Forged Fitness offers the very best in Muay Thai instruction in the Triangle.

Our coaches are proficient in all forms of kickboxing and have worked with fighters at every level.  Our fighters have fought in  The UFC, Strikeforce, IFL, WCF and various other organizations throughout the country.   While our traditional Muay Thai is influenced by the Thai Boxing Association(TBA) under Ajarn Chai which our Coach Mike Emory has been training in Martial arts for over 20 years and has been a Kru “Full Instructor” under Ajurn Chai for over 10 years.  Our other influence has been through Scott Francsis who has more of a Dutch style of kickboxing brought to him by Rick Davis and passed on to another one of our instructors Ted Leiner. Ted has been studying martial arts for a majority of his life. After having moved to the Triangle, he was able to hone his skills under Mr. Francsis and has had the honor of being an authorized instructor for over 6 years.

Having instructors with proficiencies in the two dominate styles of kickboxing gives our members the unique opportunity to understand both and to pull from each to create their unique personal style of Muay Thai.

Muay Thai (known to some outside of Thailand as Muay Thai kickboxing) is a national sport of Thailand as well as a national passion.

It is a fighting technique born out of combat reality. Known as the science of eight limbs, Muay Thai kickboxing uses the knees and elbows as well as kicks and punches. Almost any part of the body is considered a fair target and any part of the body, except the head, may be used to strike an opponent. It is considered by many to be the ultimate in hand-to-hand fighting. Muay Thai kickboxing is a professional and amateur sport, a martial art, aerobic fitness program and a useful form of self-defense, but Muay Thai kickboxing is more than just learning how to fight. Muay Thai kickboxing is a strong and vigorous martial art that teaches self-discipline and self-awareness. It has been passed down through generations for the last 2000 years.

Dutch Style Kickboxing the dutch Muay Thai style, is more influenced by western boxing. The traditional Muay Thai stance (most of all the guard) is more affected to muay boran where you keep your hands very high, while in dutch Muay Thai you’re keeping your hands lower and closer to the head so you can better protect your chin as well as your body (traditional Muay Thai fighters block the kicks up to their ribs by raising their leg, while western Muay Thai fighters prefer to block the kicks/punches to the body with their arms). Another difference is the clinch game,  which is seen much more often in traditional Muay Thai.