Somewhere to Start?

[Samuraifan]

I have been thinking for quite a while for another art to pick up, namely something more competitive. After looking around I believe Mauy Thai is for me, the body conditioning and the fights brought me over.

I want to train seriously, get in prime fighting condition - I am hopefully looking into some fights later on when I get more experienced with the art. To help me plunge into this new world I just wanted to see if you Muay Thai folk have some tips/advice to give me, also if someone could share some tips on conditioning, im particularly interested in strenthening up these shin bones although general all body advice is apreciated too.

I was reading a couple posts on Muay Thai training camps, thats something I wouldn't mind doing when I can scrape the money together for sure.

 

[Akira]

People will disagree with me on this but don't listen to them because they don't know what they're talking about.

Shin conditioning is something that takes time. You can not speed up the process by kicking metal poles, hitting your shin with a coke bottle, rubbing tiger penis on it by any other stupid method.

The best way to condition your shins are by kicking the heavy bag, thai pads, and blocking and kicking with shin pads on (and later sparring without them). I've been training at a thai gym in Bangkok for a long time. This is the ONLY way the thais condition their shins.

Other advice? Well core strength is important. Do as many situps as you can twice a day, 6 days a week. Run as much as you can. Some weeks I run 60+ kms. Use an ab wheel as well, if you have one.

Don't bother with weights, do as much body strength exercise/weights as you want. Ie push ups, pull ups, lunges etc.

Keep your guard up, and your chin down.

Don't be too stiff, especially in your upper body. If you don't relax you'll never develop any real power in your strikes. Don't forget to breathe.

Good luck.

 

[Tez3]

People will disagree with me on this but don't listen to them because they don't know what they're talking about.

Shin conditioning is something that takes time. You can not speed up the process by kicking metal poles, hitting your shin with a coke bottle, rubbing tiger penis on it by any other stupid method.

The best way to condition your shins are by kicking the heavy bag, thai pads, and blocking and kicking with shin pads on (and later sparring without them). I've been training at a thai gym in Bangkok for a long time. This is the ONLY way the thais condition their shins.

Other advice? Well core strength is important. Do as many situps as you can twice a day, 6 days a week. Run as much as you can. Some weeks I run 60+ kms. Use an ab wheel as well, if you have one.

Don't bother with weights, do as much body strength exercise/weights as you want. Ie push ups, pull ups, lunges etc.

Keep your guard up, and your chin down.

Don't be too stiff, especially in your upper body. If you don't relax you'll never develop any real power in your strikes. Don't forget to breathe.

Good luck.

This only works if the tiger is still alive!

good post though!

 

[Samuraifan]

Shin conditioning is something that takes time. You can not speed up the process by kicking metal poles, hitting your shin with a coke bottle, rubbing tiger penis on it by any other stupid method.

The best way to condition your shins are by kicking the heavy bag, thai pads, and blocking and kicking with shin pads on (and later sparring without them). I've been training at a thai gym in Bangkok for a long time. This is the ONLY way the thais condition their shins.

Other advice? Well core strength is important. Do as many situps as you can twice a day, 6 days a week. Run as much as you can. Some weeks I run 60+ kms. Use an ab wheel as well, if you have one.

Don't bother with weights, do as much body strength exercise/weights as you want. Ie push ups, pull ups, lunges etc.

Keep your guard up, and your chin down.

Don't be too stiff, especially in your upper body. If you don't relax you'll never develop any real power in your strikes. Don't forget to breathe.

Good luck.

Movies sure do give you the wrong picture, you would think after breaking a coconut tree like they do in KICKBOXER you would be set, suppose unless you want to do some real damage to your shins you need to build up to it. Can't climb a mountain without taking that first step.

Appriecaite the advice you have given, although I won't be starting Muay Thai for about a week - ill start getting a core strength fitness program together in the next few days. This should get me onto the right track.

On another note I've checked out your blog there, some pretty cool stuff. Its already on my favourites list and I am considering doing the same thing - making a blog doccumenting my training reginme, makes you a little more accountable eh? (although I don't plan to go to thailand for a while)

 

[Akira]

Thanks for the comments on my blog. I was writing a diary, but I thought it might help other people who are thinking of coming to Thailand so I keep it online now instead. It's also going to help me when I open my own gym eventually, and reminds me how far along I've come and the difficulities I had to overcome. I think this is cruicial in keeping motivated. If you start your own blog please let us know, I'd like to read it.

There's a lot of advice I could give you, but it helps not to overcomplicate things when you start off. Don't think too much. It takes a long time to turn your body into an effective fighting unit. The thais have a saying...slowly slowly..

The most important thing you can do to start with is relax while you're learning your techniques. Learn technique first and the power will come later. If you try and knock someone's pad out of their hands from the start, you'll be way too tense all the time.

Just concentrate on a couple of small things at one time until you've got them down. You'll also find that a lot of people will give you different advice. Don't just assume everyone knows what they're talking about. A lot of the time there's no right or wrong way, but best for you to find out what works for you.

Oh and if you can catch a live tiger already, you're probably ready to fight.