so i have been doing ITF tae kwon do for two years. anyway i have decided to start training muay thai. has anyone trained in both? what was the hardest thing about crossing over styles? what are the difference in kicks? thanks.
The biggest thing is that you need to get rid of the point fighting mentality. Muay Thai is all about damage, power and toughness. Its not about trying to go through a whole fight without getting hit, its not really about flashy footwork and evasive tactics. Watch any Muay Thai fight, the guys barely move they just stand in front of each other and trade, usually the more powerful and better conditioned fighter wins.
Theres a couple of guys at my club who come from a TKD background, they seemed to find it quite hard to adjust to the footwork and keeping their hands up, but adjusted quite quick and now are some of he best stand up guys there
It is very different. The footwork, kicking, and striking are all different. AS mentioned keeping the hands up is something I have seen in numerous TKD guys as being a problem. The difference in the kicks is that muay thai kicks are more like swinging a bat that is intended to go thru the target. The power comes from hip rotation and the floor. In TKD, the power comes from the leg and tends to stop on impact.
Oh, glad your here, I went through the same thing. I've done ITF Tae Kwon Do for the past 10 years of my life and am still going to compete for about a year or so. I've been kickboxing for about 4 years, muay thai for 2 years and mma for 1 year. It really depends on the fighter. Me, I'm a terrible athlete, I'm clumsy as heck, I always stumble and trip over myself, I run into walls, my vertical isn't fantastic, I'm not quick I'm not fast. However, in Tae Kwon Do fights, I always pictured things for like a kickboxing fight. The hardest thing to do is in fact getting rid of the point fighting mentality. That's gonna take a lot of work and it'll work itself in over the next year. Another is the pace a muay thai fight is fought at compared to a Tae Kwon Do fight. Tae Kwon Do is much faster compared to Muay Thai however Muay Thai is MUCH more devastating when compared with punching and kicking also including elbows and knees. In Tae Kwon Do you can somewhat hold your kicks back although most people don't but in muay thai if you hold a kick back your getting thrown to the mat. The angles for Muay Thai and Tae Kwon Do are similar yet when broken down, fairly different. There's really certain things you can and can't throw in each art. The ring is another thing. Tae Kwon Do you have an open square, muay thai you have a closed ring. No warnings and deduction of points really in muay thai that's in tae kwon do, and less ref interference. Don't try any 180 hook kicks. Keep your kicks basic in Muay Thai. That's about it, good lucky buddy.
