Creative Combinations With Manachai
Kick and Elbow Combination with Manachai
If you are a fighter, you should have a decent understanding of the importance of throwing combinations, over singular techniques. A basic analogy looks something like this. If you are minding your own business, and all of the sudden you see a bright neon tennis ball being hurled at you, it may be pretty easy to catch that ball, or even move out its way to avoid it altogether. However, if you turn your gaze to notice two balls heading right towards you, it may be more difficult to avoid both.
Still, if you are quick, with decent reflexes you may be able to stop the impact of the malintent tennis balls. Once that number goes up, three, four, five balls speeding at you from all different angles, aimed for your head and body, it becomes very challenging to block or avoid everything. The same applies to fighting; the more strikes you throw with proper technique, accuracy and speed, the better chance you have of landing those strikes on your opponent. Learning how to throw combinations will be critical for every person who plans on fighting as it gives more opportunity for the striking fighter to attack while forcing the other fighter to constantly defend, or risk countering while attacks are still being thrown.
Of course there will always be a point when throwing too many strikes can do more harm than good as every time a fighter throws a technique, they extend a limb that they will also use to defend. It is up to the fighter and their coaches, in training to make sure they find the balance between throwing strikes in combinations, and defending against strikes from their partner.
When two elite fighters face each other, not only do they need to throw combinations at the other fighter, those combinations need to be strategized. Basic combinations like a jab, cross, body kick, are just not enough to land on people who see those strikes more than a doctor sees patients. At the elite level of fighting, the type of level that Manachai is at, fighters must use well planned, thoroughly trained combinations, that strike at multiple different areas of the body.
Manachai is a Muay Thai expert who started fighting as a child under the age of ten years old. Since then, he has become one of the most well respected fighters in Thailand with multiple championship belts under his resume. This clip from Manachai’s instructional, Thai Boxing: Low Kicks, shows fighters how to chop away at an opponent's core with body kicks before striking to the head by throwing an elbow with the back arm. Even though the instructional is titled “low kicks”, a real striker, as well as a true instructor, would never pass on a properly set up opportunity to throw a lethal strike to an opponent’s head.
As the video starts, Manachai is standing in the traditional, right handed, muay thai stance. As he begins striking, Manachai throws a back leg round kick to his opponents body level, then returns his leg back to his original stance. After throwing the first kick, he throws a second back leg round kick and returns to his original stance.
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Following the second right leg body kick, Manachai performs a switch kick with his left leg, making sure to show the viewer what not to do by landing in a southpaw stance, rather than orthodox stance he started in. Manachai explains that when a fighter lands southpaw, putting their left leg back after the switch kick, they create too much distance from the opponent, which, as Manachai shows, makes it difficult to reach their head when throwing the right elbow.
In the second showing of the combination, after throwing both right leg body kicks, Manachai throws the switch kick with his left leg, this time placing the leg back, returning to an orthodox fighting stance.
From that position, Manachai throws his back elbow from a side angle at his partner's head level to finish the combination. After showing the combination with the correct technique, Manachai begins to speed up the combination showing small details in his movement as he demonstrates.
Manachai begins the combination again throwing his first kick and returning it to his original stance, using it to set up the rest of the combination while making sure he is in proper striking distance. He then breaks his strike tempo by hesitating, simultaneously making sure to defend any oncoming strikes before proceeding with his combination.
Once Manachai throws his second body kick with his right leg, he continues to put forward pressure on his partner, while returning to orthodox stance, once he places his foot down in his original stance, Manachai quickly performs a switch kick with his left leg, placing his left foot forward and elbowing across with his right arm.
Manachai shows the combination again before explaining to the viewer, for a second time, the importance of not placing the leg back after the switch kick. Manachai shows how even someone as nimble and well-versed in striking as him, simply cannot reach an opponent unless you put the foot of the switch kicking leg down in the front, returning to the original fighting stance where you have closed the distance and are able to reach your partner.
After emphasizing how to avoid the most common mistake when throwing the combination, Manachai continues to show the combination with correct form, each time with a little bit more intensity. In his final demonstration of the techniques, Manachai shows not only how the fighter should look when really striking an opponent with the combination, but also how they should sound as he exhales with powerful yells that put power, and vigor into his technique. Watch closely, and you may emulate the same movements and energy that befit Thailand’s Muay Thai champions!
Thai Boxing: Low Kicks By Manachai is a 2-part series that will teach you how to land BRUTAL leg kicks! Check it out today!