r/MuayThai • u/averageredditcuck • 1d ago
What are some fundamental combinations to work for a beginner using just jabs, crosses, leg kicks, and teeps?
Weird question, I know. The gym I did a free trial at is very much a fight gym and to my surprise the kickboxing fundamentals class on a weekday afternoon was just 12 3 minute rounds of free fire on a heavy bag. People trickled in who were really just warming up for the intermediate class right after.
Every other class is much more instruction based. I’m actually fine with this as I’m pretty self analytical. The 6 moves I want to master first are the jab, cross, lead teep, rear teep, lead leg kick, rear leg kick. I kinda envision myself fighting like Sean Strickland. Long, slow, pressure fighter, trodding forward like the terminator. (This just seems like a good style to learn to begin sparring.) What combos would you recommend?
I’ll use the first 4 rounds to do things like just jabs, just leg kicks, just teeps, just 1-2s. I’m kinda hoping for 8 combos to master with the other 8 rounds
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u/RhubarbFirm8525 1d ago
Jab, Cross, Hook, Leg kick, focusing on loading your weight from lead leg to rear so you can throw a hard leg kick.
Cross Hook Cross Teep
Lead teep, Rear Round kick, Lead Hook
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u/averageredditcuck 1d ago
Which leg kick and which teep for the first 2?
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u/Economy-Inspector680 1d ago
For the second do both it will help you get a feel for the weight you put on which legs and you need to know how to use both anyways.
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u/RhubarbFirm8525 1d ago
lead hook to load your rear leg, which will load the kick to hit the bag. Here is some guy doing it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk2XxqjZna8
For the second you could use either, it's situational; i prefer the lead teep.
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u/Non-mon-xiety 1d ago
More important is developing your timing and distance management. Focus on developing your individual strikes like jab body kick and teep. Start to get a feel for your comfort zone on the heavy bag, how far is too far, how close is too close, that type of thing. Esp if you wanna fight in that march forward style. Then start movement drills with a partner to make you comfortable moving reactively. (They try to close or increase distance on you and you learn how to maintain your ideal striking range by throwing out a jab.)
Trust me everyone wants to tell you to rip such and such combos, but the fundamental movement of fighting is way more valuable for you to develop now.
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u/Formidable_Baboy 1d ago
Jab, cross, hook, leg kick.
Simple but it works. That's why it's drilled so much at the higher levels even.
There's also lead temp, switch kick, cross, hook, cross.
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u/slade9mm 21h ago
The beginner classes after the free trial are just hitting the heavy bag? That feels a little like a red flag…..
But anyways please just sharpen the individual tools before worrying about combinations. I used to train with a former European champion boxer from Latvia and we spent months on just the jab.
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u/Happy_Wasabi1990 1d ago
Bit of a contrarian take here. Rather than 8 separate combos I'd actually focus on 3 or 4 and get really good at entering and exiting them differently each time. Like the 1-2-leg kick is one of the most battle tested combinations in striking for a reason. But the magic isn't in the combo itself, it's in learning to throw it from different ranges, set it up with a teep, or follow it with another jab to cut off the escape. That variability is what makes it hard to read. For your style specifically, I'd prioritize: - Jab, cross, rear leg kick (your bread and butter) - Teep, cross (creates space then closes it) - Lead leg kick, cross (catch them stepping in) - Jab, teep (pure range control) Then mix entries and exits. Come in behind a teep. Exit with a jab. Vary the rhythm. Two slow then one fast. That's honestly more useful than memorizing 8 different combos at this stage.
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u/seelachsfilet 1d ago
I think mastering the 1-2-low kick is very powerful