Muay Thai High Kicks?

I agree as well on giving credit where it is due. I love watching the K-1, and seeing someone say he is a kyokushin stylist, yet oddly enough, his ring technique looks almost completely Muay Thai.
 
arnisador:

how often do you guys practice MT drills? And I was also wondering, among the drills you do practice, if there were any drills that you guys excluded for whatever reasons. I wanna other's opinions on MT weaknesses.
 
I don't want to speak for arnisador, but I actually study a similar style. Our school just has a larger emphasis on MT (from the sound of it anyway). The first 2 years of our curriculum is all pretty much MT. Anyway, some of the limitations, IMHO, of MT include are the lack of weapons, lack of ground work, and no dealing with multiple opponents.
 
I study at a Muay Thai academy that also trains us in Philipino arts, jun fan/jeet kun do, pentjack silat, submission grappling and boxing. Are we all from the same family tree? i.e. Dan Inosanto, Ajarn Chai? I know theres a lot of schools out there run by instructors that trained under Guro Dan Inosanto so I won't be surprised if thats the case.

On a side note, Guro Dan Inosanto is holding a seminar in my city in July. I can't wait to meet him.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD
 
harking back to central thread - MT vs TKD kicks - there is an Aussie middle-weight kickboxer - sorry can't remember the guy's name - who is a TKD belt and kicks @ss in the ring. Those "spinning back kick board breaking" drills that are so common in TKD - well he uses them in the ring, to good effect. Incredibly fast, 2 and 3 kick comobos to the upper body and head - absolutely devastating.

That being said, i've sparred with TKD guys before - a good mate of mine is looking down the barrel of his 2nd Dan grading - and a LOT of them dont kick hard, or that well.

IMHO, it's often not what u have that counts, it what u do with it.

Cheers

Bao
 
In the JKD class we train only a handful of techniques and not frequently in class though you're expected to work on them at home of course. The round kick is the only one seen frequently. So, in short: We don't do much.
 
Originally posted by Damian Mavis

Are we all from the same family tree? i.e. Dan Inosanto, Ajarn Chai?

Sounds like it. Ajarn Chai is coming out this way in a couple weeks. On my birthday no less!
 
I did a seminar with Ajarn Chai last summer and it was great. He's got another one going on this weekend in Kingston which is only a couple hours away but I've got commitments all weekend and I can't go...not even to watch my buddy get his instructorship. I really wanted to see him get his butt kicked haha.

Ah well I get to go to a seminar with guro Dan Inosanto this summer and I'm excited about that. I've been taking 2 Kali/fma classes a week to get ready for it on top of all my other training, hope I'm not too far behind for the seminar.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD
 
As a thai boxer you can test for several levels of "shorts". Your first test (after a minimum of a year training I'm told) is when you are certified to wear shorts that have the Thai printing across the front. Before that your supposed to wear blank Thai shorts. After that there are 2 more levels (I Think!) making the total 3 levels before finally being elligible to work towards your instructorship test. Each test gets more and more difficult with the first test starting off at semi contact to your body and legs while you are trying to kick and knee the thai pads a certain number of times in 3 minutes...you have to do that twice with 2 different holders beating on you while holding for you (ie kicking you in the legs and ribs). The second and third tests get progressivley harder with the instructorship test being full contact to all your targets including your head. Your expected to kick and knee the pad while the holder (an instructor from another school) is firing off kicks and pad punches at you. It's not easy but it sure looks fun!

I myself will be testing for my first shorts certification in the next few weeks. Can't wait.

Oops! I think you were wondering on the time frame for an instructorship in Muay Thai? I don't know exactly but my friend has been training for 4 years AND has trained in Thailand (I am pretty sure that training in thailand shaves off some of the time required to go for instructorship) he's also fought in the ring at the amateur level but I don't think that affects the timing involved.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD
 
Thanks for all the info. Mr. Mavis . It sounds somewhat similar to Savate's gloves system. Do any of the sub-instructor levels convey and rights or priveleges?
 
Any rights or priviledges? Hmmm I'm not sure what you mean. Give me an example so I understand what you mean.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD
 
For example, after the first shorts are obtained can one be an assistant instructor, or fight in a different skill category, or fight without headgear, or some such? Is there any effect at all of having the shorts other than, well, having the shorts?
 
Only respect...... when you see someone with Certified shorts you know he at least once in his training took a mild beating. Thats just the test though, I'm not sure how other schools are run but the trainings pretty intense here and if you like to go full contact like me you have plenty of oppurtunities to go in the ring. At a certain point ring pracitce is a normal part of the more experienced class and coming from a Traditional martial art background I have to admit that those guys are relatively tough, they train to take a hit. It took me several years in Tae Kwon Do to get to the same mental toughness level it takes most thai boxers just one year to get to. That has nothing to do with skill, just when you get hit enough... all your fear goes out the window.

I'm wandering off topic so I'll just finish up with... no the certifications don't get you anything besides being asked to help teach or if you are a certified instructor to actually take over a class. For practice in ring fighting you still wear headgear and mouth guard just like a boxing club no matter what level of shorts you are but the most experienced guys might not wear any protection on their shins which means they are blocking full contact shin kicks with their shin...bone on bone. It hurts.

Damian Mavis
Honour TKD
 
Originally posted by Damian Mavis

...not even to watch my buddy get his instructorship. I really wanted to see him get his butt kicked haha.

That sucks. Last year (day after my birthday...hmmm...pattern?) at the seminar, we watched three people test for their instructorship. Yes, they get beat pretty good. It's not unheard of for there to be knockouts during the tests.

As far as time frames go, one of the women testing last year was allowed to test early due to the fact that she was moving back to Japan shortly after the test. She still had to know everything, but Ajarn cut her a little slack on technical ability. Specifically he said she needed some more work on her Ram Muay, but he passed her when she would normally need to come back in 6 months and try again. But she still had to do the pad testing and get kicked and punched the same as everyone else.

And arnisador, if your curious to learn more about the certifications (and you too, Mr. Mavis, if you want to see it in writing) Stickgrappler has a page about Thai Boxing Association testing guidelines. It's a pretty good reference, especially since www.thaiboxing.com seems to still be down.
 
Thanks KumaSan, I'm printing off the test requirements tor ead later! I find it interesting to learn about these things even though I don't practice the art.
 
Originally posted by Damian Mavis

"Only respect...... when you see someone with Certified shorts you know he at least once in his training took a mild beating."

well i dont know of any muay thai exponents that i know that havent taken a beating during a training session, never mind a mild one.


"Thats just the test though, I'm not sure how other schools are run but the trainings pretty intense here and if you like to go full contact like me you have plenty of oppurtunities to go in the ring. "

good stuff


"For practice in ring fighting you still wear headgear and mouth guard just like a boxing club no matter what level of shorts you are but the most experienced guys might not wear any protection on their shins which means they are blocking full contact shin kicks with their shin...bone on bone. It hurts."

yep thats us
 
Originally posted by arnisador

I'll say this--in JKD they seem to be very good about giving credit where credit is due. We discuss Muay Thai kicks, savate kicks, kali drills--it's clear that the JKD idea is to take what is useful from other arts and mold that into a useful fighting system.

yep thats what i always thought it was about.
 
Originally posted by ThuNder_FoOt

arnisador:

how often do you guys practice MT drills? And I was also wondering, among the drills you do practice, if there were any drills that you guys excluded for whatever reasons. I wanna other's opinions on MT weaknesses.

you sparring or fighting a muay thai guy thunder? want the low down?
 
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