South Florida Muay Thai Camp Article

The Typical Muay Thai Gym Has Heavy Bags Lining The Walls...But The Light Bag Is Needed For Proper Elbow Training

If your gym only has heavy bags to practice your muay thai technique then you're missing out on a good little piece of equipment used to develop your elbow strikes. A tough but small punching bag is better suited for elbow strikes because the focus should be on sharpness rather that power.

With muay thai elbows you should be trying to cut your opponents face or set him up for a knockout. More finesse is needed so a lighter bag fits the bill.

Also, elbows are pretty much only aimed at the head so striking a target that moves a lot like the head provides more realistic training. This goes for head punching as well.

If you mount the light bag a bit higher than a normal bag you can strike at it with more strikes from different angles. With a long bag you can't throw head high uppercut punches or elbows. But with a light bag you can.

You may have seen a version of the light bag which has been developed specially for this purpose called the tear drop bag. This is a bag in the shape of a tear drop where most of the weight is in the bottom. This gives the bag added strength and weight so that it can stand up to heavy uppercut attacks and elbows.

These bags are a lot more expensive though than a light punching bag hung up higher that usual. Just make sure you get one that is made of leather and pretty tough because your elbow strikes will start to split the bag like your opponents skin.

To start training with the light bag hang it higher than a normal punching bag so that the bottom of the bag is about level with the bottom of your neck. This means that when it swings it will only go about as high as the top of your head.

Start out with punches and see how it swings and how fast it moves. Practice setting up your elbows with punches because you will probably not throw elbows on their own. In muay thai you want to enter into elbow range with something in between you and your opponent...don't just rush in.

Having a swinging bag is great for learning elbows because muay thai fighters use them as counters more than straight attacks. As the bag moves towards you practice your elbow strikes without moving into the bag. This makes you focus on proper torque of the body rather than the power movement of stepping in.

This is how you learn the finesse of the muay thai elbow. Let your opponent come into you...look for openings in his guard...use sharpness of technique and a quick torquing action of your body to split through the opening and his skin.

If you watch the muay thai fighters form Thailand training elbows you rarely see the big power shots against heavy bags like you do in the west. You mainly see them training the thai pads or a light bag that's swinging into them. Try it out yourself, light bags a relatively cheap compared to other equipment.