Today we’re going to teach you how to do a diagonal knee kick in our Muay thai video lesson. The kick is called Kao Chiyang in Thai which is the literally meaning of diagonal knee. This is one of the very basic knee kicks in Thai boxing arsenal. So here goes.

The targets of this technique are such as thigh, ribcage, or the side of the body. Basically, the move is performed by grasping and pulling the other boxer’s neck with both fists and delivering the knee diagonally hitting the focused target. I’ll break it down for you later but first let’s take a look at the video we made.

There are two ways to perform this muay thai move. First is to use the rear knee to deliver the hit and second is the use the lead knee. Let’s start with the common used one first.

Rear Diagonal Knee-Kick
Start with the boxing stance as usual. Lean forwards shifting your body weighting onto your left foot. And grasp your opponent’s neck with both of your hand. Remember to grasp the neck from the inside not outside to avoid counter-move and be on guard in case there is an elbow attack. Then, throw your right knee diagonally upwards from the right to left keeping the toes stretched straight down. At this point, you will pull the neck downward diagonally from left to right before bracing your left foot against the floor and impacting your knee cap with power to the target.

Lead Diagonal Knee-Kick
This is not easy to do by anyone, but here is the basic instruction. Lots of practice is required. First, with the boxing stance, lean forward but the body weight should be transferred to your right foot. Grasp your opponent’s neck with the same method above pulling it downward from right to left. Now thrust your left knee diagonally upward from left to right forcefully. Hitting the chosen target with your knee-cap.

So that’s it with our video lesson for today. Come back for more of this. I’ll try to upload more Thai boxing videos on YouTube, so you can also go check them all out there. See you next time.