Muay Thai is a form of kickboxing originating in Thailand and Southeast Asia. This article will give you a brief overview of some aspects on Muay Thai Training. Muay Thai uses the fists, feet, shins, and elbows to strike the opponent. This fierce martial art was born from the hand-to-hand combat used long ago to replace fighting with weapons. It has been described as the only empty handed combat that is just as devastating as the weapons it replaced. Muay Thai is a powerful and, if not practiced properly, a hazardous sport that requires a lot of training to be done well. Muay Thai training encourages, not only, skill and technique, but endurance, speed, strength, timing, and all-around toughness.

Muay Thai training involves a great amount of persistence and tenacity to work on proper technique while hitting focus mitts, thai pads, and heavy bags. Fighters can work on the timing of their attacks, counter-attacks, and footwork using the focus mitts. Combatants usually use heavy bags for heavier resistance training to gain power. Muay Thai training can also involve shadowboxing to reinforce proper technique and speed or live sparring to simulate a real fight or competition.

In order to have a gladiator-like body, Muay Thai Training integrates other conditioning exercises found in other sports, like bodyweight exercises such as sit-ups, pull-ups, and push-ups. Fighters may also cross-train with jumping rope, long distance running, and sprinting. Like other boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and MMA fighters, Muay Thai fighters may also lift weights in addition to body-weight exercises.

Combatants in Muay Thai usually spend time conditioning their shins for impacts during fight. Fighters attempt to toughen their shins by kicking things like heavy bags wrapped in rope. To aid in the bone thickening, fighters supplement their diets with calcium and vitamin D or rub special oils on the skin of their legs. Some fighters condition the shins by dulling the nerve endings surrounding the bone by repetitively impacting and rubbing the bone with objects such as glass bottles.

There are many ways to begin your training in Muay Thai, the best of which is to find a school located nearby. Most major cities have Muay Thai St Louis, New York, Miami, Milwaukee, and Los Angeles included. Other resources include Muay Thai DVDs and books.

About Rodrigo Vaghi: Rodrigo started his Gracie Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 14, in the original Gracie Academy in Rio de Janeiro. Vaghi’s instructors were Grandmaster Helio Gracie and his sons: Rickson, Royce, Royler and Rolker. After many years of training with the Gracie Family, Rodrigo has become a close family friend and black belt instructor representing the undisputed champion of the Gracie’s: Rickson Gracie. Rodrigo Vaghi is the proud owner of Vaghi Martial Arts and head of its Muay Thai St Louis Program.