Everything u want to know about the straight knee kick

• It is usually used in a clinch.. grab the opponent at the upper body,drag him down, to drive your knee into him.
• Since it is clinch work, your co-ordination must be in super condition -- otherwise, since you are so close to your opponent, he can strike you into the face. 
• If you are using this in a clinch, you can alternate kicks from both legs -- hold firm, give the opponent no room to maneuver and continue blowing the knees into him. 
• Your body may lean back or forward, but in a straight knee kick train to do both ways (this will help with delivery of attack , plus protection)

TARGET IN THIS KICK:

• In a straight knee kick, if in a clinch, you can go for the face even. 

• But main targets are all the vulnerable organs and glands and body parts in the torso, up to the chin. 
• In self-defence, you could do in the groin -- but groin and crown attacks are not allowed in several Muay Thai contests.

 IMPORTANT POINT: 
A knee kick is not just hitting out, as is a punch. In a good and perfect knee kick, you give a thrust from the hip, pushing the target away.. This doubles the impact of your kick. This strength also is cultivated from the hip.

What you need:

• You  need a lot of hip strength and flexibility -- the delivery and power of it, is from the hip. How high can you raise your knee -- that comes from hip flexibility. 
• Plus balance -- having raised the knee high, can u maintain your balance -- the other leg must have the strength to hold on-- this calls for real balancing skills while in the flow of a fight.Plus, you come up on your toes to propel the kick, so this calls for balancing skills definitely. 
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• Your ability to target with such a small part of your body must be trained well -- because the knee is a small part, for it to be effective you need to hit straight and in a compact, sharp fashion.