Thinking about getting into muay thai

[DylanMcCullough]

I'm thinking of getting into boxing, kickboxing or thai kickboxing, and im leaning towards thai. Does it matter that im a short guy, if i want into thai boxing, and does it teach you what you would learn if you werre in normal boxing (punches, and combinations). And the very last thing, would it help you if you were gonna defend yourself on the street, and lets say against a boxer.?

[Muaythaiboxer]

yes muay thai will fall under every thing you want and would be very effective against a boxer although you may want to do some grapling to supliment your MT if you are doing this for SD.

[Ben Martin]

the main difference between kickboxing and muay thai is the face that muay thai only really uses front and round kick. but with kick boxing you learn all the basic kicks and spinning and jumping ones too. also you can knee and elbow in muay thai too. i think you should have a few lessons at both and then decide. personaly im thinking to making muay thai my main MA after doing two years at kickboxing (though i will still do KB) im not really enjoying all these spinning kicks and i like being able to grab hold of people and strike too. but then muay thai has its bad points too like the stance. but the only way you can really decide is by giving them both ago

[DylanMcCullough]

does height matter? for kickboxing or thai boxing?

[Ben Martin]

how do you mean? with any striking art it is better to be taller as you have a longer reach. but if you are short or have short arms like i do you will learn fight on the inside and use your power to your advantage like tyson used to. when you do tourneys you will usually fight someone roughly your hight and size unless your really unlucky and they made a mistake like what happened at my last one and i had to fight a guys whos head started where mine stopped ha.

[elbows_and_knees]

the main difference between kickboxing and muay thai is the face that muay thai only really uses front and round kick. but with kick boxing you learn all the basic kicks and spinning and jumping ones too. also you can knee and elbow in muay thai too. i think you should have a few lessons at both and then decide. personaly im thinking to making muay thai my main MA after doing two years at kickboxing (though i will still do KB) im not really enjoying all these spinning kicks and i like being able to grab hold of people and strike too. but then muay thai has its bad points too like the stance. but the only way you can really decide is by giving them both ago

thai boxing actually has all of those kicks... chances are you won't learn them though, as most people only teach what is most commonly used. Those are the teep, roundhouse and the spinning back kick.

there is nothing inherently wrong with the stance either. I assume you are talking about how high they hold the hands, and how the elbows flare. you have to remember that they are training to fight other thai boxers... the flared elbow helps to defend roindhouses that go straight up into the floating ribs. the high hands are to protect kicks to the head. If you notice, most REAL thai boxers don't punch that much. They prefer kicks, knees and elbows. A punch is usually to set up for something else. Also, they don't bob and weave like westernized thai boxers do - that is something we added from western boxing experience. the hands held high allow them to block the head shots - punches, kicks and elbows

[Ben Martin]

^yep i know all that and with the stance i much prefer the kickboxing stance to the MT stance, when i shaddow box i vombine the 2 styles

[DylanMcCullough]

Thanks guys, but you say they prefer elbows kicks and knees, but do they know just as much punching techinque as boxers and Kickboxers??

[Menjo]

one thing about muay thai is i dont find it very effective agaisnt multiple opponents

[elbows_and_knees]

funny you should mention that. A few months ago, an article was put on the net about a thai boxer who chased away three knife wielding assailants that broke into his home and assaulted his mother. Speaking as someone who frequently deals with big fight situations (I'm a bouncer by night) I'll be the first to say that NO style is good for multiple attackers. In theory, any style can be - muay thai should be especially good - but in actuality, when you face multiple attackers, you are in trouble.