Thai style roundhouse kick?

Discussion in 'Thai Boxing' started by Taliar, Oct 26, 2004.

  1. Taliar

    Taliar Train harder!

    Could someone please explain how to perform a Thai style roundhouse kick. I have a TKD background and would like to compare the two.

    Please note i want to know how to do the kick. Not to start a style bashing thread. :bang:
     
  2. Ikken Hisatsu

    Ikken Hisatsu New Member

    theres two basic kinds of roundhouse. one for the head and legs (odd as that might sound) and one for the body.

    head and legs- the leg comes up, over, and down. no chamber. the idea of doing this for a high kick is to come over the top of your opponents guard, and chop downwards onto their neck/side of their face. same thing with the legs- it comes up, over, and chops down onto the side of the leg. you pivot on the ball of the supporting foot, and at contact your support foot should be pointing in the opposite direction to your opponent. in this picture, you can see how the leg is coming down on the head, and the hips are closing together, producing maximum power.

    [​IMG]

    body (and sometimes head)- this roundhouse is the "fast" one. it comes straight up from the ground, goes in a straight line towards the opponent, and drives up into the body, or if the opponent is being lazy, the head. the same thing applies to the end of this kick as the other one- the support foot is facing the other direction, and there is no chambering. however the hips are completely open, to provide more upwards power. notice how the leg in this one is cutting upwards-

    [​IMG]

    and thats about as well as I can explain them without showing them. one more thing- a lot of the power from these kicks is derived from the push step technique. this involves slightly lifting the kicking foot off the ground, then driving it into the floor and using the force to help put momentum into the kick. watch k-1 fighters feet closely- a lot of them use this to get more speed and power.
     
  3. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    Ikken,

    That was one of the single most productive posts I've ever read. I've been doing that kick for years, and I still learned a lot.

    Well said!


    Stuart
     
  4. sean

    sean THOR!

    Thank you, thats helped me aswell :)
     
  5. Lucius

    Lucius Valued Member

    I just cannot get to grips with this upwards, cutting movement in body level kicks.
    I have no problems with power and flexibility, and I am getting my hip over, but my body kicks come in horizontally. This is fine, but I find it limits my ability to do fast multiple kicks that you see Thais doing.

    I think it might have something to do with coming to Muay Thai after 8 years of Shotokan!

    Not a huge problem really, just annoying :bang:
     
  6. Singto Laaw

    Singto Laaw Strictly Muay Thai

    Excellent, that is Jitty's, just of Khao San,(now sorvorapin) about 6 years ago, before they redesigned the place. The two people are Moe and Rajasack, two of my most beloved Kru's. Excellent picture!! I might have to borrow that picture, as I dont have any of Moe. I would like to add him to my legends page, he is one of two missing.
     
  7. Taliar

    Taliar Train harder!

    Thanks for the informative replies.
     
  8. Infrazael

    Infrazael Banned Banned

    Interesting Ikken. I've never done the unchambered downwards roundhouse to the head before. Whenever I go for headshots (which is very rare), I always to the upwards cut.

    However, I do use alot of the "downward" motion when I go for the legs or knees. Whether that's the same as your first example, I don't know without comparing.
     
  9. ap Oweyn

    ap Oweyn Ret. Supporter

    I think it might be the "getting your hips over" thing that's the problem. In the upward round kick, I don't think you pop your hips over the way you do with other round kicks. (Someone feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken. And yeah, I know this post was from a couple of months ago.)


    Stuart
     
  10. Rebel Wado

    Rebel Wado Valued Member

    Working your Thai kicks on a heavy bag might help. With a more karate style roundhouse the heavy bag will tend to move perpendicular to your body when kicked. A Thai kick that comes more with an upwards angle will move the heavy bag at closer to a 45 degree angle away from the body.

    Sometimes throwing in a sort of right cross when kicking with right leg will help too.

    Just work the heavy bag and make adjustments to the distance you kick at and of course strike with your shins until you can get the bag to move 45 degrees away. My guess is that you are too far away (the leg travels a greater distance) to the bag right now and need to be kicking closer to the target instead.
     
  11. chomskyite_99

    chomskyite_99 New Member

    im not so sure about this notion of moving upward in body-striking roundhouses, rather than cutting THROUGH the opponent. certainly the trajectory IS in an upward direction initially, and for most of the kick - physically necessary to get the leg there in the first place - but if one is to twist one's hips powerfully the eventual result is a shin at almost 90 degrees to the midsection, rather than moving 45 degree upwards into it. try kicking at the body and twisting your hips quickly - you'll see what i mean: you'll find it physically impossible to keep your leg at a 45 degree angle to the body all the way through without a swivel of the hips. if you can, your hips aren't swivelling powerfully enough.
     
  12. Ikken Hisatsu

    Ikken Hisatsu New Member

    yeah you can swivel a bit as well- at the end of the kick when i push out with the hips i usually turn my foot over. i didnt mention that, thanks. it is still viable to just use the cutting up motion though in order to make the kick faster, and it can have the same effect.
     
  13. Highkick

    Highkick Banned Banned

    I think a good way to describe the motion of a Mui Thai roundhouse is by comparing it to a whip. You kind of lash out your leg with your hips, which generates tremendous power. It's like swinging a baseball bat. (Sort of a simplified answer, compared to Ikkens, but essentialy the same idea)
     
  14. Nrv4evr

    Nrv4evr New Member

    It's basically common sense coupled with vicious mechanics. What's more effective in kicking than the foot? Why, the shin, of course. Everything else is just science and fine details. Hitting someone with your shin, with proper technique and conditioning to minimize chance of injury, is most likely better than just hitting someone with your foot.
     
  15. Ikken Hisatsu

    Ikken Hisatsu New Member

    well they have been developing the roundhouse kick for a loooooong time, in an arena where the strongest techniques are used and the weakest are thrown away. after a while I guess they just arrived on the best way of kicking there is :D
     
  16. Infrazael

    Infrazael Banned Banned

    Ikken, reminds me of our Sao Choy except with the legs. :D

    Peace to all you Thai boxers. ;)
     
  17. jls1znv9999

    jls1znv9999 New Member

    If you read up on Muay Thai you would find out that at one time it was in fact armed combat. Until Thai's found that they can use there body limbs (non-removed) as deadly striking weapons. knees and kicks are symbolic of axes, chopping down an opponent, knees are like spear tips, and shins are like the staff of a spear and so on. The history of the culture is also an essential of learning and training Muay Thai. Is that about it Ikken
     
  18. Ikken Hisatsu

    Ikken Hisatsu New Member

    sounds about right, although using muay thai on the battle field was a last resort thing- it was used more to keep the soldiers physically and mentally strong, as far as I know.
     
  19. Artice

    Artice New Member

    i've been doing Muay Thai for about a month now and i'm just wondering...(this is a bit off topic but i didnt want to start a new thread for this.) Does Muay Thai have any other kicks other than roundhouse and Teeps?
     
  20. Ikken Hisatsu

    Ikken Hisatsu New Member

    depending on the gym. the side kick is part of muay thai but really just isnt effective enough for most gyms to bother with much. the spinning back kick is also taught in some gyms, my old coach was great them, my new coach doesnt really use them at all.
     

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