Learning Muay Thai- Ten Top Tips
Learning Muay Thai is an all round thrilling experience whether you’re a beginner looking to get and stay in shape or a more experienced practitioner in the sport. Regardless of your current level of interest the following tips will help you progressively improve your skills and abilities.
1.Find a Muay Thai gym. There are several different perceptions of Muay Thai and you will most likely find that there are several gyms that might interest you. Always do your homework on their Trainers, their experience and qualifications. Most gyms will give you a free complimentary session, this will help you actively evaluate the gym and the quality of service that they offer.
2.Learn the lingo and history behind Muay Thai. There are extensive materials on the web that provide a through and broad look on Muay Thai. Muay Thai movies and documentaries are also an excellent source of training and cultural material.
3.Nutrition: This element cannot be overemphasized. Dietary nutrition is perhaps the most important element in progressive Muay Thai training. Its not about counting calories, sensible eating habits will ensure your continued strength, stamina and recovery after every training session.
4.Warm up: Again, it’s the simplest, smallest things that make a big difference over time. Make you warm up for at least 20 minutes before going into a heavy training routine. The idea is to build up a sweat and prepare your body for the vigorous exercise to follow. Some great warm up exercises include: Running, Skipping, Shadow boxing.
5.Cool Down: It’s recommended that you spend 15-20 minutes after a training session to cool down. This is to prevent injury and keep your joints supple. Stretching routines great for cooling down.
6.Flexibility: While you don’t need to learn to do the splits to be proficient at Muay Thai, some stretching and flexibly training will come in handy; it serves to improve your agility, balance and technique in the ring and outside it.
7.Conditioning: Run as much as you can but don’t overstrain yourself. When going to the gym, practice light weights but many reps. Resistance training is going to be your best friend when it comes to Muay Thai.
8.Spar often. Sparring can be dangerous and sometimes scary but done correctly under supervision can be one of the single greatest elements to improving your fighting technique, style, timing, combinations and strategy. Sparring develops your own style and once you are profound at it, allows you to adapt to situations both in the ring and outside it. Remember, the goal is not to K.O your opponent, your goal is to learn, improve and master your techniques.
9.Rest: Training in Muay Thai is one of the most physically challenging things that you can do. After training hard it’s equally important to give your body time to heal and renew itself. Give yourself at least 1day off per week. For beginners, one day between training sessions is recommended, initially.
10.Have Fun: This may come last on the list but trust me; it’s the only thing that will get your butt in the gym when you don’t particularly feel like it. Discipline is important for sure but sometimes it’s easy to get self-absorbed and too serious. Learn to lighten-up, relax and enjoy yourself. Training in Muay Thai is a roller-coaster experience you will experience everything from Joy, frustration, impatience, and yes a few bruises. Learn to adjust and to take it all in stride and no matter what, keep moving forward.
