Muay Thai Practitioners

[YinYangDagger]

Hey MT guys out there-

I was speaking to a muay thai guy today and we were talking about old style Muay Thai (I read about some of it on this board months back).

Anyway, he stated that back in the "old" days MT actually had forms. Short forms they used to practice with when they weren't sparring. You guys ever heard of this? I was always under the impression that MT just trained (bag work, running, kicks, etc) and sparred...

[SevenStar]

He may be talking about the combos. For example, the TBA has set 4,8, 12,15,17 and 18 count combos. You must know these if you test. If he's not talking about those, I'm not sure what he's talking about.

Primarily, however, our "forms" work is shadowboxing, bagwork and padwork. Also, he may be talking about krabi krabong, which is actually a different style. It's a thai art that utilizes striking, weapons and has some grappling. the striking aspect of it is primarlly muay thai, I believe.

[YinYangDagger]

ahhh OK Seven, I see, that's prolly what he's talking about

[SanSoo Student]

These forms of the traditional Muay Thai, featured a lower stance and focused on more in-fighting style and emphasized counters and lethal takedowns.

One move I've seen one guy do is...when a person is trying to grab your neck for a knee clinch, you simply firmly grab his hips and then he can't close the distance.

[YinYangDagger]

so you're saying there WERE forms?

have you seen them before?

[Unmatchable]

http://crane.50megs.com/index6u.htm

[SevenStar]

Originally posted by SanSoo Student
These forms of the traditional Muay Thai, featured a lower stance and focused on more in-fighting style and emphasized counters and lethal takedowns.

what you focus on in a muay thai school will vary from coach to coach... we focus alot on infighting where I am.

One move I've seen one guy do is...when a person is trying to grab your neck for a knee clinch, you simply firmly grab his hips and then he can't close the distance.

That's a standard knee defense in a clinch. Remember that when you do that, you are susceptible to elbows...

[omarthefish]

Muay Thai is a pretty broad term actually. Thailand has a number of fighting "styles" For a good demo of a Muay Thai form go rent 'Ong Bak'. The hero does a portion of one very early on in the movie. His uncle even calls out the very colorful and metaphoric names of the moves as he does them. The actor is a real fighter from Thailand and he made an appearance at Fairtex recently.

The style he perfoms in the movie, according to my MT instructor at the time, is called, 'Muay Lau Lau'. He said it's like gong fu with forms and all.

[yenhoi]

They also have pre-fight and post-fight "forms" or dances or prayers. Tribute to the gods, the coaches, the familys, and the opponents. Some are very combatative and others are just really pretty.

[SanSoo Student]

I have seen traditional Muay Thai on Tv once in thailand, and have met the guy teaching it. He charged quite a steep price, like 25 dollars a day-> 1000 baht, so I didn't sign up.

And the grabbing the hips is not a standard knee defense from my experience, because the standard defense is to clinch closer to them when they grab you.

Some/ or Most (I don't know) of the Ong Bak moves are real old school moves, but most places in Thailand don't even teach them anymore because they are too dangerous or impractical in a match. One move in there I do know is real, was the one where he jumped up on guy and downward elbowed him in the head. Because the real move is executed when a person tries to do a knee, you step off on his knee and drive the elbow into his face. The only "old-school" move I learned was the spinning back shin kick, and finding the timing to use that move is next to impossible.

With all those old school, lethal moves it makes you wonder why Thai people say Muay Thai kicks Kung-fu's ass.

[yenhoi]

Khun Kao(sp?) has an unofficial MT manual in color on the net somewheres. It shows "flywing" upward and downward elbows and knees, among many, many other techniques and ideas.

To block or avoid knees in the clinch you have MANY "standard" options. If all you ever do is move closer (dont vary your defenses) then you will consistently be thrown and punched or elbowed or headbutted in the face.

[SevenStar]

Yeah, there are several standard defenses. I said that because SSS sounded as if he'd never seen it before.


We do flying knees and elbows. I've never seen a spinning back shin kick... I know MT has plenty of arcing and thrusting kicks, but I've never seen that one.

[ShaolinTiger00]

Wai Kru is a "form"

[MasterKiller]

Originally posted by SanSoo Student
With all those old school, lethal moves it makes you wonder why Thai people say Muay Thai kicks Kung-fu's ass.

Probably because MT fighters spend a lot more time conditioning than 99.9% of KF players. Better shape = better fighter.

[SevenStar]

the wai kru is a form, but will differ from camp to camp