Deciding to get Muay Thai gloves or Boxing gloves is an important choice to make when starting Muay Thai or Boxing but is there much of a difference? I decided to find out.

The main difference between Muay Thai gloves and Boxing gloves is Thai Gloves have a shorter cuff increasing hand flexibility for the clinch. Muay Thai gloves have more padding at the back and top of the hand and the palm for more protection against kicks and elbows, whilst Boxing gloves have more padding at the knuckle and wrist.

I will discuss in detail the differences between the two, to help you understand the differences and which one you should get.

The Difference Between Muay Thai And Boxing Gloves

The differences between both Muay Thai and Boxing gloves come from the intended use. Boxing is a sport that calls for many quick strong punches . The knuckles of the hands are put under a lot of stress so they have to be protected well.

But Muay Thai is a martial art that involves, striking with all eight limbs(fists, legs, elbows.knees), together with clinching, catching, and blocking kicks. So the gloves need to have well-rounded padding with extra flexibility for the hands to catch kicks and clinch.

Muay Thai & Boxing Gloves Palm Differences

In boxing, the palm is used to parry punches but in Thai boxing, the fighters need the extra flexibility to grip for the clinch as well as to catch and hold kicks with either hand, this is very common in Muay Thai.

With boxing, you can only punch so the priority is making boxing gloves rounded to put your fist in a more natural position. If you want to know the main differences between Boxing and Muay Thai and if you should train them together check my post here.

With Muay Thai the glove’s padding is molded to allow the palm to be more open, this gives the Thai boxer more range of motion in the glove as with Muay Thai you need the extra flexibility to block kicks and elbows and also to grab your opponent in the clinch where you can trip him/her or take them down.

Muay Thai & Boxing Gloves Side Padding Differences

With boxing, the side of your hands doesn’t get hit so they have very little padding on either side of the hand and the palm itself. This isn’t the case with Thai gloves.

With Thai boxing, the sides of the palm will have some solid padding going down the side of each hand. This is due to the differences between the sports, as with Thai boxing you need that added protection whenever you block, knees, elbows, or kicks.

With boxing there is not a need for this, so Boxing gloves can afford to have little to no side padding compared to Muay Thai gloves and focus on keeping that round fist like shape for punching.

Muay Thai & Boxing Gloves Thumb Differences

With Boxing gloves, the thumb is kept very close to the fist protected by the more round knuckle padding. With Boxing, your fists are your only weapons so keeping the thumb out of the firing line is key to prevent the risk of getting hurt or injured.

The thumb is either attached with leather all across the thumb and hand or there’s a small strip of the material located at the end of the thumb to secure it.

With Muay Thai gloves, your fists are not your only weapon so having your thumb less close to the hand helps you with clinching and catching kicks; as it’s more awkward to grab or clinch with a boxing glove due to the smaller range of motion as the thumb is so close to the fist for added protection.

Muay Thai & Boxing Gloves Cuff Differences

The cuff is the way the glove attaches to the wrist. With lace-up gloves, the difference isn’t that noticeable, but with velcro gloves, it’s more obvious.

A common injury in both Muay Thai and Boxing is the wrist bending from a punch if you want to see other potential injuries you can get in Muay Thai click my post here.

To prevent the wrist bending, boxing gloves have a long fit to keep the wrist as close as possible to hand for increased wrist support that allows you to flex your hand if you want to.

With Muay Thai the approach is flipped upside down. In Muay Thai your wrist will be hit often whenever you block a kick so you need the space for your wrist. to bend; also it helps to get a nice firm grip on your opponent’s neck during the clinch.

Muay Thai gloves have a shorter fit, making the cuff thicker that balances out the reduced support of a short fit. With velcro, you can get solid support by pulling the strap stiff making the cuff feel more protective.

Should You Buy Boxing Or Muay Thai Gloves?

Generaly if you do Muay Thai buy Muay Thai gloves if your a Boxer buy boxing gloves, but there is no harm in having both especially if you do Muay Thai, as you can use your Boxing gloves when you spar Boxing and Muay Thai when you do Muay Thai.

It depends on how serious you take Muay Thai training, whether you want to fight and HOW you actually fight. Every brand will be unique as the size, look, padding, the weight will all differ so you need to find the one that speaks to you. Check my personal glove buyers guide here.

If you start your training in Thailand you likely will be using Muay Thai gloves as since they are all made in Thailand which makes Muay Thai gloves easily accessible in Thailand. Pure boxing brands like Everlast and TITLE are harder to find in Thailand as Boxing isn’t super popular.

I will list how your individual goals in Muay Thai or Boxing will change what type of glove you should get.

If You Are Casually Training Muay Thai

If you don’t have any intention competing and you just do Muay Thai for the social & fitness aspect, the glove type doesn’t matter. The differences between the gloves will not affect you so much.

In my gym after class, we always do around 10 minutes of clinching but it is only people who want to do the extra work. If your not the type of person to clinch after training pick whatever glove you like.

If You’re On A Budget

If you’re anything like me and was on a budget when buying Muay Thai gear, then Boxing gloves are the best option. They are cheaper than Muay Thai gloves as the quality Thai brands like Fairtex/Twins are made in Thailand with genuine leather and have. tobe imported.

Boxing is more popular in the west with brands like TITLE(US) and RDX(UK) make boxing gloves in house so they are not as expensive compared to the Thai brands that always have to be imported.

The Title gloves I mention are around$30-$40 dollars so roughly half the price of a Thai glove. I still recommend buying a Muay Thai glove if your serious about the sport but if your first pair is cheaper Boxing gloves like the Title that’s fine too as having different pairs of gloves have their own benefits which is mentioned further down this post.

If You Take Your Muay Thai Training Seriously Use Muay Thai Gloves

The more serious you take either sport the more you need to wear the right gear. Whilst you CAN clinch and catch kicks with boxing gloves, the added range of motion Muay Thai gloves give you makes everything just that more natural.

I made the mistake of initially buying Boxing gloves instead of Muay Thai gloves and despite. me liking the gloves themselves, I really should have bought Muay Thai gloves instead.

If you think there’s even a small chance of you competing in Muay Thai or you just want the best Muay Thai experience possible, start with Muay Thai gloves.

If You Mainly Punch Consider Boxing Gloves

If you find yourself mainly punching in sparring or you come from a Boxing background, then Boxing gloves for Muay Thai does make sense as Boxing gloves offer the best weight distribution for punching; since they are custom designed for just punching.

The best entry-level Boxing gloves are the TITLE leather training gloves(check them out here). When you want to work on pure boxing or if your hitting a Boxing bag, having pure Boxing gloves just makes sense.

If You Want The Best Possible Results of Your Muay Thai Training

Nothing is stopping you from buying both types of gloves as it isn’t too expensive to do so. Just like with shoes, having two pairs allows you to rotate the gloves and reduce the general wear and tear.

Both gloves do different things, you could use your 16 oz Muay Thai gloves for sparring and pad work, and use your 12 oz Boxing gloves for Boxing pad work and hitting the Aqua bag, or buy a 16 oz Boxing glove for Boxing sparring.

Ultimately having both Boxing and Muay Thai gloves is the best scenario as you get the best of both worlds and would only cost around $110-$120 USD if you buy the two gloves in my recommendation for Muay Thai gloves which you can find here.

How To Choose The Best Muay Thai Glove For You?

You need to know exactly what kind of gloves you should buy for your training. There are numerous factors to consider.

• Glove weight
• Glove aesthetics
• Glove style
• Glove material
• The glove type

Muay Thai Gloves Sizing Chart

Body Weight Recommended Gloves Size

Body Weight	Recommended Gloves Size
100lbs & below	8oz – 10oz
100lbs – 125lbs	8oz – 12oz
125lbs – 150lbs	10oz – 14oz
150lbs – 180lbs	10oz – 14oz
180lbs & above	12oz – 16oz

Different gloves can have different uses so it’s important to understand the differences before you make your purchase.

Training Gloves

RDX Gloves (which you can view on Amazon here).

These gloves can be used for everything you do in Muay Thai from pad work, sparring, and bag work. The majority of any bag/ pad work you do will be with training gloves hence the name training!

Training gloves are the most popular I recommend your first pair of gloves to be training gloves as they are so versatile you use them for everything!

What Glove Weight? Check my post here for a recommend glove sizing chart but 12 oz will be most popular. If your a person under 130 lbs/59 Kg gets 10 oz.

Sparring Gloves

Fairtex Sparring Gloves (which you can see here on Amazon).

Sparring gloves are designed for sparring so they have a more pointed shape for Sparring with more protection around the knuckle to protect both your hands and your opponent.

You can hit the bag with sparring gloves as most people that aren’t Muay Thai loco won’t have a dedicated pair of sparring gloves and they use 16 oz gloves for Sparring; 16 Oz gloves also are a requirement to Spar in certain competitions.

The majority of Muay Thai brands will offer a sparring version of their training gloves and it’s a smart idea if you spar often to buy a pair.

What Glove Weight? 16 oz is ideal for most weight classes, with 14 oz for women and men who are lighter. If your a heavyweight 18-20 oz is the best choice.

Clinch Gloves

Everlast Clinch Gloves (check them out on Amazon here).

Gloves designed for clinching that are lightly padded with unique velcro protection. You wear this to practice clinching wearing gloves whilst stopping any potential eye poke and fingernail scratches that can happen when clinching without gloves.

Unless your someone who is a professional fighter or Muay Thai crazy and love to clinch I wouldn’t recommend buying them. A nice pair of training and Sparring gloves is all you need.

Bag Glove

FairTex Muay Thai Bag Gloves (check them out here on Amazon).

This bag will be lightweight around 6 to 12 oz allowing you to hit the heavy bag and deliver some devastating quick combinations whilst having padded gloves to absorb the force when punching and protect your hand.

I don’t recommend buying them unless you want to be quick on the heavy bag, a pair of training and sparring gloves should be first over bag gloves.

What Glove Weight?. Anything between 6 to 12 oz.

What Gloves Do Muay Thai Fighters Use?

Muay Thai fighters across the world will all use the same main brands just like normal Muay Thai gymgoers across the world. Fairtex is the most popular outside of Thailand with Twins being Thai fighter’s most popular brand and the main brand. inThailand.However different Muay Thai promotions have different rules and regulations on glove sizes.

• 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.

The highest level of Muay Thai is fighters who fight in the prestigious Lumpinee Stadium in Bangkok if you view this Lumpinee rules PDF you see you cannot wear gloves larger than 6oz.

With promotions like Thai fight or max Muay Thai, the gloves are around 10z and with western promotions like Glory or Lion fight, the gloves are 10 oz.

With one championship Chinas the answer to the UFC Muay Thai fighters uses super small 4 oz gloves! I believe this is to cause more cuts and knockouts and make Muay Thai more exciting.

Interested in Boxing? Check Out My Recommendations

Looking For Gear To Use When You Train?
If you are interested in training Boxing, here is some of the gear I recommend: Best Mouth Guard Best Gloves Best Headgear Best Hand Wraps
Want To Learn To Fight, But Don’t Want To Go In Person?
CoachTube has online training videos for Wrestling, Boxing, 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 there are many girls at my Muay Thai gym. But how good is Muay Thai for females? I decided to find out.

Muay Thai is fantastic for both sexes and not only teaches you self defense and burns up to 1000 calories a class it also pushes your human potential and is a great stress reliever.

There are many benefits for a woman to do Muay Thai and most gyms including mine are very welcoming to females. I will list the nine reasons why Muay Thai is good for a woman to learn and I wish you start training!

Develop Excellent Self Defence Skills

Having a grasp of self-defense is important no matter what gender you are, and learning Muay Thai will equip you with all the necessary self-defense skills you need for the street.

Muay Thai is known as the art of 8 limbs, as you use your elbows, fist, knees, and legs to defend yourself. This gives you so many options to protect yourself on the street that other martial arts such as Karate cannot compete with.

A robber on the street would not expect a woman to spinning elbow him in the face as he tries to take her purse, but Muay Thai can teach you how to do exactly that!

Muay Thai is effective at all ranges to close, or far as you have kicks and boxing as well as Muay Thai’s very effective standing wrestling known as the clinch! If you want to know the 12 reasons why Muay Thai is good for self-defense please click my post here.

If you want to see how you can use basic Muay Thai techniques in a self-defense situation, please watch the video below.

Burn Up To 1000 Calories Per Class

Muay Thai is a martial art designed for fighting even if you don’t want to fight you have to do the intense running, jumping rope, and shadowboxing for a fantastic aerobic workout; which stimulates the heart rate and improves your hearts function.

Anaerobic(without oxygen) exercise is very common in Muay Thai as it involves pushing your body to its limits, with exercises like kicking the heavy bag/ pads and also clinching pushes yourself to max effort.

In a self-defense situation, the body could be tested aerobically or anaerobically or both ways. Do you want to stand and fight? Then it’s aerobic, do you want to run away or use all your resource for disabling your opponent? Then it’s anaerobic you need.

No matter what your body needs to do, if you train Muay Thai you will be ready as it’s as effective for exercise, as for self-defense.

The problem with training pure self-defense arts like Krav Maga is they are not an intense workout like Muay Thai is. I remember someone training in our gym who was super tired in our session as he didn’t get the same workout in his self-defense classes.

It also burns around 600 calories per hour, so it’s great for losing fat as well as improving your fitness in a self-defense situation! With continued training, you will improve your strength, explosiveness, and your heart’s performance when you need it most!

Learn To Fight Like A Female Fighter

Unfortunately “fight like a girl” used to be an insult directed at people who couldn’t fight, but this isn’t the case anymore.

Women fights in the UFC(ultimate fighting championship) draw as much attention as men and the women UFC strawweight title fight between Joanna Jędrzejczyk(Muay Thai fighter) and Zhang Weili is still the best fight I have ever seen between men or women.

In Muay Thai you have tons of female stars like current One Champions MMA world champion & Muay ThaiWorld Champion Stamp Fairtex from Thailand.

I love that if I have a daughter she will have tons of positive female role models to look up to. this wasn’t the case even 10 years ago as women fighting has caught up to men in recent years.

So why not learn to fight like a girl? You will be a positive role model for yourself but all the women in the world, to push the stereotype the being strong and having self-defense skills only reserved for the men. Be a strong woman and learn to fight like a girl!

Expand 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 the women 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 women and men who are trying to improve themselves doing a difficult thing.

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.

What are you waiting for! Join a Muay Thai gym :).

Relieve Stress

This goes with any exercise in general, but there is no better way to wind down from an office 9-5 that you don’t like than punching a heavy bag with all your power with a large “RARWR”!

If you want to know why exercise is so good for stress relief to check out this article by Havard health.

Whilst other sports will help with stress relief, I think the physical nature of Muay Thai with it’s kicking the heavy bag/Thai pads just makes it extra stress releasing. Lashing out all your inner emotions onto the heavy bag just feels so good.

It isn’t possible to be stressed from work after 9 rounds of Friday sparring, you will be dead and drained but this feeling is beautiful; as all the bad feelings or anxiety you had before the training session will all melt away and you can relax at home in comfort, stress-free.

Life is too short to feel stressed, by do yourself a favor and learn Muay Thai!

Challenge Your Limits

Muay Thai is one of the toughest martial arts you can do, and this is exactly why you should do it. Training martial arts is the best positive change I’ve implemented in my life and I’m so glad I started.

If you want to know how hard it is Muay Thai to learn, then check out my post here.

Regular Muay Thai training is tough and it will make you stronger physically but also mentally. This mental toughness of pushing past your limits will be felt in everyday life, and help you overcome many of life’s challenges.

Think, when you regularly spar someone who is trying to hurt you every week, how unimportant will things you normally stressed over and paid needless attention to seem?

Performing a presentation in front of your co-workers or asking for a raise from your boss, will all seem ever so trivial compared to VOLUNTEERING to be punched in the face every week. Trust me, it puts things into perspective.

Become More Confident

Muay Thai will improve your self-image as you lose fat, get stronger, and look more toned. A positive self-image is important and Muay Thai will make you look better, with a feeling of confidence and power that little. other forms of fitness can do.

Knowing how to defend yourself blessing you the power to take on anything life can throw at you. It won’t just be inside, as others will notice you’re newfound power and see the difference in how you carry yourself with your posture and mannerisms becoming more confident as your belief in yourself increase

If you want to see how training Muay Thai transformed a young women’s life, then this short documentary(linked below) about Yasmin Nazary Muay Thai journey will be right up your street. This isn’t a cliche Muay Thai could genuinely change your life forever for the better!

Muay Thai Is A Fun Workout

I can tell you from experience how hard sticking to an exercise routine you don’t like is. Treadmill running just isn’t for me no matter how good a workout it is.

With Muay Thai no only is it a fantastic workout, kicking pads and learning combinations is just plain fun! You will always be learning and evolving and no session from a good coach will ever be the same or get repetitive.

Running on the treadmill or lifting weights for an hour is just so much more boring and it’s way harder to stick to if you don’t enjoy it. Muay Thai isn’t just enjoyable it’s easier to commit to because it’s fun as you have a social commitment to attend your classes.

Since a martial arts gym is a social club you will feel obligated to keep attending your classes because you enjoy the social aspect of the gym and want to see your friends every week! A good gym friend should call you out if you stop attending, and you should do the same!

Simple And Effective To Learn

Muay Thai is the perfect example of easy to learn but impossible to master, it’s known for its raw simplicity as the strikes are not that flashy but are still incredibly effective. Compared to other martial arts like Karate and Taekwondo that have been watered down and are nowhere near as effective as Muay Thai.

You won’t see any 720-degree triple spinning back kick in Muay Thai as the humble roundhouse is much more effective. Muay Thai is a martial art for everyone.

It will take someone roughly 6 months to learn all the basic foundational Muay Thai techniques so they can easily implement it in a street fight.

In Thailand and now moreso in Europe kids start from 5-6 years old, as there are children Muay Thai classes in my gym here in London. So you could get your current or future children a head start in life with Muay Thai!

So no matter what level of fitness you have, or age you can still find a Muay Thai class that will quickly improve both your fitness and your self-defense, as it is as simple as it is effective.

How Do I start Muay Thai?

So I’ve convinced you, you want to start training Muay Thai as a lady, so how do you get started? Trust me as a woman you will be welcome with open arms. In terms of gyms sexual demographics really it depends.

Some gyms could have 50% women and others like mine have around 15%. There are female-only classes in certain gyms if you would prefer only training with women but that requires your research.

Also, gyms usually come with weights, so you can work on that squat booty as well as that high kick! This does vary so do your own research if having weights is important for you.

To find your perfect Muay Thai gym just google Muay Thai gyms in your area, and see if you have any gyms near to you.

An MMA(mixed martial arts) gym is fine too if they include Muay Thai but depending on the gym the quality of Muay Thai might not be as good as a pure Muay Thai gym. Just check google reviews and see what gym speaks to you.

All gyms should offer a trial lesson so you can see if you like the instructors and the overall vibe of the gym. Treat this period like a job interview as you see which specific Muay Thai gym you like, as this will be your second home after you start training!

There is no rush, so take your time and pick the best one for your own unique needs.

If you’re still not sure about which gym to pick after the trial lesson, consider paying for a one month or two-week pass so you can see what the gym is like. This will be more expensive, but it’s a lot better than committing to a 3-month rolling contract that’s difficult to get out of when you don’t like the gym.

If you don’t like the gym, just take another monthly pass with another gym until you find the one that speaks to you

How Often should I train Muay Thai?

I’ve answered this question in detail in my post here but I will quickly summarise it. It depends on your martial art experience and fitness level.

If you’re a complete beginner to exercise and martial arts I recommend starting with around 1-2 classes a week, so you’re body gets used to the stress Muay Thai puts on you.

Now if you’re someone who regularly works out at home or in the gym or has some previous martial arts experience, you should start training Muay Thai around 2-4 times a week.

 I still recommend the lower end of twice a week, as the stress Muay Thai puts on your body will be very different from feeling sore after doing weights for example.

Now if you want to eventually be the next Stamp Fairtex and turn professional you should train Muay Thai around twice a day 5 times a week.

I commend you trying to achieve this you need many many months of training before you should even think about training this often a week; so your body gets acclimated to the training.

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 highly effective martial art for self-defense and is known to be quite violent. Although, how dangerous is Muay Thai? I decided to find out

Muay Thai can be dangerous if you fight professionally but for the casual Muay Thai student, the risks are quite minor. If you are training for fun and not fighting you might occasionally get a bruise and even western boxing is a lot more dangerous than Muay Thai due to getting hit on the head more often.

Although if you’re Sparring there always will be risks no matter what sport, but Muay Thai can be trained relatively safely. I will expand on Muay Thai being dangerous and if it hurts and answer any other questions you might have.

How Dangerous Is Muay Thai?

The problem with this question is it depends on your goals. Are you someone who just wants to get fit and improve their cardio? Or do you want to fight or even compete with Muay Thai shortly? I will discuss how dangerous the sport is depending on where you stand

If Your A Casual Muay Thai Practitioner

A lot of people who train at my gym are not professional fighters nor do they want to fight competitively, they just like the fitness aspect of the sport and the fun and confidence they get from improving themselves

If you find yourself falling in this category the risks of injury are very low and even lower than something like Soccer or Football as with those sports there’s a risk of collisions that easily can break bones.

Most Muay Thai sessions will start with a warmup involving the following things. If you don’t have a a jump, you can check out some of the best Muay Thai jump ropes on Amazon here.

• Skipping 5-10 minutes
• Burpees
• Shadowboxing
• Push-Ups
• Stretching
• Squats

If you have a decent level of fitness it is very unlikely you will pick up an injury during a normal Muay Thai warm-up. Only if you have a heart condition or never did exercise before is there a risk.

I highly recommend doing some light cardio either jogging or doing some skipping circuits that you can find on YouTube before you go to your first Muay Thai class, to reach an adequate level of fitness.

You will also hit the bag with various punches, kicks knees, and elbows and this carries a small risk of injury if you perform techniques improperly. I hurt my knee kicking the bag so you need to be watchful.

You must hit the bag with proper technique and there’s a risk of injuring your wrist if you’re not careful. You should always wear hand wraps and a pair of training gloves when hitting a bag.

You will find you will get bruises from kicking and kneeing the heavy bag in your gym, depending on the bag itself. Now, this DOES hurt but your shins will condition themselves in a few weeks.

Check this video out for a guide on how to hit the heavy bag which should help you when you start training!

Now pad work is a key in Muay Thai and carries with it a low- medium risk of injury.

It involves one person holding a pair of Thai pads(click here to see some on Amazon), for the other person to strike with punches, elbows, knees, etc.

Just like bag work you must make sure your hands are properly wrapped up and your wearing good quality gloves.

Holding pads is meant to be simulating a fight so as you improve your pad work someone else will throw some light kicks and punches to test your skills.

These strikes will be very light and your pad person will be wearing shin guards so there’s no shin to shin contact.

However, since you’re working with another person this carries a lot more risk. If one of you makes a mistake, you could easily kick their elbow or even for the men they’re crown jewels!

I can tell you from experience this isn’t fun.

If you’re bad man/woman is more experienced or is your coach you don’t have to be worry, but you’re new you both new you to be careful.

As a pad person, you should expect some bruises on your wrists and some pain from holding the strikes but these will go with time.

Please check out this fantastic video by fightTips on how to hold Thai pads properly, your future partners will thank you!

If You Want To Take Muay Thai More Seriously

Now if you want to make your Muay Thai training more seriously and use it for self-defense, you need to spar. I say the risk you will get injured with Sparring is medium.

In this post, I wrote about if you can train Muay Thai without fighting, whilst you definitely can train without fighting, to take your training to the next level you should spar.

Sparring should be a very light and controlled fight simulation between two people who are not trying to win, but rather have a dance with each other and test each other’s techniques and fight reactions.

Never should you be using all your power in Sparring, only use around 10%-30% of your power, and if someone is hitting too hard please tell them as they might not be aware.

Never try to hurt someone when sparring, instead, have a plan of implementing your techniques and do things like work on your defense and movement if you’re better than the other person.

Even with full protective gear, with gloves shin guards, mouth guard, sparring still carries with it a decent amount of risk as you are simulating a real fight.

Kicks and punches will land with more power than you thought, and knee clashes and shin collisions are common. The worst I’ve been injured is just some small cuts and sprains.

If you’re sparring light with the control you shouldn’t have anything to worry about. To see an example of light technical sparring watch the video below.

If You Want To Compete In Muay Thai In Competitive Fighting (High Risk of Injury)

The biggest danger of Muay Thai is without a doubt fighting competitively against other fighters from other gyms.

Fighting competitively in any sport is dangerous as depending on the level you are trading full power punches and kicks with another person and depending on the level knees and elbows to the head are allowed if it’s full Muay Thai rules.

Any injury from broken bones, concussions, cuts, and bruises can happen at this level as it’s the nature of the combat sports!

This level of dedication shouldn’t be taken lately, and you should only consider seriously competing in Muay Thai only after you trained for a couple of years.

See the video below of the top 10 Muay Thai knockouts to see the true brutality of the sport

Does Muay Thai Hurt?

Now aside from the intense feeling of muscle soreness following the days after training, you most likely will suffer injuries and get hurt from Muay Thai via sparring.

But the injuries should be relatively minor and in a few days you will be training as normal.

I will list the top 10 injuries that you are most likely to get in Muay Thai and how to prevent them.

List Of Muay Thai Injuries

Swollen Ankles/Feet

Now, this injury is common especially if you don’t turn your hip properly so you kick with your foot instead of the shin. The majority of shin guards will have an area around the ankle that doesn’t have any protection which leaves your ankle open

Now you can also get a sprained ankle, I got this injury because when my coach swept me I didn’t go through with the fall. Make sure you immediately spray the foot/ankle with a cold spray to reduce swelling and inflammation.

How To Prevent It. Make sure you turn your hip in and/or don’t kick your opponent’s elbow. If you want extra protection purchase an ankle guard such as this Sanabul ankle guard which you can view here on Amazon.

Sprained Wrists

These injuries happen if your hands are not properly wrapped up or you punch the punching bag with too much power or likely the wrong angle, causing your wrist to bend the wrong way and feel painful.

Since the wrist is so involved with Muay Thai make sure you take a few days off to give your wrist time to heal, as you cannot punch or clinch properly with a wrist injury.

How to prevent it. Ensure your wrists are properly wrapped out, look at the video below for a guide on how to properly wrap your wrists. Punch the bag with more precision and less power focussing on technique.

Bruised Shins

By far the most common injury for Muay Thai and you everyone goes through this pain. When your shins are not conditioned they will feel pain when you start kicking the heavy bag and the pads.

Only through a process of bone calcification(bones getting calcium) which happens overtime will your shins not hurt.

You cannot get strong shins straight away and only overtime will your shins properly be conditioned. Now, this process is LONG but be patient and your shins will get more conditioned over time t,his I can promise.

How To Prevent It. You must slowly work on your shin conditioning over time, don’t go crazy and force your shins to the condition it must happen naturally. Hitting a heavy bag is the best way.

Or view Sylvie von Duugla a professional Muay Thai fighters method of treating shin pain, dents, and bumps that you can access in the video.

Pulled/Strained Neck Muscle

This will likely happen because of clinching, as clinching is a very good neck workout as you resist your opponent grabbing your neck but it can cause damage if your neck is untrained.

Also due to modern times are necks lack mobility, but if your neck is strained just wait a few days for the pain to go away but stretching the neck will reduce this recovery period. Over time your neck will get stronger.

How To Prevent It a strained neck. You must do neck stretches to work on your neck mobility or train your neck with weights to make it stronger. During clinching so not allow your opponent to grab your neck, instead, use your arms as a guard to stop any neck attacks.

Bruised Legs

Low kicks are a very important part of Muay Thai and if you ever spar against someone who has a great low kick, you will feel it the day after! Low kicks simply hurt.

Although in Sparring low kicks shouldn’t hurt too much and you will get used to the pain

How To Prevent It. You must block your low kicks, to reduce the damage your legs are taking simple as that. Blocking low kicks is a very important part of Muay Thai and you will remember to check the kicks when you feel the pain of a low kick.

Injured Elbows

The problem with blocking head kicks with your arms is over time this will hurt your elbow, especially if your fighting someone who is bigger than you.

Usually, this will happen if your sparring someone who usually throws kicks at arm level. You must get in the habit of leaning back as absorbing kicks with your arms is a bad habit.

How to Prevent It. You prevent this by focussing on light technical sparring and leaning back against your opponent whenever they kick you which reduces the damage your arms will take.

Headaches And Concussions

You shouldn’t have a headache after Sparring but it will happen if you sparred too hard, or sparred when you were a beginner and had no defense and got hit hard, which happened to me.

If you ever feel dizzy or just not right days after sparring makes sure you take time off. If you ever get knocked out don’t spar for a while even if you feel fine.

How To Prevent It. Try not to spar with people who go 100%, and just improve your general Muay Thai defense. Or just don’t get hit. Sounds easy right?

Injured Knees(Torn ACL/Sprains)

One of the worst Muay Thai injuries you can get, and depending on the injury you could be out for several months.

The problem with knee injuries is since during sparring you’re both kicking each other knee clashes are bound to happen so having strong knees is very important.

How To Prevent It. Avoid sparring with someone who purposely teep or kick their opponent’s knee as this is quite dangerous.

Most knee injuries are random and occur when knees collide or whenever you slip or get swept. Making sure you’re lean and your knees are strong is a good way to prevent them from being injured.

If you want to know more about how to treat knee injuries/pain, in general, please check out my post here.

PLANTAR FASCIITIS

Running is a crucial part of Muay Thai training and in Thailand, it’s common to run once or twice a day, so foot injuries are waiting to happen.

A common injury is plantar fasciitis where the connective tissue of the foot tear, causes extensive heel pain that can keep you on the sidelines for a long time.

How To Prevent It. Run-on soft surfaces like sand or grass and make sure you wear fitted running shoes for your gait and foot type. Also, you can strengthen your muscles with barefoot exercise and stretch the plantar fascia and Achilles tendon to loosen them up

If you want specific exercises to check out Doctor Jo’s a licensed Doctor of physical therapies on specific stretches and exercises to fix the issue down below.

Shin Splints

This also relates to running and it refers to pain along the inner edge of the shinbone (tibia). Shin splints are caused by your body having issues such. like flat feet, running with improper footwork, and weakness in the core muscles.

How To Prevent It. It’s important to stretch the calves and hamstrings, and strengthen your foot and ankle using the exercise in the above video. Ensure your wearing proper footwear and stay at healthy body weight.

Is Muay Thai More Dangerous Than Boxing?

I think western Boxing is more dangerous than Muay Thai as you get punched in the head more often, and I usually feel worse after Boxing sparring than Muay Thai sparring.

Although there are reasons why Boxing is more dangerous which I will go into.

Why Boxing Is More Dangerous Than Muay Thai

Boxing Has More Rounds Than Muay Thai

At a professional level, the rounds between both sports are very different. Boxing has 12 rounds that each last 3 minutes and Muay Thai have 3 or 5 rounds that last 3 minutes, so it’s 36 minutes vs 15 or 25 minutes of actual fighting.

Also, the first 1-2 rounds in Muay Thai are traditionally a lot slower as the real action happens in the 3-5 rounds; Muay Thai has a rich betting history and most of the gambling happens during the fight before the third round starts which is why in Thailand fights start slow.

This doesn’t happen as much in Boxing so the potential brain damage is increased in boxing as the time of getting hit is so much higher than Muay Thai making it a more dangerous sport.

Although with Boxing only contenders, champions and elite boxers fight 12 rounds. When you start Boxing you only fight 3 rounds of 2 minutes so it’s similar to Muay Thai, with newer professionals fighting 4 rounds working your way up to 12.

If you want to see the differences between Boxing and Muay Thai and if you can train them together, check out my post here.

Muay Thai Sparring Is More Technical Than Boxing Sparring

Boxers tend to spar harder and not as intelligent as Muay Thai fighters, just look at the countless boxers who suffered the consequences of how they trained most notably Mohammed Ali. You can see more examples in the video below.

Muay Thai fighters in contrast spar very light at around 10%-20% as they fight very often. It is common for a Thai fighter at 20 to have 100 fights. Perhaps this is why Boxers spar harder.

A boxing manager will carefully pix their fighter’s opponent to maximize their fighter’s advantage and improve their record.

Since Thai fighters fight more often they must go light in Sparring, but with Boxing, they don’t fight often so Sparring harder does in some ways make sense as they have less fighting experience and must simulate a fight in the gym.

Muay Thai Has More Tools Than Boxing

The biggest reason why boxing is more dangerous than Muay Thai is head and body shots with the fist are the only strikes in Boxing. This leads to repeated brain trauma as the skull keeps on getting hit. Even body shots especially liver shots are not safe and are potentially deadly.

You might think Muay Thai is the art of 8 limbs makes it more dangerous than Boxing but this is not the case. Knees to the body in the clinch are very effective at dropping your opponent and they land more than knees to the head.

Elbows can knock you out but elbow cuts can cause cuts to prematurely stop fights before a knockout and brain trauma can occur. The damage is mostly superficial.

Leg kicks are common and can end fights by themselves, and so can body kicks and head kicks can KO an opponent if clean. Overall there are many ways you can finish your opponent in Muay Thai without too much head trauma involved.

But with Boxing, you only have the head and torso to target with heavy 16 Oz gloves that allow someone to not only get hit harder but more often due to the padding. This causes repeated trauma to the head, and over 12 rounds are extremely dangerous for the body.

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 but is it good for self-defense? It makes sense to understand if a martial art is good in real-life situations before you train it for self-defense purposes.

Some martial arts while effective in the dojo, fall apart in a real-life self-defense situation. Especially those who don’t involve punches to the head or any form of grappling, which WILL happen in a street fight.

Here are the 12 reasons why Muay Thai is fantastic for self-defense, which may help you decide why you should pursue the art of the 8 limbs.

1. Muay Thai Is The Art Of 8 Limbs

Muay Thai is known as the art of the 8 limbs because you can strike with your feet, hands, knees, and elbows. Meaning you have a MASSIVE toolbox to use in self-defense situations compared to Boxing which is just two hands.

These limbs cannot be used in traditional martial arts due to their destructive power. Both knees and elbows are very deadly in self-defense situations and can cause great trauma to your opponent.

The infamous Muay Thai leg kick is equally deadly in a street fight as most people will have their weight on their lead leg. This will give you an easy target as a Muay Thai fighter, as they won’t know how to defend it.

Most other martial arts just lack the weapons of Muay Thai. In the chaotic nature of a street fight you will need all limbs of your body to potentially save yourself from life and death situations; Muay Thai gives you the best access to all these tools that could potentially save your life.

2. Muay Thai Is The Most Effective Striking Art

Since Muay Thai gives you so many options, it is known as the most effective martial art. It gives someone so many choices on how to attack. Here are some of the different options Muay Thai gives you.

• You can control the distance with jabs and long range push kicks known as “teeps”
• The Muay Thai roundhouse is one of the strongest strikes in martial arts, you can strike the body, legs and head
• Good hand combinations involving punches, long hooks and uppercuts
• The use of hand trapping and controlling the arm/head to transition into clinch range
• Devastating close-range strikes with knees and elbows
• Throws, sweeps and catching the kick
• Strong grappling game with the clinch
• Excellent body conditioning and the ability to perform under pressure

The only options missing are sprawls (defending a takedown), submissions and a ground game. All of these are part of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and combining both BJJ and Muay Thai will make you more than capable in a street fight.

This is why Muay Thai is the striking base of one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, MMA. You see many famous UFC fighters like Jorge Masvidal and Joanna Jędrzejczyk have strong Muay Thai bases.

The massive variety of techniques just makes it so effective compared to other striking arts like boxing or karate.

MMA fighters are competing in the hardest sport imaginable, so if they’re using Muay Thai as their main striking base it speaks volumes.

3. Effective In All Ranges Of Stand Up Fighting

If you look at Boxing it is really only effective in the pocket up close and personal with your opponent or the outside. This however is not the ideal situation for a street fight when anything can happen.

Whereas Muay Thai allows you to use all weapons available to the human body to protect yourself. When you’re far you can jab and use your front kick to keep the distance, when you’re close you have your punches, clinch and elbows, and when in medium-range you have your kicks and knees.

There is not a distance where Muay Thai is not effective, compared to traditional Taekwondo which is too reliant on keeping the distance with flashy kicks and no punching allowed; or boxing which has no answer to kicks.

Learning Muay Thai you will have an answer to everything, from kicks and punches to someone clinching you. You will be prepared for every situation. This isn’t the case with most other martial arts and it’s why Muay Thai is so effective.

4. Simple To Learn And Use In Self Defense

Muay Thai is the perfect example of easy to learn but impossible to master. It is known for its raw simplicity as the strikes are not that flashy but are still incredibly effective.

You won’t see any 720 degree triple spinning back kick in Muay Thai as the humble round house is much more effective. Muay Thai is a martial art for everyone.

It will take someone roughly 6 months to learn all the basic foundational Muay Thai techniques so they can easily implement it in a street fight.

In Thailand, and now more so in Europe, kids start from 5-6 years old, as there are children Muay Thai classes in my gym here in London.

So no matter what level of fitness you have, or what age you are, you can still find a Muay Thai class that will help you in a self-defense situation and perhaps save your life.

5. Muay Thai Toughens Your Mind, Body And Spirit

Now I said Muay Thai is great for self defense, but that does not mean it’s easy, far from it.

Muay Thai is very difficult to learn as your body will be aching after a workout with all the intense cardio, kicks, and shin conditioning you will be doing as part of your training.

However, what this training does is improve your physical conditioning, confidence, and ability to control your emotions. Training Muay Thai puts your mind and body in a great position for a street fight. In the gym you are constantly tested mentally and physically.

Your body and mind will be a lot stronger because you train Muay Thai making it way more likely you will be calm and collected in a street fight scenario. Sometimes you may find yourself uncomfortable while training in the gym, but this is a great thing!

Nowhere is this better put than the late Muay Thai Grandmaster Kru Yodtong Senanan who said. Doing difficult things, creates difficult people. to deal with!

Muay Thai is good for your confidence and inner strength.”

Kru Yodtong Senanan Muay Thai Grandmaster

6. Muay Thai Is A Fantastic Aerobic & Anaerobic Workout

Muay Thai is a martial art designed for fighting even if you don’t want to fight you have to do the intense running, jumping rope, and shadowboxing for a fantastic aerobic workout; which stimulates the heart rate and improves your hearts function.

Anaerobic(without oxygen) exercise is very common in Muay Thai as it involves pushing your body to its limits, with exercises like kicking the heavy bag/ pads and also clinching really pushes yourself to max effort.

In a self-defense situation, the body could be tested aerobically or anaerobically or both ways. Do you want to stand and fight? Then it’s aerobic, do you want to run away or use all your resource for disabling your opponent? Then it’s anaerobic you need.

No matter what your body needs to do, if you train Muay Thai you will be ready as it’s as effective for exercise,as for self-defense.

The problem with training pure self defense arts like Krav Maga is they are not an intense workout like Muay Thai is. I remember someone training in our gym who was super tired in our session as he didn’t get the same workout in his self defense classes.

It also burns around 600 calories per hour, so it’s great for losing fat as well as improving your fitness in a self-defense situation! With continued training, you will improve your strength, explosiveness, and your heart’s performance when you need it most!

7.Training Muay Thai Prepares You For A Real Fight

Muay Thai is a rare martial art as it is also a combat sport. If you’re serious with Muay Thai you should be sparring at least once a week. If you want to know more about if you can do Muay Thai and not spar read my post here.

This gets you used to being hit and also trying to hit someone who is trying not to get hit. This is why Boxing and Muay Thai are so effective for self defense, as the art of hitting and not getting hit is the fundamental skill for self defence.

The problem with traditional martial arts like Wing Chun and Karate is they don’t spar often, and worst of all if they don’t allow punches to the head which is critical in any true sparring art.

A lot of martial arts have been watered down, and nowhere in this more true than in Olympic Taekwondo which allows no strikes to the head, you can see what I mean in the video below.

If Muay Thai gets watered down, it would cease to be Muay Thai. In Muay Thai you can spar right away but usually within 1 month and get used to getting hit, hitting, and defending with every part of your body.

Also in Muay Thai, it is common to not wear any protective gear whilst sparring, which makes it as realistic as possible.

I don’t see any martial art that will get you street-ready as Muay Thai in as short a time period as Muay Thai; as sparring is a crucial element of the art and sparring is quite close to simulating a true street fight.

8.Muay Thai Has Throws & Sweeps

Despite Muay Thai being a striking art it has tons of grappling involved, such as the numerous sweeps and throws from the clinch, and sweeps from holding your opponent’s leg.

This separates Muay Thai from other striking arts that lack this component such as Karate. If you study Karate and barely spar and someone grabs you, what would you do? But in Muay Thai you are used to this scenario as this happens all the time.

Better yet, these throws and sweeps always leave you still standing. This translates to self-defense as you never want to be on the ground, so you still see your surroundings.

Imagine if there are three attackers, with two that you can see. You use a throw to get one on the ground and out of the fight, whilst your still standing so you can use your strikes to defend against the other 2.

The issue with using grappling arts for self-defense like Wrestling & Brazilian jiu-jitsu is when you’re on the ground you can’t see what’s around you. All of grappling in Muay Thai still leaves you standing, allowing you to defend yourself and others around you.

9.Muay Thai Is A Battle System Turned Into A Martial Art

Nothing screams Muay Thai’s effectiveness for self-defense more than it originally being a practical fighting technique used for actual warfare!

Muay Thai known as Toi muay or muay was used a lot in the Burmese–Siamese War (1765–1767) and only really became a sport with King Chulalongkorn coming to the throne in 1868 with the Kings personal interest in the sport bringing it forever into Thai culture.

This is why Muay Thai translates so well to self-defense and has so many techniques that are uncommon for striking arts like the clinch and throws being integral to the art, as it has its history in battle.

If you want to learn more about Muay Thai and it’s history, this quick 11 minute documentary on Muay Thai by Fight Vision is right up your alley.

10. Muay Thai stance Is Close To A Normal Stance

Unlike traditional martial arts like Karate/Taekwondo and even Boxing, the Muay Thai stance is a lot more natural, as your hips and eyes should be facing your opponent, whilst the former is more unnatural as you are facing your opponent side on.

Click here if you want to understand more about the stance differences between Muay Thai and Boxing.

If you’re in a street fight you likely will already be facing your opponent or even when you’re walking down the street. You WON’T be walking down the street in your boxing/Kungfu stance.

Muay That’s basic yet very effective stance in both offense and defense just gives you a natural way to defend yourself.

It leads to Muay Thai is simple, as in a street fight you want to revert back into the more effective simple stance to use and that is Muay Thai.

11.Effective In Both Straight & Centre Sight Lines

Muay Thai is designed to deal with both your opponent’s straight strikes(jabs/straights) and also attacks from the side such as hooks and roundhouses

Typically a street fight will mostly be someone throwing straight punches or wild haymakers and this is bread and butter for Muay Thai, as we have the defense for both punches and kicks from the central and outer lines.

Whereas with other traditional martial arts like Karate, you see far fewer horizontal strikes especially the hook that will be very common in a street fight, so you won’t be able to defend against it. Muay Thai would not be an issue.

12.Thai Clinch Is Excellent For Self Defence

The Muay Thai clinch(standing wrestling) is almost a martial arts in itself and is very important in self defense situations.

If two people are fighting on the outside with kicks and punches, 3 things will happen.

1. Either person will get knocked out
2. One person will create distance or run away
3. One person will close the distance and cause the fight to in-between fighting, that is ideal for the Muay Thai clinch

Muay Thai addresses this in-between zone with the clinch as numerous throws, sweeps, and strikes from the knees and elbows are available; the Muay Thai clinch is also very important for MMA, with fighters like Anderson Silva and Zhang Weili using it.

Learning the Muay Thai clinch simply gives you access to a huge set of tools that other striking arts would dream to have.

The ability to grapple makes Muay Thai fighters harder to take down compared to kickboxers and boxers, which is an important skill in a street fight.

Being on the ground is the worst position in a street fight you don’t want to be there as you cannot view your surroundings, and Muay Thai is the best striking to not be taken down.

With Muay Thai you can choose to stay in the fight or run with your life still intact.

If you want a quick clinch masterclass with arguably the best Muay Thai clincher fighter of all time Petchboonchu, then please check out this quick FightTips video on the Muay Thai clinch down below. Happy clinching!

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 an intense martial art, scheduling a proper training routine is very important. But how often should you train Muay Thai? I decided to find out.

 If you’re a complete beginner to working out 1-2 weeks is enough, over time as your body gets used to the training as you are more physically active 3-5 times a week is enough to improve your Muay Thai technique and fitness and eventually, it is possible to train daily.

However, it depends on your unique goals and aspirations do you want to just stay healthy and get a workout in? Or do you want to eventually be a Muay Thai fighter?

All this and more will be discussed in this article.

How Often Should You Train Muay Thai Explained

This question is like asking how long is a piece of string? As it will vary from person to person, so this answer will change depending on your fitness and martial arts experience

If you don’t work out or have no martial art experience

Typically if you’re a person who isn’t physically fit or a natural athlete starting with 1-2 sessions a week is a good start.

The problem is Muay Thai is a very intense martial art and can burn around 600 calories an hour! For untrained individuals, this puts a lot of stress on the primary muscles used in a Muay Thai class.

Click here for a blog post by evolving MMA for the four muscle groups that Muay Thai strengths but typically Muay Thai will give these muscles a workout.

• Shoulder and arm muscles
• Hip and legs muscles
• Core muscles
• Back muscles

If your untrained Muay Thai will hit all these muscles especially the legs and hips very hard, so you could find yourself being very sore in the days after training this soreness will get worse if you force yourself to train when you’re in pain.

It’s much better to start small and wait a couple of days in between workouts to ensure your body is properly recovered. I recommend daily stretching to reduce muscles soreness, you can read more about the specific stretching you can do for Muay Thai in my post here.

Typically your training should be 80% Muay Thai with kicking pads/bag and working on your technique movement etc. With the other 20% doing some basic conditioning with pushups, dips bodyweight squats, etc. Just keep it simple!

Once you’re used to training 1-2 times a week and you feel healthy and want more, then you can gradually increase the training frequency to around 3-4 times a week as your body get’s more used to the stress you’re putting on it.

If You Workout Or Have Some Martial Art Experience

Now if you’re someone who regularly works out at home or in the gym or has some previous martial arts experience.

Typically you should start training Muay Thai around 2-4 times a week.

Training Muay Thai will still put stress on your muscles but the difference is your muscles were USED to being under stress; from weights or your previous martial arts training.

If you want to find out if you should lift weights whilst doing Muay Thai check my post here.

You will not be as sore from training Muay Thai compared to a complete beginner as your simply strong. This is where I started training Muay Thai as all the calisthenics(bodyweight exercises)were known to be and I already had good cardio fitness.

Whereas if as a beginner you’ve never done a pushup before, of course, it’s going to be harder to perform, especially as straight after you’re going through an intense 90 minute Muay Thai workout!

I still recommend starting at the lower end at around twice a week, as we all know it’s difficult to start a new habit so aim low even if you have the required fitness levels; as you can always improve instead of trying to immediately go 4 times a week and getting frustrated when you don’t.

If You Have A Lot Of Martial Arts Experience/Want To Fight Amateur Level

If you have considerable martial arts experience in a similar martial art or want to find Muay Thai at an amateur/Interclub level.

Training anywhere from 4-6 times a week is ideal.

Maybe you kick-boxed for several years back in the day or did Muay Thai a long time ago and want to get back into it.

Your body should be used to muscle fatigue from punching and kicking compared to less experienced Muay Thai beginners.

This is the level where I’m at as I’ve fought in InterClubs(friendly sparring with other gyms) and if you want to improve and compete you need to be going at least 4 times a week as the more you train you more you will progress.

Ideally, if you want to compete at InterClub you should be sparring at least once a week, read my blog post here on if you have to fight to train Muay Thai for more info.

If You Want To Be The Best Fighter You Can Be/Turn Pro

This is the highest level you can train up to, and you should train for months and months before you reach this training frequency.

Training around twice a day 5 times a week if you want to be a professional Muay Thai fighter.

This is the level professional Muay Thai/MMA fighters will train at but it will take you a long time to get your body accustomed to this level of stress if you came from being a complete beginner.

Typically you want to split your training into morning and evening sessions, in the morning you could do some weights for your strength and conditioning than in the evening work on your technique and bag work. This gives you time to recover in between the training sessions.

Giving yourself two days off a week is a necessity even for professional fighters are they’re bodies need time to rest and recover.

If you trained 7 times a week eventually your body will break down and you’re training will suffer.

Check out Flavia a professional Muay Thai fighters answer to the same question down below, and he says the same thing.

Why You Should Train Muay Thai Every Day!

Hang on a minute, Dillon you just said you shouldn’t train every day! Wait here me out on this. I don’t mean train extremely hard but if you go light even on your off days you will greatly improve your Muay Thai without much stress on your body.

Doing things like 5-10 minutes of skipping every day just to get the blood flowing or shadow boxing for 10 minutes daily, will put minimal stress on your body whilst greatly improving your Muay Thai technique.

Even spending 10 minutes a day to just walk around in your Muay Thai stance and see how you move. This has zero stress impact as you’re walking but footwork is probably the most important thing to improve in any striking art and will make a massive difference to your Muay Thai.

Check out this very simple walking drill by MuayThai Pros down below.

If you’re worried about overtraining which is smart you should be, doing things that are minimal impact like shadow boxing will not impact your recovery.

Now would I recommend hitting the heavy bag daily with full power? No of course not, but you could hit the bag every day but focus more on technique with little power to greatly improve you’re striking.

I do Sean Fagan’s(professional Muay Thai fighters)shadow boxing workout every day, and it’s only 10 minutes puts no stress on your body and you can easily do it daily. Take a look at the video below for the workout

Daily training in Thailand is very common and the Thai always do it, just make sure you’re not going too hard and you will always find the time to recover and improve your Muay Thai.

How To Structure A Muay Thai Training Routine

No matter what level you’re training at if it’s a beginner to a professional you definitely will be doing the following things no matter what Muay Thai gym you’re at.

• Skipping rope
• Shadow Boxing
• Thai Pad Work
• Heavy Bag Training
• Calisthenics(body-weight workouts)
• Stretching
• Footwork drills
• Sparring
• Clinching
• Running (now this is usually down in your own time outside of Thailand)

However, how you structure your training routine largely depends on what your Muay Thai goals are. According to Sean Fagan, this is the typical Muay Thai daily training routine in Thailand and I’ve seen people who have trained in Thailand have similar routines.

• 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

All rounds will be between 2-5 minutes and of course, depend on your goals

• If your training for an amateur Muay Thai fight or a smoker/InterClub you should train with 2-minute rounds
• If you’re training for a professional Muay Thai fight it should be 3-minute rounds
• If you feel like being a beast and pushing yourself do 4-5 minute rounds

Now, this typical routine will last between 90 to 2 hours depending on how many rounds and how long you have the rounds.

However, this routine is quite advanced so if you’re a beginner stick learning the Muay Thai rhyme and basic technique first and take things slow.

Perhaps run on a different day or only hit the bag instead of hitting the bag AND doing pad work.

How To Train Muay Thai At Home

Now, what if you can’t access the gym or your home has limited equipment. What do you do? Luckily you can train all striking arts effectively at home with limited equipment and I will show you.

Three principles will help you with working out at home that you much pay attention to.

Record Yourself Training Often!

This is the biggest advice I can give anyone training at home or even at the gym and I’ve recently started to implement it myself. Recording yourself showcases all your weaknesses and always tells the truth.

I couldn’t believe how bad I looked on the camera! You will notice how often you drop your hands, your lack of head movement the truth is shown to you.

Records yourself slaps you in the face with your immediate problems and is the best thing you can do to improve yourself. Try to record yourself as often as you can so you can compare how you improve over time.

I recommend buying a Gorilla Pod Tripod to record yourself in any situation with your smartphone such as this JOBY Gorillapod that you can get for a fantastic price from Amazon right here.

Now if you don’t have a way to record yourself doing shadow boxing in front of a mirror is a good alternative, as you can still see yourself technique and what needs improvement.

Focus On One Problem Area At A Time

How often does someone promise for a new year resolution to lose weight, stop smoking, and become a new man/woman? All the time, and how often do these massive changes work? Never.

Especially when training home you can’t say, I will work on my switch kick, my Teep, and my leg kicks as this is too much to do and you’re spreading your work too thin.

Have one clear goal you need to work on, for me right now it’s my switch kick. I’m focusing on my switch kick right now, and after I’m happy with the progress then I can move onto another technique, but don’t promise yourself the stars when you haven’t even reached the moon.

Start Your Home Muay Thai Workouts Small

To be consistent you must start with small changes and over time make these changes a habit that will become a massive change, basically daily consistency=massive results!

This is known as the compound effect and was popularised in the book the compound effect by Darren Hardy and applies to everything you want to improve in; you can read a summary of the book here or watch a short YouTube video on the book down below. Or better yet buy the book for a fantastic price on Amazon via this link.

Commit to a very small goal, like running a 5K once a week or 5 minutes of shadow boxing a day or go even smaller! Just commit to something you can do so you can build a habit even gradually improve it over time.

So pick something specific you want to work on and commit to a daily habit to improve the technique, so, for example, do 10 switch kicks a day. Start easy so you can gradually improve and reap the benefits of the compound effect!

Don’t start with something too hard like I will do 100 pushups, 100 sit-ups,100 burpees daily and when you don’t do it you will feel bad and not motivated to train. It’s like the old fable, slow and steady wins the race!

Muay Thai Best Ways To Train Solo

Shadowboxing

Shadowboxing is the king of solo training methods as it can be done anywhere and you need no equipment. It allows you to warm up quickly, and a perfect way to practice proper technique and form for your Muay Thai strikes.

With every proper repetition of a strike, your body’s mind-muscle connection will improve. You more often you practice specific combos the better your muscle memory and the more effective you will be in a Muay Thai fight or sparing using those previously learned combos.

Now it’s important to imagine you’re fighting someone and not mindlessly throwing combos. Make sure you implementing proper defensive techniques like checking and leaning back, try to treat it like a real fight as much as possible.

Check the video below for Sean Fagan’s shadowboxing tips and what not do. As for a shadow boxing workout the 10-minute Muay Thai workout I posted above would be perfect.

Shadow Box Something Real Like A Tree/Pole/Sofa

Now the problem with shadow boxing is because your hitting/kicking air it’s easy to disguise poor form, like not turning in your hip with a roundhouse.

Now, I am not saying you go to your nearest tree and strike it with full force as that will HURT! Just strike it with precision with barely any power.

Kicking a tree showcases sloppy form as you can tell if you’re not kicking with the shin or not punching with your knuckles as you will get hurt striking with a tree with improper form. Also, it’s a lot easier to visualize an opponent if you’re kicking something physical.

Now start with shadow boxing without anything and then transition to hitting something physical. Be careful not to break anything!

Study Your Fights & Sparring Session By Recording Videos

This links to recording yourself as much as you can as the video tells no lie, you can see your problem areas and what you need to work on.

If you’re lucky enough to have fought whether a professional or InterClub level, analyze your videos and see what you did right and wrong. If you lost the fight why did you lose? What was the opponent doing to beat you?

If you haven’t fought, just look at clips you have recorded, what is the biggest thing you need to work on? Are you lowering your hands too much? You should know what your problem areas are.

A good method recording yourself doing a technique then youtube the perfect demonstration of that technique and then compare your video. You will see the mistakes you are making, and know best how to correct those mistakes so you can improve your technique.

Now, this process will take a long time you won’t improve over time. However, you should know this as Muay Thai is a difficult sport, and like with everything consistent gradual progress is the best step to success!

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 are known to be very strong for their size but do they typically lift weights? I wanted to know this myself so I researched the internet trying to find out.

Muay Thai fighters are athletes so they lift weights, few Thai fighters lift weights because most Thai gyms lack the equipment, knowledge, and strength trainers compared to the west. Although Thai fighters have started to lift weights as the knowledge and equipment is improving in Thailand.

The myth of lifting weights making you bulky and slow is only true if you train like a bodybuilder and not as an athlete. I will explain how you can use weight training for Muay Thai and if you can build muscle with Muay Thai plus any other questions you might have.

Why Muay Thai Fighters Lift Weights

Muay Thai is over 2000 years old but that doesn’t mean the current understanding of effective weight training and sports training & physiology hasn’t evolved in the last 2000 years!

With Muay Thai and especially in Thailand fighters, are scared of bulking up and becoming slow, the idea is if your a natural 155 pounder and you bulk up using weights to 170 pounds you will become slow and be less effective in that 170-pound weight class than if you never bulked up at all.

However, this is if you train like a traditional bodybuilder like Arnold who’s the main goal was putting as much muscle as possible.

If you train like an athlete with an educated weight lifting program not only your endurance will increase but also your strength and explosiveness, and you don’t even need to put on any weight and stay fighting at your preferred weight class!

Although weight training like an athlete is a fantastic way to bulk up to a weight class, having all your power, endurance, and strength increased.

If you’ve been to Thailand you will notice that the majority of Thai training is spent running, skipping, hitting the bag and pads, and light sparring. However, this isn’t out of choice but more out of ignorance and lack of equipment & c proper coaching to use that equipment.

But, you can see in this blog post by the fantastic Don Heatrick Founder of Heatrick Strength and Conditioning that in some Thailand gyms things are slowly changing.

Yodsanklai Fairtex a prestigious Muay Thai fighter was seen by Heatrick to be using the free weights gym and training with Kettlebells on specific strength and conditioning days, in the well equipt Fairtex gym in Pattaya Thailand.

See one of the best Muay Thai fighters ever Buakaw perform some strength and conditioning in his gym, in the video below.

Unfortunately, Yodsanklai and Buakaw have access to well-equipped gyms with strength and conditioning that most Thai’s just don’t have. Most Muay Thai gyms in the west will have strength and conditioning equipment; it’s just in poorer areas in Asia like Vietnam/Cambodia where there’s a lack of facilities.

To see the progress modern sports science has taken us just take a look at the amazing records broken in the 2016 Rio Olympics(read more here), to see how sports scientists are strength and conditioning coaches are trying to keep breaking the ceiling of human potential.

Just look at the 4-minute mile first being broken in 1954 by Roger Bannister and since then it has been broken by over 1400 male athletes to see how the human sport’s potential improves over time.

Here is what Don Heatrick said about strength and conditioning specifically for Muay Thai athletes in his post about Sports Performance Training which you can read via the link.

Remember, if all else is equal, the better-conditioned fighter will win. Muay Thai rewards power and effect, and the rounds are of increasing importance as the fight goes on. Even technically better fighters can easily lose a fight if they haven’t the energy or power to match their opponent in the later rounds.”

Don Heatrick

Even if some of the best Thai fighters don’t have a solid strength and conditioning program, imagine how good they would be if they did? Lifting weights is extremely effective for building endurance and power two things that are very important in a Muay Thai fight.

If you struggle to lift your body weight in a Pull-up and can only do around 2-3 reps, compared to someone who can perform 6.8 pull-ups whilst wearing a 40-pound weighted vest, who’s going to be less tired after a heavy 5 round fight with heavy clinching involved?

You can see the very real advantages to strength training as a Muay Thai fighter, and assuming both fighters are equally skilled and mentally strong conditioning very well could be the deciding factor in a fight.

To be a powerful fighter you must be able to generate force quickly. the stronger you are the quicker you can accelerate and create power. Make sure your training focuses on strength into rapid muscle contraction so you can be explosive.

In the gym, you must focus on progressively overloading the muscles(Wikipedia) to cause a change, your muscles will only change via gradual increases of stress caused to the body via weighting lifting.

Make sure you’re challenging your body during weight training, if you can do 3×10 sets of bodyweight pull-ups no problem then to progressively overload you must either increase the reps or add some weight to cause more stress to your muscles; which increases your power via increasing your strength.

For a Muay Thai fighter likely they don’t want to gain excess mass so they stay in their weight class, this is why Muay Thai training should be focussed on the 1-5 rep range as this builds more strength than mass. Pure muscle building training is more between the 8-12 rep range.

To improve strength you need to use your central nervous system, the best way this is achieved is via heavy compound movements from a barbell such a bench, squat, deadlift, row, etc.

According to the strength and conditioning journal for Muay Thai athletes(read here) to achieve maximum strength gains, you must train at 85% of your 1 rep max for less than 6 reps two times a week with roughly 8 sets per muscle group

So if you one rep max of the bench press is 200 pounds, you should be doing a working set of 170 pounds for 3×5 reps with 3-5 minute rest between the sets twice a week, and only hit 8 different sets for your chest per week to just built strength.

If you want more understanding of why 5 reps are the golden standards for strength building, then please watch this video down below.

Sports science will only improve over time as new things are constantly being discovered and old myths being proven wrong. Make sure you keep up to date and don’t get left behind in your Muay Thai training!

Can you Build Muscle With Muay Thai?

Whilst doing Muay Thai is a fantastic workout the training is not the same as weight lifting and it’s not ideal for gaining muscle. Although it does depend as calisthenics(bodyweight training) is a key component in most Muay Thai gyms and can be as good at building muscle as weight training.

However, punching the heavy bag, doing clinch work will gain you some muscle strength training with weights that will be far more effective.

I noticed this myself as when I started Muay Thai I stopped weight training as I thought I would gain muscle during my heavy training. After a few months despite my fitness level improving I realized I looked the same.

It’s only when I started incorporating a weight lifting routine in-combination with my Muay Thai training did I noticed significant muscle gains. Although training Muay Thai while trying to gain muscle brings some difficulties of its own.

The problem that to build muscle you must be in a calorie surplus of around 300-500 calories, read more about the ideal amount of calorie surplus for muscle gain here from JCD fitness. Or if you prefer a video explanation check out the fantastic YouTuber Michael Kory’s video down below.

The typical Muay Thai session will last around 1-2 hours and will burn around 600 calories an hour! 

So if your maintenance calories are 2000 and you need 2300 to gain weight and put on muscle, your Muay Thai session online could burn around 900 calories meaning you would need to eat 900 calories to stay the same weight let alone gain!

If you’re burning too many calories and not replacing those burnt calories with food it is very difficult to gain muscle mass, the only way to train Muay Thai and gain muscle whilst weight lifting is to consume more calories and protein than you burn.

How To Build Muscle While Training Muay Thai

Now a professional Muay Thai fighter will focus on strength workouts keeping most reps in the 1-5 range as this gives the most power whilst increasing muscle mass if your eating in a calorie surplus.

For such a program I recommend looking at Don Heatrick’s great strength and conditioning programs designed specifically for Muay Thai which you can access here. I used one of his routines myself and I felt the strength benefits within a couple of months.

For gaining muscle eating more calories and having proper nutrition is most important than the workouts you do, as 80% of your gains whether losing or gaining weight is to do with your diet.

To gain muscle you must be eating more than you consume as well as incorporating strength and conditioning together with your Muay Thai training.

You need good fats, fiber, protein good carbohydrates to ensure your nutrition is the best it can.

Nutrition is a very complicated subject but check out the biggest fitness YouTuber ATHLEAN-X video on general weight gaining tips, and how to gain weight if you’re struggling down below. Remember that nutrition is key!

Tips On Gaining Muscle With Muay Thai

For Muay Thai Training Ensure You Rest And Recover

Recovering from Muay Thai after hitting the pad/pads running and Sparring is hard enough but if you want your muscles to recover and get stronger you must recover from workout especially if your lifting weights as well.

It takes your body 48 hours to recover completely from a workout which is why full-body routines are separated by two full days if you do your strength and conditioning on Monday make sure to wait until at least Wednesday to lift weights again.

Lifting weights and doing Muay Thai is possible but you have to be more intelligent with your training, consider doing your Muay Thai training and weight lifting on the same day, and letting having the next day completely off; experiment with what works for you.

To ensure your training is optimal you must aim for at least eight hours of sleep. Sleep is super important for muscle building(read here on sleep.org) as its when your human growth hormone is released so make sure you get your eight hours so you can recovery optimally!

Don’t Weight Train Straight After Your Muay Thai Sessions!

The majority of your strength training should be done BEFORE you train Muay Thai or at least a couple hours afterward.

Why? To properly stimulate growth and provide stress to the muscles to make them grow your body should be fresh so it can focus all its output on getting stronger and lifting heavier weights.

The problem with doing the reverse is after a 90-minute Muay Thai workout you will be completely fatigued and your muscles will not be in the best condition to be under stress and stimulate new growth.

I’ve done this myself and I promised never again was I was so much weaker than if I trained fresh which makes sense. You might see but Dillon wouldn’t doing Muay Thai after lifting weights be such as bad for you?

No, as Muay Thai and MMA coaches encourage their fighters to do martial art specific training tired as it’s replicating a real fight you should be able to perform all your combat sports movements whilst you’re tired, no one expects you to beat your one-rep max after you just sparred for 1 hour will they?

The ideal situation if you do your strength training in the morning around 9 am and then do your Muay Thai training in the evening.

You want to give the most popular rest between your strength and conditioning and Muay Thai but always do your S&D before your Muay Thai training for maximum muscle gains.

For Muay Thai Muscle Building Always Focus On Compound Exercises

For combat sports, in general, you always want to focus on the big compound movements, as they give you the most bang for your buck I will list the main ones down below.

• Bench press
• Barbell row
• Barbell Squat
• Barbell deadlift
• Barbell overhead press
• Barbell bench flat/incline/decline press
• Pullups
• Dips

The issue with combat sports athletes is they will train the bro muscles like the biceps by doing reps upon reps of bicep curls, then do their Muay Thai training and they’re muscles don’t recover as the biceps are heavily involved in specific movements like the clinch for example.

Focusing on these big movements just recruit so many more muscles than isolation exercis\es (only one muscle involved) exercises like a bicep curl which results in a lot more muscle gained.

Check out First Strike Athletics video below on what sort of workouts you should be doing for Muay Thai, but really if your routine is focussing on compound movements on rep ranges of 1-5 reps you should be fine assuming you’re giving yourself adequate rest.

You Must Stretch To Recover Properly Between Workouts!

Whenever your lifting weights to build muscle especially if you’re training martial arts, you must stretch after each session for many reasons.

I have a post where I go into a lot more details on Muay Thai specific stretches you can do here but to summarise.

• Stretching reduces the risk of injuries
• Reduces the muscle ache/pain from both Muay Thai training and lifting weights
• It helps you improve your kicking flex-ability to make those head kicks. easier!

I stretch every single day when I wake up and go to bed and find that it’s the best process to make my stretching consistent. However, stretching for 10-15 minutes after every training session will go a LONG way to ensure your recovering properly between workouts.

Imagine if you DON’T stretch you will be that much more fatigued and stiff which will be even worse if you lift weights and train Muay Thai at the same time.

Every muscle in your body is connected with tissue known as fascia but this fascia could be stopping your muscles from growing larger. It’s like putting trying to fit a big backpack into a smaller backpack there is not enough room no matter what.

Stretching your fascia gives more space for your muscles to grow and get stronger if you want to know more about fascia and why you should stretch to maximize muscle growth then please read this article from stretchcoach.com.

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.