Muay_thai_hand_mitts Article

If You've Only Used Thai Pads For Your Muay Thai Practice Then Try Hand Mitts For Your Elbow Training...You'll Feel The Difference

Some people may think that the thai pads are all that you need for muay thai pad drills and that the ordinary boxing hand mitts are not worth getting. But the hand mitts are better for working punch combinations and far more effective when doing muay thai elbow training.

Hand mitts are similar to a baseball mitt in that it's made of leather and you catch the incoming punch in the palm of your hand. They differ in that they are much more padded and the good ones have straps that attach the mitt to your wrist so that it doesn't fall off. You also wear two mitts, one for each hand.

If you do punch or elbow combinations on the thai pads your pad holder may have problems getting the pads in the right place in time for your strikes to hit them. The thai pads are a bit bulky and heavy so they can be a bit slow and only used for power shots.

The hand mitts are much lighter and can be maneuvered into place quite quickly so that good fast hand combo's can be practiced. Also when you do a muay thai elbow you want to really snap the technique and make it sharp. The elbows feel better against the hand mitts even when doing single techniques.

When starting your muay thai training with the hand mitts you want to remember a few basic things...

1 Keep the mitts close to your body - as a pad holder you want to make the experience as close to the real thing as possible.

I see many people (even experienced trainers) holding the pads way out to the sides. Probably because they are afraid of getting hit by a wayward strike or the pads themselves. This may happen from time to time but this is a contact sport we do so you have to expect a few bumps now and again.

You must, however, make the training realistic or there is no point doing it ...especially if the student is going into the ring. Hold the pads close to the body so that the fighter thinks he is hitting that target on his opponent.

If you have to move your head out of the way at the last minute then that's fine. As long as the fighter get used to attacking a person rather than a pad suspended out in space.

2 Move the pad to the target as they punch - the muay thai fighter has to get the feeling that they are making contact with a target on their opponents body.

If you hold your hand limp as the punch hits the pad then the feeling is that of pushing away rather than making solid contact. As a pad holder make sure you keep your pad close to the target being struck and then push slightly toward the strike with force as it approaches. This gives the effect that the pad has not moved in space and the strike has hit with impact.

The harder you push into the strike the more power the muay thai fighter develops. Don't go overboard though or you will meet the strike far away from the intended target and this negates the first principle above.

3 Move with the fighter - one of the main benefits of pad work is that it simulates the fighting experience.

I see some lazy trainers who don't move from one spot and wait for the fighter to come to them for each combination. This does not simulate a fight at all.

Sometimes you move into your opponent, sometimes away. Sometimes you circle around, sometimes you move backwards and forwards. If you as a pad holder don't do these things whilst making the fighter do combinations he will not know how to react in the ring.

4 Don't hold the pads up constantly - this is another thing I see constantly. People hold the pads up in front of them and expect the fighter to know when to throw the combo.

If you and your partner are not in sync as to when to expect a punch and when to rest...someone will get hurt. Either you will cop a punch in the face or your partner will not hit the pads flush and will hurt their wrists.

You are trying to teach the fighter to see targets on their opponents as they appear and to instantly react with a strike to that target. You cannot teach this by holding the pads up constantly and letting them hit them whenever they feel like it. This practice will breed a lazy fighter in no time.

5 The best way to hold the pads in between combos is to hold them at your chest and with the palms facing each other. You want the muay thai fighter to know that when the palms are exposed towards him he strikes and when he can't see the palms he waits.

When your ready to put the pads up, do it with a fast motion. Make the fighter react. Once the combo is completed lower them to your chest again. Move around a bit then suddenly put them up into position again. This gets the fighter reacting to the visual cue of seeing an open target.

6 Test the fighters defense - as I've been saying all along you have to make pad training simulate the fighting experience.

Every now and then use the pad like your trying to hit a certain target on your partner. Do this suddenly from the chest position as the opponent is waiting for a target to be presented.

Do this with one hand so that the fighter knows the difference between 2 pads up and 1. 2 pads up means they strike, 1 pad up means they defend.

Don't do it too often though or you'll get a muay thai fighter with a defensive mind set rather than an offensive mind set. Muay thai fighters want to be attackers by nature because we all no what the best defense is (a good offense if you didn't know).

Having good hands is a great asset to a muay thai fighter and one key ingredient to getting them is pad work on the hand mitts. Don't think that muay thai fighters from Thailand only train with thai pads because they don't. All the Thai camps use the hand mitts for training at some point in the workout. Also if your just starting muay thai and can't afford thai pads the hand mitts are a lot cheaper.