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Chok (Punch): Punch is the most weapon that easy to control if compare to other weapons which useing other part of the body. In Muay Thai we use the lowest nuckles to inpact a punch and also, the powerful punch will come if you combine forces of shoulder, hip and foot to put additional power of punch.
 Straight
Punch(Mud Trong)
In Muay Thai, we use straight punch mainly
to attack oponent's facial area such as
chin, nose and mouth. To increase the
effectiveness of the punch, use the nuckle
to attack the opponent as well as twisting
the shoulders.
 Hook
(Mud Wiang San)
Hook mainly used to attack side facial area
such temple nose and ear. To do the hook you
need to bending elbow a bit, then using the
back of the nuckle to attack. To increase
the effectiveness of the hook, use the same
technique as do the straight punch by
twisting the shoulders.
 Uppercut
(Mud Seuy)
Uppercut
punch mainly target to attack chin and
stomach. When do the uppercut you should
bend the knee and the elbow a bit, then make
a ounch vertically to attack opponent.
Uppercut will be used effectively when
opponent is very close or when they are
stooping, but sometimes, it is also possible
to attack by knee kick instead of uppercut.
Jumping Punch (Kra Dod Chock): The jump punch can be used when you are in mid-air. The power of the whole body will go into the punch so it can bring more powerful attack than normal punch. Only one weakness of the jump punch is opponent will immediately attack when you landing and losing the balance.
Spining Punch (Mud Wiang Klab): Spinning punch could be done when you have missed the first kick by turning around and swing the fist to attack the target.
Tae (Kick): Tae is vary commonly use in competition, due to its power that may give the opponent knock outin one shot. Normally, we use only some part of lower leg from shin to foot to kick. However, use shin to kick is much more powerful than using foot, but its disadvantage is opponent can grab your leg easier and attack. Variety of Muay Thai kicks are described below:
 Side
kick or Round kick (Tae Tad)
Tae Tad are commonly used in Muay
Thai as they are very easy to control and we
can maintain the balance after the kick to
defend opponent's strike back. Tae Tad can
be done by swing the leg to attack the
target, and in the same time, your hip
should also be twisted in the same direction
of the swing.
 Diagonal
kick (Tae Chiang)
The main target of the diagonal kick is to
attack lower rib-cage and we normally use
shin to attack. The kick can be done by
swing leg diagonally upwards to attack
against the target.
 Hook
kick or Down round kick (Tae Kod)
Hook kicks are also commonly used
due to its full of power, which more than
side kick or diagonal kick. This is because
when you kick, your hip and body will fully
twisted in the same direction of the swing,
which will increase the power of the kick.
The hook kick can be used to attack opponent
when he is ducking down or in the lower
position. However, the major disadvantage of
the hook kick is if you miss the target, you
may totally lost the balance and give a
chance to opponent to strike back.
Tee Sork (Elbow Strike): It seems that the elbow strike is very unique weapon that make Muay Thai different from other martial arts sports. Elbow strike in Muay Thai can give very severe injuries to the opponent as it will be used to attack when opponent is closer distance and the major tarket of elbow strike are generally head facial area including jaw, temple, neck and so on. Using elbow strike is very flexible, you can move or swing elbow in any direction to attack, both vertically and horizontally but different method will give different impact to the attack.
The
Elbow slash (Sork Tee)
 The
Elbow slash generally be used when we want
to attack the upper part of facial area such
as forehead, eye and nose. It can be done by
swing the elbow diagonally downward,
normally in 45 degree angle (like a
"slash" sign) to attack the
target. Unlike We normally can not use the
elbow slash to attack alone as we need to
get close to opponent enough to attack. The
elbw slash will be used effectively when we
want to response to opponent's knee-kick.
The Horizontal Elbow (Sork Tad)
 It
is quite similar to the elbow slash
technique. The diffrent is only wee have to
swing the elbow horizontally, paralel to the
ground. However, you need to make sure that
you must stand firmly when attack, because
attacking with full power, you may need to
twist to shoulder and hip along with the
elbow swing and this will make you losing
balance easily.
The
Uppercut Elbow (Sork Ngad)
The uppercut elbow can be done by
swing the elbow diagonally upwards to attack
target especially chin. This technique
requires speed when using it, which means
you have to do it as quickly as you can.
However, in the competition, some boxers
avoide to use it, but use horizontal elbow
or elbow slash instead.
 The
Spinning Elbow (Sork Glab)
The spinning elbow technique is
quite different from other elbow technique.
As you have to turn the body around to
generate the elbow strike. To do the
spinning elbow, we generally use the rear
elbow to attack and make sure that you will
always look at you opponent while turning
the body around and making the elbow strike.
Tee Khao (Knee-Kick): The knee kick can be done by raising the knee to attack which may a bit harder for beginners because this requires proper balance maintain when attack. The main characteristic of using knee-kick is you gnerally have to be at close-quarter with opponent, but sometimes we can use knee kick to attack opponent while you are in long range such as flying knee kick.
In most case, to use knee kick, you have to try to grab the opponent's neck, in order to "lock" and attack. However, when you do the clinch and knee kick, you may be attacked by opponent's elbow strike, as some time you may lose your concentration and defense.
 The
Straight Knee-kick (Khao Trong)
To do straight knee-kick, you just
simly grab the opponent's neck with two
hands and raise the knee straightly to
attack the target. However, try to grab your
opponent's neck is not easy if you fight
with experienced boxer. Also, as I mention
above, you must always be careful of your
opponent attack by use the elbow. Straight
knee-kick is generally target to body,
stomach and you can not knee-kick to the
opponent's groin as it is against the rule.
 The
Diagonal Knee-kick (Khao Chiang)
To do diagonal knee-kick, it is
quite similar as doing straight knee kick.
Try to grab opponent's neck with two hands,
but raising knee to attack in different
direction, diagonally. By using the diagonal
knee kick, we intend to target to the thigh,
rib, and side of the body, which the
straight knee kick can not reach these
targets.
 The
Horizontal Knee-kick (Khao Chiang)
The horizontal knee-kick is slighly
different from both knee kicks I mentioned
above as we will grab the opponent's neck
with only one hand and the other hand remain
guard. Then swing the knee horizontally,
moves parallel to the ground to attack the
target and when you do the attack, twisting
the hip in the same direction of knee kick
will increase power of the attack. Make sure
you always keep the other hand guarding your
chin.
 The
Knee-slap (Khao Tob)
The knee-slap is one of the weapon
that are most-used in Muay Thai competition.
In my feeling, the knee-slap may not be one
of the most powerful and dangerous weapon to
knock out, but it is a good to be used to
collect points. However, in the real fight
(self-defence situation), the knee-slap also
may not a good option to use. The target of
the knee-slap are generally trunk and ribs
and to do this, grab opponent's neck tightly
with both hands, raising the knee to attack
be using the inner part of the knee joint to
slap on the target.
 The
Step-up Knee-kick (Khao Yieb)
This technique is quite difficult
to do as it require more skill as well as
the right time to do. To do this kind of
knee kick, you have to use lead leg to step
on the opponent's thigh and riase your body
up then thrust the knee of other leg to
attack the target, which mainly are facial
area and chin. It's quite rare to see any of
boxer in sport boixg use this thechnique,
but if you have a chance to do this, it may
be the most poweeful knee-kick technique
among them all.
Foot-Thrust or "Push Kick"(Theep):
To describe the foot-thrust weapon, it is the method of bend at the knee, then quickly extending your leg to use foot or heel to attack the target. "Theep" weapons are different from any other Muay Thai weapons in terms of objective to use. Foot-thrust will be mainly used as offensive technique to block the opponent's attack. The foot-thrust also use for make the opponent off balance and take a chance to attack. It is quite rare to see boxers use the foot-thrust agressively as a deadly weapon to knock out, but using foot-thrust frist then follow by kick or other weapon quickly maybe the good practice to learn. Becareful when you launch the foot-thrust, make sure you pull your leg back as quickly as you can before the opponent can grab your leg and counter attack when you are off balance!! Variety of Muay Thai foot thrust strike are described below
The Straight Foot-thrust (Theep Trong): This technique is quite straight forward to do nad use, you just to bend the knee joint and then thrust the foot quickly to attack the tatget. the target are vary from face, chest, abdomen and down to the lap. Also you can use different part of the foot to attack the target such as toes (theep Jik) and heel (Theep Yan) and you need to find out which method is fit you the best.
The Sideways Foot-thrust (Theep Khang): The usage of sideway foot-thrust is similar to the straight foot-thrust but sideways will be used when you are in the position turn the side of the body facing the opponent. However, using the sideways foot-thrust, you need to becareful of maintain the balance when you turn the side to opponent. The sideways foot-thrust generally be counter-attacked by side lower kick to your leg. |
