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Muaythai Tips
The Scientific Training
for Muay Thai
The art of Muay Thai is steeped in tradition,
with its cultural heritage dating back well
over two thousand years. The traditions
are passed down in a discipleship system,
with teachers (kru) selecting worthy students.
Unfortunately, this amazing wealth of knowledge
isn’t easily available to most Muay Thai
enthusiasts. And so, besides trips to Thailand
to update ourselves, what else can farangs
do to improve our skills?
Well, let’s look towards
sports science to see if it offers anything…
A quick biomechanical analysis of Muay Thai
allows us to break the complex movement
patterns down to specific fitness components
that can be readily addressed in training
regimes.
Muay Thai Fitness Components:
1. Speed Fitness
Developing fast upper and lower limb movements
is of primary importance in catching your
opponent unaware, as well as in blocking
oncoming onslaughts. Quick acceleration
allows rapid limb movements. Agility, on
the other hand, is the ability to change
direction by accelerating and decelerating.
This nimbleness is determined by being both
alert, and quick on your feet.
Besides being speedy, the
trajectories of your movements determine
efficiency and ultimately outcomes of each
strike, block or combination. The main idea
for each move is to perform it using the
shortest path required. Let’s use a straight
jab to the head as an example. The idea
behind this punch is to strike your opponent
with your fist moving in a linear motion
(from guard position, mainly horizontally
to opponent’s head, and retracing movement
back to guard position). The trajectories
for most people will not change dramatically
with this punch, except in accommodating
height differences (see picture 1). In a
circular punch, like a left hook to the
head, the most efficient trajectory varies
according to individual proportions (i.e.
the lengths of your upper and lower arms),
angular variations and the height difference
between you and your opponent.
And so, how does one make
movements efficient? Practise, practise,
practise… Our neuromuscular systems are
primed to remember movement patterns, and
after repeating the motions in countless
training drills, your muscles and nerves
synchronise to produce habitual finely-tuned
movements that are easily adaptable to different
situations.
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Picture 1: Trajectory differences are an important
factor to consider when picking an opponent.
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Reaction
time is something that most of us would have
actively focussed on as a vital component
of Muay Thai. So much so, that one would naturally
think practicing a variety of reactive blocks,
counters and combinations would allow a fighter
to develop an extensive repertoire, thus reducing
the likelihood of having his/her head "caved-in",
to put it technically. However, research has
shown that this is not the case. In fact,
the more responses or counters you have to
a strike (like a punch or kick), the longer
it takes react. Hick’s Law (1952) states that
for every response choice added, the reaction
time doubles. In a defensive situation, the
longer you take to respond, the more likely
you will be injured or defeated. And so, having
a limited number of well-practised, quickly
executed counters and blocks that suit your
style, experience and body type is definitely
more beneficial in the ring.
2. Strength and Power Fitness
Strength is the major driving force of all
your weapons in Muay Thai. Higher force production
in your muscles results in higher impact forces.
Further, strong core muscle stabilisation
allows efficient force transmission through
the torso to the limbs.
We know from physics that:
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Power |
= force x distance / time |
| = mass x acceleration x distance / time |
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So,
in order to increase power output, we can
address some of its contributing factors.
Let’s start with distance. By doing specific
stretching exercises, we can increase the
distance component in the equation. For example,
flexible hip muscles allows for greater distance
covered through each kick to impact. Another
way to increase distance covered is by using
whole body movements. Reaching, or using your
torso in the movement to maximize the distance
to impact achieves this. Taking a right hand
to the head in an orthodox stance as an example,
what we want to do is use rotation of the
hind foot, pivoting of the back hip forward,
and sliding of the shoulder blades forward,
off the torso to extend the distance travelled
by your fist from guard position to impact
(see picture 2).
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Picture
2: Get more reach by lifting the heel, pivoting
the hip forwards and driving the whole shoulder
girdle towards the target. |
We
can directly increase power by training to
improve force output by sports specific resistance
training. This type of advanced gym training
involves mimicking the key moves your weapons
perform in executing a strike against your
opponent. This complex method of resistance
training is only recommended for the conditioned
gym-savvy amongst us or with the assistance
of a strength and conditioning coach. A simple
example of this is doing descending pyramid
(increases in weight lifted, with corresponding
decreases in repetitions) sets of chest presses.
The movement pattern in your upper limbs is
similar to the action required in straight
punching. The closer you can adapt your resistance
training to the movements of Muay Thai, the
more cross-over training effect you will benefit
from.
Besides developing strength
in your prime movers (limbs), an equally important
area to train is rotational strength. Core
training has become the buzz word in fitness
the last few years. Why bother? Well, simply
because having strong stabilising muscles
enables you to transfer more force through
your weapons. Let’s have a look at the example
of throwing a right hand to the head in an
orthodox stance (picture 2) again. If our
torsos are weak, all the force from the brilliantly
coordinated lower limb pivots and pelvic rotations
would be dispersed through the torso, producing
unwanted torso movements and associated loss
of force production at impact (see picture
3). Strong core muscles help increase the
force at impact by channelling the forces
through the body with minimal wastage. Core
muscle training involves low load, prolonged
stress (endurance) exercises performed in
a slow, controlled manner. Muay Thai-specific
exercises involve torso rotations, rotator
cuff strengthening exercises and endurance
work for the corset-forming oblique abdominal
muscles. |
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Picture
3: Training core muscles allows efficient
and powerful strikes with a stable base. Weak
core muscles in the second photograph causes
dispersion of forces in different directions |
3.
Metabolic Fitness
Anaerobic power or muscular endurance is the
maintenance of power with intermittent varied
effort and recovery time (series of movements
and diminishing returns). Aerobic capacity
or cardiovascular endurance is the resistance
of fatigue for greater than approximately
20 minutes. Muay Thai fighters know that they
are dependent on both these types of fitness
to be competitive in the ring.
We use three different types
of energy systems to produce movements: the
anaerobic direct phosphogen system with creatine
phosphate, the anaerobic glycolytic system
which produces lactic acid (both fast twitch),
and the slower twitch aerobic respiration
(see figure 1). Besides being more than a
mouthful, an understanding of these systems
allows us to develop a conditioning programme
that mimics the demands on the Muay Thai fighter’s
body in the ring. In an ideal situation, the
Muay Thai fighter should be primed to last
the distance of a fight without sacrificing
high-speed movements, high force production
and power.
This translates directly
to Muay Thai training, for the harder and
faster you work (generally), the more anaerobic
the activity becomes. So, high intensity interval
training, like sprint training is useful in
developing anaerobic fitness. We should be
cautious about the amount of aerobic (cardiovascular)
training in the lead up to a fight, as this
develops the slow twitch muscle fibres, which
is counterproductive in the development of
speed.
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Figure 1: Differences in Fast twitch and slow
twitch muscle fibres. |
4.
Skill
Besides specific training methods to improve
the abovementioned fitness components, we
can also develop the consistency and repeatability
of movements. To progress in skill, a fighter
needs to work on proprioception or joint position
sense. Dynamic and static balance work and
focussed practice of combinations will also
train your neuromuscular system. These, along
with coordination exercises and reaction time
practice especially at the end of each training
session (when you’re reasonably tired) force
the body to attend to these complex tasks
in a situation that imitates fight conditions.
Now that we’ve covered specific
fitness components, other means to improve
oneself are: proper nutrition, periodized
to suit training and planning a good strategy.
Outwitting your opponent and picking strategic
targets are an essential part of dominating
a fight. Also, good communication with your
corner man is a much neglected ability.
And so, I’m sure you’ll agree
that there’s quite a bit of scientifically
sound Muay Thai training that can be done
to improve oneself. Incorporating these training
guidelines in your routine will certainly
take you a considerable distance on the road
to becoming a champion. Written by: Julie
Ann Netto BSc (OT); MSc (Human Movement –
Biomechanics) |
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