Muay Thai Camp in Thailand

Muay Thai has a long history in Thailand. Originating from the unarmed combat styles of Siamese soldiers, it became a sport performed in front of spectators, including Kings and other nobility. Gradually, being a Muay Thai practitioner led to social advancement, as skilful fighters were invited to the Royal Court to teach Muay to the royal household, staff and other nobility. A royal guard of Muay fighters was eventually formed to protect the King.

In 1868, with the ascension of King Chulalongkorn to the throne, Muay Thai became the country’s number one form of physical exercise, recreation and personal advancement. Former fighters and soldiers began training camps where students received food and shelter and were treated like a family. After a death in the ring, there were changed to way Muay was structured, including the addition of soft boxing gloves, to make it safer.

Muay Thai is referred to as "The Art of the Eight Limbs", as the hands, shins, elbows, and knees are all used extensively in this art. A practitioner of Muay Thai ("nak muay") thus has the ability to execute strikes using eight "points of contact," as opposed to "two points" (fists) in Western boxing and "four points" (fists, feet) used in the primarily sport-oriented forms of martial arts.

Muay Thai techniques

In its original form, Muay Thai consisted of an arsenal of nine weapons - the head, fists, elbows, knees and feet - known collectively as na-wa arwud. However in modern Muay Thai, both amateur and professional, headbutting an opponent is no longer allowed.

To strike and bind the opponent for both offensive and defensive purposes, small amounts of stand-up grappling are used: the clinch. Formal Muay Thai techniques are divided into two groups: Mae Mai or major techniques and Luk Mai or minor techniques. 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. With the success of Muay Thai in mixed martial arts fighting, it has become the de facto martial art of choice for competitive stand-up fighters. As a result, it has evolved and incorporated much more powerful hand striking techniques used in western style boxing and the Thai style of exchanging blow for blow is no longer favorable. Note: when Muay Thai fighters compete against fighters of other styles (and if the rules permit it), they almost invariably emphasize elbow (sok) and knee (kao) techniques to gain a distinct advantage in fighting. Almost all techniques in Muay Thai use the entire body movement, rotating the hip with each kick, punch, and block. The rotation of the hips in Muay Thai techniques, and intensive focus on "core muscles" (such as abdominal muscles and surrounding muscles) is very distinctive and is what sets Muay Thai apart from other styles of martial arts.

Defense against attacks

Defenses in Muay Thai are categorised in 6 groups:
• Blocking - defender's hard blocks to stop a strike in its path so preventing it reaching its target, (eg the Shin Block described in more detail below)
• Redirection - defender's soft parries to change the direction of a strike (eg a downwards tap to a jab) so that it misses the target
• Avoidance - moving a body part out of the way or range of a strike so the defender remains in range for a counter-strike, eg defender moving the front leg backwards from the attacker's low kick: then immediately counter-attacking with an angle kick: or defender laying the head back from the attacker's high angle kick: then immediately counter-attacking with a side kick from the front leg:
• Evasion - moving the body out of the way or range of a strike so the defender has to move close again to counter-attack, eg defender jumping back from attacker's kicks
• Disruption - Pre-empting an attack. eg with defender using disruptive techniques like jab, teep or low angle kick (to the inside of the attacker's front leg) as the attacker attempts to close distance
• Anticipation - Defender catching a strike (eg catching an angle kick to the body) or countering it before it lands (eg defender's low kick to the supporting leg below as the attacker iniates a high angle kick).

Camps

There are loads of Muay Thai training camps around in Thailand. Due to its status as national sport, there are plenty of willing instructors who have trained as professional Muay Thai boxers ready to pass on their knowledge to you.

Camps are popular because of their status as a place to learn a new sport, train, detox, lose weight and tone up. And all in a tropical paradise, with the option of stepping out onto one of Thailand’s pristine white sand, aqua blue beaches, explore the local, ancient culture and even head out to one of Phuket’s renowned nightspots. With plenty of different times to choose from (a weekend camp, three days, a week, two weeks) you can either make your holiday a bootcamp-style retreat, or maybe just take up a little Muay Thai to compensate for all those coconut-cream cocktails and steaming curries!
And, the best part is Muay Thai boxing is becoming so popular there are camps and gyms practicing everywhere so you can continue once you're back from holidays.

Punches and kicks

Defensively, the concept of "wall of defence" is used, in which shoulders, arms and legs are used to hinder the attacker from successfully executing techniques. Blocking is a critical element in Muay Thai and compounds the level of conditioning a successful practitioner must possess. Low and mid body roundhouse kicks are normally blocked with the upper portion of a raised shin. High body strikes are blocked with the forearm/glove, elbow/shin. Mid section roundhouse kicks can also be caught/trapped, allowing for a sweep or counter attack to the remaining leg of the opponent. Punches are blocked with an ordinary boxing guard and techniques similar, if not identical, to basic boxing technique. A common means of blocking a punch is using the hand on the same side as the oncoming punch. For example, if an orthodox fighter throws a jab (being the left hand), the defender will make a slight tap to redirect the punch's angle with the right hand. The deflection is always as small and precise as possible to avoid unnecessary energy expenditure and return the hand to the guard as quickly as possible. Hooks are most often blocked with a motion most often described as "combing your hair," raising the elbow forward and effectively shielding the head with the forearm, flexed biceps, and shoulder. More advanced Muay Thai blocks are usually counters, used to damage the opponent to prevent another attack being made.

Conditioning

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, rope jumping, body weight resistance exercises, medicine ball exercises, abdominal exercises, and in some cases weight training. Muay Thai practitioners typically apply Namman Muay liberally before and after their intense training sessions.
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. The trainer will often also 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 combinations, 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.

Due to the rigorous fighting and training regimen (some Thai boxers fight almost every other week) professional Muay Thai fighters have relatively short careers in the ring. Many retire from competition to begin instructing the next generation of Thai fighters. It is a common myth that Thai boxing causes arthritis, this is not true and is in no way more damaging to the body than other sports such as karate or even running. Most professional Thai boxers come from the lower economic backgrounds and the fight money (after the other parties get their cut) is sought as means of support for the fighters and their families. Very few higher economic strata Thais join the professional Muay Thai ranks; they usually either don't practice the sport or practice it only as amateur Muay Thai boxers.

Training

Muay Thai involves a lot of body conditioning. Because all the limbs, meaning all major muscle groups, are involved in Muay, the whole body needs to be in top gear every day. Training includes running, shadowboxing, body weight resistance exercises, rope jumping, medicine ball, abdominal exercises and weight training.

The most important training that is specific to the Muays is practicing all moves with a trainer wearing full body padding. This enables the fighter to react the person wearing the pads and practice moves and responses. Fighters also use focus mitts, heavy bag training and sparring.

We offer Muay Thai classes at our gym in West End and we sell boxing gloves online.

@Ratana90 We used a pic of you throwing a Muay Thai High Angle Kick to a girl's face in your last fight as our wallpaper! lol :)

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