The Elbow

**Zyph** · Posted On: 7/10/2007 9:58pm

I have been meaning to post this for days. It all came to mind when reading my crapper copy of BBmag. It is a guilty pleasure of mine, I read it for the comedy mostly. Well this issue had Bas Ruten being interviewed. So I was like ok good stuff. Most of it was. At one point the interviewer says that he thinks elbows are over rated, and Bas proceeds to pretty much agree. Bas states that you hardly ever even see elbows in Kickboxing.. As I do and train others in MT I find this to be horse ****.

I train my guys to use elbows in the clinch, coming out of the clinch, going into the clinch, and as part of other combos. I see them throwing them in sparing, No contact when we shadow spar, but light contact when the headgear is on.

I think the reason we do not see more elbows outside of Thai Land is the lack of focus on them in training. When we fight we fall back on out training, the muscle memory takes over.

So rather than typing another hour. I will just say I love elbow attacks. What to you guys think of them.
Later,

**Zyph** · Posted On: 7/10/2007 10:20pm

Originally Posted by PizDoff

So why do you think there is a lack of focus for elbow strikes when training?

I don't. It seems that Bas does, he is the one saying they are overrated and not used. I am saying if they are not being thrown, then a lack of training in them may be part of the problem.

I am asking others here

a) Do you train heavily with Elbows.

b) What is your opinion of the elbow in fighting both sport and self defence.

I hope that clears it up, but it may not as I have taken my ambien for the night ;)

**Deadmeat** · Posted On: 7/10/2007 10:50pm

I've trained using elbows as part of my MMA routine, and with pure Muay Thai guys, and generally hear two differing opinions about elbows.

While both groups have usually agreed that elbows are strong attacks, and have a lot of potential to cut someone with a clean hit, the MT guys seem to feel that the elbow (and knee for that matter) is pretty much your bread-and-butter when you are in close range, whereas at the gym where I trained MMA we were encouraged to lock up (clinch, or mixed over/underhooks as opposed to shooting from further away) and secure a takedown when in close range rather than trading shots, and that elbows are preferable from a more dominant position.

Having said that, I was both surprised and impressed by how effective a straight elbow (sort of pushing the forearm forward on a slight upward angle with the tip of the elbow pointing downwards) is at breaking through someone's defense, and how much weight MT guys in particular can actually put behind it.

Elbows aren't my strong suit, but I definitely agree that they can be devastating.

**Hands** · Posted On: 7/10/2007 11:09pm

I prefer elbows over punching. They work great for blocks too. We worked a majority of shoots, manipulations (changing clinch positions), and elbows when I trained Thai. Its nice when you go for a knee, they try to block it and leave themselves open, and you can pop off a nice elbow after that.

There is also a CMA style I train that uses a lot of elbows with some slick entrys using elbow techniques.

The elbow is a perfect surface to strike with. Its nice and solid, much like the head of a hammer. Elbows are my favorite.

**Hedgehogey** · Posted On: 7/11/2007 12:14am

Originally Posted by PizDoff

So why do you think there is a lack of focus for elbow strikes when training?

Remember that "therapy" program that would ask you how you were feeling then just copy the text of your answer to form the next question? So if you replied to the first question with "like I was just raped by every single Sweathog" it would ask you "And why do you think you feel like you 'like I was just raped by every single Sweathog'?".

That's pizdoff.

**avenger** · Posted On: 7/11/2007 12:45am

I love elbows also. In my TKD class, they taught us one or two elbow attacks just in case. However, we can't use it in sparring which get's me really angry sometimes. But what got me really into elbows was the movie Ong-Bak. Once I saw that movie, I just wanted to elbow people all the time.

**Permalost** · Posted On: 7/11/2007 2:33am

I love elbow strikes, both standing and on the ground. In slower sparring I like to use them a lot, but I don't really use them much in hard sparring against training partners, because they can cause lots of damage. If I can do them with good control, I'll throw them lightly.

**Zyph** · Posted On: 7/11/2007 11:07am

Originally Posted by CodosDePiedra

I love elbow strikes, both standing and on the ground. In slower sparring I like to use them a lot, but I don't really use them much in hard sparring against training partners, because they can cause lots of damage. If I can do them with good control, I'll throw them lightly.

A lot of times I will throw it and not connect, just to let the person know I could have hit them with it, and to cover up and watch out.

The point of the first post was that a fighter I respect stated that he thought they were not good. I wanted to see what every one else thought.

**Khun Kao** · Posted On: 7/11/2007 12:11pm

I'm surprised that Bas feels they are overrated. I personally feel they are UNDER-rated... (outside of Thailand, that is). A popular saying in MuayThai is "elbows can end the fight in ANY round".... because they often do! They are the great equalizer of MuayThai, I think. You can be getting your butt handed to you, but if you time an elbow right, you can win the fight by cutting your opponent.

Seriously, if you think about it the first types of strikes that are banned from almost any sport fighting system are: 1) headbutts 2) elbows and the reason why isn't because they are useless and boring.