After you miss a MT round house kick?

[bushido_man96]

My instructor says to keep your guard up when kicking, but the instructors at the new school are more into swinging the arms to add power and swivel to the kicks.

I think keeping the hands up while kicking is important as well. Use this illustration to get the technique down, and then once you feel comfortable with it, work on doing the kick with your hands up. Once you learn it, you can adapt it.

[baronbvp]

Yep, that was my plan. Thanks, it's nice nice to see we're in sync.

[bushido_man96]

Yep, that was my plan. Thanks, it's nice nice to see we're in sync.

Yep!

[baronbvp]

I have had to get used to kicking closer to my opponent in Muay Thai. In order to contact the target with your shin instead of your foot, you need to stand closer. It's weird. But man, that shin bone hurts your thigh a lot more than a foot does.

[gzk]

My instructor is very much of the "keep your guard up" school of thought. This is not so important in a kickboxing or Muay Thai match, because when you round kick, your opponent stops what he's doing and leg-checks. However, drunks don't leg-check - they usually don't even notice you're round-kicking them, and they don't stop what they're doing to let you take turns, they just clock you with an overhand right just as your round kick is about to strike. We are trained initially to stay in our "shell" when round-kicking and cover the head as best we can, then when comfortable, extend the arm on the same side as the kicking leg toward the opponent's head to stop any forward motion, and keep the guard up on the opposite side to defend the haymaker.

On the other hand, I've seen Muay Thai competitors swing the arms around - Buakaw no less.

As for the original topic, I actually asked my instructor this very question and he told me that the best thing to do is to spin 360, and when he demonstrated it, it looked like he moved back out of striking distance at the same time. His opinion is that any round kick that can be pulled back into fighting stance if it misses isn't powerful enough to be worth throwing. He didn't mention 180 spins and back kicks.

[baronbvp]

Good post, gzk.

[bushido_man96]

I can see why some would recommend a 360 spin. However, it could put you out of position, in which you have to work back to. No big deal, really, because that happens when fighting.

I do think that you can generate sufficient power when not spinning; it is just a matter of being able to control your momentum.

[baronbvp]

On the other hand, I've seen Muay Thai competitors swing the arms around - Buakaw no less.

From what I've seen, no MT guy or drunk human is going to be punching Buakaw in the face while he's round kicking them. I have seen this discussion a few times, about guard during kicks and whether to 360 spin on the round kick follow through. From what I've observed, a good MT practitioner delivering a solid, well-timed round kick can do almost anything with his arms and hands he wants, including swinging them to get more power. You either defend against that kick or get dropped.

[gzk]

On the other hand, I've seen Muay Thai competitors swing the arms around - Buakaw no less.

From what I've seen, no MT guy or drunk human is going to be punching Buakaw in the face while he's round kicking them. I have seen this discussion a few times, about guard during kicks and whether to 360 spin on the round kick follow through. From what I've observed, a good MT practitioner delivering a solid, well-timed round kick can do almost anything with his arms and hands he wants, including swinging them to get more power. You either defend against that kick or get dropped.

I would probably agree with that, for guys who have awesome round kicks that can drop a good street fighter with only a few shots or so, and are fast enough to slip that haymaker at the same time, every time, and that's very few people. You can see countless highlight clips of K-1 guys being punched in the face right in the middle of their round kick (albeit by other K-1 guys). I wouldn't be swinging the arms unless I knew for certain that I really was that good. For someone like Buakaw, it's probably fine

[some0ne]

Swinging your arm downwards to add more power is a "beginner tool" in muay thai. Kind of, and kind of not...there are other stances, strategies in Muay Thai that don't require you to swing the arm downards. The problem to is that a lot of people spent the first 2-3+ years swinging there arms downwards before their Kru showed them otherwise so it got ingrained into muscle memory. Unfortunately, some muay thai gyms, paticularly, in the USA don't teach anything more advanced. A 360 spin with your roundhouse is also a big no no. Muay Thai has evolved into different things, in other countries. It's one of those really bad habbits that some gyms think are "ok", like switching your stance in order to throw a lead leg kick. Now, don't get me wrong, there is a time and place for this, if you were more of a Dutch stylist and did this to fool your opponent but I have seen some gyms in the USA that have fighters do this because they don't have the skill to throw a lead leg roundhouse kick without the switch stance.

If any of you don't believe me, train in a "Thai" style Muay Thai gym. Watch Muay Thai fights in Thailand, you'll see what I mean, since seeing is, believing. You rarely see a Thai perform a 360 spin after missing a roundhouse. If they miss, you usually see the opponent try and counter immediately