Kickboxing Dvd Cardio Dvd Article

Does Your Muay Thai Kickboxing School Have All These Essential Elements?

Class structure

Almost all Muay Thai schools or Thai boxing gyms do things a little bit differently but there are always things that pretty much everyone does. Every class should have a warm-up involving some light stretching, and some cardio work to get the blood pumping. Some schools go for a 15 to 40 minute run. Most classes do some conditioning work at some stage and many do this next.

There is scientific evidence to suggest however that gross motor skills like calisthenics should be done after fine motor skills like pad work.

Conditioning usually involves some push ups, sit-ups, and EVERYONE does skipping. Skipping is probably one of the most important basic skills you can develop. It not only improves stamina but footwork also.

Some, but not all, Muay Thai kickboxing schools do what's called line work. It involves lining up in rows and being taken through basic Muay Thai technique to make sure everyone in the class is doing things correctly. Some trainers don't do this as they believe that a fighter should always be hitting something to develop good strong Muay Thai technique and power.

I believe line work is essential for beginners to refine their basic skills before hitting something and potentially hurting themselves. Shadow sparring can be a substitute for line work but you have to know what you're doing first before you can do this properly.

Bag work usually follows line work and shadow sparring and this is where you test whether you can do the technique properly. Sparring and hitting the pads hitting the pads held by a trainer comes last but only advanced students do this. In fact most of the Muay Thai camps in Thailand don't do much sparring at all.

If they do it's very controlled and never full contact. Basically they want their fighters to be fresh before fights and because they fight so often they are always recovering for the next one. In the West there are less opportunities for fights so students need to spar more often at full contact with full padding.

Clinch work or neck wrestling usually comes last and this is done very aggressively. I don't mean that partners are trying to hurt each other but they are trying to get the upper hand and get they opponent off balance or throw him to the ground. The two combatants don't throw any strikes (only light knees if anything) they just wrestle for control of the others head.

The Rounds System

When training on the bags, pads, skipping and with sparring, the time for doing each is divided up into rounds. Mostly 3 minute rounds with 1 minute of rest in between. Sometimes the rounds could be 2 minutes if everyone in the class is a beginner, or 4 to 5 minutes for more advanced students or fighters getting ready for the ring.

This type of training is sport specific in nature as the rounds of a fight are usually 3 minutes long. It also helps keep up the intensity of training and therefore the fitness benefits are increased, especially the fat burning.

Typical Muay Thai Kickboxing Class Routine

Depending on the camp or school, (and how long they have for a class) the following is an example of a typical class schedule for Muay Thai boxing.

1. Light stretching and warm up - 5 to 10 minutes

2. Cardio (running or skipping) - 15 to 40 minutes

3. Line work or shadow sparring - 2 to 4 rounds

4. Bag work (heavy bag, light bag, speed ball etc.) - 4 to 6 rounds

5. Pad Work (Thai pads, hand mitts, kick shields etc.) - 3 to 5 rounds

6. Clinching or sparring - 3 to 5 rounds

7. Conditioning (push ups, sit ups, squats etc) - 20 to 30 minutes

8. Cooldown and stretch

How To Find A Good Muay Thai Kickboxing School

If you just rock up to a kickboxing school and ask for lessons you may be faced with a strange reaction that may not seem all that friendly. These are actually the right Thai boxing gyms to go for which I will explain. If a school or gym has a good reputation for producing top fighters then other kickboxing schools will take notice and may send over spies.

This is actually a very common practice especially if a fighter from one school is about to fight someone from the school you are looking to train at. One guy turned up to training at my school asking to watch the class as he was looking to start Muay Thai training there. I was about to have a Thai boxing match in 2 weeks and this man watched me the whole time. The night of the weigh in who do you think was the trainer of my opponent? The very same guy. Click here to go to the website of the Muay Thai kickboxing school I go to.

So you can see that if you're looking to train at a good school the trainers might look at you a bit suspiciously.

But don't let this discourage you... it's actually a good sign of a good quality school.

Another factor is that a lot of people turn up to class saying they want to be a Muay Thai fighter but the first sign of hard work or a tough sparring session and they run for the hills. This wastes the trainers time and effort which could be better spent on someone with toughness and commitment.

This is a sign of someone who will train you properly at a sacrifice to himself because he's not out for your money. Another trainer might let things go and not enforce discipline because he wants the maximum amount of people through the door. These schools are no benefit to you and are an affront to true Muay Thai.

Go along to the school you are thinking about joining and watch a class without participating first. Then you get to see everything. Watch for the standard ingredients for Muay Thai lessons outline above and if some are missing then walk away.

Watch the fighters train; if they are sloppy, have poor discipline or are obviously not fit then walk away. Watch the Thai boxing trainers; if they don't participate in the class, don't enforce discipline or don't correct their fighter's mistakes then walk away.

If you follow the schools rules, the trainer's advice, and put in %100 effort, you will be accepted and treated warmly by everyone in no time. Muay Thai is said to be %95 conditioning so if you just put in the effort you'll see the results.