MUAY THAI

Muay Thai, which translates to “Thai Boxing”, is the national sport of Thailand. It is a martial art with roots originating from military use dating back to around the 13th century during the time of the Sukhothai Kingdom.

Muay Thai is known as the “Art of 8 limbs” because it makes use of 8 points of contact namely, punches, elbows, knees, and kicks. This differentiates it from other stand-up combat sports such as boxing (2 points - fists) and karate (4 points - fists and feet).

Muay Thai Techniques

Muay Thai techniques can be generally categorized into attack, defense, and counter technique. Proficiency in Muay Thai requires constant practice, drilling the techniques over and over until they form part of muscle memory.

Training begins with learning the basic stance and movement. With the chin tucked in, the body is kept upright and hands in guard position to protect the head, and feet are kept roughly shoulder-width apart. This posture allows the fighter to be in balance and ready to strike or defend when appropriate.

Attacking techniques consist of punches, elbow strikes, knee strikes, kicks, push kicks, and clinches. Defense techniques consist of blocks, lean backs, deflections, leg catches, and dodges. These techniques mix and match to combine into combinations (combo) that can be used for attack or counter. Each attacking technique includes a series of variations.