Muay Thai is a superb martial art and great for self-defense, but is it worth learning?

Muay Thai will teach you excellent self-defense skills and as it’s a skill you will constantly want to get better and improve. Also, it teaches discipline, respect reduces stress, builds muscle, and will improve every other quality of your life. It is definitely worth learning.

I honestly think training Muay Thai has changed my life forever for the better.

I really hope you start learning Thai boxing, and in this article, I will explain why it’s such a great thing to learn.

8 Reasons Why Muay Thai Is Worth Learning

Muay Thai Builds A Healthy Lean Physique

Muay Thai isn’t just for self-defense, if you are looking to lose some weight or put on some muscle then Muay Thai is the perfect fit.

It is a great full-body workout as it involves both the aerobic(with air) and anaerobic(without air) and involves most of your muscle groups! If you want to know the 11 other ways Muay Thai gets you in shape, please check my post here.

Muay Thai also burns around a fat-melting 1000 calories a class! Unlike doing traditional boring cardio workouts like running on a treadmill, you can melt the fat whilst working on your flexibility, core, and overall strength. What’s not to like?

Muay Thai Builds Self Discipline

You might say but Dillon I have no discipline! Muay Thai will teach you the importance of self-discipline for your Muay Thai and life in general.

To commit to your goals and training schedule you need to make sacrifices to progress as a martial artist, it really puts into perspective what is important in life.

As your learning a skill and will improve more quickly you more you put into Muay Thai, you will see the true value of hard work first hand as you improve.

There is no shortcut to success in Muay Thai or in life and Thai boxing will show you the importance of self-discipline is for success in general.

Muay Thai Improves You Mentally

Muay Thai will constantly push you physically it also will strengthen your mental fortitude, so you will be mentally powerful enough to overcome all obstacles in your life, whether in or outside the gym.

In your Muay Thai training, you will become comfortable with being uncomfortable and this will forge a deep warrior spirit inside of you, giving you the perseverance to push through obstacles that you couldn’t have done before you started training Muay Thai.

You will see for yourself how much of a stronger man or woman you can become after training, believe me.

Muay Thai Is One Of The Most Effective Martial Arts

Whilst you could train Karate or Taekwondo, in reality, Muay Thai is known as the most effective striking in the art, as it is effective in all ranges of stand up fighting,

You can use your knees, hands, elbows, and shins all of your body’s tools whether you are up close or in the kicking distance.

As Muay Thai comes from a combat system designed to be used by soldiers when they lost their weapons on the battlefield(read more here) it is proven to be competent in real-life situations for hundreds of years.

Know that when learning Muay Thai you will have all the necessary self-defense skills to protect you or people you care about in every situation.

Muay Thai Teaches You To Stay Calm

In life, if you haven’t been tested when things don’t go the way you want them to, you can end up becoming stressed or lash out.

In Muay Thai you will regularly find yourself in testing situations especially in sparring or in a fight situation so it teaches you to stay relaxed in testing situations.

Muay Thai will bless you with beautiful endorphins rushes and improves your mood after a challenging day. I know that when I feel down or a little depressed a tough Muay Thai workout always makes me feel better.

Muay Thai will push you past your limits and help you remain cool in difficult situations life throws at us, Sparring especially will help you stay cool in life as if you lose your cool in sparring or in a Muay Thai fight you pay for it, just like in life. It’s always better to remain cool and in control.

Muay Thai Makes You More Confident

Have you ever felt that you needed more confidence? Honestly, this is the reason I started Muay Thai, I wanted to feel in control and good at self-defense.

Confidence comes naturally to you when you train Muay Thai, as you are embracing the unknown, seeing new people in a new environment(the gym) so you learn to embrace what you couldn’t before.

The more confidence you gain as you improve and master Muay Thai techniques, you will feel more in control in your day to day life with challenges that used to be too difficult to take on are now are easy with your new Muay Thai trained self.

Now don’t confuse this confidence, with becoming overconfident. Training martial arts, in general, gives you real genuine quiet confidence as you feel capable, but also you have respect for everyone you meet as you know you first hand can’t judge someones fighting ability on what they look like!

Muay Thai Improves Your Social Circle

No matter how good your current social circle is, I can guarantee meeting like-minded women & men at a Muay Thai gym who all possess the unique goal of improving themselves both mentally and physically with Muay Thai is a great opportunity.

You will bond a lot with a lot of people at your Muay Thai class and usually pair up with them, but nothing will motivate you more to train that being surrounded by equally strong people who are trying to improve themselves doing a difficult thing; learning Muay Thai.

The gym in general is a great place to meet people compared to meeting randoms from a bar or night club, as you genuinely get to know each other as you see each other so often.

Some gym friendships could become relationships or friendships that will last a lifetime.

I’ve met a lot of good friends in my Muay Thai gym and even went into business with one of them! Now I cannot promise you will find the love of your life or a business partner, but I’m sure you will find great people that will enhance your life.

Muay Thai Is A Super Fun Workout!

Do you find working out in a traditional gym setting, lifting weights and running on the treadmill super boring? Try to train martial arts.

What makes learning martial arts such an excellent workout is how enjoyable they are both to do and learn, you forget that you’re exercising! As your learning a new skill in a very social setting you concentrating on what you’re doing instead of that your exercising.

I think Muay Thai is a superb option for people who don’t like exercising to exercise, as kicking a heavy bag as hard as you can is just plain fun! Would you rather go on a 5K run or hit the heavy bag for 20 minutes? I know which one I would choose.

How Hard Is It To Learn Muay Thai?

It takes around 6 months to learn all the basic Muay Thai techniques,  and to have a good level of Muay Thai fitness, it taking about 2 years to become “good” Muay Thai with around 7-10 years before you become an expert.

Now Boxing will be a lot quicker to learn, see which one you should learn first in my post here. But I still recommend learning Muay Thai as it is a complete combat sports system and 6 months is enough to be confident in your own self-defense abilities.

If you want to know more about how why Muay Thai is so hard to learn and how long it takes to become an expert in it, then please check out my post here.

Interested in Muay Thai? Check Out My Recommendations

Looking For Gear To Use When You Train?
If you are interested in training Muay Thai, here is some of the gear I recommend: Best Mouth Guard Best Gloves Best Shorts Best Shin Guards
Want To Learn To Fight, But Don’t Want To Go In Person?
CoachTube has online training videos for Boxing, Karate, MMA and more. And best part is you can do it all from your home allowing you to go at your own pace. Check them out here.
Interested In Training Other MMA Fighters?
Click here to check out the MMA Conditioning Association and see what you need to become an MMA conditioning coach and begin training fighters.

Muay Thai fighters while very strong are also quite skinny, why exactly is that? I had my theories but I researched the internet trying to understand exactly why Muay Thai fighters don’t have much muscle mass.

Muay Thai fighters don’t have much muscle as they train to maximize speed and power. They aim to improve their muscle, endurance and strength for a fight, not to increase muscle mass like a bodybuilder. Thai fighters are lean with minimal body fat, as they train for performance not for muscle gain.

Just because you don’t have a lot of muscle mass does not mean you are not strong. Thai fighters are VERY strong for their size. Thai fighters also don’t have access to the same gym equipment that we do in the west.

I will discuss all the reasons why Thai fighters are skinny.

The Reasons Muay Thai Fighters Are Skinny

The answer to this question comes under different categories so I will explain each of these in turn.

Training For Performance Is Different Than Training For Size

A Thai fighter wants to maximize speed, power and endurance to best help them in a fight. Read this article here by Don Heatrick (Muay Thai Strength & Conditioning expert) for more information.

The more needless muscle a Thai fighter carries the more they will weigh, which in theory will make them slower in a fight. While a bodybuilder’s whole purpose is to get as big as possible even if this extra muscle is purely for looks and not functional at all.

Thai fighters also have to keep in their weight divisions (check my post here on how Thai fights work) so they have less incentive to put on muscle. If they gain too much weight they might be too heavy for their division increasing the amount of weight they need to cut, which can be very dangerous for the body.

Now, Thai fighters still lift weights, as you can see in my post here, but they will stay in the 1-5 rep range and aim to increase strength without increasing weight using multi-joint compound movements.

This is done via strengthening your central nervous system which will make your body more efficient at transferring energy to your muscles. This can be achieved without weight or muscle gain.

It is a big misconception that the bigger muscles you have, the stronger you are or the harder you can punch. Bodybuilders will train strictly for muscle gain which is called muscle Hypertrophy While fighters and athletes will mainly train for muscle strength as they don’t necessarily care about size.

Bodybuilders may have more in common with beauty pageant contestants than with athletes (no offense), as they don’t necessarily have to train functionally using big multi-joint compound movements like Thai fighters.

Instead, they can focus on single-joint isolation exercises like a bicep curl and focus on building their muscles as big as possible. Their sport is purely what their muscles look like, not what the muscles can do.

Thai Fighters Don’t Have Access To Weights

If you’ve been to Thailand you will notice the majority of Thais training will look like this

Thai Fighters Daily Training Schedule

• Group run – 2-4 miles
• Skip Rope – 3 rounds
• Shadow Box – 2 rounds
• Pad Work or Sparring – 3-5 rounds
• Heavy Bag Work – 3-5 rounds
• Clinch 3-5 rounds
• Stretch
• Relax/Meditate during off time

This training is very taxing for the body and Thai fighters typically train twice a day with a mid-day nap in between the training sessions. Often Thais are too tired to weight train. They are simply exhausted after all the work they’ve done.

Even after a workout that will seem tame to Thais, I find I am exhausted and all my energy is gone. This hard attitude towards training will also make your weight training far less effective, as you cannot lift as much weight when you are tired.

Since Thai focus more on technique and conditioning, they don’t put a priority on weight training. Thai training is quite traditional and somewhat backward and has not caught up to recent developments in strength and conditioning in the west.

Also, in Thailand Muay Thai gyms will not have the same equipment as gyms in the west. My gym in London for example has a weight area, and most gyms in the west do also.

In Thailand it is far less common, and only the bigger branded gyms like Yokkao or Fairtex will have the funds for a weight room.

This is changing however, see Don Heatricks post here. Ultimately, as most weight lifting equipment is manufactured in the United States, it is super expensive to export to Thailand as it’s on the other side of the world and Thailand is not a rich country to begin with.

Most Thai gyms will not only be not interested in the benefits of weight training for Muay Thai, but also will not have the funds to justify purchasing expensive weight training equipment.

They would much rather spend money on Muay Thai equipment made in Thailand such as heavy bags and Thai Pads, as it is just of better money value for their gyms.

Thai Fighters Training Is Bad For Putting On Muscle

In my post here I wrote about the 12 ways Muay Thai gets you into shape. One of the reasons is that Muay Thai burns up to 1000 calories a class! A typical training day in Thailand (posted above) will burn WAY more than that, typically at least 2000 calories a day.

Thai fighters in Thailand will run two 5K/3.1 miles runs every day, and if you train at a Thai gym you are expected to do the same!

The running alone will burn roughly 740 calories, and that’s not including the numerous other workouts like hitting the heavy bag and sparring!

Now you see if you train like a Thai fighter, putting on weight, and therefore muscle, is very difficult which is why Thai fighters are very strong but also quite skinny.

Ideally, you want to be eating around 100-200 calories past your maintenance calories to put on muscle. Check out my post on how to lose/gain weight with Muay Thai here.

Average Height Of Men And Women In Thailand

Average Thai Men Height	Average Thai Women Height
170.3 cm (5 ft 7 in)	159 cm (5 ft 2 1⁄2 in)

Since Thais are quite small people, without very carefully counting their calories to make sure they are eating a surplus of calories, it would be super difficult for them to put on weight and gain muscle.

The average fighter would have to eat around 3800 calories a day to gain weight because of the intense training. It is very difficult to eat that amount of solid food.

Also, protein powder is a lot less accessible in Thailand so Thai will have a harder time eating the optimal protein amount to gain muscle.

Thai fighters typically will eat the same unprocessed food as a normal Thai person, like rice with some form of protein such as beef, fish, or chicken.

I can tell you from experience as a skinny guy it is VERY difficult to gain weight if you’re mostly eating these rich whole foods.

In the west, we have access to things like peanut butter and whey which makes hitting our protein & calorie requirements much easier.

Does Muay Thai Make You Skinny?

Muay Thai can make you skinny as it may burn up to 1000 calories an hour. However, the only way to lose weight is to eat fewer calories than you consume. You will not lose muscle mass doing Muay Thai if you’re still eating the same amount of calories and doing your strength and conditioning.

I’ve mentioned my practical guide to losing weight with Muay Thai which you can access here, but Muay Thai will make you skinny depending on your goals.

Do you want to lose weight? Then Muay Thai is the perfect supplement to a calorie-restricted diet which is a proven method to lose weight.

When you burn 1000 calories a class losing weight is a much easier process as you can eat more food while still dropping the pounds and not feeling like you’re starving!

However, you can maintain or even put on muscle just by doing Muay Thai! At the beginning of our training days, we will skip for 10 minutes and do bodyweight training throughout our warmup.

This will build muscle if your body is not accustomed to being put under stress.

Muay Thai is also a fantastic workout for the lower body. If you want to see how to maintain and even gain muscle with Muay Thai check out my post here.

Interested in Muay Thai? Check Out My Recommendations

Looking For Gear To Use When You Train?
If you are interested in training Muay Thai, here is some of the gear I recommend: Best Mouth Guard Best Gloves Best Shorts Best Shin Guards
Want To Learn To Fight, But Don’t Want To Go In Person?
CoachTube has online training videos for Boxing, Karate, MMA and more. And best part is you can do it all from your home allowing you to go at your own pace. Check them out here.
Interested In Training Other MMA Fighters?
Click here to check out the MMA Conditioning Association and see what you need to become an MMA conditioning coach and begin training fighters.

Muay Thai is a fantastic martial art and takes many years to master but can it be self-taught? I decided to find out.

You can teach yourself the basics of Muay Thai, but combat sports need to be practiced with another person. If you don’t have someone to correct your form you can pick up bad habits that are difficult to correct. Training with an instructor is by far the most efficient training that you can do.

Now, this doesn’t mean you cannot practice Muay Thai at home.

However, Muay Thai is a very difficult sport that takes years and years to master. Understanding this is key to knowing how it cannot truly be self-taught.

Why Muay Thai Cannot Be Self Taught

While you can watch training videos on YouTube and read numerous Muay Thai books, this will never take the place of training at a gym with a qualified Muay Thai instructor.

I know when I was a beginner I made constant mistakes in the gym and even 6 months later I was still making some of the same mistakes.

This would be even worse training by yourself as you have no one correcting your form and noticing where you are making mistakes.

To think I still made these mistakes even as my instructor corrected me! So imagine how bad these habits would have become if I didn’t have an instructor?

The beginning of your training is key to your development. If you get into the bad habit of lowering your hands as you punch, this will be very difficult to coach out of you; in a gym, since you will be sparring relatively quickly you will know you need to defend because you will get that immediate feedback of getting punched in the face!

You might think as you’re watching Muay Thai videos you are doing the techniques exactly as they are instructed. But it takes the very keen eye of an instructor or someone who knows what they are doing to notice these mistakes as they happen and prevent bad habits from being formed.

If you cannot afford a Muay Thai membership or have no gyms in your area, then filming yourself training becomes essential to teaching yourself Muay Thai.

I highly recommend buying a tripod such as this one from Amazon so you can film yourself training.

The biggest issue with training solo is you have no feedback on your techniques. How can you learn to punch if you cannot punch anyone who hits back?

At least recording yourself gives you immediate feedback on your techniques, what you’re doing right, and what needs improvement.

Although fighting is not essential to learn Muay Thai, (see my post here), you can still learn the basics of self-defense, like exploiting distance and learning defense, but this is only because you have been taught by an instructor. 

If you are self-taught you will not truly understand these concepts and your progress will be slower, if you make any at all.

Watching Muay Thai videos and reading books are fine as a SUPPLEMENT to training but nothing can replace getting taught by a qualified Muay Thai teacher.

Not to mention all the relationships and camaraderie you will find in a Muay Thai gym, there is no replacement for this!

Can You Learn Muay Thai By Yourself?

We’ve mentioned the problems with learning Muay Thai by yourself but in the age of the internet, it is the best time to self teach yourself a martial art. The above 30-minute Muay Thai fundamentals class is a fantastic resource for a beginner Muay Thai practitioner and I recommend you watch it many times to begin your training.

However, the number 1 thing I wished I did when I started training Muay Thai is work on proper hip rotation, I estimate I would have progressed at least twice as fast if I worked on this from the beginning.

When you kick all your power comes from the hips. Most people when they start training will kick straight up like a soccer kick. This will be even more common if you train yourself. This is a big no-no for if you’re kicking a person all you will hit is the persons elbows on your foot so you will hurt yourself more than your opponent.

Think of a baseball bat, if someone broke into your house and you’re trying to defend yourself and your family, would you swing the bat straight up or more up and THEN left or right using your hips to get the most powerful kick possible? It’s the same with most kicks in Thai boxing.

This is the kick checklist when kicking

• With the lead leg, your heel must go past your toes (foot has turned 180 degrees to where you’re kicking)
• As you kick have your force go upwards not down
• Bring your shoulder forward and whip your arm as you kick (same arm as kicking leg)

You can practice proper hip rotation in the drill by Sylvie (video above) a Muay Thai fighter with 200+ professional fights. Remember you should feel your side butt cheek flex with the hip that is rotating, which means you are fully rotating your hip.

There are people at my gym including me who were training for months and months without proper hip rotation on their kicks.

It is a crucial Muay Thai movement pattern, and if you develop it early in-home training you will have a better roundhouse than a LOT of people training in Muay Thai gyms.

I would recommend doing these at least 100 times per day on both legs to open up your hips. It is common in Thailand for a trainer to tell a westerner to do 300 reps per leg if their hips are especially tight.

1. Place your foot on a platform like a sofa and be on your toes on the other foot like your kicking
2. Turn the foot on the platform to the shin to mimic the kick while using your arms
3. Repeat for 25 reps and change legs for a total of 100 reps each leg

As for other ways to improve at home? I recommend viewing my complete guide on how to learn Muay Thai at home here with TONS of different helpful training resources and videos with sample training routines to help get you on your way.

Although when training at home if you don’t have a friend or family member to hold Thai pads for you, a heavy bag is a must for training by yourself.

A heavy bag will be your number one partner and you won’t have to rely on family members or a spouse to hold Thai pads for you. Your bag will never be late and will always be there to train!

I can guarantee if you ask any fighter they will say it is one of the best pieces of equipment you can buy.

Especially if your only training is at home, getting a heavy bag is even more important. You will have something solid and real feedback for your strikes while improving your footwork at the same time.

Every stand-up fighter has put 100s of hours into a heavy bag, and I highly recommend the Fairtex heavy bag (which you can see here on Amazon) heavy bag for your home.

If you don’t have the budget to buy your bag, you can make one out of heavy carpet or material lying around your house. Check out the video below for some inspiration!

How To Make A Heavy Bag For Muay Thai

How Long Does It Take To Learn Muay Thai?

To become competent at self-defense it will take around 6 months of Muay Thai training, but to become a master at Muay Thai it takes about 15 years of hard consistent practice.

If you train at home it will take a lot longer to learn Muay Thai since it is very complicated. Check out my post here on why it is so difficult to master.

I will outline the average progression from beginner to expert in Muay Thai.

To Learn The Muay Thai Basics 6 Months

Learning all the fundamentals like the basic Muay Thai techniques, fight strategy, proper distance and spacing, and achieve a good level of Muay Thai fitness will take around 6 months.

However, this is assuming you are training at a gym and have people to correct you. I estimate training solo will roughly double this training period so it will take you a year to learn the fundamentals.

Competent 3 Years (With 5-6 Fights)

As Muay Thai is a combat sport you need to regularly train for roughly 3 years and have some fight experience to say your competent. As your Muay Thai IQ has improved you can fight more tactically and utilize what you know for your fights.

To say you’re an expert in anything even with fixing bicycles you should study or train for roughly 7 years. During this time you should have 5-6 fights and if you were Thai you would have 100s of fights by this time as they fight so young.

Expert Around 7-10 Years (with around 15 fights)

To become an expert in any skill that requires knowledge and physical ability like playing the guitar, becoming an engineer, or being a Muay Thai fighter you need around 7-10 years of consistent practice.

You should have had 15 fights by this period and it makes sense to have trained other fighting arts like Brazilian jiu-jitsu.

Do you see the problem with training solo? While you can achieve a high standard of technical ability if you train solo, you need to train and spar with other people and fight to test your skills.

This simply cannot be done training solo, aside from a realistic robot sparring partner that hasn’t been invented yet.

The 7-10 years’ time to become an expert in any field was popularized by Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers and known as the 10,000-hour rule. It applies to Muay Thai as well as other martial arts like BJJ and pretty much every field.

You can check out the book on Amazon here.

Interested in Muay Thai? Check Out My Recommendations

Looking For Gear To Use When You Train?
If you are interested in training Muay Thai, here is some of the gear I recommend: Best Mouth Guard Best Gloves Best Shorts Best Shin Guards
Want To Learn To Fight, But Don’t Want To Go In Person?
CoachTube has online training videos for Boxing, Karate, MMA and more. And best part is you can do it all from your home allowing you to go at your own pace. Check them out here.
Interested In Training Other MMA Fighters?
Click here to check out the MMA Conditioning Association and see what you need to become an MMA conditioning coach and begin training fighters.

Not sure what to wear to Muay Thai class? In this article, I will explain everything you need to wear to a Muay Thai class, the gear that you simply need, and the gear that is not mandatory but still nice to have.

Everything will be split up into categories to make it easier for you, and if you need different equipment if you are a guy or girl. But this is what everyone needs to wear to a Muay Thai class.

• Boxing Gloves
• Shinguards
• Hand wraps
• Muay Thai shorts
• Mouthguard

What To Wear In Muay Thai Class

There is quite a lot of gear you need to bring with you to Muay Thai, but depending on your own unique goals and how seriously you are taking the sport, some equipment is more essential than others.

Essential Muay Thai Equipment

Muay Thai/Boxing Gloves

Boxing gloves are essential as they protect the hands and wrist when your throwing punches. I recommend going with the Fairtex Muay Thai Gloves (which you can see here on Amazon).

The reason I recommended buying Muay Thai gloves when starting is they are better than pure boxing gloves as they allow you to open your hands more and get a better grip whenever catching kicks, or during the clinch. See my comparison between the two glove types here.

What To Look For In Muay Thai Gloves

There are many things you should look at for with a Muay Thai glove, here I will list a few of the main things.

• Size. Size does matter with Muay Thai gloves, and generally, the more you weigh the heavier gloves you need to Check out the handy chart above for an idea on what you should get. Although 10-16 oz is acceptable
• Cost. High-quality leather gloves made in Thailand should cost you around $70-$100 online. The lower price is if you buy the gloves in Thailand or have a contact there.
• Material. If you want your gloves to last you need good padding and ideally genuine leather as it lasts longer. However synthetic leather has improved in recent years, but most name-brand gloves should be made from good materials.
• Lace-up Vs Velcro? Whilst lace-up offers a more secure fit you need someone else to put them on. Velcro is the best option so you can easily put them off and take them off by yourself.
• Muay Thai Vs Boxing Gloves? Boxing gloves will have more padding around the knuckle, but I’d go with the Muay Thai gloves as they are designed more open allowing for clinching

I recommend your first glove to be 14-16oz, anything lighter risks you hurting your opponents during sparring, 16oz will be perfect for most of your needs.

Having two pairs of gloves, one for sparring and another for hitting pads and bag work is ideal, but I understand Muay Thai gear is not exactly cheap so getting one pair ideally a pair of training gloves to start with is perfectly fine.

Top Muay Thai Glove Brands To Consider

• Fairtex. The Fairtex training gloves(amazon link) get my recommendation, as Fairtex gloves are all made with genuine leather and are the most popular Muay Thai brand outside of Thailand
• Yokkao. This brand only started in 2010 but has made crazy improvements in design and quality, and are the most stylish gloves you can buy
• Twins. Twins are the most popular Muay Thai brand in Thailand, and they offer good wrist support and protection ideal for any beginner to Muay Thai.
• King. King is common in Thailand and is owned by the brother who owns Twins. King gloves look cool and have excellent cowhide leather craftsmanship.
• Windy. Windy has been selling gloves since 1951 and prides itself on simple simplicity and genuine leather with excellent workmanship
• Hayabusa. Now, these are a little more expensive but Hayabusa prides itself on constant innovation in their products like moisture-absorbent fabrics.

Hand Wraps

You can check out the Fairtex Elastic Hand Wraps here on Amazon.

Like Boxing gloves, hand wraps are mandatory for training as they help keep your hands and wrists supported when your training. If you DON’T wrap your hands, you can get injured hitting the heavy bag or during sparring, also your hands might shake after training.

Hand wraps provide nice support for the knuckles and you can get a solid covering of protection for your knuckles. If your using smaller gloves 8-12 oz then this extra layer of protection is even more important to stop you from hurting your knuckles.

Make sure you clean your hand wraps after every session! Having dirty hand wraps is a one-way ticket to smelly gloves and depending on the material this smell is very hard to get out! Don’t be that guy or girl.

Avoid low quality wraps made of a rough material that can cause chafing and irritate the skin of the knuckles, you don’t want your wraps too tight, stick to longer hand wraps made of soft material like cotton.

Shinguards

You can check out the Fairtex Shin Guards here on Amazon.

Now you might not use shinguards every class but they are still essential Muay Thai equipment, shin pads are boxing gloves for your legs as they protect the feet and legs when sparring and doing drills.

Your gym will likely have communal shinguards for everyone to use, but do you want to put on those disgusting smelly shinguards? I didn’t think so.

What To Look For With Muay Thai Shin Guards

Whilst no Shin Guards are perfect, it is important to find the right balance between protection, balance, and size.

• Sizing and fitting. Shin guards come in the standard sizes, small/medium, etc so the taller you are or how big you’re calves change what size you should get. It’s like Goldilocks when your shinpads are too big they move too much during sparring. When their too small they don’t offer maximum protection, You need to find the balance between protection and comfort.
• Protection & Mobility. The bulkier the shin pads the better protection, as they cover more of your legs. The problem is this slows your movement down. But the smaller the shinpads are the better mobility but also the less protection you have in sparring. This also works the other way when you kick your opponent.
• Real Leather Vs Synthetic Leather. Like gloves, genuine leather is preferred as it usually lasts long but high-quality synthetic leather has caught up in recent years. They also have flashy designs and more color options to choose from
• Muay Thai Shin Guards Vs MMA Grappling Shin Guards. MMA shin guards are not as bulky as Muay Thai shin guards as you grapple in MMA. They also don’t offer the protection Muay Thai shinguards do.

Mouthguard

You can check out the ORO Mouthguard here on Amazon.

Whilst you can train Muay Thai without fighting(see my post here) if you ever plan on sparring or clinching in Muay Thai then a mouthguard is essential.

Depending on where you live, fixing a whole set of teeth will be far more expensive than a $10-30 mouthguard that keeps your smile intact!

Even if you’re a beginner, you might need to do dutch drilling which involves your partner hiting you, and you never know what can happen during drilling so it makes sense being cautious.

Different Types Of Mouthguards

There are three different kinds of mouthguards you can get.

• Ready-made mouthguards. These are the cheapest and can be found in most sporting goods stores, but they won’t protect you well or even fit comfortably.
• Boil and bite guards. These are better than stock guards and will fit very well and you boil the guard in water and offer good protection
• Custom-fit mouthguards. The best mouthguard you can get, as it’s made from a mold of your teeth. They are super comfortable and even allow you to talk without feeling like your getting choked. They are more expensive but the OPRO Pro mouthguard(which you can see here on Amazon) works just as good.

I would avoid ready-made mouth guards as the protection is not worth it. If you have the budget and want the best protection possible custom-fit mouthguards or the OPRO Pro are your best bet.

Boil and bite guards work very well and are an excellent beginner option or if the other mouthguard options are out of your price range.

Muay Thai Shorts

You can check out the Fairtex Muay Thai Shorts here on Amazon.

Nothing is stopping you from training in athletic shorts but Muay Thai shorts are like the unofficial uniform of Muay Thai, just like you should wear a Judo Gi when training Judo you should wear Muay Thai shorts when training Thai boxing.

Some people in the west don’t want to wear Thai shorts because of the short length, this short length is because in Thailand it gets very very hot, however, you don’t have to wear Thai shorts as Thai’s do, pick the short length that you feel most comfortable with.

Ideally, you will have around 3 pairs of Muay Thai shorts so you can rotate your shorts so you don’t have to wash them every day after training.

Investing at least $20 in shorts makes sense, as they are made of good quality materials and will last you a good few years.

Best Material For Muay Thai Shorts

• Nylon. Nylon is both the cheapest and lighted material used for Thai shorts. The issue is when the material gets wet they become see-through making them a bad option for girls, and the colors don’t pop as much as satin material used for flashy short designs.
• Satin. Traditionally this is the material used for most Thai shorts, satin can come in a wide variety of colors and the designs vary a lot. It is also comfortable to wear and train in. However like with Nylon when the sorts get wet they get see-through especially if you’re wearing white!
• Sublimination Satin Print. Unlike normal Muay Thai that have sewn-on patches and images, sublimation images are printed on the material. They are lighter than Satin shorts because of the production method, and don’t train too much water from your sweat but will become see-through if they get super yet; which is why they are made from harder colors.

Useful Muay Thai Equipment

Now, whilst the following equipment is not mandatory to do Muay Thai you will likely buy the equipment sooner or later. Skipping rope in my opinion is very close to essential.

Skipping Rope/Jump Rope

You can check out Twin’s Muay Thai Jump Rope here on Amazon.

The skipping rope is a superb method of cardio used by Muay Thai fighters, and in most gyms across the world, you need to skip before training to warm up the muscles and improve your endurance.

Your gym likely will have ropes, but I highly recommend you getting your own as not only is skipping great cardio, it will help you with your leg conditioning, footwork, and balance.

Why Should You Jump Rope?

Skipping is usually mandatory for Muay Thai and every Thai fighter will use a jump rope to warm up, here is why it’s so beneficial

• Fantastic warm-up. Warming up is key for Muay Thai and skipping is an ideal warm-up routine as it’s a full-body workout that gets the blood circulating with your shoulders, wrists, legs, and arms all getting ready to train.
• Improves your cardio. Skipping is a fantastic cardio workout that can be down anywhere. Try to skip for 6 minutes at a FAST pace or 15 minutes at a moderate face and you will see how tired you can get!
• Strengths The Lower Body. All your leg muscles notably the fast-twitch calf muscles crucial for Muay Thai will get a great workout, also the hamstrings and quads. All these muscles make your kicks stronger
• Improves Your Footwork & Coordination. Boxers don’t skip for fun! It’s superb for training your footwork and coordination which are vital no matter what combat sport you do. All the impressive moves like reverse jumps and double unders will improve your performance on the ring and the street, what’s not to like?
• You Can Skip Anywhere! When I traveled to China my speed rope traveled with me, so I could always get a high-intensity workout in, anyplace anywhere!

Groin Guard

You can check out these Diamond-MMA Protective Shorts here on Amazon.

Have you ever been kicked in the nuts without protection? I haven’t as I am always careful but I’ve been seen countless people in my gym fall on the floor as they wince in agony. Don’t be that guy without protection!

Groin protection is very important as you whenever you clinch, drill, or spar you have no control over your partner opponent kicking you in the nuts, I’ve done it myself whilst it’s an accident it does happen quite often as it’s the nature of the sport.

This Lobloo pelvic cup(which you can see here on Amazon) is the first choice for female fighters in Thailand and will give you all the protection you need.

Most guards will be around $20-$50 dollars from midprice to high tier groin guard. If you want to fight in amateur competitions you need a groin guard or “borrow” someones else, and are you sure you want to do that?

Groin Guard Things To Remember Before Buying

• Comfort & Fitting. You can buy cheaper groin guards that offer good protection but they won’t feel nice to wear, you want the fit to be as nice as possible so you want to wear it. Since people come in all different shapes and sizes the comfort of the guard will depend on the person. Look at the reviews on YouTube or Amazon and try to find someone with your body type and see what they say
• Protection. Different groin guards are made from a different material so the protection groin guards offer to vary. All should protect you well against strikes with the biggest difference between the comfort between the brands.
• Size. Different brands will have different sizing instructions so you know which size short to wear. Don’t get a size too big otherwise the cup will move when you train. Certain protectors have a cup that fits everyone that allows you to adjust the strap to fit your needs. These are designed to be worn over your underwear.
• Price You will spend between $20-$80 on a new groin guard with $80 getting you the Diamond cup for the very best protection and comfort you can get. It might seem a lot but groin guards last a long time and you will be thankful whenever you get kicked in the crown jewels!

Ankle Guards

You can check out the Venum Ankle Guards here on Amazon.

Whilst not mandatory a good pair of ankle guards are excellent as they provide added support and help absorb the shock from kicks to protect the ankle joint.

I’ve felt ankle pain from Muay Thai before and I was glad I was wearing my ankle guards as the pain would have been a lot worse without it.

Make sure you buy the right size, otherwise the guards could be too tight and cut off blood circulation, or not tight enough, without providing the necessary joint support.

They are not that expensive and considering they could save you from ankle pain(it’s not nice), they are an important part of your Muay Thai gear. I recommend having it at least 2 so you don’t have to wash them after every training session

Boxing Headgear

You can check out the RDX headgear here on Amazon.

If your worried about getting hit in the head or getting any cuts to your face by punches, consider purchasing some form of boxing headgear. Most people will not use it when sparring, but don’t worry if you want that added protection no one will judge you.

Do you need headgear? Not really but I think if you find yourself doing a lot of boxing sparring then it makes sense investing in headgear to reduce the damage from punches.

If you spar Muay Thai you need Muay Thai headgear which had good visibility as you need to deal with kicks at the cost of less protection.

Muay Thai Headgear What To Look For

• Comfort and feel. The perfect fit is feeling snug but without being too tight, you don’t want to notice the headgear whilst sparring. The chin strap should be comfortable whilst being snug and not too lose
• Protection.  The majority of headgear will cover your forehead cheeks, chin, and the back and sides of the head, will different levels of protection. Visibility is more important than protection as seeing the punches is the best defense to avoid them.
• Visibility.  A good headgear must have good visibility, the more punches you don’t see the more you get hit and the more damage you will end up taking; you need to see the punches and kicks coming from different angles. The cheek and forehead protection determine how much visibility you have, prioritize good visibility trust me.
• Weight & Size. With Boxing, you want headgear that doesn’t affect your mobility regarding slipping punches and maintaining good footwork. If you get a super chunky headgear you could end up taking more damage as your getting hit more. Look at the specific reviews to find the perfect balance between protection, visibility price, and size.
• Quality & Price. Unlike other Muay Thai gear, you will see tons of different handguards available, if you value your health just like with hand wraps and mouthguard make sure to buy the right product as your protecting your brain. However, unlike with Thai pads, Boxing brands like Everlast and Title have been making good kickboxing headgear for a long time.
• Muay Thai/MMA/Boxing Headgear? The big difference between Boxing and Thai boxing headgear is the latter is not as thick because of the clinch, with Boxing headgear offering more protection. With MMA you must have a headgear that protects you from all sides and allows you to roll with them. Generally, if you do MMA and Muay Thai/Boxing buy one headgear for MMA and another for Boxing/Thai

Muay Thai Knee Pads

You can check out the Venum Kneepads here on Amazon.

Knee pads are used for Muay Thai sparring for added protection to your knees and your partner if you land a knee strike. If you have weak knees or a knee injury then consider purchasing them.

The issue with using knee pads during sparring, is whilst the added protection will reduce the risk of injury, it also will not condition your knees as much as not wearing them.

If you ever plan on fighting this isn’t a good thing as you want your body to be conditioned to take hits without any equipment aside from ankle guards.

You don’t need knee pads if you don’t have an injury or sensitive knees, but maybe if you do Wrestling or BJJ and your knees are beaten up you want that added protection when your knees are recovering for Muay Thai.

Muay Thai Elbow Pads

You can check out the Venom Elbow Protectors on Amazon here.

Elbow pads are only to be used by seasoned Muay Thai practitioners, if your a beginner stay away from elbow pads as you can end up hurting yourselves or other people. If you don’t know how to control your power and technique then you are not ready to spar with elbows.

Throwing random elbows at someone will hurt them or cause a deep cut even with the padding. Elbow padding should only be used for someone preparing for a fight or advanced Muay Thai gymgoers.

However, I still suggest training with them on once you have the technique as getting used throwing light elbows in a fight situation will help you use elbows in a self-defense situation or later on in your Muay Thai career in a fight that allows elbows.

Namman Boxing Liniment Oil

You can check out the Nmman Boxing Liniment on Amazon here.

You know this smell if you have been to a Muay Thai gym, it’s the oil used by most Thai fighters in Thailand to help their muscles warm-up before training and to help prevent injuries from occurring and during Thai massage.

This oil has almost mystical properties if you believe the reviews on Amazon and I remember it being everywhere in Thailand similar to Tiger balm and was is to treat all manner of different muscle injuries and joint pain.

Whilst not essential I still recommended using some form of Namman boxing oil or CBD muscle cream(which you can see here on Amazon) to deal with the nagging muscle injuries you will pick up in Muay Thai.

Muay Thai Training Bag

You can check out the Hayabusa Gear Bag here on Amazon.

Having a good training bag is very useful for storing all your Muay Thai equipment and certain bags like this Hayabusa gym bag have enough space for the largest shin pads, boxing gloves, and even headgear!

As Muay Thai equipment is often very awkwardly shaped it can be difficult to find a normal gym bag to bring everything you need when training.

Muay Thai backpacks and bags will have special compartments that you can unzip from the bottom to access specific things like your training gloves or wraps, so you don’t have to take out everything just to get one thing, you know how annoying this can be!

Not too many people have Muay Thai bags in my gym, but I think they are worthy investment and is an excellent way to bring all your Muay Thai gear in one bag and help keep everything nice and organized.

Muay Thai is a highly effective martial art, but at times it is difficult to tell if you have progressed.

In this article using all my hours spent studying and personal experience, I will explain the 26 ways you can improve your Muay Thai. These are things I wished I knew when I first started training.

I know how frustrating it can be sometimes feeling like you haven’t improved as much as you want to, but by using these 26 tips I promise your Muay Thai will greatly improve!

I will split this post into different categories such as improving your Muay Thai defense and Muay Thai techniques so you can pick what you need to improve in.

Improve Your Flexibility

Something that gets overlooked a lot with Muay Thai training is making sure you have a good level of flexibility to help with your high kicks and to assist in recovery after a heavy training session.

You don’t need to be super flexible to do Muay Thai however, check out my post here on if you need to be flexible to do Muay Thai.

Practice Proper Hip Rotation!

I don’t think there is anything you can do, that will improve your Muay Thai game more than practicing proper hip rotation. I wish I did it sooner and it should be the first thing you do as a beginner in a Muay Thai gym.

Ideally, you do this drill with a partner. You can see many Muay Thai partner drills in my post on how to practice Muay Thai kicks here. For tips on how to do it by yourself at home, see the following drill as demonstrated by Sylvie, a Muay Thai fighter with 200 plus fights shows.

1. Place your foot on a platform like a sofa and be on your toes on the other foot like your kicking
2. Turn the foot on the platform to the shin to mimic the kick while using your arms
3. Repeat for around 20 reps and then change legs for 3 total sets

Open Your Hips!

Improving your flexibility is key to injury prevention and proper kicking.

Hip mobility is very important for turning your kick in, to kick correctly with the shin, and to assist in general injury prevention. See this study on the professional application of injury prevention for Soccer athletes who practiced muscle mobility.

With Muay Thai good movement patterns are even more important. This is a summary of Don Heatrick’s fantastic video about how to unlock your hips as a Muay Thai athlete. If you notice that your kicks are feeling sloppy, it could be that you might have the technique down but lack the necessary hip flexibility to turn your hips in.

The routine is split into three different sections, to do all the exercises, you must have a foam roller (like this one on Amazon) or lacrosse ball (like this one on Amazon) for a cheaper option, and a resistance band (which you can check out here on Amazon).

I have everything and recommend you get the same, as they are vital not just for Muay Thai but for maintaining proper alignment and posture for good health throughout your life.

1. Releasing the hips
2. Opening the hips
3. Anchoring the hips

1. Releasing the hips

1. Start to foam roll at the top of the knee and gradually roll up and down the thigh to break down the muscle tissue
2. When you find a tight area “windshield wipe” your legs left and right to get at that tissue and flex up and down.
3. Avoid the IT band (the middle of your leg) as it cannot be lengthened and for rolling, it could cause injury
4. Foam roll each leg for 1-2 minutes then switch legs.

2. Opening The Hips

1. Attach your band to something sturdy like a squat rack or a TV stand a little lower than hip height
2. Step into the band and have it high behind your glute/booty & make sure there is decent tension so it’s pulling your hips forwards
3. Squeeze your glutes by pointing your pelvis forward and thrust your hip in front of your knee don’t arch from your back make sure its from the hips
4. Practice the movement from different angles ensuring you squeeze your glutes throughout the motion
5. Repeat for 1-2 minutes and then switch sides!

3. Anchoring The Hips

1. Place your foot on a bench or a platform at a similar height like a chair so your ankle can pivot down and up
2. Your stance must allow your hip to be at knee level or lower
3. Keep your chest up and chin down and drive through the floor with your foot while squeezing your glutes and feeling that near hip stretch
4. Once you understand the movement pattern try adding weights
5. Repeat for around 3 sets of 10 reps for both legs

Now, these exercises reinforce many things to improve your Muay Thai. They affect the muscle length, the joint capsule (how your bones are positioned) and your neuromuscular control (how your brain tells you what range of motion you have).

You can do these exercises as part of your dynamic warmup to reinforce good movement habits, which are key to kicking properly and reducing injury risk from Muay Thai.

Releasing and opening your hips are perfect for active rest between weight training sessions, or part of a recovery day where you work on the muscle tissues that are causing you pain or poor posture.

Stretch Daily

Maintaining a daily, or at least 5 times a week, stretching routine will do wonders for not just your Muay Thai but also your health.

This FightTips routine is designed for improved high kick flexibility, but it also will stretch the quads, hips, lower back hamstrings, and all the muscles that are heavily used in Muay Thai.

These stretches are designed to be done every day and will take around 10 minutes to complete. Remember you need to warm up before stretching so your muscles can lengthen.

I can guarantee after doing FightTips daily stretching routine not only will your kicks feel more natural, but your overall health will have improved. Stretching is not just underrated in Muay Thai, it’s underrated in life! So start stretching and reap the benefits :).

Work On Your Muay Thai Footwork

Footwork is key in every combat sport especially Muay Thai. I’ve compiled a couple helpful resources with some footwork drills you can do to immediately improve your Muay Thai.

Beginner Muay Thai Footwork Drill

This footwork drill by Muay Thai Pros might seem simple but trust me for Muay Thai simple means effective and beautiful. This drill should be performed daily for 15 minutes to feel the benefits.

Stand in front of a mirror to perform the drill

1. Walk up and down in a straight line, make sure when you go forward your forward leg moves first and then your back leg moves, only move one step at a time
2. Move-in a sideways arrow, always move the foot closest to the side your moving first and then the back foot
3. When you get comfortable start adding 1-2 (jab/cross) as you step
4. Make sure you keep your 1-2 Muay Thai rhyme throughout the drill

Basic Muay Thai Footwork Drill

Ask any Muay Thai fighter and they will tell you footwork is one of the most important skills to develop across all martial arts, even most sports! Better still you can practice it anywhere, anytime. Most people don’t practice often so you will get a leg up over the competition if you train it!

With your foot, you have 3 main connections to the ground one at the base and two near the front. Ideally, your weight distribution will be 50/50 on your foot and the balls of your feet with your chin tucked under.

Keep yourself upright and maintain this position whenever you move. You can practice your footwork in the very simple drill from the above video.

1. Stand in a Muay Thai stance
2. Take one step straight and step back in the same position, then do the same action but step right, back and then left
3. As you get more comfortable double the steps or try the drill in your opposite stance.

Never do any unnecessary steps. It should only be one step, any more than that will put you off balance. When you get comfortable with the drill take two steps and even add punches as you step.

6 Step Solo Footwork Drill

I started to implement this 6 step solo footwork drill by fightTips and already I have seen solid improvements to not only my footwork but also my shadow boxing.

This drill involves six different punches with numbers that correspond to the actions, now you don’t have to jab in the advancing steps it can be an uppercut, elbow, or hook depending on your spacing.

I will briefly outline the drill

1. Probing Step-in your Muay Thai stance takes a small step forward(around 1-4 inches) and do a jab as you step; think of your foot and arm being connected like a puppeteer and his/her puppet and whenever the hands move so does. the foot
2. Retreating Step- take the same step backward on your back foot and do a jab
3. Pivot Cross- whilst still do a cross making sure you pivot off the backfoot whilst turning the shoulders
4. Advancing 1-2 Step forward like in step 1 but bring your back foot with you and throw a cross after the jab
5. Retreating 1-2. Do a jab whilst bringing your front foot back and then bring your back foot back and do a cross
6. Switch Jab. Switch your stance(if your a southpaw go orthodox and vice versa) and throw a jab in the opposite stance as you switch
7. Repeat step 1-6 in Southpaw!

Work On Your Shadow Boxing

Shadowboxing like footwork is fundamental to Muay Thai and one of the best things you can do to improve, and it can be done anywhere, waiting in line at the store, in the cinema you name it!

How To Shadow Kick

The problem with shadow boxing is a lot of people(myself included) start to shadowbox without turning their hip over and incorrectly not following through, this is a bad habit to practice and easy to do as it is easier to disguise bad form when your kicking air.

The problem is without turning your hip over(see the beginning of the article) you will strike with either your foot or the side of your leg which we don’t want in Muay Thai.

which we don’t want in Muay Thai. Check out the video above by Head Coach of F5 Strength and Muay Thai, Roxy Richardson, on shadow kicks or read the drill down below.

To shadow kick correctly as a beginner.

1. Step out around 30 degrees to either the left or right depending on your stance be on the balls of your feet under your big toe with your heel lifted
2. Use your arm swipe to turn your hips(see the second tip) and follow through only to 180 degrees

Once you get the first one down.

1. Step out around 30 degrees to either the left or right depending on your stance be on the balls of your feet under your big toe with your heel lifted
2. Use your arm swing to turn your hips and swing 360 degrees and land facing your opponent in the same stance.

Helpful tips with the drill

• If you’re training in front of a mirror and see your booty as you kick, your practicing good form as your hip is turning incorrectly
• Practice with both feet to stop getting dizzy and to kick with both legs
• Make sure your heel lifts as you pivot

How Not To Shadowbox

Shadowboxing is fantastic for your Muay Thai but people even professional fighters have issues with it. Likely because they are making one of the mistakes in the above video by Sean Fagan(check him out) but the hardest thing to get right is visualizing an opponent

If you want a fantastic 10-minute Muay Thai shadowboxing workout and other ways to train Muay Thai at home, please check out my post here on how to practice muay Thai by yourself.

In the above video, Sean goes into detail about the issues people have with shadow boxing and I will briefly summaries the main points

1. Kicking Wrong 2:57. I still suffer from this problem as it’s harder to visualize and properly rotate your hip if your kicking air. To fix it, record yourself or think about correct hip rotation every time you kick
2. Too Much Head Movement 4:10. Excessive head movement is fine for Boxing as that is part of the sport but with Muay Thai, you want to keep your head movement sharp, minimal, and technical as you can’t bob and weave a roundhouse!
3. Looking/Punching Down 5:37. This one is more common for an absolute beginner, but you wouldn’t look at the floor or punch down if your fighting anyone but a super midget!
4. Staying Stationary 6:34. Movement and footwork is key to succeeding in fighting so make sure you move around and cut angles, to make it difficult for your imaginary shadow opponent
5. Just Offense, No Defence 6:35. You need to add checks, leans backs, catching kicks and catching jabs/crosses when your shadowboxing as your trying to simulate a real fight
6.  Not Mixing Up Your Strikes 7:37. Now just working the basics like 1-2 right kick is fine if your focus on technique, but if you want to simulate a real fight you need to diversify your strikes. Make sure you’re hitting high and low, to the body and the head with some low kicks. Keep your imaginary partner guessing!
7. Too Tense 8:58. This is common in the beginning as fighting can be very stressful so your natural inclination is so tense up. Don’t do this as it will only waste much-needed energy. Ideally, you want to be nice and loose and released whilst your fighting, only tensing up your fists when you’re just about to connect for maximum speed and power.
8. Forgetting To Breath 10:15. This happens to a lot of people especially in BJJ where people forget to breathe. Don’t forget the most basic thing as if you lose your breathe you will get tired quickly and your strikes will lack any power.
9. Forgetting To Visualise 11:43. Even professional fighters make this mistake and it’s key to getting the most out of shadowboxing. You need to BELIEVE someone is fighting you and reacting to what you throw and you need to react to their strikes. I know it’s difficult but in time you will get there.
10. Not Extending Your Arms 12:50. I’m still guilty of this, and it’s a very easy mistake to make. Whenever your punching make sure you fully extend your arms, this is to maximize both your range and punching power. You don’t want those mini T-rex arms whilst shadow boxing!

Improve Muay Thai Techniques

For Muay Thai and martial arts in general improving your technique rather than power is key to becoming a better fighter. Here I will list the basic Muay Thai techniques and how you become a better fighter!

Working on your technique is the most challenging thing, especially if you don’t have the money for 1 on 1 training. This is why everyone should film themselves and highly recommend buying a tripod such as this one from Amazon so you can film yourself training.

Chamber Your Kicks!

Chambering your kicks will give you superb control, balance, and will improve your kicks landing successfully. Sounds great right?

Chambering is when you lift your knee towards your chest whenever you kick or check, and the act of retracting the foot back.

In Muay Thai even though we don’t chamber our kicks as much as other martial arts like Karate and Taekwondo it is still super important to improving your power, strength, and balance when throwing and checking kicks.

If you see the fighter of our generation Saenchai you will see he has a fantastic chamber.

These drills to improve your chambering can be done anywhere or at home. from the superb fightTips video above, I have summarised all the drills.

Drill 1 Three Leg Dog

1. Get into a push-up/plank position and sit your hips back to get into downward dog(yoga pose)
2. Peddle your calves up and down to warm up the hamstrings & calves
3. Lift one leg up and then drive your knee up to your chest as high as possible with your heel towards your butt/glute, hold this position for three breaths
4. Bring the leg up and drive to the outside of the elbow aiming to eventually get the knee to the armpit, hold for three breaths
5. Repeat step 4 with the opposite elbow
6. The entire 3 movements count as 1 rep so repeat the process on the other leg for a total of three sets per leg.

Drill 2.Seated Leg Lift

1. Sit down with your back straight and place something next to your legs like a Yoga block (like these on Amazon) or boxing glove/book
2. Swing your leg over the object and tap the ground and repeat for a total of 5-10 reps on each leg and 3 total sets

Changing the setting on the block makes it more challenging and remember to not hunch forward as you want the focus on the hip flexor.

Drill 3. Standing Hip Flexor Stretch

1. Stand on one leg and grab your knee with both hands and pull up to stretch the hips. hold for 3 breaths
2. Repeat the stretch but turn your knee inward, outward and behind and hold for 3 breaths in every position

If you lack the balance either do them leaning against a ball, or repeat all the stretches lying down as you can see Shane do in the video.

For the most benefit do these drills every day or at least 5 times a week, and you will see a vast improvement in your kick chamber which will benefit any kicks you will ever do across all martial arts!

Muay Thai Roundhouse

The Muay Thai roundhouse is your bread and butter Muay Thai strike, but your likely making one of these 8 common roundhouse mistakes shown in Sean Fagans above video. Fixing these are the secret to a solid roundhouse.

In my opinion, no hip turn is by far the biggest problem with not pivoting the foot coming in second.

Muay Thai Roundhouse Kick 8 Common Mistakes

1. No Hip-Turn (make sure you’re kicking with the shin)
2. Kicking Up (kicking up instead of through reduces your kicking power and increases injury risk to you
3. Keeping your shoulder back (instead of turning your shoulder over so it’s in front of the chin and in line with the leg)
4. No Arm Swing (make sure you swing your arm for that power!)
5. Being Flat Footed (more difficult to pivot and get that hip rotation)
6. Not Pivoting The Foot (lack of hip turn with no power on the kick)
7. Bad Foot Positioning (Always step around 45 degrees on the outside for maximum offensive & defense)
8. Not Setting Up Kicks (If you don’t set up your kicks, your strikes will be dodged or blocked so always use feints or punches to make sure your kick lands!)

Improve Your Muay Thai Switch Kick

The switch kick is the same as the roundhouse but you switch stances (change leg positions), it is a fundamental Muay Thai kick.

Learning a roundhouse before a switch kick is the best way to learn it and it scores very highly in Muay Thai as it attacks the body.

In the above video Duane “Bang” Ludwig one of the most successful kickboxing coaches of recent years, demonstrates a drill for the switch kick. But first here is the basic form.

1. Switch stances by changing the position of your legs and loading your hips, without jumping up or moving while stepping slightly to the side
2. Stay on the balls of your feet as you kick
3. Swing the same arm as your kicking leg to generate power and balance, while keeping the other hand up for protection and turning your hip in
4. Return to your stance, in one motion.

Switch Kick Drill

1. Stand opposite your partner and have them step back while you step forward and do a switch kick
2. Have your partner step forward while you step back and switch
3. Have your partner step to the side while you switch
4. Have your partner step to the other side while you switch

Muay Thai How To Improve Knees

The basic beginner knee is known as the spear knee and is a devastating strike if it lands. You can use it offensively when your opponent is backing up or as a counter when your opponent likes to walk in.

1. Be in your Muay Thai stance while on the balls of your feet
2. Push up on the ball of your foot on your lead leg (forward leg) and bring your knee straight up
3. Flex the kneeing leg down and bring your heel close to your butt to strike with the hardest part of the knee

The above video by Somapat Sitiwatjana, former professional Muay Thai fighter and head coach of Master A’s Muay Thai School, is showing how to use the heavy bag to improve your knees

I urge you to watch it as your knees will improve. Here I summarize the main points.

1. Stand close to a heavy bag at clinch distance and grab the bag like you’re holding someone’s head
2. Rock the bag with your arms so it starts swinging like a clock, but make sure to stay the same distance from the bag
3. As the bag swings closer to you strike with a knee while pulling the bag with your hands
4. Make sure to keep head level and use your hips and stay in position
5. Repeat for the desired reps, and even use two knees or use a long knee when the bag is further away from you.

Muay Thai How To Improve The Switch Knee

Duane Ludwig explains a handy footwork drill that will improve your overall knee footwork on both switch knees and stepping knees.

Muay Thai How To Practice The Teep

The Teep is one of your main weapons in Muay Thai for both offense and defense. It might look like a front kick but think of it as more of a jab to keep the distance and punish attackers who come in.

You can see it demonstrated in the above video, but I will go through some things you should keep in mind.

1. Stand in your stance with your weight on the back leg
2. Bring your knee up
3. Push with your hip and hit with the balls of your feet
4. Retract your knee and bring feet back to the same position.

Teeping Drill To Punish Aggressive Boxers

1. Look at the boxers chest but keep your peripheral vision open
2. When the boxer steps in teep always lift your knee up and then kick, think of getting your foot out of a body of water.
3. Repeat to get the timing of the teep

Muay Thai How To Improve Boxing

Boxing is a very crucial part of Muay Thai, and if you want to see the differences between the sports check out my post here.

I cannot explain Boxing in this post as it is too complicated, but the fantastic Boxing Beginners Masterclass by Precision Striking in the video above, is all you need to improve your Boxing fundamentals

Remember when practicing these drills Muay Thai is different from Boxing. The stances are different and there is not a lot head movement in Muay Thai. So remember not everything is applicable but all the basic strikes like jab, cross, hook are all very similar and crucial to succeed in Muay Thai

Muay Thai How To Get Better At Elbows

Elbows are what makes Muay Thai so effective up close up and they can easily cut your opponents. The above video is Shane from FightTips 5 common elbow mistakes and how to correct them!

Muay Thai Elbows 5 Common Mistakes

1. Hitting with the forearm and not the elbow(whilst the forearm can still do damage the elbow point is where the damage happens
2. Throwing From too far(the elbow is a close-range strike so it should be thrown on the inside like from the clinch
3. No Defense When throwing(your other hand should always be protecting you when throwing an elbow as if your opponent. is in elbow range so are you
4. Don’t get fancy(don’t bother with spinning elbows and jumping elbows if you can’t land a simple 1-2
5. Create your angle( don’t throw an elbow square, step out to the side whenever you throw your elbows so you create the angle to bypass your opponent guard

Muay Thai How To Get Better At Catching Kicks

Catching kicks, as well as the clinch, are some of the big differences between Muay Thai and kickboxing, if you want to know the complete differences between the two martial arts please check my link here

FightTips demonstrates the 4 ways to catch and counter the Muay Thai roundhouse in the above video, but I will summarise the main points.

4 Ways To Catch And Counter The Muay Thai Roundhouse

1. Catch and kick. As you catch the kick always step the side to absorb the strike and hold it tight to the armpit otherwise they can escape, then counter with your roundhouse
2. Lift & push. Catch the kick, then step forward and lift to get them off balance, then stay on them and roundhouse
3. Shin Sweep. Catch the kick, then push with your arm on the head or shoulder towards the ground, and when their off-balance hook low with your foot and lift the leg high at the support leg
4. Step & Sweep Catch the leg, step forward and simultaneously push the head forward with your right /left hand, then use the arch of your foot to sweep whilst twisting the upper body but keeping the lower body strong

Muay Thai How To Improve In The Clinch

Clinching is what makes Muay Thai such an effective martial art if you want to see the other 12 reasons why Muay Thai is fantastic for self-defense please click here.

Clinching is when fighters wrestle each other whilst standing and throwing knees, from the clinch. There are numerous throws and sweeps to your opponent to the ground whilst you stay standing.

This links to when Muay Thai was a combat sport, as you want to stay on your feet as you fight, check my post here for more information about Muay Thai’s traditional history.

Watch fightTips video above where he gets a private lesson from Petchboonchu, the most decorated Muay Thai champion in history, and arguably the best clinch fighter ever, and he explains the clinch in a way that is simple and easy to understand.

Improve Your Muay Thai Defence

Working on your defense is one of the best ways to improve in Muay Thai, as will feel confident in your defensive abilities so you can focus on your opponent

How To Counter The Low Kick

Leg kicks are devastating in muay Thai and checking them is standard practice. However, in this drill demonstrated above, your aiming to avoid the low kick altogether and straight away return with a kick of your own.

1. As your opponent throws a leg kick, keep your upper body still and scoop your but back to evade the kick
2. As the leg is to the side immediately counterattack with your kick!

Muay Thai How To Get Used To Being Hit

Let’s face it no one likes getting hit, and the instinct is to close your eyes and look away from your opponent, this is bad as punches that you don’t see usually cause the most damage.

This simple partner drill from Chris Clodfelter in the above video is perfect for being accustomed to getting hit and to keep looking. at your opponent

1. Have your partner throw 3 jabs at your block
2. Maintain a block and keep it connected to your face whilst still seeing through the gap of your gloves, think of seeing through binoculars
3. After each jab go back to your Muay Thai stance and when they jab block
4. When you get more comfortable have your partner jab randomly and start to move around so you FORCED to keep your eyes on your partner

Use The Muay Thai Long guard Against Punches

The Muay Thai long guard is excellent for both offense and defense in both Muay Thai and self-defense situations, especially if you have long arms like me.

Watch the above video by Sean Fagan for a visual explanation but I can guarantee if you use the long guard you will see a big difference in your defensive abilities and entering the clinch safely

Improve In Muay Thai Sparring

Since Muay Thai is a fighting sport there is no substitute to Sparring, whilst you don’t need to Spar to do Muay Thai(check my post here) but I do believe you cannot truly progress without regular sparring.

Muay Thai 5 Sparring Tips

These 5 sparring tips are from Muay Thai Pros and I urge you to check their channel for tons of helpful Muay Thai information and resources. I have listed the tips for your convenience.

1. Focus on your fighting style. If your a Muay Thai fighter and your fighting a K1 fighter, do not start moving around and copying them as you are taking away your style. Focus on the style that speaks to you most and gives you a lot of success
2. Focus on improving not winning. A spar is not a fight instead think of it like a dance between two people, where you are both trying to learn and grow from each other. You are both trying to improve and demonstrate good technique.
3. Learn to think when you spar. Don’t just mindlessly start attacking, watch, and notice your opponent and adjust your tactics accordingly. If they switch stances, see that if they leave their hand open when they hook attack that vulnerability
4. Simply your sparring and focus on the basics. If your fighting a boxer just work on one technique at a time, like blocking their attacks and then teeping or kicking, or just work on your defense
5. Trust In Your Muay Thai Techniques. Focus on your basic techniques, if your fighting a K1 fighter and you’re not used to heavy punch combos, keep faith in your Muay Thai block and then counter. Trust in what you know, it Muay Thai basics will never fail you.

How To Improve Your Cardio For Muay Thai

Muay Thai already is a fantastic aerobic and anaerobic workout, check out my post here only why Muay Thai is so good for your health.

But improving is key to truly excel at Muay Thai and you will need that extra cardio if you ever plan to fight as you won’t get as gassed in sparring.

There are two different types of cardio you can do, we want to train both as they are equally important in Muay Thai.

• Aerobic(low intensity, think skipping or lightly jogging)
• Anaerobic(without air, think sprinting or lifting heavyweight)

In the video above Shane from FightTips recommends the following weekly cardio workout.

Weekly Cardio Workout

• 3-4 days a week jog/run(aerobic) for 2/3 miles or 3.2/4.8 kilometers
• 2 days a week sprint(anaerobic) 100mx10

Now, this is a good conditioning workout, and fighters in Thailand run two 5K/3.1 miles runs every day. But an increasing number of fighters have spoken out about running and how they don’t enjoy it and instead do other more sports-related cardio like hitting pads.

ANY form of cardio that trains your aerobic system for around 20 minutes 3-4 times a week, with the ability to go anaerobic is fine. I will list the alternatives to running.

I still recommend running as the number one cardio you should do, as it is a very natural human action and the runners high after a workout are beautiful as running is excellent cardio and fantastic for training the mind and digging deep inside yourself which is key for combat sport athletes

However, if you don’t like running I don’t believe you should be obligated to train something you don’t like, no matter how beneficial it is.

Cardio Alternatives To Running

• Swimming
• Hitting pads
• Skipping
• Interval training
• Treadmill
• Rowing
• Cycling

If you love jumping rope/skipping then this 30-minute workout by JumpRopesDudes is more than enough for your cardio, I prefer jump rope because of its just more fun than running personally.

Start Lifting Weights

If you don’t do any strength and conditioning and you do Muay Thai you are seriously missing out! Lifting weights not only makes you stronger but also less likely to get injured, so you can focus on training instead of being injured for weeks on end!

You only need to lift weights 2-3 times a week to get maximum benefits for Muay Thai. Check out my post here on why Muay Thai fighters lift weights

I’ve been on a Zoom call with 5x Muay Thai world champion Andy Howson and he said strength and conditioning are like having a suit of armor; as it makes you stronger and less likely to get injured in combat sports.

Everyone from every level can benefit from S&D and the best Muay Thai specific S&D workout I’ve seen was created by Don Heatrick(mentioned earlier) and I have started to incorporate it in my Muay Thai training routine.

There are two full-body workouts, meant to be performed around 2-3 times a week with at least one day of rest between each day.

Both routines contain 7 exercises with 3 supersets(2 exercises done connected with no rest) and one ab exercise, with each superset being repeated 4 times before moving on.

I will include a YouTube link where Don himself is demonstrating the exercises, with a brief exercise outline underneath each video.

Every exercise has been chosen to benefit your Muay Thai and I will link Don’s website with all his reasoning behind every exercise here.

He has 25+ years of coaching experience and is a former Thai boxer(ranked 4th in the UK when he was 40). I cannot recommend him enough and I love his work and want more people to know about him.

Full Body Workout A

• 1a) Front squat x 5-reps
• 1b) Rear foot elevated split squats (Bulgarian split squats) x 8-reps each leg
• 2a) Incline bench press x 5-reps
• 2b) Dumbbell chest press x 8-reps
• 3a) Pull-ups x 5-reps
• 3b) Dumbbell bent over rows x 8-reps each side
• 4) Dragon Flags x5-reps

Full Body Workout B

• 1a) Deadlift x 5-reps
• 1b) Single leg suspension squat x 8-reps each leg
• a) Standing overhead press behind neck* x 5-reps
• 2b) Barbell push press x 8-rep
• 3a) Barbell bent-over row x 5-reps
• 3b) Suspended rows x 8-reps
• 4)Core plate (landmine) twists x 5-reps

If you don’t have access to a gym or weights at home, then a Kettlebell workout by Funk Roberts(certified MMA conditioning coach) is a superb alternative.

A kettlebell is one of the best fitness investments you can ever make, and you can do the workouts anywhere even with limited space. You can use a kettlebell like this one on Amazon.

I recommend a 25 pound/16 Kg Kettlebell if your a guy and a 5 pound/10 kg Kettlebell if your a girl to start with.

Alternatively, if your super broke and cannot afford a Kettlebell, Jeremy Either a fitness YouTuber has a fantastic full-body workout that you do at home without any equipment. Check it out down below.

Interested in Muay Thai? Check Out My Recommendations

Looking For Gear To Use When You Train?
If you are interested in training Muay Thai, here is some of the gear I recommend: Best Mouth Guard Best Gloves Best Shorts Best Shin Guards
Want To Learn To Fight, But Don’t Want To Go In Person?
CoachTube has online training videos for Boxing, Karate, MMA and more. And best part is you can do it all from your home allowing you to go at your own pace. Check them out here.
Interested In Training Other MMA Fighters?
Click here to check out the MMA Conditioning Association and see what you need to become an MMA conditioning coach and begin training fighters.