How to Learn Muay Thai at Home: A 4-Week Plan

Muay Thai needs a bit more room than boxing, but almost all of the basics drill alone. What you build at home is the balance, the kick mechanics and the habit of keeping your guard up while kicking.

What you can and cannot learn at home

At home you can learn stance, the teep, the roundhouse, checks, knees and how to put them together in rounds. You cannot learn clinch, timing against a partner, or how it feels to get kicked. That part is the gym.

Stance

Feet a little narrower than boxing, weight more on the back leg so the lead leg is light enough to check and teep. Hands high, elbows in. Stay tall: square enough to kick with either leg, not so square you get hit down the middle.

The core techniques

• Teep (push kick). Lift the knee, push the ball of the foot through the target from the hip, bring it back to stance. It is a push, not a snap. Full breakdown: teep technique.
• Roundhouse kick. Step out on the ball of your lead foot, turn the hip over, swing through with the shin, arm on the kicking side swinging down for balance. Most beginners kick with the leg only and leave the hip behind. Full breakdown: right roundhouse kick.
• Check. Lift the knee toward the elbow on the same side, shin angled out, then put it back down in stance. See checking a low kick.
• Knees. Hips forward, up on the ball of the standing foot, drive the knee straight up and through.

A 4-week home plan

Three or four sessions a week, 30 to 40 minutes, after a five minute warm up and skipping.

Week 1, stance and teep. Stance holds and stepping. Teeps with each leg, 20 per side, slow. Two light shadow rounds.

Week 2, roundhouse. Roundhouse at half speed, 20 per side, returning to stance every time. Add checks between kicks.

Week 3, knees and rounds. Add knees. Three shadow rounds of three minutes, mixing punches, teeps, kicks and checks.

Week 4, bag and film. Four to five rounds, on a bag if you have one. Film one round. Use the free boxing round timer for three minutes on, one minute off.

Safety notes

Warm up hips and ankles before kicking. Kick bags with the shin, not the foot, and build up slowly: shins need weeks of light contact. Do not kick walls or hard objects, and clear the room of anything you can hit on the way through.

How to get feedback when you train alone

Film a round and get it reviewed by mmaGPT first. Upload the clip in your phone browser and in about 30 to 45 seconds you get timestamped notes on your kicks, guard and balance plus one drill for each mistake, for example "hand drops as the kick lands at 0:14, drill: 10 slow roundhouses with the opposite glove touching your cheek." Nothing to download on iPhone or Android. Then bring it to class and ask your coach to check the same fix. mmaGPT supplements a coach, it does not replace one.

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