Uppercut Thai boxing Elbow Strike: This elbow is best used to defend against a Thai boxing punch. Step inside the Thai boxing punch, bending your legs a bit. Bring the Muay Thai elbow straight up as you straighten your legs ALL THE WAY OVER YOUR HEAD! Keep the arm bent. Your hand should reach back and practically be touching your shoulder. As you straighten up and execute this Muay Thai elbow, you should rotate your body sideways to get the extra torque into the strike.

The Vertical or Diagonal Muay Thai Elbow Strike: This Muay Thai strike is one of the hardest to learn, yet the most effective. Most people are aware that a Thai boxer uses the Peek-a-Boo guard. If you throw a horizontal Muay Thai elbow, you only hit his guard. What you want to do in this case is throw your elbow so that it comes straight down the middle, in between his Thai boxing guard hands. In many ways, this elbow is similar to the horizontal Muay Thai elbow, except that you lean over your opposite knee as you throw. For example, you are in an orthodox stance (left-side forward) you wish to throw the right handed diagonal Muay Thai elbow strike. Step with your left foot sideways as you lean your upper body over your left knee. Throw the elbow as you are leaning so that the otherwise Horizontal Muay Thai elbow is now striking vertically in between his Thai boxing guard hands.

These are the three most basic Muay Thai elbow strikes.

Muay Thai Pad Drills

Regarding what type of Muay Thai pads to get. For those of you who are interested in picking up your own, here are a couple quality brands:

1-Twins
2-Fairtex
3-Windy

A few notes about using the Thai boxing pads first:

1-grasp the Muay Thai pads so that your palm is towards your opponent, not towards your face

2-When you are the Muay Thai pad holder; stand in your normal stance, facing your opponent. The Thai boxing pads are designed so that the Muay Thai boxer can train realistically against a human opponent. Stand in your normal Muay Thai boxing stance, and then adjust to the attack as it is thrown. This way, the Thai pad holder also gets experience reacting to attacks.

3-When holding for Thai boxing kicks, hold the Muay Thai pads parallel and rotate to face the Muay Thai kick as it is coming so that the Muay Thai kick can impact both Thai pads flush.

4-When holding for knees, many people hold the pads parallel in front of them, as if they are crossing their arms. We prefer to have our Muay Thai students hold the pads in an "X" or crossed. It is a more stable way to hold them.

5-When holding the Muay Thai pads for any technique, you must create a solid target for your opponent to hit. Do not hold the Muay Thai pads lazily so that there is no impact. It will do nothing for your Thai boxing training partner, and besides, if you hold them weakly, the Muay Thai pads can be kicked into your own face. I have seen many black eyes, bloody noses and lips because people are not holding the Muay Thai pads correctly. When the strike comes, press the Thai boxing pads into the hit to create a solid impact.

6-A good Muay Thai pad Holder will push their Thai boxing training partner to exhaustion. After a session of pad drills, the attacker should be ready to puke!

Muay Thai Kicking Drills

For one, you can have the Muay Thai kicker alternate kicks for an entire round. Left-right-left-right... The Muay Thai kicker needs to keep up a good solid pace. Do not rest in between unless necessary! Don't be lazy! Most of the time, when holding the pads for Muay Thai roundhouse kicks; you hold them at mid body level. Even if you use Thai boxing style kicks mainly to attack the legs, you will benefit from practicing them higher, as it requires you to work harder.

Multiple Muay Thai kicks on one side can be practiced also. The Thai boxing student should kick repeatedly from one side. In between kicks, the kicking foot should only lightly touch to the floor before kicking again. The Thai boxing student should stay leaned away to facilitate the multiple kicks.

Muay Thai low kicks can be practiced by holding the Thai boxing pads against your thigh. Dangle it over your thigh while standing in your normal Thai boxing stance. Make sure to push away the top part of the pad into the Muay Thai kick to help absorb the power of the kick. Do not hold it flush, or you will not be able to take more than 3 or 4 kicks. It is advised not to use buckled Muay Thai pads for this drill as the buckles will gouge your flesh.

Muay Thai knee drills

Have the Muay Thai boxer practice free standing straight knees, or clinch knees. Student doing Thai boxing should do a skipping footwork to alternate knees. For instance, if I just kneed with my right, as my right foot drops to the floor, the left skips backwards to load up the left knee. Again, you can also drill multiple knees on the same side. Instead of dropping the knee to the front, bring it all the way back, continually loading for the next knee.

Thai boxing push kicking drills

Muay Thai pads are not conducive to push kicking drills. Either allow the Thai boxing student to push kick you, or invest in a belly protector. If you invest in a belly protector, stick to the above brands and try to find Velcro straps.

The Muay Thai pad holder has a great deal of responsibility to the Thai boxing student, as the Muay Thai pad holder dictates the pace of the workout. You should push the Muay Thai student. If your Muay Thai student is slacking or lollygagging, hit them with the pad, or throw a roundhouse Muay Thai kick and demand that they get to work. Constantly push them and shout out directions for them. Also, constantly move around and change the range. Force the Thai boxing student to adjust and use footwork.

For example, the drills already mentioned are only working one given technique at a time. Change directions and the range so that the Muay Thai boxer is forced to constantly adjust to get the technique right. If they are slacking, tell them to strike harder or faster. Tell them that they are weak! Tell them that you expect to feel the pain in the morning!

Keeping in mind all of the above advice for the Muay Thai pad holder; let's move on to combination drills...

When directing Thai boxing combination drills, the Muay Thai pad holder should vary between having the attacker execute the techniques/combos for power, or for speed. Do not change in the middle of the round. The round is either a power or speed round. In most cases, the Muay Thai pad holder dictates what combo's are to be used. When holding the Thai boxing pads for combos, use your imagination. Try to add variety, but not too much that the boxer does not get a good dose of the basics.

If you have an experienced Thai boxing student who is very good, you can just hold the targets for the Muay Thai boxer to hit, as the boxer should learn over time what strike you want based on what position you are holding the pads in.

With Muay Thai fighters, or fight hopefuls, a drill I like to do is to "suit up" wearing belly protector, Muay Thai shin pads, elbow pads, Thai pads, and headgear. Again, The Muay Thai instructor should call the combo's for full power. With all the gear on, the Thai boxing student can perform low kicks, and I, as the Muay Thai instructor can also attack if the Thai boxing student starts to slack. Typically, stick to jabs, push kicks, and round kicks at your Muay Thai student to make sure that they stay busy and sharp.

Finally, I will do some rounds where the Muay Thai fighter simply attacks in combos as he feels fit to do. It is my job to adjust to his attack. He can low kick, punch, clinch knee, elbow, whatever he has in his Muay Thai arsenal. Since I am completely covered in protective gear, I am minimizing the chance of an accident. This drill should be reserved for the most experienced Thai boxing student, who will be able to do this without injuring each other AND taking the drill seriously.
 

Conditioning the Shins for Muay Thai

Here is a short post on shin conditioning, as in Muay Thai this often becomes a subject of pain for beginners 1.When doing Muay Thai Kicking the Heavy Bag and Thai pads will begin our preparation, you should kick over 100x's each day we recommend 300x's, or around that figure. 2. Before your Muay Thai training every so often and massage the shins or while in Thailand seek out the popular Thai Massage, the vigorous massing will keep the blood flowing into them. This promotes faster healing of the bruised flesh and any damage to the bone suffered during our Muay Thai training 3. Do not "tap" or "beat" your shins with sticks, boards, bottles, a good Muay Thai instructor will always steer you away from any such practice. This causes bruises, knots, etc to form on the shin. These painful little areas may stick with you for quite some time and interfere with your Muay Thai training. There has been mention of the popular myth that in old age, Muay Thai boxers shins become soft, this is not true! I have spoken with many older, retired Muay Thai boxers; none of them have experienced any detrimental health issues concerning the conditioning of their shins and legs. Another age old myth is that Muay Thai boxers would go out and Kick trees till their legs were bloody, this may have been true in Thailand and other countries years ago but these days Muay Thai trainers have gained knowledge and respect in their advanced techniques.

The Low Roundhouse Kick of Muay

Thai How to? The Low Roundhouse Kick of Muay Thai 1-There is a # of varieties to this Muay Thai kick. All Muay Thai camp instructors should discuss all of the following this article will offer. Most Muay Thai camps will go into variations after basic have been established. 2-Remember, with the Low Roundhouse kick of Muay Thai, the target area ranges from a Thai boxer’s ankle up to his upper thigh. 3-I will try to break this up into a few steps, but remember, when this Muay Thai kick is actually executed, all the steps flow together into one motion. When performing this Muay Thai kick, you must first be at the correct distance from your opponent. Unlike straight kicks and snap kicks the body momentum is generated by stepping sideways at an angle, rather than towards your Muay Thai opponent. The correct distance for this kick is when your Muay Thai opponent is just beyond boxing range. During Muay Thai training, extend your lead hand to your Thai boxing opponent or target. You should be able to touch the Thai boxing opponent or target by simply leaning forward a little bit. #1-STEP AND LEAN: Step sideways at a 45 degree angle to the intended Muay Thai opponent. As you step, your stepping foot should start to rotate. Make sure you are stepping on the tips of your toes, not on a flat foot. As you step, you should lean your body in the direction that you step. This helps get your body momentum going, which is a key ingredient to this Muay Thai kick. 2-ROTATE (and lean): Your entire body most rotate on the ball of your foot. Your leg should be straight (or very close to straight) during the entire Muay Thai kick. As you rotate and kick, as in all Muay Thai, your body should stay leaned away from the kicking leg. This acts as a counterbalance of sorts, and gets the weight of your upper body behind this strong and powerful Muay Thai kick. #3-IMPACT: When the leg strikes your intended Muay Thai target, it should strike with the lower portion of the shinbone and/or the very upper part of the instep. The momentum of this Muay Thai kick should follow through the target. This Muay Thai kick does not stop at impact! Following through on this kick and all Muay Thai is probably the most important facet of Muay Thai. Think of your leg as a baseball bat, Swing it all the way through you opposing Muay Thai opponent, attempting to break through everything in your path. #4-Angles and Leaning: do not attempt any Muay Thai kick if you are standing too far away from your Thai boxing opponent. This forces you to step into you’re opposing Muay Thai athlete when covering the distance, and gets your body's momentum traveling in the wrong direction. When you lean away and perform this Muay Thai kick, lean far enough away so that your head is out of reach of your Muay Thai opponents punches. Especially during all Muay Thai low kicks, as you have to stand closer to your opponent while executing them. #5-Imapcting: Swing your leg in a "dead legged" style using your hip, very similar to kicking a soccer ball or football; in Muay Thai you should never snap your leg, like in karate. Follow all the way through your intended Muay Thai target. If you were to miss, the kick would literally spin you around! When this Muay Thai kick impacts with your Muay Thai target, the heel of your support foot should be pointing at your target. Remember to keep the foot extended! When practicing Muay Thai many people forget to do this because in Muay Thai you are kicking with the shin and therefore forget to pay mind to what they do with their foot. Kicking with a "lazy ankle" leads to injuries; once again a good Muay Thai trainer will be sure that your kicks are connecting with the proper parts of your body. The impact with the intended Muay Thai target (when the kick is thrown correctly) creates a "rebound" effect. Learn to use this to get yourself back into Muay Thai fighting stance rather than "retracting" your leg. The most common target in Muay Thai is the outside of your opponents lead leg on the thigh. However, do not forget that the rest of the leg, both inside and out is a legal target. #6 Targeting: Remember, for those who have studied kicking styles other Muay Thai, the impact area is now the lower shinbone. That means you have to adjust your kicking range to reflect the Muay Thai style. This a small, but very important adjustment. In Muay Thai the support leg bends when kicking low, the lower your kick, the lower you bend your support leg. Remember to still stay on your tippy toes, as in Muay Thai staying on your toes and swinging your hips through your kick will generate maximum power. With the higher kicks in Muay Thai like the roundhouse kick, some Muay Thai boxers straighten the support leg when kicking, some don't. I recommend trying both ways to see which feels more comfortable, gives you more power, and allows you to keep your balance. When kicking (or performing any Muay Thai technique) it is important to remember that the feet, hips and shoulders all move as a single unit! There should never be any twist to your body. If the feet rotate to the left, your hips and shoulders rotate to the left with them. By moving the body as one unit, the Muay Thai boxer is able to get his or her full weight into his or her strikes.

Muay Thai, dropping lead hand when kicking

Muay Thai boxers do typically drop one of their hands when executing a Muay Thai roundhouse kick. The reason, as you may have guessed is for both leverage and added power. Though you were referring only to the lead side Muay Thai roundhouse kick, and the dropping of the lead hand, the same is true for the rear legged Muay Thai roundhouse kick. For one, Muay Thai roundhouse kicks from the lead leg are naturally weaker because they do not benefit anywhere near as much from the body's powerful rotation during the Muay Thai kick. When the lead hand "drops" it does not actually just drop, but is swung. The swing is to: #1-generate additional power while during our Muay Thai Kick #2-help the Muay Thai boxer maintain his/her balance. #3- A not well known reason (unless you study Muay Thai or are a Muay Thai instructor) is that the swing arm can be used to interfere with your Muay Thai opponent. You are sticking it in his face and brushing boxing skills and guard away. #4-The arm may drop, but the shoulder does NOT! When a Muay Thai boxer kicks, he is leaning away from the kicking leg. Doing this adds more of the body's weight to the force of the Muay Thai kick and gets the Thai boxers head out of the way of a counterstrike. Also, in Muay Thai only one arm drops! The other should come up in front of the face in a high guard position that places the elbow near jaw level and the hand practically above the head. This creates a more solid barrier. The shoulder of the arm that is dropped protects the jaw from powerful Muay Thai kicks.

Muay Thai clinch fighting in combat sports

Clinch fighting is the primary focus of many combat sports such as Muay Thai and it is also a fundamental part of mixed martial arts. The nature of the clinch fighting in each sport depends on the rules involved. Muay Thai puts much emphasis on strikes from the clinch, while avoiding take downs. Similarly to all is that they allow the grappling necessary to form a clinch. Others combat sports like Western Boxing or Kickboxing only allow clinching for a short time or do not allow it at all. If clinching is disallowed, which will not be the case in Muay Thai but will be the case in K1 the clinching fighter will be issued a warning, or the referee will restart the fight from a distance. Muay Thai clinching: If you have a strong ground game Muay Thai can improve your stand up skills as well as improving your clinching skills. Muay Thai will not only teach you better stand up skills thru the devastating strikes, but can also teach you to strike from the clinch rather than just defending a take down. In a Muay Thai clinch many close range strikes such as elbows and uppercuts are used to break from a clinch or end a fight. Muay Thai can also effectively be used to avoid being taken down if your ground fighting skills are less than perfect Muay Thai clinching can teach you very effective defense against Greco-Roman or judo take downs and throws. In order for most take down to be successful distance needs to be created between opponents, however Muay Thai teaches you to keep your body close to your opponent at all times and when your opponent tries to create space a quick Muay Thai elbow will be sure to end a fight quicker than it started. If avoiding the take down and winning your fight on your feet is your objective there is no better martial art form than Muay Thai. Striking techniques used through Clinching and Muay Thai A multitude of striking techniques exist that can be used effectively from the clinch. Punching in the clinch, also sometimes referred to as "dirty boxing" is an important aspect of Muay Thai and mixed martial arts. Short looping punches such as hooks and uppercuts (often used in a Muay Thai clinch) can be used effectively from the single collar tie position. Although disallowed in many combat sports, elbows which are fair game in Muay Thai and head butts which are disallowed and a foul may be given by the referee can also be effectively used from the clinch. The short distance in the clinch nullifies kicking to some extent, but some kicks are still effective. In Muay Thai the double collar tie is used to control an opponent while kneeing to the head or midsection, and stomps are used in some mixed martial arts competitions to kick the feet of the opponent.