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The superman punch seems to be a powerful technique in Muay Thai. I have had it used on me many times by a guy who likes it. It breaks through my guard frequently from the sheer force and momentum behind it.

  1. What are the features that give its value? Is it the fact that the body moves more with it to add extra momentum? Is it that the body is higher up to make counter strikes more difficult? The range from where it begins? Or that the start of the move looks like feigned kick?
  2. In which situations do you use it? When the opponent is far away? When there guard is strong? When they are in a defensive mode? When you want to get close quickly? When they look like they want to kick? etc.
  3. Given the choice of various punches to throw, eg. cross/jab etc., why choose the superman punch?
Macaco Branco
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Vass
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2 Answers2

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The feint is the major benefit behind it. The intent is to get your opponent to drop their guard from their head to defend against your kick so that you can land the punch. There's some benefit in the momentum involved in throwing your leg back while leaping forward, and when done right, you're reducing your target profile by coming in upper-body first, and it can close distance, but the feint is the most important aspect, especially since, as with most flying techniques, you're sacrificing control (it's basically impossible to stop yourself in mid-air) to add some power and unpredictability to your attack.

Macaco Branco
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Another variation of this technique involves using a kick. From a southpaw stance, several low back leg kicks (left) can be thrown. Once opponent learns and moves their arms to block this kick, feint it but in the same move spring up and deliver a right right-hook kick, from the other leg/side.

The plus of this one is that you can keep your arms free for defense/offense while doing this, But it does take some practice to get right effectively (feint>deliver)

polonski
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