i just started doing this while sparring and it helps s0o0o much! i usually spar with this dude whose been doing Thai for 10 years, so its practacly impossible to teep him with out ur foot getting cuaght.... no matter how i set it up how fast i do it he always catches my foot jabs... so yesterday i threw it up high and caught him in the face.. i stood there for a second in amazment n hes like "$h% u figured out one of my weeknesses" so i started doin it to the ppl i normaly spar n it was working quiet well.. i sorta dont like doing it bc lol it feels messed up i mean foot to face... idk id be kinda ****ed whats your feelings on the Teeps to the head.
i generally dont do them because in muay thai putting the bottom of your foot onto someones face is a huge sign of disrespect. i wouldnt do that to one of my training partners.
i read somewhere that the thai feel its disrespect. wasnt sure of the source...but now i know. funny though it never came up as a no no. when i trained with saxsam or while in thailand. i would certainly not be mad at a person who did this to me. however i find its not that effective. kinda like a spinning kick. the first one catches you by suprise and may well hurt you. however in your mind your always thinking please do that again. real easy to counter if you are not suprised
Push Kicks to the face are a HUGE no-no in a traditional MuayThai gym..... I've noticed that here in the States, there are many gyms that do not observe this tradition. It is considered a HUGE sign of disrespect!!! In Thailand, the head is considered to be the most important part of the body, almost holy, and the foot is considered to be low & filthy. To Push Kick someone in the face is literally symbolic of saying that they are lower than the dirt on the bottom of your foot. You NEVER use this tactic in the gym with your coaches or training partners!!! Only in the ring!!!!!
Whilst the Thais dont like it, unless you'r eplanning on fighting them there should be no problem. Interesting point, on a recent Dekker video I saw (sorry cant provide link atm) he was fighting Thai guys and using the head Tepp all of the time. I was quite shocked as I would have thought a foreign fighter, even one as big as Dekker would have more respect for the culture and traditions of the host country.
I wouldn't care. Its more religious than cultural, head being teh most holy part of your body and the feet being the least. If it works use it. however, if your going against a traditional thai guy whos not doing it to you, im not sure you should do it as that wouldn't be nice.
thai culture and religion are pretty closely intertwined. at my gym we train in a more traditional way. we have a lot of guys who have trained in thailand and some who have moved to NZ from there. I would forgive a newbie for doing it, but everyone else knows better. but hey, feel free to crap on the traditions of your chosen art, if no one else in your gym cares then why should you
Hmmm...not so sure a teep to the face is 'crapping on the tradition of your chosen art'. That's overstating your case there Ikken. The Thai's have been using teeps to the face/head for a very long time. While the point regarding putting the feet anywhere near the head is an accurate one... it is often ignored even by Thai's themselves in the ring. In many bouts there can be an implicit gentleman's agreement... I don't use the elbows if you don't. You can see this quite often in Thai matches. Buakaw is quite known for his teeps to the face. He is Buddhist and Thai and sure doesn't have any qualms about. Here's a shot from the '70s of a classic teep to the face. Bruce Irving... I would not use them all that much during sparring. The chance for injury of the serious kind are a bit too high. It will **** off sparring partners. There isn't much room for error with a teep to the face. So as a beginner you could easily put too much power or have the wrong range and bust a nose or end up catching them in the throat. Neither of which would be good.
And here is 'King Kong' sinking that teep right into Masato's face. If many of you remember this fight - you'll remember that Masato showed a lot of heart as he fought an additional round at the behest of the idiot Japanese judges who hated to see their fighter lose to Buakaw... who has already completely trounced the Japanese fighter in the prior three rounds. Masato knew he would lose it after the first three and didn't look all that happy about having to go back in for an additional round... but he sucked it up and fought anyhow... ok... enough hijacking.
yeah that was a gutsy fight by masato, he is a machine. he broke his foot in the second round of the zambidis fight and carried on- and won too. too much hardkore
I have to second what Ikken said. Many of you are confusing the difference between what you do in training and what you do in an actual fight. In traditional MuayThai, the Push Kick to the face is demeaning. That is why you DO NOT use this tactic in the gym with your coaches or training partners. But once you step into the ring for a real fight, the kid gloves come off! This is a frequently used tactic by the Thai's to **** their opponent off. A ****ed off opponent is a soon-to-be-KO'ed opponent..... To each their own, I guess. I was trained traditionally. I've always trained directly under Thai coaches. So in our gym, the Push Kick to the face is a big no-no when you are training. If you want to train using the tactic, thats what the heavy bag and pads are for.
Normally head teeps r only used in grudge match type fights, where the intention is to show disdain or disrespect rather than to actually hurt someone. Realistically, a teep to the head is a kick thats reached the end of its trajectory and has no real power, so its unlikely to hurt anyone, although it can certainly take u by surprise if used early in a fight.
Kohi knocked his opponent out in the k-1 max japan final with a single teep to the face, although it was the mother of all teeps
Neat thread... that's a bit of info I didn't know (about the foot in the face being a "no-no" ). I wonder though, if you can't train it in class with a live partner, how do you know it'll work in the ring? How do you train it to be effective without kicking each other in the head?
As been stated, a teep to the face is a huge form of disrespect in Thailand. As an extension, placing things on the ground, like your gloves, is also considered a no-no, because you intend to plant those into someone's face. It makes logical sense anyways, aside from tradition/culture. Feet are dirty, so is the ground... don't put it in people's faces. As well, there is no distinction between religion and culture in Thailand ("officially"). To be Thai is to be Buddhist. Of course, tell that to the Muslims in the south, or the Christian hilltribes... but the point is, as a generalization, the Thais are very spiritual people who put into practice their beliefs.
From a practicality point of view, front kick to the head can work well but is reqally at it's best only when the opponent is moving forward into the kick (I find anyway).
