Page 378 - Muay Thai Training Exercises

Professional Thai boxers usually have two daily training
sessions six days a week, which requires adequate breaks
for regeneration. In setting up an individual training
program, you have to prepare your body for martial arts
competition and in all aspects of tness, especially in
terms of stamina, power, and speed. Generally speaking,
hard and soft training sessions should alternate every
other day. The intensity of training is reduced somewhat a
few days before the ght, and sparring sessions are left
out so as to avoid injuries. Athletes usually relax the day
before a fight.
In speci c Muay Thai training, the program is tailored
to the ght as soon as the opponent is known, and the
intensity of training is increased. The trainer determines
the ght tactics to be used and chooses appropriate
counter tactics and combinations. If the opponent has
excelled as a hard hitter in previous ghts, for example,
training will focus on high round kicks to the upper arm,
and the trainer will have his athlete concentrate on pad
training in repetitive kicks from various positions.
Repeated knee kicks and push kicks from the opposite side
are also suitable in a ght against this kind of opponent.
The athlete trains in the appropriate ght tactics over and
over until they are known by heart, which means that an
athlete’s sparring partner has to imitate the ght style of
the upcoming opponent.