Muay Thai Workouts

For those who are bollywood film buffs, I am sure most of them might be knowing that one of the actors, Akshay Kumar is a Muay Thai practitioner. Muay Thai is a hard martial art, having its origins in Thailand. Infact it is the national sport of Thailand. Art of Eight Limbs as it is referred to, is so because a wide range of techniques using elbows, knees, punches and kicks are involved. All these Muay Thai techniques form the core Muay Thai workouts. All those Muay Thai enthusiasts, who are interested in knowing about these workouts, this one is dedicated to you!

Workouts for Muay Thai
Basically, this martial art has a close semblance with Indochinese kick boxing styles. The techniques of Muay Thai are of 2 types. The Luk mai and the Mae mai, meaning minor techniques and major techniques respectively. So, Muay Thai workouts comprise both these aspects, which help the practitioner develop a fit body, great attacking and defense tactics. Workouts typically consist of activities essential in combat sports conditioning, for instance, shadow boxing, running, rope jumping, body weight resistance exercises and so on. In short, it has four parts - warm-up, resistance training, base workout and a cool down. Thai pad training is one of the cornerstones of Muay Thai workouts. The other things are focus mitts, sparring and heavy bag. However, all said and done, warm up before workout for Muay Thai is mandatory like any other simple workout routine.

Muay Thai Workout Routine
Routine #1
Swimming is one of the common activities, include swimming preferably in the early afternoon period of the day. Swimming allows anyone practicing Muay Thai, related functional movements like knees and shadowboxing against the resistance of water.

Routine# 2
Shadow Boxing is another of the inevitable part of the Muay Thai workouts. Shadow boxing using only punches for a minute or so at low intensity, coupled with 3 minutes of high intensity, is great for starters. Kicking in the air too is expected in addition to this. Some of the punches you can do are left straight-right straight, left-right and left hook, left-right-left hook and right upper cut. Try out different permutations and combination of various punches and kicks. Now comes the focus mitts. Practice your punches on the focus mitts for 3 minutes. After a couple of such rounds, take a minute break. Best bet here is to have a partner. If that is not possible, visualize different spots you wish to target in the air. Read more on kick boxing workout routine.

Routine# 3
Most preferably for late afternoon, this routine includes around 3 to 5 skipping rounds, same number of rounds on the heavy bag, around 10 minutes of Muay Thai stretches and 5 rounds of pad work. Finally, end with push kicks on the heavy bag and a few rounds of sparring.

Muay Thai Exercises
Exercises included in Muay Thai workouts are not very different form what are done in the other normal exercise routines. These are basically cardio conditioning. Lots of squats, pushups, jumping squats, hill climbers and so on. For seasoned practitioners, calisthenics are also incorporated in the workout. The cooling down exercises bring the session to an end. Read more on kick boxing techniques.

In addition to that, you can have strength building and weight lifting sessions in your Muay Thai workouts. Normally, beginners can commence with smaller bursts of resistance training and easier base workout.

Even if you are not looking at boxing as a profession or as a passion, Muay Thai workouts can augur extremely well for fitness and getting in an envious shape!

This is where I sign off! Take Care!