# Starting Muay Thai



## R.Gourlay (Jan 10, 2010)

Hi im new too this, first post.
Im 18 yr old male starting muay thai, working 8:00 til 3:30 monday to wednesday and 9-5 thursday friday.
Going to be trainin monday tuesday thursday 7:00 til 8:45 and saturday 10-12.
can anyone help me out with anything i will need to know as im very determined to really get involved and hopefully get into tournaments etc,  and win
need help with dieting improving fitness, everything
thanks for any responses.


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## Akira (Jan 10, 2010)

Where are you training?

I would recommend concentrating on the basics for now.

*Make sure you're eating enough food, especially protein.* 
If you're training hard, you're going to need at least 2/2.5 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight. If you don't eat enough, you won't be training effectively. What you eat doesn't matter so much, unless you're overweight. You don't see overweight thai boxers for good reason. Drink as little alcohol as possible. If you're smoking cigarettes, stop right now. Increase your water intake when you're not training. Have a snack before training (fruit is ideal) and a meal afterwards.

*Make sure you are sleeping enough for your body to recover*. 
I used to sleep in between training sessions when I was training twice a day! Make sure it's a good, interrupted sleep ie switch your phone off. Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Don't stay up all night shagging your girlfriend. This is as important as taking in enough food. 

*Run as much as you can.*
Running helps you in several ways. It makes your heart stronger and ultimately helps you achieve a lower resting heart rate. It increases your lung capacity. It thickens the muscles in your legs. If you're not used to running then at least try and get a light schedule happening that you can stick to. Start off with 2kms, then when you're not gassing out increase it to 4kms, then 6kms, ideally you want to be putting in at least 10kms every time you're running.

*Relax*
A common mistake with beginners is to put 100% power into everything. This is a really bad idea. In muay thai there is a lot of muscle memory in every movement. If a hard kick is coming at your ribs you don't have time to think "ahh right, it's a right kick at my ribs that means I have to check with my left leg that means I have to turn my left leg out slightly and raise my knee up to the inside of my elbow and ensure there is no gap between my elbow and my knee etc" NO. Relax and become technically good with the techniques you're learning. After this the speed will come, and then the power. This is a natural progression and doesn't need to be forced. If you're not relaxed, you may be able to strike harder in the short term, but in the long term you won't improve.

*Use your head*
I don't mean use it to get knocked out. It's important that you understand what you're doing in your own mind. How to do any offensive or defensive technique properly and why you're doing it. When should you attack your opponent? If your opponent moves this way which way do you move? Whens the appropriate time to clinch? How do you work someone into a corner? What do you do once they're there? Your brain is the hardest muscle to train and the sooner you start training it the better

*Listen to your body*
Common mistake beginners make is they do a bit of muay thai and love it, then they think "awesome, I can train 5 days a week" and pretty soon they are at a high risk of injuring themself or somebody else. If your body is telling you something hurts, or telling you it's tired, then DON'T TRAIN. The first few weeks are the hardest for this but there are injuries you will sustain that will only get better with rest like like blisters on your feet, bruised shins, black eyes etc.. You're not a professional yet, so there is no need to train like one. Step up your training gradually in intensity and frequency and you're less likely to lose training time from injuries in the long term.

*Listen to your kru*
You might think you're good after a few weeks, but you are never as good as you think you are. I see a lot of questions about "which muay thai book or dvd will turn me into a supreme warrior from home" the answer is NONE OF THEM WILL! You can't see how your technique looks. You can't spot the basic mistakes you are making. Your kru can so listen to everything they are telling you. Be a sponge. If you don't understand something then ask them. If you still don't understand it then ask them to clarify. You're going to look far more silly from getting KO'd in a fight than by asking them to repeat something you don't understand.

*Basics basics basics*
At first muay thai looks easy. How hard is it to punch someone, there are 100s of fights in pubs and bars every weekend, right? Take time to look at how these people are fighting. Their guard is ****, their footwork is non existant, their breathing wouldn't last them 30 seconds in a ring fight. It's important that you nail these kind of things instead of trying to move onto flying elbows, superman punches or chorakee fad hang. Muay thai is incredibly technical, and if you don't get a good grasp of the basics, you'll never achieve your fighting goals.

*Finally, don't forget to have fun*
The Thais don't do anything unless it's fun, this includes thai boxing. Make friends with people in your class, keep records on your progress so you can see how far you've come, talk with other people who are into thai boxing online, watch fight dvds and go to local fight nights etc..
If you're not having fun with it you need to rethink the way you are training. Even sparring should be fun and if you're just getting your head smacked in every session it's not so much fun for you so talk with your kru about any training concerns you have.

Sorry if I've rambled a bit (a lot)! Anyway, good luck!


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## R.Gourlay (Jan 11, 2010)

Thanks thats perfect.
Im training Fighting Fit Gym. Kirkcaldy.
i love running, run mon tues wed mornings at 6 for 2 miles and do around 6 when i get in from work.


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## R.Gourlay (Jan 11, 2010)

Im eating healthily,
Dont smoke and only drink on special occasions,
Doing 30 push-ups and sit ups everynight adding more when feeling less challenging,
Have plenty time to learn, it wont come overnight.
any more advice you can give?


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## Akira (Jan 13, 2010)

Work hard and be good to your mother.

I dunno, have you done anything like this before?

Biggest problems I find with teaching people from scratch are

1) They won't relax

2) I have to tell them the same thing over and over and over and over and...

I'm not trying to belittle them, I know I had the same problems when I was learning. These are the two most common problems with beginners though.

I get the feeling you're after more practical information so I will give you the following gem of advice: 

_Keep your guard up and your chin down._

What, you were expecting something more?

Honestly, that is the best single piece of advice you will ever hear. 

Once you get used to all the running and conditioning exercises and getting the **** kicked out of you by the seniors in your class, you can start to add bodyweight circuit exercises. Burpees, sit ups, push ups, pull ups, dips. There are a few variations of each of these. The more you can do every day the better. You really need good core strength. You think you are doing enough sit ups already? Do another 200. You can never do enough. 

If running is too easy add in some sprint and hill training. As I said in another thread, I'd run 12-15 kms a day when I was preparing for a fight. Often this would be jog 2 kms, sprint 2kms, jog 2kms, sprint 2 kms (kick soi dog who always chases me on the way past) jog 2 kms kind of thing..

Don't start weight training just yet (if you haven't already).

I guess from a technical view you want to pay attention to the little things.. make sure you're not dropping your hands after you punch. You want to maintain a good guard 99% of the time. Movements should be quick and sharp, this includes your shadow boxing.

The kick is harder to learn than punches/elbows/knees. Again, the secret is to relax. Watch some fight dvds and slow motion them to watch how people are kicking. Recognize there are different ways of doing every technique. 

After you nail the basics you want to start getting used to countering. By this I mean if you check a kick, you should kick back straight after it. If you slip a punch, you should come straight back with a bodyshot or hook. But this is only after you've got your footwork sorted out. 

It's hard to give advice until you actually start training, because you shouldn't be thinking about anything other than the very basics for now.

Don't be in too much of a hurry to learn everything.

Incidently, do you know a Scottish giant who's around 7 feet tall with red hair names James? I'm not sure which gym he's training at over there.


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## alphacat (Jan 13, 2010)

Hey Akira.

You brought here awesome tips, thank you.

I'm 4 month into Muay Thai and I still dont always keep my chin down and have lots of work to do about my counters.

My biggest problem is that my ribs are _always_ open, and I get lots of body shots and middle kicks, I just don&#8217;t know how to keep both my head and ribs guarded, how do you do that?

How are you doing?
It's nice to read your blog posts again.

By the way, I learned a good move which I'd like to share here and get people's opinions on it.
Usually when you throw an high-kick, you first take a 45 degrees step forward with your supporting leg and then throw the kick.
But sometimes you're just too close to the opponent (or bag), so instead of taking that preceding step forward, you take it to the side, and then you're able to throw a kick to his head.
What do you think of it guys?


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## Tez3 (Jan 13, 2010)

R.Gourlay said:


> Thanks thats perfect.
> Im training Fighting Fit Gym. Kirkcaldy.
> i love running, run mon tues wed mornings at 6 for 2 miles and do around 6 when i get in from work.


 

Congrats on picking probably the best MT gym in the UK! Having said that the best people for you to learn from are your instructors, you have excellent ones so speak to them and go with what they say. Don't be shy about talking to them, they can't help you with anything unless you ask.


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## Akira (Jan 13, 2010)

Hey Alphacat, it's good to see you're enjoying your training and stuck with it. Put some photos up sometime.

Things are going ok for me, I'm in Australia at the moment training some people, looking at starting up a gym over here. Goddamn its expensive buying all the gear.

Anyhow, regarding your ribs getting struck there are a few things you can do to avoid this. Firstly, your guard should be protecting aproximately half your ribs anyway with the top of your fists rougly level with your temples. Some people have higher guards than this as you can imagine it leaves their body more exposed. Make sure your elbows are tucked in against your body and not pointed out. Your arms should be roughly straight up and down and not on any kind of angle (ie your elbows should point down not out).

As for your defensive techniques, if it's a straight punch to your sternum you should use your footwork to avoid it. Remember in earlier posts we've talked about circling around your opponent? 

If it's a body shot/hook/uppercut to your ribs and not your sternum turn your body in slightly and let the punch hit your elbow. 

If a kick is coming towards your ribs you can either obviously check it, or take a small step back with your rear foot, lean back and drop your front hand so your arm doesnt get caught by the kick. It's hard to explain the arm movement but it goes down in a circular motion (from 12 o clock to 6 o clock) as you lean back. You'll be out of range and the kick will go wizzing past. 

The other thing to remember about body shots is it does leave your opponents head open. If they're trying to land a hook or uppercut to your left ribs you should be coming at them with a left hook to their temple. 

If someone's landing a lot of body shots on me I'd keep pushing them back with teep kicks and using my footwork to stay out of the corners and stop them getting into striking distance. I'm guessing your range might need some work. When you're sparring muay thai, try to stay just out of striking range until you're ready to strike. You want to try and control your opponent, only get into striking range when you're ready. If they move in push them back with your teep. If they come in and start laying body shots on you, clinch them up and strike them with your knees. The elbows can also be used effectively in this senario, particularly the downward smashing elbow.

I hope that helps. You're not going to be able to stop getting hit altogether, but with good footwork and simple techniques you can avoid it a lot of the time. And once they miss their strike make sure you come straight back at them to make them think twice about doing it again.

Good point you raise about the kick, and certainly it can be done like that. I would prefer not to kick when I'm so close because there's a muay boran technique to counter this where your opponent ducks underneath your kick and steps in and and kicks out your supporting leg. It would certainly catch your opponent off guard though, I wouldn't be expecting someone so close to throw a kick at me.


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## joebrooks86 (Jan 13, 2010)

Tez3 said:


> Congrats on picking probably the best MT gym in the UK!
> 
> I Train at master skens, who is a grandmaster? based in manchester - - who is one of the best trainers in the world!!!!
> 
> Hows the training going now?


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## egg (Jan 14, 2010)

Keep your cup empty and always be open to learning.
The biggest problems I encountered when starting off wasn't building the habitual chin-down or guarding. Guarding is relatively easy once you get the hang of it; it's countering and being on the offensive that tends to be harder.

Of course I'm just referring to sparring.

1. Keep your eyes open.
2. Need to relax and keep your breathing steady.
3. Don't worry about power ! If your technique is right, power won't be far behind.

Everything else will follow instinctively once you've got all the techniques down


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## alphacat (Jan 15, 2010)

Akira said:


> Things are going ok for me, I'm in Australia at the moment training some people, looking at starting up a gym over here. Goddamn its expensive buying all the gear.


Good luck with that!
How are you gonna do that if you're planning on going back to Thailand?

I must say that I learned good things from the tips you gave your new student, like exhaling when punching.



Akira said:


> Anyhow, regarding your ribs getting struck there are a few things you can do to avoid this. Firstly, your guard should be protecting aproximately half your ribs anyway with the top of your fists rougly level with your temples. Some people have higher guards than this as you can imagine it leaves their body more exposed. Make sure your elbows are tucked in against your body and not pointed out. Your arms should be roughly straight up and down and not on any kind of angle (ie your elbows should point down not out).


Thanks! i'll work out on my fight stance.


I appreciate all your great advices!


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## Akira (Jan 15, 2010)

alphacat said:


> Good luck with that!
> How are you gonna do that if you're planning on going back to Thailand?


 
Thanks! I'll just be going back to Thailand to fight, I won't be staying for months at a time (at least not for a while).  Anyway I'm still trying to decide what to do with myself, it's good to have options but it's hard to know what the right thing to do is also.  For now I'm just giving people private training until I decide.



alphacat said:


> I must say that I learned good things from the tips you gave your new student, like exhaling when punching.


 
You should be exhaling on all your strikes, and more so when you do those round kicks. If you listen to the thais doing pad work they do something similar to a karate kia, they really push all their energy and breath out from their stomach.

You can see an example of what I'm talking about here 



 or here


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## Tez3 (Jan 16, 2010)

joebrooks86 said:


> Tez3 said:
> 
> 
> > Congrats on picking probably the best MT gym in the UK!
> ...


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## alphacat (Jan 16, 2010)

By the way guys,
Do you use shin guards when sparring?

I just bought a pair and cant wait to use them when sparring.
Up until now I couldn't really use much power when throwing low kicks since I didnt want to cause any damage to myself and to my partner.
Now I'm really excited about applying much power in my kicks.


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## Rob2109 (Jan 16, 2010)

It's fun to bang to get used to to blocking properly with the shin guards on. Apart from that though i never wear them so i can build up my shins. Partner up with someone who has the control to use light contact so you get used to shin on shin. It's far too easy to get used to always wearing them for sparring so alternate and make sure you do it both ways.


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## alphacat (Jan 17, 2010)

You're right, having shin guards strengthens your block since when neither of you is wearing them, you can't practice on blocking a powerful kick.

I haven&#8217;t been practicing with them on yet so I don&#8217;t know how much the collision is softened.
Anyways, practicing kicks on a heavy bag also conditions your shins.


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## Tez3 (Jan 17, 2010)

"Conditioniing" your shins = killing the nerves in them so they don't feel the pain when hit.


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## alphacat (Jan 17, 2010)

Tez3 said:


> "Conditioniing" your shins = killing the nerves in them so they don't feel the pain when hit.


 
Well, It doesnt sound that healthy for your shins to have no nerves at all.


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## Tez3 (Jan 17, 2010)

alphacat said:


> Well, It doesnt sound that healthy for your shins to have no nerves at all.


 

It's not in the least. Pain tells you when to stop! You hear stories of people hitting their shins with rolling pins etc to 'condition' them but all they are doing is damaging them. Shins if cut are very hard to stitch up and take ages to heal.


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## egg (Jan 17, 2010)

alphacat said:


> Well, It doesnt sound that healthy for your shins to have no nerves at all.




What Tez3 says is true. It's even a common myth that on the long run Muay Thai encourages arthritis.

However, think of it in this perspective: that only applies to professional fighters who make a living off ring matches. Training regularly and maintaining a healthy lifestyle never has adverse effects on the body. 

It's more important to train smart than hard.


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## alphacat (Jan 17, 2010)

Got it, thanks.

I guess that is what shin guards are for.


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