Basics Of Muay Thai Lessons

You may be unsure what exactly it is that you will be studying when stepping on to the mat for the first time; educate yourself on the basics of Muay Thai lessons.  Known as the "Science of Eight Limbs", Muay Thai's basic attacks can be broken down into punches, kicks, knees and elbows.

1. Punches.  The punches you will learn in Muay Thai are basically those taught in boxing, simply thrown from a slightly different stance.  Punching, although always a component of Muay Thai, has become a more emphasized piece of the sport in recent years due to Western influence.  You will spend a lot of time when you begin your Muay Thai training on good old jabs, crosses, hooks and uppercuts.
2. Kicks.  Virtually every martial art in the world includes a diverse arsenal of kicks, and Muay Thai is no exception.  Where it is unique is in the way many of these kicks are thrown.  Rather than the snappy, slapping foot kicks generally used in most types of karate and tae kwon do (and in most action movies), Muay Thai uses kicks thrown with the knee kept bent and the shin as the weapon.  This allows the kicker to drive the shin all the way through his target, landing it with a distinctive deep, dull thud.  The Muay Thai round kick is generally considered to be one of the most powerful strikes in martial arts.  The sport also employs a variety of front kicks, side kicks, and so on.
3. Elbows.  Elbow strikes are the most close-range weapon in a Muay Thai fighter's arsenal.  They can be thrown in a rising upward motion, a dropping downward motion, straight across from the side, and anywhere in between.  They are thrown very tight to the body in a quick, slicing motion.
4. Knees.  Much like elbows, knee strikes in Muay Thai are thrown in a variety of ways and from a variety of different angles and locations.  Thai fighters regularly throw knees as part of freestanding combinations, but they are truly at their most deadly when thrown from the trademark "plum", or Thai clinch.  Also known as the "necktie", this position involves a fighter grabbing his opponent behind the head with both hands, squeezing his elbows together, and pulling his opponent's head down sharply into his knee strikes.  The necktie of a good Thai fighter is one of the more unpleasant places on earth to be, to say the least.
5. Muay Thai Lesson Structure.  The specific class style in which these four basic types of attacks can vary widely, but the overall structure will generally fit into a fairly common platform.  Generally speaking, the lessons will begin with a light warm up, frequently involving several rounds of jump rope and shadowboxing, followed by stretching.  Once the class is all warm and loose, the harder bag work will begin, along with hitting mitts and Thai pads.  Some lessons, depending on the experience level of the students, will then move on to glove drills, isolated sparring, and full sparring.