Poll : My self-taught Thai Roundhouse kick, thumbs up or down ?

[kh_s]

Okay reason I started taking Muay Thai is I like the style and for their knees,elbows, and especially the Thai Roundhouse kicks. So I`ve started, train 3 days a week. They made me do 2 months of basics; side kick, pee chee gee, front check & kick. ( I never even knew there was some classes like that, but what the hell, I got more fit ). Yeah so there now i`m here actually doing the classes i was suppose to take. So I got home, and tried to teach myself the Thai roundhouse kick, lol and of THE INTERNET.

So the results are:

This is how I do my thai roundhouse kick;

1. okay so as I lift my leg up,
2. I swing my hips,
3. my kicking leg swings (I try to follow through), my supporting leg is on the ball of the foot, and it is " tweeked ? " lol (sorry I forget what it is called when you twist your supporting leg, like when you are throwing a side kick )
4. As I kick (with my right) my left elbow makes a circular movement. ( not a big circle )
5. my right arm kinda swings to my right, so as my kick swings to the left (kicking with right leg) my arm swings to the right. ( is it true you get more power with this ? )

Now when I do this it seems like it`s still weak, I mean like, there is no such thing as a weak properly thrown thai kick right ?

Or do you think maybe i am just doing a Pee Chee Gee kick with just more power, erm, maybe a "180 degree PGC kick? there is such thing as a 180 degree PGC right ?"

Sry if I shouldn`t be asking the forum about this, but I keep asking my instructor but of course, he wont, and I`m still on the basics. Just wanted to ask for your opinions/suggestions.

[snipa151]

True

That is very good. You are learning, use your hip, and pivot for power. Also another reason why we use the right hand to extend the kick, but also to block our face of any punches that will be incoming. You are learning, keep it up, I can see you definately have skills. People I taught, took them 4 months to figure it out. GOOD JOB!

[skilzkid]

What about the step out?

Hello,
I've only been thai boxing for about 2 months now, so some of the more senior boxers can either back or refute the following:

Our instructor always makes sure we step out slightly forward and to the left with our left foot as part of the kick execution. This positions the kicker so that the kick will go more through the target instead of simply into it. You imagine that there is a triangle in front of you and shift your left foot out along that triangle, enough to shift your center of gravity to the side of your opponent, but not so much that you become off balance (always on your toes, no leaning and other general good form).

Hope this helps - hopefully other more senior boxers can suppliment me on this....

[YeLLa-TiGeR]

Your left hand should be protecting your head while you other hand is swinging. Also there are several variations in the thai kick. Every school has their own variation as well I find. Siam #1 in Toronto taught me NOT to swing the arm, instead they made me shoot it straight out like a right cross The purpose of this was to keep the proper range and as a distraction so you would not get counter punch. My current school Sityodtong Muay Thai teaches the pendulum motion of the arm. Not to mention they taught several variations of the kick. Like the mechanics of the lowkick are very different from the mechanics of the midlevel kick.


And remember to turn over your hip!


Everyone is built differently and as a result there is no kick that is EXACTLY alike. Everyone has their own style. Alex Gong of Fairtex leans foward in almost a prawn style when kicking whileas some people lean back. Most tend to be somewhere in between.

Time and a good coach watching you will be your best teacher. The longer your in Muay Thai, the more you realize how little you know. That is when your really learning.


Reinvention and innovation is the way to go. So in short, dont worry about it, you will get it in due time. '


Good luck

[JIMI]

in reply to the step out............... i can agree that for a beginner, in order for youu to get a feel for a proper thai kick that a step out is a good thing but eventually as you progress you will want to get your power in there without the step out. reason being...... any advanced thai boxer will see your kick coming out a mile away. the step out is a big ass tell tale telegraph saying im going to kick you now. pardon my sarcasm. all i can say is if you watch real thai boxing fights from thailand then you will see that these guys are hardly stepping out. and if they do its not as big or as obvious as a step out. does that make sense?

[skilzkid]

That was the general impression that I got concerning the step-out (that it was telegraphing if the only thing you are throwing is a right/left kick). I'm getting the feeling that the time to step out with your kick is when you're setting it up with a couple of punches. Our instructor has us drill jab-cross-right kick constantly, and that's where it seems to be the most useful. He tends to also bug me about it when I'm kicking the bag after class, and at that point it seems to just slow me down (alternating double right, double left, double right, double left...). Weighing 225 lbs, focusing on that does help me get a little quicker on my feet, but it would slow down even the quickest kicker enough to ensure that it would be blocked/countered every time. But, once again, I'm just the new guy

Thanks.

[kh_s]

erm...

I may sound stupid, but what do you guys mean by 'Telegraphing the kick" ?

[skilzkid]

Telegraphing is when you show obviously that you are going to perform a move - imagine a six-year old kid bringing his hand back as far as he can before throwing a punch. When he brings his hand back, you know he is going to punch, and it is impossible not to dodge it - he is telegraphing that punch.

Hope this helps.

[kh_s]

anyways

Main question: Is it even possible to teach yourself this kick?

I`ve tried other ways. And I kinda lose balance (when trying different ways). So practically what i`m trying to say is, is a thai kick like a pee chee gee kick but except there is more hand motion and instead of snapping, swing and follow through ? Cause at my gym I am not exactly sure but when I see people doing PGC kicks it almost looks like a Thai kick because they swing their arm (no circular movement with the elbow though).

As for the teep, seems like a front check without snapping. Can anyone think they can give me a description of a Thai push kick, on how it is delivered? It may be just an ordinary push but I thought the Thai Roundhouse kicks were simple swinging the hips and the leg as I watch Muay Thai on T.V. , now that i`m trying to learn by myself (because there is no Thai gyms around my area that I know of) it was more complicated than I thought it would be.

Anyways I think I have one of the strongest "Turning kicks" in my class for my size.(since I have not really learned the right way by a MT instructor). Ah, anyways lets just call it a Pee Chee Gee (spelling?) kick. Then again were all beginners (no duh) in my beginner class :P Or just they don`t know how to put their hips into their kicks yet.