Alright. So you want to perfect your fighting stance in Muay Thai. First, that’s a fantastic thing you want to achieve, as it’s the basis of all the basics. Without it, you won’t be able to progress into the more advanced techniques, such as combinations using defense and offense moves.
So what we’ll do in this article is go through the traditional Muay Thai fighting stance, one of the most feared and aggressive ones you can learn. So if you put your mind into learning the traditional stance or bettering your stance, you definitely won’t regret it.
Here’s my offer to you. You can either skim through this article and not make any changes to your fighting game—or you can read carefully through this article and make positive changes to your Muay Thai game.
Thus far, the offer requires you to invest effort in—with no return out. So what’s in it for you? I guarantee that if you make only one change to your fighting stance from my recommendations, your Muay Thai game will improve tremendously. That’s one of the best rewards you can get if becoming a better fighter is one of your goals.
However, if you desire to optimize your progression, you can bookmark this article so you can have easy access to all the steps I’ll list. Those of you who are serious about perfecting your stance should definitely be bookmarking this article.
Alright. That’s enough intro; let’s dive into the first step!
Step #1 – Align your feet to be parallel
The first step is to align your feet to be parallel. What that means is that you want your shoulder to be squared as well.
Now that might be contrary to everything you’ve learned thus far. If that’s the case, you likely have learned a boxing fighting stance, which focuses on your being on your side and not having your shoulders squared toward your opponent.
Aligning your feet will give you a better opportunity to kick effectively and powerfully. If your feet aren’t aligned, it’ll be more difficult to generate a lot of power with your kicks.
So now, I want you to stand up and switch your feet to be parallel. Likewise, be squared to your opponent, so that you’ll generate more power with your kicks. Of course, maintain a rear and lead foot; if you’re right-handed, your left foot should be in front and the right in the rear.
Step #2 – Use a top-guard position
The next step to perfect your Muay Thai stance is to raise your guard. This is especially true with fighters who started with boxing, where the fighters minimize the distance between their elbows and their ribs. That’s to prevent getting hit in the ribs.
However, we’re not as worried about that in Thai Boxing for one reason: we want to bait the opponent, which we’ll cover in the upcoming steps. So if you want to learn how to use your guard to bait your opponent and end up causing a lot of damage to his face and body, stay tuned for the upcoming steps.
So you want to cover your face with your fists. If you were to hold a pad with your hands, you wouldn’t want someone of the same height as you to see you. Hence, cover your face entirely with pads.
Your next step is to fix your guard position. While you want to protect your face, you want to raise your fists to your eye level. Furthermore, you want to avoid putting your elbows near your ribs, as that’s not an effective strategy for this fighting stance.
Step #3 – Push one leg to the ground when using the other
The next step is something most Muay Thai fighters don’t do and it’s holding them back from generating more power with both their kicks and punches.
You want to utilize your fighting stance to generate more force; this is one of the primary goals of a solid fighting stance. So how do you do that? By using simple physics!
Here’s Newton’s law in the simplest words, are you ready? Every force has an opposite and equal force. So if you punch the ground, the earth will apply upward pressure that’s equal to the amount of force you’ve generated with your punch.
Now, why is this important to you? You want to constantly be moving your legs. So whenever you’re in your fighting stance, you want to step up and down with your feet. Whenever your right foot touches the ground, you should raise your left foot. This is the rhythm you want to adopt in your Muay Thai fighting stance.
Now let’s say you’re about to throw a low kick with your right leg. You want to ensure you use your left foot to generate more momentum. The best way to do that will be to step forward (just a bit) and stomp it on the ground (not so powerfully.) This will ensure your right leg has more power to play around with.
Here’s a fantastic example of that!
Step #4 – Bait the opponent with your top-guard
The 4th step on your way to perfecting your fighting stance is to understand how to bait your opponent. Earlier, if you recall, we reviewed the guard placement you want to adopt. We’ve also understood that this exposes your ribs.
You have two choices here. The first is not to use it because it will expose your ribs. The second is to be a little smarter than 99% of Muay Thai fighters and plan your moves like you’re playing chess. Strategize your fighting stance and utilize it to benefit you. How can you be smarter than most fighters?
You want to bait your opponent by understanding your weaknesses. The primary weakness of the traditional fighting stance is your belly being open. Whenever you spot your opponent looking at your ribs and initiating an attack, you want to use a defensive move and counter.
If you want to learn to use Muay Thai defensive moves properly, follow this link.
Here’s how you can go about it:
So be smarter than your opponents; use your weaknesses purposefully and not weakly. Let’s move on to the next step.
Step #5 – Observe your opponent’s movements
Thus far, we’ve reviewed ways to improve your fighting stance practically. Now, we must address a key point you must understand that will improve all areas of your fighting stance. Essentially, it’ll allow you to become a much better fighter with one change in your mindset.
The next step is to observe your opponent’s movements. From now on, whatever your fight plan is, you want to start watching your opponent and react to what they’re doing. The perfect word for that is observing. You want to observe your opponent.
In the next step, we’ll understand another method of improving your defense using your fighting stance.
Step #6 – Use head movements
What we’ll review next is using your head to dodge and block the opponent’s defense. Whatever your opponent throws at you, you can use dodge by either moving your head to the sides or the back and front. Likewise, you can also combine your head and hands to (1) block the opponent’s attacks, (2) dodge them, and (3) counter.
So using head movements is a critical skill to learn to use if you want to amp up your defense. Of course, bettering your defense in this sense will also help you better your offense by giving you more opportunities to counter.
The best example I can give you for that is Floyd Mayweather, which isn’t a Muay Thai disciple but a boxer. And still, you can definitely use some of what he does and apply it to your own game.
Anyways, what he does is bait his opponent (which we discussed in an earlier point) by leaning forward. That way, his opponent is more likely to try and hit his face, which is what his opponents typically do. Then, he leans back, using both his body and head (but primarily his head), and counters with a cross. In more professional words, it’s called the Pull Counter technique.
Watch how he does that:
Start learning about various head movements and begin implementing them into your Muay Thai game. You’ll notice how your opponents fear your defense more and might not be as likely to attack as often.
Here’s what you should focus on:
- Pull
- Bob and Weave
- Slip
- Pull Counter
Step #7 – Shuffle your feet before attacking with your rear leg
Congratulations; you’re now a much more capable Muay Thai fighter. You know how to use your fighting stance to gain the upper hand in fights, which is what most of us, Muay Thai disciples, desire.
However, there’s one more important skill I’d like to discuss with you. That skill is shuffling your feet when attacking with your rear leg. If you master this movement, you’ll be able to attack with both your lead and rear leg, allowing you to develop a much more complex and beautiful style.
The 7th step you want to work on is switching your feet when in your fighting stance so that your rear leg is in front. Then, for example, when you go a kick with your rear leg, you can step forward with your lead leg and throw the kick; this allows you to generate much more force with your rear side, which is considered your weak side.
Final Words
Remember, perfecting your Muay Thai fighting stance takes time and consistent effort. Regularly review and refine your technique, and spar with partners to apply your skills in a live situation. Focus on maintaining a strong foundation and adapt it to suit your individual style and strengths.
Work on the seven steps I presented in this article ALONE, and not simultaneously. That’s why I encourage everyone reading this to bookmark this article (if you’re really serious about bettering your fighting stance.)
That way, you’ll be able to return to it whenever you want to practice another step.
If you want to train Muay Thai at home, I wrote a complete guide to doing so—which you can find by following this link.
Here are other articles you’d enjoy reading:
9 Amazing Benefits Muay Thai Training Will Give You
Is Muay Thai Effective? 3 Real Examples!