Muay Khao's Curve Knee (diary entry)

    23.01.2024 This morning's lesson with my Athena School of Karate teacher client continued our Muay Thai course and we remained looking at the muay khao style. In this class we isolated the curve knee strike. It's a technique that is exclusively used in the clinch. In fact, there a specific stage of the clinch where it is the only effective strike that can be thrown. When in the clinch the spear knee and elbow strikes are often sought. The former can cause the greatest damage in a fight and it is quite common to see it end the fight outright. The latter is also often employed to create cuts and prompt a referee stoppage. Therefore, holding an opponent close is a logical defensive tactic. Whereas a tying up the arms can reduce elbow strikes, blocking with the hips takes away the lethal straight knee strikes. Nak muays often find themselves working at this closest of ranges, trying to unbalance their opponents and set up strikes. Curve knees become very effective tools to create damage through accumulation when in a tight clinch. They can also set up sweeps and they can also be used to prolong a clinch if your motives are defensive or to wear your opponent down.

We began with five minutes of flow sparring. This was then followed by three minutes of clinch-only sparring. I then brought out the belly pad so that my client could work on developing impact, which isn't an easy task with the curve knee. Finally, we sparred just using curve knees.   https://clubbchimera.com/services/