| I've got a confession to make. I like watching science | | | | locks, and the horse stance, which is designed for |
| programs and nature programs. I recently watched a | | | | powerful punches, and combinations. There's a lot of |
| National Geographic special on The Science of the | | | | emphasis in the Muay Thai instruction DVDs on good |
| Punch and learned a lot about martial arts that I | | | | stance and good footwork; you have to be able to |
| hadn't considered before. I learned that the single | | | | go from a grab-and-pull to a head grab to a knee to |
| most powerful punch - by a factor of 30% - was | | | | the sternum, and for that you need good balance. I'll |
| from good old fashioned Western boxing. I saw a lot | | | | be honest - I had an easier time with this one than |
| about transferring energy from the back leg through | | | | most will; I've worked with Wing Chung Kung Fu and |
| the core of the body that I'd known before, and | | | | jiu jutsu for years, and a lot of the concepts transfer |
| some really cool stuff from ninjitsu that I'd never | | | | over well; most of what I got out of Muay Thai was |
| seen before. But what impressed me most of all was | | | | the focus on pure pragmatism. It's entirely about |
| watching their section on Mauy Thai, and how some | | | | taking the block and setting up the counterstrike, be |
| of the combinations in Mauy Thay deliver the ultimate | | | | it with knee, elbow, fist or foot. I could see from the |
| combination of economy of motion and force to the | | | | Mauy Thai instructional DVD that I got that real Muay |
| body. This inspired me to check out some Mauy Thai | | | | Thai practitioners get hit a lot - there's much more |
| instructional videos. Yeah, yeah, it's Yoshi talking | | | | contact in the DVD than I'm used to seeing in training |
| about Yet Another Couch Potato Style Kung Fu | | | | or sparring. Following along, I got a good workout, |
| Style, right? Not quite. The thing about Muay Thai | | | | and was really glad it was just me and a freestanding |
| instructional DVDs, since Muay Thai is, effectively, a | | | | bag rather than me and some kid who's 10 years |
| mixed martial arts full contact sport, is that the DVDs | | | | younger than me. Seriously, that Muay Thai |
| are really about bare bones practicality. They're not | | | | instructional DVD made me feel my years. My knees |
| going to load you up with lots of "Contemplate the | | | | were aching when I was done, and I was soaked. It |
| caterpillar weaving its cocoon" philosophy - they get | | | | was a good workout, like most martial arts training is. |
| straight on with it, covering stances, blocks and | | | | I can say this - I'd never try this with another person |
| traps, and how to combine them into combinations. | | | | without some serious protective gear on me! |
| Muay Thai words from three basic stances - the | | | | Yoshi I Kundagawa is a freelance journalist. He covers |
| closed stance, which is used for kicks, the side | | | | the mixed martial arts industry. For a free report on |
| stance, which is used for traps and setting up joint | | | | muay thai instruction dvd visit his blog. |