What is the main difference between Muay Thai and Kickboxing?
Muay Thai is an eight-point striking system while kickboxing is a four-point system.
This is the reason why you can often hear that Muay Thai is the “art of eight limbs. ”In other words, Thai boxing can uses eight limbs to strike and do damage with punches, kicks, knees, and elbows, Kickboxing can only uses four limbs to strike with kicks and punches.
Further, Muay Thai puts a lot of emphasis on the clinch work and usage of knees and elbows in the clinch.
This is why many people think Thai boxing is better because Thai boxing uses the additional elbows and knees.
Personally, and having trained in both, I much prefer the Thai boxing side of things, especially from a self defence perspective, as it gives you a lot more options in both long and close range.
What’s better? That’s up to you to decide and what you prefer to learn and use.
We teach a mixture of kickboxing and Muay Thai at our Marlborough and Tidworth martial arts classes, so come on down for a free trial.