Once upon a time, Thai boxing was not a common choice of art and was only practiced by those people wanting to compete (and they were mostly men).
Not much was known about it when it first arrived on our shores and the public were still pretty much in the kung fu grip of Bruce Lee.
Thai Boxing and Other Martial Arts
There were small homages paid to Thai Boxing during the eighties in the Van-Dame film Bloodsport (one of the contestants Paco was a Thai Boxer) and the film Kickboxer was based in Bangkok. But on the whole, it was a little-known sport dwarfed by the popular martial arts of Karate, Kung-fu, and taekwondo. Only in its homeland of Thailand, was Muay Thai a thriving spectator sport and in Thailand at this time, it was unheard of for women to participate in Muay Thai.
Times are a-changing however and the last ten years has seen a massive increase both in the number of Thai boxing gyms opening in the UK and the number of female participants.
Recent Growth in Thai Boxing
Much of the recent growth in Thai Boxing is thanks, in part, to the success of the UFC (ultimate fighting championships) where competitors fight in mixed martial arts and the stand-up art of choice is Muay Thai. Ironically, since the emergence of Muay Thai’s supremecy as a stand-up art around the rest of the world, the number of young Thai’s in Thailand learning Muay Thai has actually declined, with football becoming more popular there.
However, even before the onslaught of the UFC, successful professional female Thai boxers such as Lisa Howarth, Lisa Houghton-Smith, Mary Hart and many more, were helping to raise the profile of female Thai boxing in the United Kingdom. Elsewhere in the world other women were doing the same thing.
Thai boxing can offer women many, many attributes.
It is an all-round cardio workout (incorporating kicks of all heights, punches, elbows and knees) therefore increasing stamina and promoting weight loss in addition to drastically improving co-ordination, flexibility and mobility.
Thai boxing is also extremely effective in self-defence due to the close quarter clinch work, which utilises elbow and knee strikes.
Thai Boxing for Fitness and Competition
Many women will begin training in Thai boxing for fitness but for those who wish to progress further, many clubs hold their own grading syllabus and for the more adventurous types, there are competitions held across the UK on a weekly basis ranging from gym to gym inter-clubs, up to top level A-Class fights.
So for all the women out there who want to start getting fit and feeling great, why not try out your local Thai boxing club and participate in this rewarding martial art?
marianne barrett - Marianne currently lives in Newcastle, England. Marianne has been studying/practicing martial arts for nearly ten years, in particular ...
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