Muay Thai

[Kuen1]

Just want to see if anyone here trains in Muay Thai. I'm considering joining a local school to train, and I just wanted to get some thoughts/opinions on it. What are beginner classes like, what do you learn first, when does the sparring come into play etc etc.? Thanks in advance.

 

[FlyGuy]

Thats all going to vary from one dojo to the next, so you should go down and ask these questions to the instructor there. Muay Thai is not bad, its brutal and linear. I really like the bone conditioning and the below-the-waist kicking Most non-trained people will fall on their ass if kicked in the leg Muay Thai style

 

[ultrashogun]

I do Kyokushin Karate and we learn western boxing there to, so its somewhat simular to MT. Youll love it, its great. It may take you a few weeks before youll be doing sparring with all techniques, although they may have you do so restricted sparring, like only left hand, or only hands.

 

[Hollowpoint]

Kuen1 - The usual standards of MT schools are very high.
The levels of sparring, from 2-step to fully-resisting, will vary from school to school.

Originally posted by thechineseGQ
Yeah I've been thinking about the same too! I'm really interested in learning muay thai. I want to learn the traditional stuff. Not the American Muay thai/kickboxing kind of thing... I think lesser of it compared the fighters you see in thailand. Any thoughts?

Incorrect assumption.
MT fighters in Thailand start training from a VERY early age as compared to fighters in North America that may begin training early to late teens.

North American fights will also have some restrictions likely not making it a "full" MT fight. Like no knees to head or elbows sometimes.

 

[ultrashogun]

Do Kyokushin, knees to the head is fair game.

 

[undesputable]

muay thai and brazilian jui jitsu....unbeatable combination, i dont do muay thai myself, i only do jui jitsu and kickboxing but jui jitsu alone is almost ubeatable..muay thai is good do it

 

[ThePeterman]

Originally posted by undesputable
muay thai and brazilian jui jitsu....unbeatable combination, i dont do muay thai myself, i only do jui jitsu and kickboxing but jui jitsu alone is almost ubeatable..muay thai is good do it

I agree with this..

you cover your stand up skills and ground skills and much easier to learn as you don't need to know the entire system like most martial arts. and not self referential either meaning most arts moves work against the same systems arts and moves

muay thai is very physically challenging though so you really need to get into shape

 

[Kuen1]

Thanks for the opinions guys. I do want to take up BJJ as well, but most of the Muay Thai, BJJ, or MMA joints around here are a bit expensive so doing both is on hold for now. Anyways...thanks again for the thoughts and opinions.

 

[o14liquid]

i do muay thai
the trainin is a beotch but its well worth it
if your a lazy person that quits anythign that becomes to hard then you wouldn't last much tryin to learn it

 

[showtime17]

Sorry for sounding kinda ignorant, but what's the difference between muay thai and kickboxing? (besides muay thai probably being more traditional i guess)
Oh yeah and are there any ranks or whatever similar to belts in other systems? Also how many different techniques and stuff do you have to learn and how much do you have to practice to be good? (i know depends on person, but on average)

 

[madgame]

Sorry for sounding kinda ignorant, but what's the difference between muay thai and kickboxing?

As far as I know there's only one stance in muay thai whilst there are at least 2 different ones in kick boxing, plus muay thai has less techniques. They dont have all those fancy kicks and spin punches which might look good for people who dont know much about martial arts, but which only look good but are harder to learn than the simple techniques and usually dont really have more power but give your opponent better chances of hitting you. Muay thai actually only has a straight punch, a hook punch an uppercut, a front kick and a round kick (plus knee and ellbow techniques which dont exist/arent allowed in kickboxing).

 

[Tango-Kid]

madgame, there are more techniques - though you mentioned the most popular ones.

Use of the knees and elbows plus wrestling (not in the ground but holding the opponent whilst striking - I don´t know the word in english) are the most obvious differences compared to kickboxing.

 

[Celadus]

Anyone familiar with Fairtex in San Francisco? It is probably the best Muay Thai school in the U.S; it has something like 4 or 5 world champions. I plan on starting next week. It is in a really bad neighbhorhood though.

 

[MindOverMatter]

One question, if you're not a competitive fighter, is there a point to learning BJJ along with MT? How often do you find yourself grapling in a normal fight?

 

[taqueso]

I was a student of jujitsu (not Brazilian or Japanese, more like a combination), but I stopped training around when I entered college. Basically, if you want to grapple in a fight, you can make it happen. It is pretty easy to get someone on the ground or in a clinch and then you go to work. Someone who is not trained to grapple will basically be at your mercy. And I would very much recommend learning a stand-up fighting style in addition to a grappling style. While I was actively pursuing martial arts, I always felt I could have benefitted immensly from doing so.

 

[FlyGuy]

Most fights go to the ground eventually. I can't remember the exact statistic (are there even any official ones!?) but it happens A LOT in real fights. Only problem with grappling someone is if they have any friends, you're on the ground and at their mercy. Stand up fighting is a safer position to be in because you have more mobility, but if its one on one then an untrained grappler
would be at YOUR mercy if you had even basic skills w/juijitsu.

Best bet is to be well rounded.