Matt Hostetler: This is Matt Hostetler with Capital Jiu-Jitsu. For this technique demonstration, we are going to be showing you a Knee Strike. Now, Muay-Thai is unique in that there is more than just feet and more than just fists and another effective target of attack is your knees, that can be, its a very damaging strike if thrown on properly.

So, the way that we are going to demonstrate this knee strike, this is going to be a rear knee strike that means his back leg is what's going to be the attacking point. Now, to begin this he is going to step out slightly with his front leg just to position himself such that the knee is going right into the center of Jeremys or your opponents body. In this case it's Jeremy holding the kick pad.

So, after he opens up, he is stepping outside slightly with his front leg, he is going to bring his back leg up and into the kick pad. Now, a couple of things happen there. If you saw his hip movement and this is very crucial because the, when you are, to get to maximize the power you really have to visualize kicking through your opponent. In this case, he has to picture himself almost kicking, almost kneeing through the opponents spine. So, walk up and deliver the knee strike again and if done properly, you will cause the holder to have to step back to recapture his balance because you can bring a lot of power with this knee strike.

Now, a couple of other things to mention, his kicking foot is always pointed straight down. You want to have, you have to want to have one line, one angle going straight in, you dont want to keep it out or flat footed. You are going to give yourself more power to keep it tightly tucked in and have the foot pointed straight down.

Secondly, when he lands this knee strike, his pliant leg, he is going to lift this pliant leg up off the ground just to give him some more power into the strike. All these things come in to place, so it takes a while to perfect this movement but it is a very popular attacking point in Muay-Thai and Mixed Martial Arts.

The knees, you can throw the knees from all kinds of different angles. We are just demonstrating the basic form of the knee strike and lastly, his arms. Now, for the purposes of the demonstration, he is, you can when you are, when you are drilling this, even when you are drilling it without your partner to help you with the balance, his opposite side arm is right across his head and his same side arm is down.

When you begin to practice this, you will feel what I am talking about, but it gives you the balance that you need to be able to lift up off the ground and deliver the strike with a lot of power. Good and a good knee strike like I said, you will notice because your opponent there, the holder will have to get his balance back.

So, with this demonstration, with this last technique that finishes up our illustration of the some basic Muay-Thai basic striking. There are plenty of other strikes that we havent covered but these basic strikes and kicks and punches will give you a good foundation in which to begin your training in this very popular and very effective martial art.