Basic rules that will help you to enjoy the training and survive safely.
+ Wait at least two hours after eating before taking up any intensive training.
+ Always do some form of warm up and sport specific stretching prior to training.
+ Wear good trainers for running and skipping. Your feet will toughen up soon enough training on the bags or with the trainers!
+ Wrap your hands, especially when training on the bags or with a trainer. There is no need to "toughen" your hands, as the only result is calcified joints and arthritic hands later in life. Wraps offer protection for the knuckles and support to the wrist.
+ Drink plenty of small amounts of water during training - less than half a cup between rounds will help replenish lost fluids and not inhibit training (this is especially relevant in the heat).
+ Be sensible about your goals; take your time, as they say in Thailand, " cha cha", slowly!
+ Breathing is also something many people forget, without good breathing technique you quickly lose strength and stamina.
+ Take at least one day a week off. Be aware of over training. Allow your body time to recuperate.
+ Stretch at the end of every workout.
+ Lastly and most importantly relax and enjoy what you are doing, you will learn better and stay longer at your chosen training routine.
Massage before training.
The drinking water point!
Day of the fight rubdown.
Philip wrapping his hands....
....and showing Yu how it's done.
One method of training used by Muay Thai boxers is to train in rounds. This means to do three, four, or five minutes of training, then take a break of thirty to sixty seconds before starting the next round. The ideal is to do four minutes of steady training followed by thirty seconds of speed, i.e. one technique as fast as possible to exhaustion, take a thirty second break (drink water) and then start the next round. If you want to go to the extreme then extend the rounds to seven or eight minutes and then take an active rest break, which means moving during the round break doing light shadow boxing.
At all times during boxing training, whether shadow boxing, working on the bag or training on the pads use your imagination, see the target, chin, nose, temple, stomach, thigh etc. Do not just punch or kick without envisioning what you are aiming for and why. This will help develop your reaction time to seeing an opening and reacting to it!
