The Elbows The elbows provide a dangerous form of attack, predominantly used to cut the opponent when in a clinch or to knock out an opponent when delivered to the temple or nose. The elbow is very versatile weapon that can also be thrown from different angles: from the side in a slashing motion, upward [...]
The Elbows
The elbows provide a dangerous form of attack, predominantly used to cut the opponent when in a clinch or to knock out an opponent when delivered to the temple or nose. The elbow is very versatile weapon that can also be thrown from different angles: from the side in a slashing motion, upward motion, downward aiming at the top of the head, collar bone or nose, in a spinning motion aimed at the temple. There are too many to go into for this article.
Knees
In Muay Thai punches are rarely thrown to the stomach area, as the knee is a much more effective weapon. The proper way to throw the basic knee is to thrust it straight upwards; powerful and sharp. Stand up on your toes. Lift yourself up with a straight leg. Step forward into the attack always keeping your hand high in guard. Fold your leg as tightly as possible and point the toes and lean back as you thrust forward with the knee. This will get you out elbow and perhaps punching range and also deliver a more powerful strike
The Roundhouse Kick
This basic Muay Thai round house kick unlike some other martial arts uses the shin not the foot as the weapon. The leg is swung against the target, while the hips and trunk are simultaneously twisted in the same direction as the swing. Power comes from the buttocks and the hips move forward. Raise yourself up on your toes, let the power go with the leg and remember to follow through, like swinging a baseball bat. Don’t jump off the ground when you kick though slower to deliver than kicks from other martial arts.
The Thai round house delivers a more powerful blow. The roundhouse kick has three areas of target: low kick aimed at the side of the thigh, calf or behind the knee, the mid kick which aims for the ribs and the high kick which aims for the head
The Teep/Push Kick
The teep is a push kick that can be used for both defense and attack. It is similar to the jab for keeping an opponent at bay and is good for knocking their balance. In general a foot thrust is quickly followed by some other form of attack.
Combinations
These techniques are usually chained together in a “combination” or series of attacks. This is then practiced on the heavy bag or on a pad holder who simulates an actual fight by moving around in the ring and attacking back.
Examples of basic Muay Thai combos that can easily be executed by a beginner are.
Jab-Straight- lead elbow
Teep- round house
Uppercut-hook-knee
Knee-elbow
The complexity of the combinations will grow as the skill level goes up. There are an infinite number of combinations that range from trainer to trainer and depending on the skill set and the strengths of the boxer.
Cool Down
After 3-5 rounds of pad work and further 3-5 rounds of bag work. The boxer would then cool down with some light calisthenics and an abdominal workout. Typically this would compose of a set number of pushups and pull-ups, followed by a variety of abdominal exercises.
It is not that difficult to replicate this workout at home with a minimal amount of equipment. All you would need is some hand wraps, a good set of gloves, a skipping rope, a heavy punching bag, and a timer of sorts.
First warm up by doing a light jog around the block for 5-10mins or you can go straight into the skipping ropes. Do 3 rounds of 3min to begin with and progress to 5min rounds, resting 1min between rounds. Although normal skipping ropes would do, it would be better to use the heavier Thai style ropes so your shoulders get a bit of a workout too.
After doing some light general stretching paying special attention to your hamstrings, proceed to hitting the heavy bag for 5 rounds for 3-5mins, depending on fitness level.
Routine
An example of the heavy of a heavy bag workout would be the following:
Round 1: Work you punches and try to throw combinations of the jab, straight, hook and upper cut. Or you can just hit the bag for power punches using individual techniques.
Round 2: Work on your kicks, individual power round houses and timing the teep (push kick) as the bag swings. You can also do the teep- round house combo.
Round 3: Work the knees. You can throw them individually or while combining them with some punching, you can also hang on to the chains to throw a barrage of alternating knees
Round 4: Work the elbows by throwing them individually or while combining them with punches.
Round 5: Work everything. Punches, elbows, knees, and kicks, move around the bag and don’t stay in one spot. Try to make your own combinations or practice combinations you already know. Go all out.
After working the heavy bag and grabbing a quick break to catch your breath, it’s time to cool down with some body weight exercises.
Depending on fitness levels just scale up or scale down on the following workout:
Pushup and chin ups: do 20 pushups follow immediately with 10 chin-ups or as many as you can. Do this for 4 or 5 sets.
Abdominal workout:
Do a full sit-up with your feet anchored to something for 4-5 sets of 20’s. This will not only strengthen your abdominals but also your hip flexors which are important for snapping that round house. If it gets too easy use some weight resting on your chest. Immediately after every set of sit-ups do a set of crunches till failure.
Of course there are so much more you can do in terms of abdominals and body weight exercises. The key here is to get creative and see how far you can push yourself. It is important to note however that this is a compliment if not a finisher to the main workout which is the Muay Thai workout. If you want to work with weights or get more strengthening, then it might be a good idea to do this on a separate day.
