Basic Muay Thai Techniques: How To Throw A Switch Kick Correctly

By Sean Fagan

If you’ve ever seen Buakaw throw a Muay Thai switch kick then you already know how powerful, fast and effective this type of Muay Thai kick is.

It’s one of the go to weapons for many Thai fighters and the switch kick should definitely be a part of your arsenal of attacks if you want to succeed in Muay Thai.

A Muay Thai switch kick is a basic Muay Thai technique but it doesn’t mean it’s easy to learn and perfect. Just like any basic or advanced kicking technique you have to learn how to throw your hips, shoulders and entire body into the strike to deal maximum damage. Check out these basic tips to help you get the full effect of the switch kick: 

Basic Switch Kick Technique Tips

• Switch your feet quickly! Don’t give your opponent a chance to defend your kicks by telegraphing the switch.
• Switch your hips too. It’s not just your feet switching it’s also your hips. Without your hips your switch kick
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The Basic Fighting Stance For Muay Thai

By Sean Fagan

Now I don’t have the typical Muay Thai Stance, but it does have a lot of similarities to the traditional fighting stance that the Thai boxers use. Regardless whether or not you choose to do your Muay Thai training in the same type of fighting stance that I do, it’s important to take in consideration these factors:

• Feet shoulder width apart to allow for easy movement and a solid base to attack and defend from.
• Elbows tucked in to allow straighter punches and protect from body strikes. The traditional Thai fighting stance would have your hands a little higher with your palms facing outwards. I prefer to have my fists in towards my chin.
• Hands up and chin tucked! Pretend you have a $100 bill underneath your chin and you lose it if you drop it!
• Have power hand/foot in back. This will allow for you to turn your hip into your more powerful, natural side.
• Never be flat footed. Make sure to be light on your feet and have your bac
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Muay Thai Workout For Explosive Power and Optimal Strength

From Muay Thai Guy

If you’re like most nak muay, you have limited time to work on strength and conditioning for your muay thai. Fortunately, doing a kettlebell workout can yield amazing benefits for muay thai fighters in a relatively short amount of time. Not only that, but training with kettlebells will also dramatically improve your explosive power, muscular endurance, balance, coordination, overall strength and cardio.

Movements patterns done with kettlebell training can be very similar to the movements used in muay thai. Whether you’re punching, kicking, knees or clinching, all of those movements use the same biomechanics that you will use in the Kettlebell For Fighters Program.

Obviously as a fighter, you’re going to want to generate explosive strikes to dominate your next fight. The ballistic movements of kettlebells will help you develop that explosive strength and will give you more full-body power than most traditi...

Watch Top Quality Muay Thai Technique Videos From Some Of The Best Fighters & Instructors 

By Sean Fagan

If you’re like me, you are probably constantly searching for the best Muay Thai training videos to implement into your training routines. The problem isn’t finding Muay Thai technique videos, the problem is finding GOOD Muay Thai technique videos.

That can be difficult since there are SO many Muay Thai videos out there, and most of them are repeats of the same material. Different instructor, same material. It was so unbelievably FRUSTRATING that even the beautiful and vast internet couldn’t provide me with what I wanted.

However, there were a few gems in the marketplace and, at the time, I wanted to buy all these Muay Thai instructional DVD’s, but I was a broke joke, so I wasn’t able to afford the upfront cost. Time passed and I kind of forgot about the Muay Thai training programs because I got so wrapped up with training, life and work.

Fast forward to the present and the i...

Introduction To Principles, Analyses & Self-Education

By Sean Fagan

For many souls, the gym is our home away from home. But what if our home was our gym…wouldn’t that be nice?

This post is going to go over training in any environment, with minimal equipment, no partners and only your body.

The hope is that this post will challenge you to embrace positive constraints. That may sound like an oxymoron, but one ought to run with the understanding that there are times where it’s better to find the right box to think in than trying to think outside the box.

A proper set of constraints forces you into a position where thinking laterally is the only option.

This post encourages you to ask questions such as:

“How would I be training if I had no sparring partners available to me?”
“How would I train punching power without a heavybag or mitt work?”,
“How could I emulate the conditions of a fight with no tools?”

Time to get creative. Let’s begin first and foremost, as one always should, with...

The Basics of a Muay Thai Low Kick

By Sean Fagan

It wasn’t until “The Fight That Changed History” where the Muay Thai low kick was seen as an incredibly effective and damaging weapon.

When there were no low kicks allowed, kick boxers could bounce around and not worry about having their legs chopped down. Now that 100% of Muay Thai fighters and kick boxers utilize the low kick, it’s important to know how to throw the Muay Thai low kick properly to maximize damage and limit the chances of having it blocked or counters.

Muay Thai Low Kick Basics

A few key tips about the basics on how to throw a muay thai low kick.

• Kick with your shin. Not your foot! If you end throwing a low kick with your foot and you have it checked by your opponents knee or shin, chances are you will do some serious damage to your foot and possibly even break it.
• Keep a defense. Just because you’re low kicking doesn’t mean you can forget about your defense. Make sure you use one of the three (or all three
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Six Hard Rounds With One Heavy Bag

By Sean Fagan

If you’re anything like me, you’ll wander over to the heavy bag at the gym, hit it for a period of about 30 seconds, throw a couple kicks and knees… then wander for a bit more, talk to some people, and then go back to it.

If you’ve done that exact thing, then your problem is clear: you haven’t got a clear structure in mind for the heavy bag. That’s why today I’ve got a brilliant routine that’ll sharpen up all of your skills.

This routine is great for beginners and experienced fighters as it’s longer than typical Muay Thai bag workouts. Rather than hitting the bag for three rounds of three minutes, we’ll be doing six rounds of three minutes. The longest Muay Thai fights are five rounds, and this workout will give you that little push to go even further than that.

Let’s begin.

(Scroll to the bottom for follow along heavy bag workouts for Muay Thai)

Round 1: Punches & Elbows

First, you want to hone your quickest and most basic t...

Why “Training Like A Thai” Isn’t For Everyone

By Sean Fagan

I get it, you’re in Thailand and you want to train as hard and as often as possible. You want to make the most of your time in the mecca of Muay thai and “train like a Thai” by putting in two intense training sessions a day, six times a week. There’s only one problem…

You’re not a Thai.

Now I’m not saying that you won’t be able to handle the daily grind of training that the Thai’s go through, I’m just asking the question, do you think it’s worth it?

Yes, you’ll be putting in the hours when it comes to hitting pads, punching the bag, clinching and skipping rope, but how many of those hours will you actually be focused on what you’re doing? Will you be benefiting from the amount of hours you are putting in, or will it end up being more detrimental to your technique and overall health?

These are serious questions to consider, even if you are a hardass who doesn’t believe in overtraining. Having an optimistic, resilient mi...