Muay Thai - The Science of Eight Limbs
@bertus_magnus (329)
Philippines
December 15, 2006 1:15pm CST
Muay Thai is one of the deadliest martial arts known to man. Called the science of eight limbs, muay thai uses hands, feet, elbows and knees in combat and all are used extensively. having a wide array of striking, grappling, throwing, defense and clinch moves, a muay thai fighter (called a Nak Muay), can be considered as a very deadly all around weapon.
the ancient form of muay thai, (genereally called muay boran, with many different kinds, reminiscent of ancient kung fu also with many different forms), was used in wars and conflicts. battle tested, and combat effecient, it helped win wars and also served as a method for protection.
today, muay thai takes form of a combat contact sport. the culture and history behind it is represented by the pre-fight rituals performed by the fighters before the fight and by the attire that they wear. there is the Wai Kru, where the fighter performs three bows, to show respect to family, gym, and teacher. then there's the Ram Muay, the ritual dance performed after the Wai Kru. in the ram muay, the fighters don armbands called Pra Jiad, and the Mong Kon, the headgear awarded to them by their teachers signifying that they have learned all the skills that their teacher can teach them.
a very deadly and brutal martial art, muay thai has been adapted and assimilated in today's fast rising trend of mixed martial arts tournaments (such as ufc and pride), since it offers superb and well rounded combat skills. also, muay thai is being popularized by this new fast rising action star Tony Jaa (Panom Yeerum) in his two hit movies Ong Bak and Tom Yum Goong, with his superb performance of muay thai and muay boran.
1 person likes this
12 responses
@Cephoozee (373)
• United States
27 Apr 07
Sometimes the best way to train is alone, that way you develop the discipline of training yourself without the help of someone else. some good training ideas would be doing a lot of calisthenics(pushups, crunches, jumping jacks, lunges, jumping as high as you can for a few minutes) no weights until later on in development. Running is very good for building endurance and lowering body fat, eating healthy is one of the MOST important parts of training, making sure you get your dailies and especially a lot of protein and carbohydrates for working out and helping your body heal from soreness. One of the best ways to condition your hands and feet is by placing some pinto beans into a sock to where it's full, and practicing the different hand strikes into the bean-sock, but letting your hand be free and relaxed so that the entire surface of your hand hits the bag, don't tense up. For feet, being barefoot as much as possible helps, or slapping your feet when pracicing kicks (this helps devlop accuracy and focus for kicks as well((holding your hand flat out in front of you and kicking it)) conditions both the hands and feet) and another one for feet is using that same bean-sock to slap your feet with on all surfaces. Do that daily and you should notice the difference as the light callouses begin to build over the surfaces. ^.^ hope that was of some help
@terapak (4)
• Thailand
8 May 07
- - Em' in ancient Muay thai - Muay Thai use many weapon on body dont limit in eight ^+^.
Read About Ancient Muay Thai in My Blog
http://allfight.blogspot.com
@lossforredwords (3620)
• Philippines
16 Dec 06
i agree with you! mua thai rocks! i jsut saw the documentation done by the national geographic chanel about the different kinds of fighting arts, and mua thai is condered to be as one of the deadliest.. its kick using knee can be compared to a running car wiht high speed that got wrecked..
but i think the fight sceience show done by ngc considered ninjitsu as the most dangereous one... but one fighter said that it still depends on whose got the first blow in the fight.
@bertus_magnus (329)
• Philippines
16 Dec 06
ninjutsu isnt really a fighting art, it's more of a sneaky sort of martial art. ninja's avoid confrontation as much as possible, they prefer to kill in stealth.
@lossforredwords (3620)
• Philippines
16 Dec 06
actually ninjutsu started by the bad guys.. those who robbed houses from early times thats why its kinda sneaky, but becasue of its versatile principles and moves accompanied by there great handling of katana (most dangerous japanese sword) which can be said as an extension of yur body defense, they reagrd as close to be the most dangerous art of fighting... but just like they said it still depends on who got the first blow.
@acosjo (1903)
• Canada
18 Dec 06
Yeah, the Twin Katana. I know this because this is what Leonardo uses.
Awesome swordsmanship is possessed by Leonardo, the leader of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Donatello uses: Bo Staff
Raphael uses: Pair of Sai
Michaelangelo uses: Paired Nunchuku
I remember the days.
@wiglet (13)
• Philippines
17 Dec 06
man, I wanted to watch the national geographic special as well. I wish they'd repeat it, since i'd like to see the other martial art forms as well.
just a comment, see, in Tekken, most of the martial art forms represented there are practiced by the corresponding nation from where it originated. but for Muai Thai, it's practiced by (the american?) Bruce. i don't know his nationality, but he most certainly isn't from Thailand.
I actually don't have anything against this, but i just got to wondering. maybe the makers of Tekken had a hard time coming up with a Thai-looking person since many nations in South-east asia share similar features?
whew! but anyway, muai thai rocks, indeedidoo.
@bertus_magnus (329)
• Philippines
18 Dec 06
glad to be of service. i'll try to make more informative discussions for the benifit of the mylot community.
@Cephoozee (373)
• United States
8 Feb 07
I'm personally kind of partial to Muay Thai boxing. I have nothing against Muay Boran, though, which is an ancient practice. The reason being that I don't really like Muay Thai is because the conditioning involved will destroy any man, and not to mention the boxing itself. The average length of a Muy Thai boxer's career is about 5 years, mostly because of damage done to the knees and shin bones. I don't really agree with how Muay Thai is exploited as a source of income, many instructors nowadays will also claim to teach Muay Boran, the martial art, when in fact they only teach how to kickbox or Muay Thai box. I'm very glad there are people out there like Jaa Panom Yeerum, who still represent and honor the ancient codes set forth by the founders of Muay Boran.
@Cephoozee (373)
• United States
27 Apr 07
Yeah, it's the same person, and he mainly practices Muay Boran, the MARTIAL ART that became the basis for Muay Thai, or Thai boxing, the SPORT.
@anjalisk2005 (1492)
• India
16 Dec 06
gosh1 i never knew about this.it looks too complecated feild where u need lot of disclipline.thanks for the information.
@bertus_magnus (329)
• Philippines
16 Dec 06
yeah, muay thai takes a lot out of people, but the rewards are also great. it's very satisfying to size up a person and know you can kill him with your bare hands. hahaha, kidding. muay thai is not to be used for aggression.
@kkaren (146)
• Philippines
21 Jun 07
really good info here. thanks for that.
I've watched that episode in National Geographic too.
I do think that Muay Thai is one of the deadliest martial arts. I've seen a couple of fights over the net, and it's really something compared to other forms. Their kicks, knee and elbow strikes are full of power and precision.
@esolis321 (96)
• Costa Rica
30 Jul 08
Muay thai is definitely the deadliest and most challenging martial art of all, ive been practicing it on and off for about a year and a half, i love it, it defines true strength, endurance and persistence. Muay Thai beats all sports hands off!
@TallGeese3 (35)
• United States
12 Dec 08
Ive been doing Muay Thai individually for awhile and find it quite enjoyable. Thanks for the educated post. My 2 cents.
@limpehsong (30)
• Singapore
18 Oct 10
muay thai is unarguably the best striking arts form around today, heavy kicks that destroys the stance of opponents, elbows that cuts through enemies defense, jabs and hooks that distract and harasses enemy.
but from i see, muay thai itself isnt the completed package as we see in MMA fights.
To combine in wrestling or Brazillian Jiu Jitsu will make it a more complete package in terms of fighting
