Muay Thai Kickboxing

Muay Thai kickboxing is one of the deadliest forms of martial arts around. This is mainly due to the the powerful strikes fighter use during combat which encompasses the fist, legs, knees, and elbows. The big percentage of UFC fighters train in this form of discipline for this reason. However, this lens is not about how to harm people nor is it about the history of Muay Thai. The purpose of this is to tell you why you should learn it.

Why Learn Muay Thai?

Why do people learn martial arts in the first place? The answer is different for different people but the main reasons are to get in shape, to learn how to defend oneself, and to build confidence. This is what I will mainly write about in this lens.

Learning how to defend yourself is a great way to keep in shape as well as build confidence. Now to be sure, the confidence I am talking about is not the arrogant type of confidence where you go around the try to pick fights with people. The confidence I'm talking about is knowing that if there was no other way out of a fight, you could handle and protect yourself and/or your loved ones. The best part about it is that once you learn how to defend yourself, chances are, you'll never need to.

So why Muay Thai kickboxing training and not some other form of martial arts? Not that there are any thing wrong with learning other forms of martial arts. Many people who study under a certain style will say that it's the best. There really isn't a best style out there. Every style of fighting has it's strengths and weaknesses. The reason for Muay Thai is because it's straight forward and effective.

The point is to learn how to defend yourself and quite frankly, most people have the time or money to take hours of lessons a day several times a week. There is no substitute for having one on one teaching from a trainer but that's no reason to not learn how to defend yourself whatsoever.

The key to Muay Thai and any style of martial arts is repetition. Mastery comes from mastering the basics. It's not about fancy moves and doing nonsense back flips. It's about learning to punch, kick, proper footwork, block, and counter attacks. Too many people make the mistake of wanting to learn new moves when they still haven't mastered the basics. Mastery means you can do it without thinking about it perfectly, every time. This can only come through thousands of repetitions.

The above clip is from one of Thailand's greatest Muay Thai fighters. I chose this clip because it shows a little bit of this training and also because the message he gives at the end. It's all about training. What he means by training is doing things over and over again.

Learning Muay Thai will also teach you patience and the value of hard work. If you've ever played a sport, then you know the number one thing that will help you get better at your game is relentless practice. Now, this is if you want to become great at something. If your chief aim is just to know the basics of defending yourself, then the intensity of the kickboxing training is a lot less.

The hope is that once you learn how to fight and defend yourself, you will never have to use it. The best way to handle a fight is to walk away. If there absolutely isn't a way out of one, then at least you'll be able to defend yourself. Just remember to use your brain, not your fists.