Kick-Catching and Clinches (diary entry)

English: Muay thai, knees in clinch. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

13.08.14 This is the eighth in a series of 10 personalized private lessons in Muay Thai for martial artscross training. Tonight we followed on from counters to kicks and then into more clinch-work. We practised catching kicks correctly and knowing when not to catch kicks. A common error with kick-catching is to drop the guard altogether. We covered different methods on how to do this, selecting the most appropriate for my client after putting them under some initial pressure. From here we looked at following up from the catch within the rules of Muay Thai, which forbid sweeps. From here we looked at countering the kick-catch, leading onto clinching. We then covered three different dominant clinch positions and round knee strikes. The subject of the rules and Muay Thai came up in our discussions. I took a Muay Thai judging course with Tony Myers back in 2004 and shadow judged at a K-Star Thai Boxing event in Birmingham. I think an understanding of a combat sport’s rules is important for cross-training as it allows for more insight into how certain techniques and strategies.

Related articles

• Tony Myers Scoring Commentary (mymuaythai.com)

• Defending a muay thai clinch? (visit-chiang-mai-online.com)

• The Development of Muay Thai: Brazil, Pt. 2 (therealconnordillon.wordpress.com)

• Bucket List #5: Train Muay Thai in Thailand (theboywander.net)