Low kick

Muay Thai

Chop the lead leg with the shin and get out safely.

What coaches agree on

  • Generate real power by stepping or lunging into the kick to transfer your weight, then chopping down through the target like an axe rather than kicking on a rising arc.
  • Land the kick across the flat of your shin rather than your foot, since kicking with the foot risks breaking the many small bones there.
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  • Time the kick to the instant your opponent's weight commits onto that leg - mid-step, mid-punch, or mid-kick - when they physically can't lift it to check you.
  • Keep your guard hand up, or your head off the centreline, as you kick, and reset your stance or step straight back out afterward - you're in punching range and briefly balanced on one leg.

Common mistakes

  • Throwing the same low kick again and again with no setup - coaches describe the opponent reading the pattern and either checking it correctly, which can hurt your own shin, or countering it outright.
  • Committing full power into a kick without being ready to ease off if it gets checked - coaches describe this as how fighters split or break their own shins by forcing it through anyway.
Low Kick Tutorial & Drills
Beginner

Low Kick Tutorial & Drills

Coach's take: Genuinely coaches you through it drill by drill, not just a highlight reel with commentary slapped on.

3.8
Inside Low Kicks - Episode #79
Intermediate

Inside Low Kicks - Episode #79

Coach's take: Tells you not just how to throw it, but why it gets blocked and how to set it up so it doesn't.

3.7