Muay Thai

Muay Thai also known as Thai Boxing is a combat sport from Thailand that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. 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" (fists) in boxing and "four points" (hands and feet) used in other more regulated martial arts sports, such as kickboxing, boxing, and savate. Muay Thai has been dated back as far as the 10^th century, where it  had a more pratical use then its modern form.  Soilders developed muay thai in a response to hand to hand combat, which allowed them to use every body part available to strike, as well as  advanced “grappling” techniques to control and opposing opponant , known through out the Martial arts world today as the “Thai Clinch”. 

Muay Thai is often a fighting art of attrition, where opponents exchange blows with one another. This is certainly the case with traditional stylists in Thailand, but is a less popular form of fighting in the contemporary world fighting circuit where the Thai style of exchanging blow for blow is no longer favorable. Here at American Top Team we fused western boxing with the Tradtional Muay Thai to make it a more effective fighting style.  Our style of Thai fighting is unique in that we use a lot of lateral footwork and more punching  combinations along with effective kicks, knees and elbows.  We currently are Undefeated in all Muay Thai bouts as a team, and have built a reputation as being one of the best Striking camps in New York. Almost all techniques in muay Thai use the entire body movement, rotating the hip with each kick, punch, elbow and block.

Various Strikes Used in Muay Thai Kickboxing:

Punches

The punch techniques in muay Thai were originally quite limited being crosses and a long (or lazy) circular strike made with a straight (but not locked) arm and landing with the heel of the palm. Cross-fertilization with Western boxing and western martial arts mean the full range of western boxing punches are now used: lead jab, straight/cross, hook, uppercut, shovel and corkscrew punches and overhands as well as hammer fists and back fists. To utilise the range of targeting points, in keeping with the centre line theory, the fighter can use either the Western or Thai stance which allows for either long range or short range attacks to be undertaken effectively without compromising guard. The reason why we are so succesful in Muay Thai bouts is because we incorprate Boxing very well into our fighting stlye.

Elbows

The elbow can be used in several ways as a striking weapon: horizontal, diagonal-upwards, diagonal-downwards, uppercut, downward, backward-spinning and flying. From the side it can be used as either a finishing move or as a way to cut the opponent's eyebrow so that blood might block his vision. The diagonal elbows are faster than the other forms, but are less powerful. There is also a distinct difference between a single elbow and a follow-up elbow. The single elbow is an elbow move independent from any other move, whereas a follow-up elbow is the second strike from the same arm, being a hook or straight punch first with an elbow follow-up. Such elbows, and most other elbow strikes, are used when the distance between fighters becomes too small and there is too little space to throw a hook at the opponent's head. Elbows can also be utilized to great effect as blocks or defenses against, for example, spring knees, side body knees, body kicks or punches.

Kicks

he two most common kicks in muay Thai are known as the thip (literally "foot jab") and the te chiang (kicking upwards in the shape of a triangle cutting under the arm and ribs) or roundhouse kick. The muay Thai roundhouse kick uses a rotational movement of the entire body and has been widely adopted by practitioners of other martial arts. It is superficially similar to a karate roundhouse kick, but includes the rotation of the standing leg, like in Kyukushin, Goju, Kojosho and Kenpo, it is done from a circular stance with the back leg just a little ways back (roughly shoulder width apart) in comparison to instinctive upper body fighting (boxing) where the legs must create a wider base. This kick comes with the added risk of having the groin vulnerable at times, which is against Karate and Tae Kwon Do ideology in general except for brief moments after a kick for example. The roundhouse kick draws its power entirely from the rotational movement of the body; the hips. It is thought many fighters use a counter rotation of the arms to intensify the power of this kick, but in actuality the power is from the hips and the arms are put in said position to get them out of the way.

The muay Thai kick has been recorded as one of the most powerful kicks, producing up to almost 1,000 pounds-force of force.

If a roundhouse kick is attempted by the opponent, the Thai boxer will normally check the kick, that is he will block the kick with his own shin. Thai boxers are trained to always connect with the shin. The foot contains many fine bones and is much weaker. A fighter may end up hurting himself if he tries to strike with his foot or instep.

Muay Thai also includes other varieties of kicking such as the side kick and spinning back kick. These kicks are used in bouts only by few fighters.

Knees

The use of knees in Muay Thai is one of the big diffrences that seprates it from Kickboxing.  Knees are primarly used in short range distances more commanly thrown at an opponants body and occasionally up to the head.  During a clinch fighters will throw knees to an opponants legs  in order to weaken their stance.  

Condtioning

. 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, rope jumping, body weight resistance exercises, medicine ball exercises, abdominal exercises, and in some cases weight training.

ATTENTION!

You do not have to compete in order to learn Muay Thai, Our programs allow anyone interested in training to do so safley and effectivly.  Training in Muay Thai is a great way to get in Amazing shape, and one of the most effective styles of Martial Arts for self defense!