Muay Thai involves striking with punches, kicks, elbows, and knees. It involves grappling and throws. Muay Thai fights are preceded by a ceremonial dance called Ram Muay. It doubles as a meditation and a warm-up stretch. It helps the fighter fill the ring with his aura. Not everybody trains to fight; it is simply excellent exercise and very effective Self Defense as well as Self Discovery. Furthermore, at Big Foot Gym we encourage you to extend beyond “Self”: outward to Others.

Muay Thai was born on the battlefield of ancient Thailand when battles involved bladed weapons and combat was intimate. If you lost your weapon you couldn’t say Time Out and you had to fight on, against razor-sharp blades slicing at you in a dance of death. So you had to react: Muay Thai was born from this immediate need. It continued to evolve in and out of war times to keep soldiers sharp. This is also how it evolved as a sport. In the 18th century, a Thai Prince Nai Knonton was also a champion Thai fighter. He was captured by the Burmese whilst in disguise. He won his freedom by beating all the best Burmese boxers. He went undefeated for 7 years. They say that modern Muay Thai was fashioned after his style. In the old days, Thai fighters used to fight with their hands bound by rope. In grudge matches, they coated the rope with rubber sap and ground glass --you can imagine the agility you would need to survive one of these bouts. In 1936 weight classes were adopted and they started using boxing gloves.

Muay Thai came to America in 1968, by way of Master Chai (Ajarn Surachai Sirisute).

Today Muay Thai has become popular around the world. It has become the preferred stand-up method in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts). There is also straight-up pure Muay Thai: this is Big Foot Gym’s preference, especially when “done beautiful” (Thai phrase).

A Muay Thai bout is preceded by a ceremonial dance in the ring called Wai Kru (Respect to Teacher), also called Ram Muay (Boxing Dance). It doubles as a warm-up/stretch and a meditation. While performing the Ram Muay, the fighter thinks of their teacher, their mother and father, their religion, and a loved one who has died or moved away. It used to be you could tell who a fighter's teacher was or what school they trained at by the Ram Muay they performed. Nowadays some fighters ham it up, personalize the dance and throw in all kinds of antics to entertain and amuse their fans. Some Ram Muay ceremonies are simple,just one hand along the top rope as the fighter circles around the ring; any way it is done, when the fighter finishes, he or she comes back to their corner and the trainer removes the Mon Kon, gives words of encouragement, and the bout begins.