Advanced Muay Thai
Is a Martial Art from THAILAND that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. It is similar to other styles of Kickboxing. Muay Thai is the National Sport of Thailand.
The word MUAY derives from the Sanskrit mayya and THAI comes fro 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" such as fists in Western boxing and "four points" which is hands and feet used in other sport-oriented martial arts.
>A practioner of Muay Thai is known as a "Nak Muay". Western practitioners are sometimes called "Nak Muay Farang" meaning foreign.
Like most competitive full contact fighting sports, 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, jumping rope, resistance training, medicine ball exercises, abdominal conditioning and in some cases free 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 in a realistic fight manner. The trainer will also often 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 conditioning, 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.
Techniques including kicks, punches and the extensive use of knees and elbows, Muay Thai is often referred to as the science of 8 limbs. It is an effective martial art originally from Thailand. Muay Thai distinguishes itself from western kickboxing and other striking arts by 3 things:
THE CLINCH - Some stand up grappling, where the fighter tries to control the opponent’s head and use knees and elbows in close range.
THAI LOW KICK - Involves kicking the opponent's outer thigh with the upper part of the shin.
THAI SWING KICK - To perform the thai swing kick, the entire body rotates from the hip and the leg is straight an "locked" just as it makes contact. Other standup martial arts have the tendency to utilize "snappy" kicks, which are faster but less powerful or menacing. It has been said that getting hit with a Thai kick is analogous to being hit by a baseball bat.
Equipment Needed:
Thai shorts, T-shirt, Handwraps, 16 oz. Gloves. If sparring is involved additional equipment such as a Mouthguard, Shin pads and Headgear are recommended.
