How effective are the Old Muay thai kicks

***WhiteShark*** · Posted On: 2/16/2009 2:22pm

Hey I know! since we all agree this kick is basically old news lets argue about targeting!

In my addendum above I mentioned that i generally disagree with the kick the front of the leg camp. At the end of the video in the OP the guy talks about how he is going to drive the guy back and down. I tend to think this is a big waste of time because you are kicking against their strength and structure. Also, targeting the front of the leg often causes you to miss getting your head off the center line. AKA you get punched in the face.

I almost always target the side of the leg and more specifically the femoral nerve. This is an attack that drives the target's knee in an unstable direction and can more reliably upset their balance for a throw or sweep/trip.

**Uncle Skippy** · Posted On: 2/16/2009 4:01pm

Seems like this kick would only really be safe when thrown from your opponent's weak side (step offline outside of their lead leg). From straight on or on their strong side, because it is within punching range, you'd be very open to being KTFO.

I have long legs and would think this kick would be difficult to pull off, but hey, I've never thrown it in sparring before (so I am just guessing... :-P). I'm also a lefty so I'd think it would be extra awkward for me to throw it. Landing it would rotate them towards me bringing us face-to-face and their cross within range. :-/

**Torakaka** · Posted On: 2/16/2009 7:38pm

Like I said, you have to set it up and it's best if you get your opponent turning away from you before you try throwing it. The side or back of the leg is definitely where it's at. I don't see a reason to ever intentionally target the front of the leg. It doesn't hurt as bad and it's way too easy to screw up by just a hair and kick the knee.

**Sang** · Posted On: 2/17/2009 12:49am

We use the 'old fashioned' one as the last attack in a corner combo, so when they have two legs close together you can take the legs right from under them while at the same time hitting both the legs. Never used it myself but had it happen to me 3 or so months ago and while it took me down and bruised the **** out of my thighs, full feeling was back to them in a much quicker time than taking a big leg chop to the side.

Just another promotional case of someone relabeling muay thai to make their service seem unique. Crazy Monkey does this to a pretty large degree too.

**hitandrun** · Posted On: 2/20/2009 11:53am

I've trained both ways under the same instructor and prefer the "new" way for the sake of my own power comfort, tho this "old" way have been useful within its own condition/situation when set up correctly. It happens every now and then. Outside the ring, the only time I know it have been used effectively was in a crowded nightclub, family owned. The bouncer was a MT practitioner in his late 30s.

**Hurt** · Posted On: 2/21/2009 8:17am

We spent a day drilling that angled down kick, but really up close. We were taught it's a surprise kick used in tight after you set it up with the hands, and if you landed it just right you wouldn't need very many of them to **** up the other guy's leg (after drilling it for a very short while even holding shields I'm inclined to agree).

A buddy called it the Ernesto Hoost kick. Since then I've gone back and seen him use it in his past matches. A nice little thing to have in your arsenal.

But yeah the video is full of **** on so many levels.

**Bugeisha** · Posted On: 2/21/2009 9:12am

The only time I've ever been taught to kick the front of the leg with this type of kick is when you're kicking a weighted leg (so they can't just lift their knee or shin into your kick) right above the kneecap. If you hit it right, it can really mess up the knee. That said, the vast, vast majority of the time, sides and back of the leg are a much better target.

**Squerlli** · Posted On: 2/24/2009 5:58am

Originally Posted by KidSpatula

Like I said, you have to set it up and it's best if you get your opponent turning away from you before you try throwing it. The side or back of the leg is definitely where it's at. I don't see a reason to ever intentionally target the front of the leg. It doesn't hurt as bad and it's way too easy to screw up by just a hair and kick the knee.

That, along with the fact if I wanted to push I'd just teep you and good set ups usually come from moving around not forward (emphasis on the word usually, before I get the "linear movement" and buffalo charge rage) is really all I have to say about this method of kicking.

**Donkey_Fizzle** · Posted On: 2/25/2009 11:18am

I am with Kidspat on this. It's all in the set up. And there is a time and place where one kick will be alot more effective than the other. I use the ring style alot more than the old skool because of my hieght. Why give up my reach when I can stay back and snipe?? I do like to use the old style kick after I've laid 2 or 3 good kicks on his leg. I just seems to do a bit more to the leg once it's already been broke down a bit. Ring style is less teligraphed and work really well on a guy who backing away from your hands. You can hide the set up for the old style by steping forward and turning your foot out while jabbing. Then throw a cross and the kick. The cross isn't so much for damage as it is to keep the guys attention upstairs and to get your body moving for the kick.