Question about Muay Thai cross-training

[biobot]

I was wondering what the advantages and disadvantages of mixing muay thai leg work with a western boxing like upper body method would be.

The Muay Thai guys always seem to have the wide(non center-line) arm positions. I'm wondering how things would differ without it. I assume that clinching would be more difficult.

Thanks for any comments.

[Khun Kao Charuad]

I'd recommend checking with local Muay Thai gyms to get a feel of what kind of Boxing they teach. In Europe and North America, many Muay Thai gyms are using Western Boxing. But the amount of Western Boxing skills taught varies from gym to gym.

Bear in mind that in almost every Muay Thai gym that teaches Boxing skills that there are a number of Western Boxing skill sets that will recieve little to no attention. There are a lot of defensive head & body motions that will be glossed over, if taught at all. For example, Bobbing & Weaving are often ignored. Reason being is that if you are Bobbing or Weaving, you are placing your head right where they want it to deliver knee strikes.

Another thing to bear in mind is that in many Muay Thai gyms, Boxing itself is pretty much glossed over. In Muay Thai scoring, Boxing strikes count the least towards your score for the round. As an example, if you were to land 5 solid punches against your opponent, but he landed one or two solid kicks, he will be ahead on the score cards. The general feeling that Thai's have is that #1- boxing is not what makes Muay Thai the sport it is. If they wanted to see boxing, they'd go to a boxing match. #2- the hands are gloved. This is the only part of the body that is padded during a match outside of groin protection and a mouthpiece. So therefore boxing strikes don't count as much.

But, as I've said, many Muay Thai gyms do teach real Western Boxing. You should check around to see. For instance, I have both experience as an amateur Thai boxer and boxer. I teach real Western Boxing skills in my Muay Thai classes, but they are 'modified' to what works best in the Muay Thai framework.

Khun Kao Charuad

[MA fanatic]

Khun: Great post. You're absolutely right.