What Are You Anticipating

What are you anticipating when you enter a match with an opponent. You should be aware of all his moves and even know what he intends on doing next or you’ll end up unprepared and often the loser of the match. Learning ways to preempt your opponents attack are an important part of the sport. While the basics are still the foundation, anticipation of your opponents moves is the next step on the ladder to success.

Learn to anticipate moves helps you in several ways.

Whether you’re on the defense and need to find a counter to your opponents moves or on the offense and anticipating your opponents reaction to your move, you need to learn the signs that tell you how he or she is about to react. If you’re on the offensive and you can tell your opponent is about to counter your move, you adjust it to a different strategy he or she will never expect. The key is to evade the opponents moves, anticipate his next ones and counter with your own move that will stop the opponent in his tracks.

Learning to anticipate your opponents move makes it a great self-defense skill.

If you find yourself in a dangerous situation, anticipating your attackers next move is extremely important. Muay Thai can help you do that will skill and confidence. Most attackers are street thugs with little skill and limited knowledge of self-defense, beyond using crude attempts with their fist. No matter what your weight or gender, you’ll be able to overcome this type of person by anticipating the next move he’s about to make and countering it before he can hurt you. The skills you use in Muay Thai matches are the very skills that will help make your life safer.

Footwork, fitness, and knowledge help you anticipate and counter your opponents moves.

When you know how to initiate all the moves, you’ll be able to identify your opponents next one. Knowledge of how to execute each move will give you the advantage. That’s why practice is so important and learning each technique so valuable in a battle. Brute strength is valuable, but knowledge and practice will help you win each match.

Choosing the most effective counter to the incoming strike can be handled in a number of ways. You can use a stop hit to the body of your opponent or use a kick intercept. For those who want to take a risk using elbows can make him feel the pain. Learning several techniques will keep your opponent off guard.

If your opponent wants to add extra power to a kick, he’ll use the rear leg to drive it through. That gives you more time to create your own counter and quickly respond to the motion.

If you’re opponent is moving in toward you, you can use a stop kick to cool his aggressive acts. That can stifle a kick and frustrate your opponent at the same time. The mental advantage can help. Anticipation, timing and rhythm are the best tools to make a stop kick effective.

Besides learning to anticipate your opponent’s moves, you also need to learn what to do if your efforts to block the move fail. All aspects of the sport are important when it comes to being a winner.