Muay Thai is a thrilling and high-energy sport. It is full of action and is always exciting for athletes participating in the sport – whether it’s a friendly sparring round or a real match.
Engaging physically with another person in Muay Thai can be quite overwhelming at first, and the sport can create a lot of emotions for the athletes and practitioners. Over time and with lots of practice, athletes learn how to manage their emotions and control their minds when they drill, spar, or even enter the ring.
Telling new practitioners to “relax” when they begin sparring for the first time will not make relaxing while sparring an easy task. Give the same advice to a more experienced fighter and they will be able to grasp the concept and relax their mind and body.
Learning to relax in Muay Thai is an incredibly important skill for all Muay Thai practitioners. It is an active skill that requires mindfulness, and it is a skill set that will keep fighters safer in the ring and more able to execute their physical skills, as well.
Here are four reasons why it’s important to learn to relax in Muay Thai:
1) You Can Better Utilize Your Mind To Problem Solve
Learning to relax in Muay Thai will help you keep a clear mind. When your mind is at ease, your mind will be freer to think, solve problems, and process what is happening before you. In Muay Thai, you are often faced with challenges and difficulties. In order to solve problems effectively, you must find a way to relax your mind.
It can be very difficult to think through and execute your ideas in Muay Thai if your mind is consumed by many other thoughts and emotions. Allowing your mind to relax and settle into solely the task at hand will help you to grow within the sport of Muay Thai. You need your mind to problem solve, and relaxing will help you to access all of your thoughts, ideas, and techniques that you’ve learned in training.
If you want to be able to fully use your mind to the best of your ability while training in Muay Thai, learning to relax your mind will be your best approach to doing so.
2) You Can Better Learn New Skills
Whether you are working on a new drill to learn a new skill or technique, or are working on your sparring skills with a partner, you need a free and relaxed mind to be able to learn and progress in your Muay Thai.
New skills can sometimes feel challenging or overwhelming at first, especially if they are proving to be more difficult skills for you at the moment. We all have techniques or skills that prove to be more challenging to learn than others.
Rather than responding with frustration or anger, respond by taking a deep breath and relaxing. Approaching new skills, challenges, or difficulties with a relaxed mind and a relaxed perspective will allow you to embrace and explore new things with a positive outlook.
If you are hoping to learn new Muay Thai skills in a positive way, relaxing your mind is going to help you.
3) You Can Better Utilize Your Physical Skills
Once you’ve done all the work to learn and improve your physical skills, techniques, and striking, you’ll want to be able to execute your skills in real-time. Regardless of whether you are drilling, sparring, or fighting, having access to your hard-earned skills is important for performing your best in Muay Thai.
If your mind and body are stressed, overwhelmed, or nervous, you will find it hard to utilize your full toolbox of skills. You may find yourself using the same combinations over and over, even if they are no longer working on your opponent, or you may find yourself neglecting to utilize good defensive techniques but rather just covering up and getting hit unnecessarily.
A relaxed mind and body is a free mind and body. When you are relaxed, you can focus on the best solutions and responses for “right now.” You’ll be able to pull from your full knowledge database of defensive techniques when your opponent throws various strikes at you. You’ll be able to better create combinations that suit your current situation and opponent, rather than just throwing anything and everything.
If you want to be able to access all of your hard-earned physical skills in Muay Thai, having a relaxed mind and body is a key component to doing so.
4) You Will Enjoy Muay Thai More
Last but not least, Muay Thai should be fun. Showing up to class to drill and doing so while stressed, frustrated, or overwhelmed is not conducive to having fun or learning. Choosing to relax your mind and body will allow you to fully enjoy the sport of Muay Thai. It will allow you to fail, succeed, try new things, and struggle while still enjoying the process of it all.
Muay Thai is a challenging sport, but it is also incredibly fun. Choosing to have fun while you learn new skills or try things with your partners is going to produce a fun environment in which you will continue to learn. Not only that, but if you are having fun, you will most certainly want to keep showing up and training.
If you want to stick with Muay Thai for the long haul, you need to enjoy it. As you step through the doors to train, be sure to take a deep breath and relax. Allow yourself to embrace the process and soak it all in with a calm, composed, and relaxed mind.
Relaxing In Muay Thai Is Key
Relaxing might sometimes be easier said than done, but it is important to strive for this key component of Muay Thai. If you want mental clarity to solve problems, as well as access to your hard-earned physical skills, relaxing your mind and body will allow you to do so. If you are wanting to continue to enjoy Muay Thai and continue to learn and absorb new skills, relaxing your mind and body is definitely the path you’ll want to take.
Regardless of what you are hoping to accomplish in Muay Thai, learning to relax will be an integral part of that journey.
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