Muay Thai is known to be one of the most dangerous combat forms of all time. Starting as a major revolution Muay Thai is known as the Thai form of boxing. Where boxing has strict rules and you can only use your upper body, Muay Thai allows you to use the whole body, especially various kicks and striking methods. Muay Thai is also known as the 8 limb fighting technique. Within this combat form, you will use your hands, shins, feet, arms, and lower limbs in the form of knives and swords. The idea is to strike your opponent in a way that makes him feel extreme pain. One thing that makes Muay Thai much more dangerous than most of the other forms is its extremely violent rules. Unlike most combat games where you have a very strict hitting and striking rule, Muay Thai doesn’t have very strict rules. As a result, this became famous as the Thai street boxing style. However soon after it was banned because of its extremely violent nature. With few changes and some rules implemented, Muay Thai is now known as a safe game yet people still try to imply their violent means. Within Muay Thai there is a very dangerous kick commonly known as roundhouse kick. This kick can be dangerous yet it serves defense and attacking purposes very well.
With the help of this article, we will look into the roundhouse kick. We will see why it is used and how you can learn the technique. We will also see why it is known to be one of the most devastating kicks in Muay Thai
Why Round House Kick Is Known To Be The Most Dangerous?
The roundhouse kick is not just the most dangerous, it is also the most rewarding kick. It has a huge range offering the fighter to target the whole body of the opponent. Where most of the other kicks have a certain height limit allowing you to target the upper body or lower body, this kick can be customized according to the target so you can switch your lower body to kick all the way up or keep it a little low to kick the knee or buttock area. Most of the time, if this kick is used with a good enough technique it can become very painful, so before starting your muay Thai journey make sure to practice your roundhouse kick as well.
How to Perfect Your Round Kick for Muay Thai?
For polishing your roundhouse kick you need to start by perfecting your stance. For your stance start by standing up straight and then fix your both feet at a 45-degree angle. This way you will have a tilted lower body while your upper body will be straight just towards your opponent. This will give your more coverage even when your opponent is right in front of you. Your area of attack will also be bigger and you can easily manage your kick according to their height. As you stand, keep your weight on the balls of your feet, make sure you are not stressing too much on the toe, and keep your body weight near the rear side of your foot. This stance will also offer you better balance as you will try to lift up your foot.
Now after the stance, you can now lift up your back leg and keep your weight on the front leg. Now your back leg will hold your weight as your front leg will move forwards. The idea is to reduce the distance without getting close because as you try to get close to your opponent your movement will become predictable offering him a chance to attack.
As you lift up your leg, try to lift and rotate your front hip fully as it bends across the right hip. The idea is mainly to focus on the movement for better balance and more damage. For kicking, you need to use the base of your leg. Most people try to gain composure and speed by dropping down their hands but this will only make you more vulnerable as this will open more space and the opponent can easily target your head region.
Now get ready to make the contact with the body of your opponent. Try to keep the kicking leg straight and get ready for the impact. As soon as you hit the opponent, do not wait, try to bring your leg back in the same position without waiting.
Bottom Line
To sum it all up, roundhouse kick is simply the most dangerous kick within muay Thai although if we look at it from an aesthetic point of view we will see that it might not be the best-looking kick but it surely does the job. Usually, muay Thai fighters establish their whole game around this roundhouse kick. The main reason is that roundhouse kick helps in damaging and inflicting pain in the lower body and since most fighters do not have any guard on their lower body it becomes an easy target. The goal is to use your kick in a way that you can change its height at any point according to the targeted area.
Article kindly submitted by Mike Jones of Elite Sports.