Muay Thai, An ancient Martial Art style
- A popular combat sport -
- Part 3 -

Dr. Hanjabam Barun Sharma *

Muay thai fighters (nak muay: Muay thai practitoner) make use of any part of their body as a formidable weapon. Muay thai is 'the art of eight limbs'(originally nine weapons, including head, collectively called 'na-wa arwud', but now head butting is not allowed in modern Muay thai).

The practitioner executes strikes using eight 'points of contact' (hands, elbows, knees, shins) as opposed to four points, common in other martial art forms. There are about 108 traditional Muay thai techniques, & less then 30 comprise the ring repertoire of the champion Thai boxer. Generally the emphasis of kicks (teh) & knees (tee kao) over elbows (tee sok), punches (chok) is a ratio of 3:1. Muay thai is known specially for its powerful knee & elbow strikes, which account for majority of the knockouts (KO).

Muay thai uses many types of elbow strikes. When thrown from the guard position, elbows are relatively difficult to block. Generally, the hand of the relaxed arm delivering the elbow is kept open to maximize range to increase power, with simultaneous swivel of the feet, waist & hip.

Down elbow causes maximum KO in the ring. Mostly elbows are used when the distance between fighters becomes too small & too little space to throw punch to the opponent. The hard bony elbow is also used to block punches, kicks, or elbows etc.

Elbow is one of the strongest parts of human body, containing three bones - epicondyles of humerus, olecranon process of ulna & the head-neck of radius, & we all know that human bone is stronger than concrete of same quantity.



Muay thai is well known for its deadly knee techniques. When delivering the knee, the fighter generally pull the lower leg back, toes pointed down - warding off any low, round cut kicks to the rear supporting leg by the instep. The head is protected from the punches by leaning the upper body away at an angle of 45 degree.

The clinch version of Kao tone or straight knee strike has been proven scientifically as the strongest leg blow in martial arts. A shuffling stance change is done after each knee strike so that every knee is delivered from the rear power position.



Kicks are important parts of Muay thai fighting. Out of many kicks used, teep (foot-thrust) & teh (angle kick) are the commonest. One of the dangerous Thai techniques is an angle (round house) kick to break the neck.

The kicker pivot on the front foot to add power to his kicks & commit the entire body weight to one kick; i.e; Muay thai fighter uses the entire body movement, rotating the hip, & sometimes with counter rotation of the arms, to intensify the power. Same thing is seen in case of punch, block, knee or elbow etc.

The striking part is usually the lower part of tibia (one of the body strongest bones), not the foot or instep which are weaker & contain many fine bones. The shin (strongest yet most sensitive in an ordinary person) is also used to block kicks/knees etc - raising the knee to meet the elbow, creating a formidable defensive shield.

Thai boxers usually don't block kicks head-on, instead time the kick & bypass the knee into the softer, inner portion of the thigh. Same is for the knee, elbow or punch, they just stay at long range & wear the opponent down with hard round kicks.

In ring, Thai boxer tries to lessen the impact of opponent's strikes by sidestepping, parrying or turning away from them, unless the hardened shin or instep may break his arm!



Before late 1930s, Muay thai hand techniques were mainly swinging, chopping blows or ridged fingers, poking & gouging. Today, the art has become even more ring effective by the use of the boxing jab, straight right/cross, hook, uppercut, shovel & corkscrew punches plus overhand or bolo punches etc.

Thai boxer seldom uses international boxing style at long range as it exposes too much of the body to kicks & knees. In extending the arm to punch, it is easier for the elbows to go under & over the arm to hit the head.

Favoring too much punch may end up on the wrong end of an offensive clinch. So, when a Thai boxer punch, it is in tandem with elbows & knee strikes at close range.

To be continued....

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* Dr. Hanjabam Barun Sharma is a regular contributor to e-pao.net .
He is at Martial Art & Combat Sports Club (MACC), Raipur (C.G.) also Secretary, Raipur Taekwondo Vikash Samiti, Raipur(C.G.).
The writer can be contacted at wang_fei03(at)rediffmail(dot)com
This article was webcasted on December 12, 2008.

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