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Muay Thai's Circle of Death

Page 4 - Circle of Death Routines

"Circle of Death" rounds are short, typically lasting less than two minutes. Their intensity, however, is high. Regardless of how many bags are in the circle, fighters should average around 130 strikes per "Circle of Death" routine. Remember to hold the bag still during all strikes. The following are examples of "Circle of Death" routines trained by Villalobos.

Routine #1

Strike each bag ten times rapidly with low knee blows.

Routine #2

Strike each bag ten times rapidly, alternating blows at leg level and stomach height.

Routine #3

Strike the first bag with ten knees, then move to the second and do ten low kicks. Move to the next bag and do ten invisible kicks at close range while holding the bag. Pedro calls this version the "devil’s triangle", because it contains three techniques in one "Circle of Death".

Routine #4

Strike each bag ten times rapidly with the elbows.

Routine #5

The fifth variation is called the "Cuban drill." In this routine students glove up and punch the bag in rapid fire and roll to the next bag. Villalobos emphasizes that this is an exception. "The ‘Circle of Death’ is mostly knees and low kicks," he says. "But the Cuban drill has its value and we do it sometimes."

For knees to the face level on the heavy bag, Pedro suggests striking with the front of the knee. When you do circle knees, strike the bag with the side muscle of the knee and hit the bag with your ankle at the same time. In one of Villalobos’ fights, his opponent stayed very close for much of the bout, which prevented Pedro from attacking with front knee strikes. "So, I threw a lot of circle knees that smashed on his hips and thighs." Simultaneously, Pedro’s ankles were striking the man’s lower legs. After the fight Villalobos learned that his opponent was hurt more from the "secondary" ankle hits on his legs than from the circle knee strikes to his body.