Muay Thai is commonly known as Thai Boxing. It is a form of martial arts quite popular in a few Southeast Asian countries like Thailand. Muay Thai is the most popular sport in Thailand and it is also their national sport.

Martial arts are an integral part of the Thai culture. It is assumed that Muay Thai was in existence even in the ancient days. Initially, Muay Thai was a purely martial discipline. It was mostly used by the military men for self defense. Later, civilians too began practicing it and it became popular among the masses as a sport too. Now, it has become a tradition for the Thai people to practice Muay Thai. Kids are trained quite early in their lives and it becomes a lifelong endeavor for them to perfect the art of Muay Thai. Muay Thai is practiced in a few more neighboring countries of Thailand. It is called Pradal Serei in Cambodia. Myanmar has a similar sport called Lethwei. Malaysia has a similar style which is locally known as Tomoi. All these styles of martial arts resemble the great Chinese martial art of Kung Fu. But over the years, new and new fighting techniques are developed in the Thai form of the martial art. These evolving techniques make Muay Thai a distinctly different sport. Traditional martial art forms use hands and feet for both attack and defense. But Muay Thai practitioners use other organs as well apart from the feet and the hands.

These include knees, shins, and elbows. That is why Muay Thai practitioners can transform themselves into a mean fighting unit. Use of 8 limbs effectively makes it an awesome fighting technique. The additional techniques provide these fighters with greater speed and power. Muay Thai exponents can use their body parts as lethal weapons to subjugate the opponents. Since the beginning, Muay Thai bouts are preceded by and followed by traditional ceremonies. These ceremonies are influenced by the religion followed by the Thai people. Meditation techniques are a part of the training regimen of the Muay Thai fighters. Professional Muay Thai fighters are highly paid and they enjoy cult status in the society. They are considered to be one of the most dangerous fighters in the world. It is fast and has techniques that can floor an opponent within no time. This sport has caught the attention of fighters from other countries as well. Kick boxing, which is a popular sport in countries like USA, is a milder form of Muay Thai. Majority of the fighting techniques of Kick boxing are taken from Muay Thai.

Muay Thai requires a lot of hard work to practice. They are taught to conquer pain while fighting. Generally, shin is a vulnerable portion of our body and it hurts a lot when we hit something with it. But Muay Thai exponents strengthen the shin area by practicing repeatedly hitting a target area with the use of shin. Knee strikes are also quite popular for a Muay Thai fighter and are effectively used to strike really at the opponents.