Muay Thai Workouts

Muay Thai is a hard martial art, having its origins in Thailand. In fact it is the national sport of Thailand. Art of Eight Limbs as it is referred to, is so because a wide range of techniques using elbows, knees, punches and kicks are involved. All these Muay Thai techniques form the core Muay Thai workouts. All those Muay Thai enthusiasts, who are interested in knowing about these workouts, this one is dedicated to you!

Workouts for Muay Thai

Basically, this martial art has a close semblance with Indochinese kick boxing styles. The techniques of Muay Thai are of 2 types. The Luk mai and the Mae mai, meaning minor techniques and major techniques respectively. So, Muay Thai workouts comprise both these aspects, which help the practitioner develop a fit body, great attacking and defense tactics. Workouts typically consist of activities essential in combat sports conditioning, for instance, shadow boxing, running, rope jumping, body weight resistance exercises and so on. In short, it has four parts - warm-up, resistance training, base workout and a cool down. Thai pad training is one of the cornerstones of Muay Thai workouts. The other things are focus mitts, sparring and heavy bag. However, all said and done, warm up before workout for Muay Thai is mandatory like any other simple workout routine.

Muay Thai Workout Routine

Routine #1
Swimming is one of the common activities, include swimming preferably in the early afternoon period of the day. Swimming allows anyone practicing Muay Thai, related functional movements like knees and shadowboxing against the resistance of water.

Routine# 2
Shadow Boxing is another inevitable part of Muay Thai workouts. Shadow boxing using only punches for a minute or so at low intensity, coupled with 3 minutes of high intensity, is great for starters. Kicking in the air too is expected in addition to this. Some of the punches you can do are left straight-right straight, left-right and left hook, left-right-left hook and right upper cut. Try out different permutations and combination of various punches and kicks. Now comes the focus mitts. Practice your punches on the focus mitts for 3 minutes. After a couple of such rounds, take a minute break. Best bet here is to have a partner. If that is not possible, visualize different spots you wish to target in the air.

Routine# 3
Most preferably for late afternoon, this routine includes around 3 to 5 skipping rounds, same number of rounds on the heavy bag, around 10 minutes of Muay Thai stretches and 5 rounds of pad work. Finally, end with push kicks on the heavy bag and a few rounds of sparring.

Muay Thai Exercises

Exercises included in Muay Thai workouts are not very different from what are done in the other normal exercise routines. These are basically cardio conditioning. Lots of squats, pushups, jumping squats, hill climbers and so on. For seasoned practitioners, calisthenics are also incorporated in the workout. The cooling down exercises bring the session to an end.

In addition to that, you can have strength building and weightlifting sessions in your Muay Thai workouts. Normally, beginners can commence with smaller bursts of resistance training and easier base workout.

Even if you are not looking at boxing as a profession or as a passion, Muay Thai workouts can augur extremely well for fitness and getting in an envious shape.
Take Care!

Muay Thai Training Tips

Muay Thai is a highly physical martial art. It's a simple, yet brutal art as others would say. This combat sport has gained considerable interest among fitness buffs and martial arts enthusiasts all over the world because of the numerous benefits that it offers. So if you're thinking of trying it out, here are some muay thai training tips and things that you should know, especially if you haven't taken up a martial art before.

Professionals
seek the guidance and supervision of professional Muay Thai instructors for all aspects of your training session: warm-up, pad work, heavy bags and cool-downs.

Basics
Start slowly, get a good grasp of the fundamentals and the proper Muay Thai techniques so that you can train intelligently and improve progressively.

Patience
Muay Thai as you may have already realized is intensive and demanding, there will always be something new to learn and mastering this art takes time. Be patient, take it one day at a time and keep moving forward.

Enthusiasm
Another way to say this is lighten up and enjoy it. The process of moving from a newbie to a master is a roller coaster, you will laugh, you might cry. Keep an open mind, give it your best and enjoy the results.

Discipline
As obvious as this may sound, a level of discipline is necessary. Results will come through consistency, consistency comes from perseverance and determination, both are a product of your focus. Focus on your goals, start today and do not stop until you have achieved your objective.

Relax
However, you must allow your body to have at least one day of rest every seven days. If you are brand new to the sport, a recommended initial one day interval between sessions is adequate, as you improve, you will be able to train up to 3-6 days consecutively.

Don't push yourself too hard.
Go easy to start. It is very important to learn the proper mechanics first than pushing yourself to train hard right away. Learning the proper mechanics would give you a solid foundation and it also reduces the risk of injury.