Perhaps you’ve been training Muay Thai for quite some time, but feel that your strikes aren’t explosive enough. Well, maybe it’s time to consider supplementing your Muay Thai training with some strength and conditioning exercises!
Of course, it is of utmost importance to execute every strike with the correct technique. So before you worry about having more powerful strikes, you have to ensure that your form is on point and that you’re applying the various techniques correctly. Remember, once you master the technique, power and speed would naturally follow!
Ready to take your training to the next level? Today, Evolve Daily shares 4 Essential Strength Training Tips For Muay Thai:
1) Build Your Endurance Along With Your Strength
Running builds your core, leg, back, and hip muscles.
When your body isn’t conditioned properly, you might find that you can’t make it through your entire training session without gassing out. That’s why it’s so important to boost your stamina and endurance by running long distances (8 – 12km) and sprinting regularly. Running also builds bone strength and bone density due to the constant pounding on the pavement. Your kicks will naturally be more powerful due to bone density and bone strength.
Apart from that, running and sprinting build leg muscles – which is essential to every Muay Thai practitioner. Think about it: you’re always standing, as well as kicking and throwing knees, so it’s absolutely necessary to have strong legs!
2) Focus On Strength And Conditioning Exercises That Work Your Whole Body
Burpees help develop explosive power, and anaerobic endurance.
Burpees: You can develop endurance and get in shape by doing burpees. This is because the burpee works your entire body! This includes your chest, arms, abs, glutes, quads, and hamstrings. When you do this full body exercise regularly, you’ll definitely get stronger.
Squats help to tone your lower body.
Squats: For a good lower body workout, you should do squats as they work major muscle groups of your thighs, hip and butt. As we mentioned earlier, strong legs are important because power ultimately comes from the ground, and that’s where your legs push off to give your body the power it needs.
Lunges improve your balance and coordination.
Lunges: Besides squats, lunges also work your lower body as they target your quads, glutes, calves, hamstrings, and core muscles. If you wish to challenge yourself, you can lunge with weights and work those arm muscles as well!
It is important to do deadlifts with the right form.
Deadlifts: If you want to maximize your performance at the gym, then make it a point to include deadlifts in your workouts. This is because it’s a great strength-building exercise which can help build your posterior chain.
Push-ups can help improve your posture.
Push-ups: You can strengthen your chest, shoulders and arms by doing push-ups. Also, push-ups help stabilize the muscles surrounding your rotator cuff joint, hence, conditioning your upper body for dynamic movements.
Decrease the time in between your pull-up sets to burn more fat.
Pull-ups: The secret to having a stronger, tighter clinch is including pull-ups in your workouts! This is because pull-ups target your back muscles while improving your grip strength. These muscles play a part in helping you have better control over your opponent inside the clinch.
Planks work all the muscles in your core.
Planks: You can build your core strength and improve your balance by doing planks regularly. It is important to have a solid core as your core is basically a strong set of muscles that holds your body together, and combines your limbs’ forces into one explosive total force.
3) Always Give 100% To Your Training
WBA Boxing World Champion Yodsanan Sityodtong trains hard at the Evolve Fighters Program.
If you want to see results, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort. After all, it takes hard work, dedication and consistency to achieve great things. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Muay Thai or strength training – you have to give it your all in order to succeed. So make sure you plan your workouts in advance, and follow through. Ideally, you should train Muay Thai at least 3 to 4 times a week, with 1 to 2 sessions of strength training. Remember, practice makes perfect! So focus on drilling the right techniques before worrying about your strength.
4) Get Enough Rest
Ideally, you should get 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night.
Besides training hard, it is crucial to get sufficient rest so that your body can recover faster. We’re sure you don’t want to put yourself at risk of getting injuries due to overtraining! It also helps to fuel up with nutritious food and stay hydrated before, during and after your training. By making these healthy adjustments, you’ll be helping your body get stronger, at a faster rate!
Now that you know what to do, it’s time to take your Muay Thai game to greater heights. Now go forth and train hard!
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