Muay Thai is a combat sport requiring a hard physical training, no matter whether you are training for fitness, fun or to fight. To be a good Muay Thai fighter, you must have a good physical condition to be quick, agile and precise and also strong arms to be able to make strong punches. In addition, you would also be required to have very good flexibility, and must position yourself very well in the ring to be able to escape the opponent’s punches and kicks. Moreover, building a good muscle mass is also necessary to develop endurance, and to be able to well- absorb the opponent’s punches and kicks.
Obviously, as a Muay Thai practitioner, you need to develop your fighting strategy so you can decide how, when, and where to kick your opponent with the most precision and speed. This martial art is, therefore, a very complete sport discipline, and requires simultaneous action of several muscles. Hence, to make the best use of your physical skills, you must perform hard and regular physical training.
Muay Thai champions perform a very rigorous daily training program. They also develop a strong mental resistance that helps them to endure and complete such hard physical exercises on a daily basis. Most of these Muay Thai champions train a minimum of six days a week and several hours a day. The physical training sessions are essentially based on different kinds of repetitive exercises that the Muay Thai champions perform every day. Among these physical exercises:
- Punching bag exercises with kicks, punches, and knees in order to improve fight technique, precision and strength. This help also to increase body responsiveness, and general ability to produce explosive power.
- Skipping rope exercises to increase endurance and strengthen leg muscles. These exercises are also beneficial and help to improve concentration, movements coordination, and breath control.
- Sheathing pumps and abs exercises to strengthen all the abdominal, pectorals, and oblique muscles. These exercises are also very important to maintain a good general body balance and to improve endurance.
- Running is a principal exercise to burn calories, and to improve cardiovascular system and endurance. This is the most important physical exercise that every practitioner has to perform every day. The experienced Muay Thai champions run for hours a day and have two running cessions, one in the morning and another in the evening.
- Push up and dumbbells exercises with arms, legs, and neck to strengthen muscles, and adapt them to generate power. These exercises also help to build a strong general muscularity.
- Sparring exercises with another practitioner to develop the fighting strategy. This helps to refine the technique and to improve the agility and speed.
All these hard exercises meant for both mind and body require adopting a healthy lifestyle. Indeed, Muay Thai champions adopt a balanced diet, which provide their bodies with all the necessary nutrition. They also keep their bodies well hydrated by drinking enough water. Finally, a Muay Thai champion must maintain a systematic balance between training and rest periods. This is very important because a rest period helps the body to recover and reduces the risk of injuries.
