How To Land Kicks On Your Opponent

Published by garciamuaythai on April 6, 2016 | Leave a response

You have to know how to land kicks on your opponent just as much as learning the actual kicking technique. Learning and practicing the techniques is important but you also need to learn how to get close enough and catch your opponent off guard so you can land them. While doing both requires practice, one requires practice in moving and the other requires learning to anticipate your opponent and move quickly to catch him off guard.

There are many variations to the Axe kick with each one useful based on the situation.

With the axe kick, you’ll be raising your leg and bringing down the heel on the opponent to maximize the damage you do. The heel is far more lethal to the opponent than the sole or ball of the foot and doesn’t leave you as open to injury. Doing the axe kick uses the hip and leg muscles, while also using the force of gravity and the natural inclination for the leg to be on the ground. It’s done from top to bottom, but still leaves you vulnerable to other attack, which is why practice is so important. There are a number of different types of axe kicks from traditional ones to jumping and spinning kicks.

Roundhouse kicks use momentum to add extra force to the kick.

When you do a roundhouse kick, the power doesn’t really come from the leg. In reality, it comes from the torso, hips and shoulders plus the momentum you develop. The leg is just the weapon or tool you use to deliver the power. Doing it right can cause a lot of damage to an opponent, but doing it wrong can wear you out. You’ll get much of the power from the pivot as you attempt to kick THROUGH the opponent. Follow through is important.

Timing your kick is one of the most important lessons to learn.

No matter how much technique you possess, timing is everything when you face an opponent. The person who anticipates their opponents moves best is often the winner of the match. Learn to anticipate when your opponent is most vulnerable and deliver the kick at that time, when he’s off guard. That means you have to practice quickness and not broadcast your movement to kick position.

Use kicks to assault all parts of the opponents body. Kicking techniques can be used to gain the advantage when used against the opponent to land on many different body parts from the head, trunk or legs.

Combining kicks with punches is a powerful tool. The kick gets the opponent off-balance and then you can land a powerful punch to complete the sequence.

Learn faking to disguise your next move. Fakes or feints can keep your opponent guessing. Watch the opponent carefully and when they start to react to the fakes, it’s time to strike.

Get a sense of timing by sparring. No matter how much you shadow box, it doesn’t provide the same learning experience that sparring does.

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Try A Kickboxing Workout

Published by garciamuaythai on March 25, 2016 | Leave a response

Are you bored with the same old routine at the gym and want a challenging workout that’s also a lot of fun? Try a kickboxing workout to add a bit of spice and enjoyment to your fitness routine. Not only does kickboxing provide total body exercise, it also provides all four forms of exercise. You’ll work on strength, flexibility, stamina and balance while improving your mental capabilities. The best part is that you won’t feel like you’re working out, but instead be enjoying participation in a sport.

Tone and firm your muscles and eradicate fat.

You won’t develop big bulging muscles with kickboxing, but you will develop strong sinewy muscles. Anyone who sees you will recognize you’re muscular, but when you participate in kickboxing, you’ll be sculpting your muscles and carving a great physique, while also eliminating fat. You’ll build some muscles, but have a strong appearance that looks quick and trim. You’ll be working on all muscle groups at once with kickboxing.

You won’t realize you’re working out when you kickbox.

Everyone who’s worked out to maintain a fit body at one time or another desperately looked for a clock, cell phone or watch to check how much longer they had to go until the workout ended. That doesn’t happen with kickboxing. That’s because you’re more focused on what your opponent is doing and what to do next you actually forget you’re working out. Like golf, basketball, football or any other sport, you’re more focused on improving at that sport than counting reps until your workout ends.

You’ll build agility, range of motion, strength and balance.

You’ll be using your whole body in a number of ways at one time. Kickboxing reconnects your mind to your whole body and puts you in charge. It doesn’t happen immediately, you’ll slowly develop the control. One day you’ll notice that you’ll be mentally controlling even smaller muscle groups to maximize their use against opponents.

Kickboxing gives you a method of self-defense. While you’ll get stronger and bulk up or lose weight with other forms of fitness, you don’t learn a technique that can be used to defend yourself. No matter how many weights you lift or miles you row, it won’t help in a dangerous situation.

You’ll build a sense of respect, not only for your opponent, but also for yourself. In order to build self-respect, you have to learn to respect others. Kickboxing helps you do that.

You’ll build your mental capabilities. You need to think fast in most situations in kickboxing. Part of that comes from practice, but part of it is your mental fitness. As you build your body, you’ll also be building your mental capabilities.

Kickboxing teaches you discipline. It’s not street fighting. It’s a disciplined form of battle that requires you to submit to the wisdom of your teacher and practice until you’re perfect. That takes mental and physical discipline.

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The Pros Of Muay Thai

Published by garciamuaythai on March 3, 2016 | Leave a response

You’ll find the pros of Muay Thai make it not only a great fitness program, but also a fantastic weight loss program. It offers so much from providing a method of self-defense to improving flexibility and agility. It’s an all around workout that builds core strength while increasing your endurance and coordination. Learning Muay Thai also improves your self-image and gives you a feeling of power and confidence in a manner no other form of fitness can do. You’ll feel stronger, more competent and ready to take on anything life has to offer. Not only will you feel it, others will notice the difference in your manner and stance. You’ll develop presence.

Developing a sense of presence and self-confidence is just one of the benefits of Muay Thai.

A sense of presence not only affects how you feel about yourself, it affects how others see you. It doesn’t come from speaking the loudest, being articulate or even looking fantastic. It comes from within and being comfortable in your own skin. You’ll stand out in a crowd and look confident and attractive without doing anything but be yourself. Developing your muscles is part of it, but it’s more than that. It’s learning to control every muscle in your body, releasing all tension and combining your mental abilities with the physical to become one dynamic person.

You’ll build a lean, strong body and eliminate excess fat.

I see it every day. People come in and want to learn a self-defense technique so they take a course in Muay Thai. They end up not only learning self-defense, they also shed body fat and become a leaner, more efficient image of their former self. Others come in looking for a weight loss technique that also builds lean muscle mass and wind up loving the feeling of power they have when they compete. Both types of people get the benefits that hoped to achieve and more.

You’ll build your mental agility while you build your physical body.

Muay Thai is more than just a physical sport. It’s more than just jumping into the ring and punching as hard as you can or kicking fast and furiously. It’s learning to anticipate your opponents next move and building a strategy to counteract that move….not within a week, month or day but within seconds. Of course, part of it comes from learning the basics and study what to do until it becomes second nature. However, Muay Thai improves your reflex time and your mental capabilities to make quick decisions that have consequences if you’re wrong. That lesson carries over to everyday life.

Build your body and build character with Muay Thai. Muay Thai is based on self-discipline and respect for your opponent. It builds the mind and character while it builds the body.

Improve your reflex time with Muay Thai. Both mental and physical reflexes improve and you’ll think quicker and react faster with training.

You’ll learn to control all the muscles in your body and become one. It’s hard to describe until you feel it. You develop the mental control of your body like a dancer, but with the added strength that comes from martial arts and boxing.

Feel confident in any situation and never be a victim again. It’s well known that people who fear becoming a victim often become victims primarily because they send out that body language. Learning Muay Thai and building your skills and strength eliminates that body language and makes thugs look elsewhere for an easy mark.

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What Are You Anticipating

Published by garciamuaythai on January 26, 2016 | Leave a response

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.

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Use Your Weapons

Published by garciamuaythai on January 7, 2016 | Leave a response

You won’t lose any challenge or battle when you use your weapons in a trained and precise manner. That means lots of practice and the right type of training. Muay Thai is the Art of 8 Limbs and when trained and ready, all eight weapons will help you defeat any opponent. You’ll use your hands, knees, elbows and shins in a variety of ways to win every battle when you use these weapons correctly.

Muay Thai has a long history.

The origination of the sport actually came from it’s use in battle. As the soldiers learned more efficient ways to overcome an enemy, they shared it with others. The elders then passed this information down to their children or students, honing the art each time to make it more effective. In fact, at one time Muay Thai used the head as a weapon, making it the art of nine weapons. In modern times, headbutting became illegal and never used in the sport. It spread from the orient during WWII when both Europeans and Americans witness it and named it Siam Boxing.

Muay Thai helps you learn more than just a martial arts technique.

When you learn Muay Thai, you learn discipline. You also learn to anticipate the other person’s movement and react accordingly. It makes you more alert to everything around you, helping you to make faster and wiser decisions in other areas of your life. You get more than just finding out how to use your body as a weapon. You get healthy exercise that builds lean muscle tissue while also burning fat faster. While Muay Thai training isn’t a self defense class, it can help you defend yourself if you ever need to do that.

In order to use all your weapons effectively, you’ll need more than just training, you’ll need strength and endurance.

Strength and endurance and Muay Thai training go hand in hand. The more you train, the more endurance you’ll have, but also the more you develop your skills the more you’ll need. That’s why many Muay Thai instructors focus on building that strength and fitness while they are teaching all the moves and skills necessary to be successful in the sport.

Foot drill work and kicks build the muscles and strength in the legs. It also helps build agility and endurance, while making legs look excellent.

Muay Thai training can help keep you mentally sharp. It teaches you to focus on the drills and situation, taking your mind off your daily stresses. Any type of exercise, particularly one that works the whole body like Muay Thai, also burns off the hormones created by stress.

Muay Thai training can build your self confidence. The stronger and better you get, the more confident you’ll feel.

You’ll build mental toughness with Muay Thai. Mental toughness is the ability to continue long after others may have quit. It helps in all areas of life.

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Should You Stretch First?

Published by garciamuaythai on December 23, 2015 | Leave a response

No matter what type of exercise routine you use, whether its running, calisthenics or even martial arts, most instructors or fitness experts have you stretch first, before starting your workout. Stretching your muscles helps reduce injury later by providing a wider range of motion, more flexibility and improved co-ordination. It’s like a dry run, safely putting your muscles through the paces before asking it to do the tough work.

Warm your muscles before you stretch.

Stretching cold, stiff muscles is worse than not stretching at all. Warming your body includes increasing your heart rate, which in turn gets your blood circulating faster and sends more oxygen laden blood to your extremities. You don’t have to spend all your workout time warming up. In fact, five minutes or so is adequate to help prevent injury.

Stretch your body properly or you’ll feel it hurt.

Sometimes people stretch and you hear them moan a bit or verbalize pain. That means they’re doing something wrong. Stretching should never hurt. You do it to avoid injury, not create it, so if you feel pain, stop what you’re doing back it up a bit and take your warm up stretching slower and less aggressive. Bouncing to get your muscles stretched, such as bending down to touch your toes and bouncing to get to that position, can also cause injury. Just take it slow and you’ll get there.

Breathe properly while you stretch.

Stretching is all about getting the muscles more oxygen and nutrients, warming them up with blood flow, so to speak. If you’re holding your breath the whole time, you’re counterproductive to the goal. Breathing deeply throughout the stretch not only increases the oxygen in your system, it also helps develop the lung muscles and is basically a warm-up for them.

Learning to do each exercise or movement correctly is another way to prevent injury. That’s why people often use a personal trainer when starting any kind of new sport or exercise regimen.

Stretching after the exercise also helps. It helps prevent stiff muscles and returns them slowly to a relaxed state.

If you have limited range of motion or stiff muscles, work with a personal trainer to help you build all aspects of fitness, but work more heavily on flexibility.

Some types of exercise, such as kickboxing or Muay Thai require the body to be flexible to do the moves correctly without injury to your body. You won’t be able to kick as high as you want if you don’t have adequate flexibility and that requires stretching.

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How’s Your Roundhouse Kick?

Published by garciamuaythai on December 14, 2015 | Leave a response

No matter what martial arts based movie you watch, there’s always one scene where the hero or heroine uses the roundhouse kick to over come and defeat the enemy. No matter what age you are, you want to try that move at home. The older you are, the more you make sure you’re alone and nobody is watching. Wouldn’t it be nice to actually know how to do it? You can watch a million Karate Kid movies and still never get the right form, or all the benefit of the knowledge you’ll get from actual martial arts lessons.

You’ll learn more than the roundhouse kick.

Martial arts, particularly mixed martial arts, uses the whole body. MMA includes boxing as well as martial arts moves. All of the techniques use more than just fighting and making the moves, it involves discipline and respect, as well as fitness. Learning respect for your opponent is just one of the wonderful life lesson that can help you be more disciplined in other areas of your life and help you achieve success.

Get fit, lose fat and learn those fancy moves.

Learning the moves of fighting techniques such as Muay Thai, kickboxing or MMA isn’t easy. It’s not just mentally challenging, it also takes tons of energy to accomplish right. Your body needs to be at peak fitness and that requires conditioning, part of the training. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ll lose weight without even trying. You’ll be more focused on the lessons than the workout, which makes it almost seem like magic! If you don’t change your eating habits, you’ll still lose weight. Imagine what you will lose when you start a healthier diet lower in calories.

Feel good about yourself again.

You don’t have to be a closet Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee or Chuck Norris. You can learn how to do all the impressive moves while doing something important for yourself. You’ll get into better shape than you’ve ever been in your life—unless of course you were a professional athlete before you started, then you’ll just get back into shape—when you start learning martial arts techniques. Most of all, you’ll develop a better self image. Not only will you be learning how to defend yourself and doing something great for your body, you’ll also be honing your discipline.

You’ll blow off steam while you learn. If you have a stressful pressure filled job or life, learning MMA, or any type of fighting style, such as kick boxing, can help you burn off the hormones created by stress and get back to a mellower self.

You’ll improve your focus. The physical activity of the sports improves your circulation and takes nutrient and oxygen rich blood to all areas, including the brain. It lifts the mental fog of stress and increases your mental acuity

You’ll feel more energetic after just a few weeks. The longer you stick to a routine of regular exercise, the more energy you’ll have for other things.

You’ll feel safer once you know you can defend yourself. You don’t have to actually be in danger to feel unsafe. We’ve all been there, leaving work late and walking to a car alone or finding it dark when you leave the deserted parking lot. Learning self defense through martial arts can make you feel safer.

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Women’s Self Defense

Published by garciamuaythai on November 30, 2015 | Leave a response

Women’s self defense classes can save your life one day. However, learning the art of self-defense, whether Jiu-Jitsu, Krav Maga, Muay Thai or other form of self-defense, can bring huge rewards in other ways. In most cases, women who take self-defense classes often don’t need them. That’s because the classes change them from looking like a victim to looking confident and strong. Many muggers and rapists choose people who look more like victims because they’re easier to subdue and don’t present a challenge that could backfire and cause injury to the thug.

You’ll lose weight as you build strength and skill.

You can’t help but lose weight when you workout learning one of the self-defense techniques. Muay Thai probably burns the most since it uses all parts of the body in the conquering of the attacker and defending yourself. If you don’t change your diet in anyway, you’ll burn off extra calories that helps shed pounds. However, if you lower your caloric intake, even slightly, you’ll see weight drop off quickly.

You’ll build muscle tissue and eliminate fat.

You’ll quickly see your body trim down, even if you don’t lose weight. That’s because you’ll be building muscle tissue and eliminating fat tissue. Muscle tissue weighs more per cubic inch than fat tissue does, so one pound takes up less space. Even if you don’t lose any weight, you’ll look thinner and have a smoother contour. Strong is sexy these days and the workout at a self-defense class builds both.

You’ll build your endurance and strength, while also improving balance and flexibility.

Building strength is important, but training to achieve it can cause injury if it isn’t accompanied with flexibility training. Self-defense courses, particularly the martial arts classes, improve all types of fitness. You’ll be more agile and have better balance, while also developing more stamina and strength. You’ll see visible improvement in your health too. While you’ll be protected from an attacker, you’ll also be protected from serious diseases.

Learning self-defense can also build self-control. Self-control and self-discipline are the keys to success no matter what your goal, even weight loss.

You’ll meet and make friends at self-defense classes, which you’ll maintain even after the class ends. If you decide to go beyond just the stage of self-defense and learn more, you’ll open a whole new world of social interaction.

You’ll really enjoy learning the art of self-defense, no matter what type of self-defense you’re taking. It’s fun to learn how to defend yourself.

You’ll feel fantastic and watch your mood soar. Regular exercise stimulates the brain to create hormones that make you feel good, while also burning off ones created by stress.

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Teach Your Child Self-Discipline

Published by garciamuaythai on November 29, 2015 | Leave a response

No matter how much you try to teach your child self-discipline at home, you often feel like the rest of society attempts to foil your efforts. Many Little League games and other forms of children’s sports don’t even keep score and often children get rewarded for simply attending functions, even if they were counterproductive to the overall goal. To help your child learn about self-discipline and personal achievement, consider enrolling them in a martial arts or Muay Thai class. These classes promote personal responsibility and self-discipline.

Respect for others helps on the road to self-responsibility.

The instructor is the authority figure in Muay Thai and no matter what instructor or class taken, demands the respect of the pupils. It’s one of the underlying foundations of the sport. While you’re child learns the various moves required to compete in this sport, he or she also learns respect for the instructor that transfers to other adults in positions of authority.

Your child will learn to listen more carefully to instruction.

In the sport of Muay Thai, as with any martial arts or kickboxing sport, following instructions can make the difference between success or failure in competition. It dramatically shows during a match and the lesson learned from lack of attention or failure to follow instructions are severe, immediate and extremely obvious. Immediate reward or punishment is the best teacher. While the child may grasp the concept of the benefits of listening in any class or training, it’s extremely obvious with Muay Thai.

Your child will develop self-esteem.

Muay Thai trains the child in the art of self-defense and that can build confidence. Children who feel good about themselves don’t have to act out to get the attention every human craves. The feeling of accomplishment and courage developed during training transfers to many other areas of life to improve those areas too, while also improving overall performance to boost self-esteem even higher.

Your child may be learning the art muay Thai and how to win in a fight using it, but it doesn’t promote aggression. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Part of the training is learning to help resolve issues without violence.

Your child will develop physical stamina and strength during sessions. The rigorous physical exercise helps develop the body.

Not only does the rigorous exercise help the body, it also helps the mind. It builds new pathways to make learning easier.

Your child will develop respect for other participants in class, while also developing friendships. Classes focus on helping one another to become the most accomplished fighter possible.

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Respect Is Earned

Published by garciamuaythai on November 25, 2015 | Leave a response

Respect is earned by focusing on the basics, practicing with vigilance and demonstrating skills. But part of the ritual in Muay Thai includes showing respect to an opponent, to the masters and in the ritual of Wai Khru Ram Muay, the wai,the sign of respect, is when the fighter puts his hands together as you would in prayer to show respect to others, which include opponents, teachers and ultimately God. While respect is earned on one level, it is also given freely as part of the basics of Muay Thai.

Showing respect occurs in a number of ways.

You show respect to other students and your teacher when learning Muay Thai by listening closely without interrupting. Showing anger, criticism and irritation with another not only shows disrespect, it’s a breach of the rules and can cause loss of face to the person demonstrating it. In order to be at your best you need to maintain a ‘Jai Yen’—a cool heart, and a polite disposition.

You will receive respect in your sport when you’ve earned it.

Simply signing up for classes will garner you personal respect from everyone in the class, but to get respect in the sport of Muay Thai, which indicates admiration, rather than polite treatment, you need to work and succeed. Training, listening, following instruction and practice are a few of the ways to develop your skills that will start you on the road to that type of respect.

Respecting certified instructors and masters is part of Muay Thai

Your instructor deserves not only your respect but the respect of everyone involved in Muay Thai. Masters and certified instructors have proven themselves to be superior in a sport that takes years to conquer. Even then, most will continue to learn throughout the rest of their life, hoping to improve and hone their already significant skills. While the masters of Muay Thai are experts, they are humble enough to understand there’s always more to learn.

Always work toward perfection. Even if you think you accomplished a move perfectly, if your teacher said you didn’t, go back to the start and learn it again until you’ve accomplished each movement perfectly. It is one way to show respect as you earn respect.

Working on the basics may not seem exciting, but it can take you to the top of your game. All moves start with the basics.

Focusing on developing strength and power can help you become victorious. It’s one of the important areas in muay Thai training.

Improving endurance will aid you in every match and promote the level of respect you’ve earned in a sport.

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