MUAY THAI GYM

 

Throughout these eras, with expansionism, and the assertion of power and control via military means increasing sharply, the taking up of arms became a significant feature for the Thai people - whose realm constituted a patchwork of various Thai and non-Thai city-states, and vassals. To enhance the ability to fight in battle, regular soldiers, and auxiliary troops drawn from the wider Thai population alike honed their martial skills via Krabi-Krabong - drilled training with swords, staffs, pikes, clubs, shields etc.

 

Although outwardly a weapon’s system, the martial art of Krabi-Krabong also emphasized the ability of using one’s limbs in conjunction with hand-held weapons - to block an opponent’s strike with one’s sword, or staff whilst countering with a front push kick, angle kick, or knee strike to the adversary’s torso or legs. Whilst facing adversaries the arms and hands were held in a defensive boxing-like posture to guard one’s own torso, in particular the vulnerable chest and heart. Moreover, if one was de-armed in the ensuing melee, resorting to, and capably fighting empty handed was a necessity.

 

Thus unarmed combat training aspects of Krabi-Krabong were a significant feature within the system. Still utilising the primary stance for holding weapons and defending the torso, strikes using the limbs, locks, clinches, chokes, and takedowns became just as relevant in the survival stakes of war. As was the nature, these emphasized solid, clinical strikes that rendered the opponent debilitated, or dead. Eventually, over time, Krabi-Krabong’s deadly empty hand techniques were assumed by those wishing to demonstrate their fighting prowess in an agreed, competitive one-on-one scenario. It was from this juncture that the earliest forms of Muay Thai (Thai boxing) came into being.