[quote]ThyArtisMurder wrote:
Pwnisher, thank you for your input. I do not plan on competing in muay thai, or else i would not be so keen or interested in lifting. I want to excel at muay thai, but lifting is so fun and addicting not to mention i’m so early into it and have SO much progress to make. If i wanted to excel at weights, i would probably go 3-4 days a week, but i enjoy kickboxing more (self defense, fun etc) that’s why i’m trying to make the best of both. [/quote]
I know exactly what you mean because I was in this very situation. I also know you won’t listen to the advice I’m going to give, because I didn’t listen to it at your age, but I’ll say it anyway in the hopes that you may realize it at 20 versus when I did at 21, which will still give you a head start.
I spent years spinning my wheels and just making zero notable progress in both fighting and lifting when I tried to do both. They’re simply opposite activities that have opposite demands, and training for one detriments the other rather than enhances it. It takes a lot of time and energy to get good at fighting, which is time and energy spent not only not improving at lifting, but actively and negatively impacting your recovery from lifting. Trying to put on weight while doing what it takes to become a better fighter is almost impossible for an unassisted trainee, because it’s simply too demanding from a caloric standpoint. Hell, right now I’m trying to split my attention between strongman and powerlifting, two sports with what look like similar demands, and it’s still an effort to not regress at one to progress in the other.
When I tried to do both, I was just bad at two things, and really, spending your time and energy training to be bad at something is disheartening. If/when you decide which is ultimately your priority, you will be thankful you did. If you pick lifting, you can always do some bagwork for some conditioning, and if you pick fighting, you can definitely put on a little size and strength, but it’s going to be a very slow and gradual approach.