Training for Thai Kickboxing

Hi all this is my first post. was wondering if anybody could help me with strength and conditioning training for boxing / thai kickboxing. Currently weight training 3-4 times a week, but looking for a more sport specific workout (i was thinking heavy compound exercises?). Also, i need to work on stamina, so any good running / skipping advice would be appreciated.

oh yer, a little about me.

Age 17
b.f.:12-14%
Weight:75kgs
D.Lift- 170 kgs
Bench- 100kgs
Squat- 120kgs
(all for reps)

Cheers,

Greyhawk

Being a fan of MMA myself, here’s my 2 cents,

First, focus on Maximal strength and explosive strength. So big compound lifts in the 80-90% will help. Also, a good idea would be to find a good Oly. coach and learn the basics like hang clean/snatch and power clean/snatch, they will help to build explosiveness because you’ll have to explode if you want to propel the weight above you head! They are a lot of fun to learn and do and train a lot of muscle at the same time.

Second, how’s your Thai boxing abilities? If your beginning, cut back to 3 weight training session/week and do 2-3 TBoxing sessions/ week. The more often you’ll train, the faster you’ll learn (as long as you don’t do it too much!). IMO, the TBoxing will take care of cardio so I don’t see the need to do more as it’s more likely to interferee with your recovery from the strength workouts and TBoxing seesions.

Third, tboxing is notoriously hard on the body so use restorative methods like ice on your shins and shoulders after every session to reduce inflammation and bruises. Light cardio during off days or GPP will help.

And for c***t sake, give yourself some time to learn the basics and enjoy the process. A lot of combat sports fans are total losers who are there to prove themselves so beware and stay focused, don’t become the practice doll for someone else with an anger management problem!

Last thing watch your diet, I won’t touch this subject because you asked for training advice but it’s an important part of the whole picture.

Have fun, learn, recover and in doubt, do less! Combat sports have a tradition of serious overtraining so stay aware of that issue!

My 2 cents!
-LP

Thanx for the training advice man. Been doing T. boxing / boxing for a little over three years, and had the benefit of very good trainers (ex national and international champions) for my beginning 2 years. Will start today using heavier and more frequent compound exercises.

Cheers

Greyhawk

greyhawk.
who do you train with?

greyhawk.
who do you train with.

havoc

Stamina: The tried and true often works best. Do a 5k run once or twice a week but don’t do it all at the same pace–intersperse jogging with faster running and hills.
Jumping rope: jump for three minutes, rest a minute, jump for three minutes…

Strength: Your lifts are impressive for your age and weight. Do calisthenics such as deep knee bends and pushups on the days you spar and do bag work etc. and supplement this with one or two brief weight workouts. Six sets of three of the clean and press could be a great complete workout. Good luck!

Another thought, don’t sacrifice form and technique for strength or power - by this I mean don’t do exhaustive excersizes such as heavy-bag roudhouse kicks or pushups before practicing the fine and controlled techniques which you are trying to perfect.
Say you are practicing at opening up your opponents’ guard - your punches will be very sloppy and you’ll be dropping your hands if you’ve just done a couple of sets of 100xpushups, and you’ll definately be flat footed after too many squats. This is no good if you want precise, surgical efficient strikes.
My sensei always taught practice the power/endurance movements after the finer techniques.
btw, very impressive lift numbers for age and bodyweight.
rgds
ShaunW

Check out Staley’s book, “The Science of Martial Art’s Training.” I havent seen or heard about his newer book on the subject.
-Matt

[quote]havoc501 wrote:
greyhawk.
who do you train with.

havoc[/quote]

hey havoc. not trained by anyone at the moment, as an injury to my left achilles tendon kept my legs out of action for about a year. (this led to me concentrating mainly on my hands, now working on building my leg strength / speed back up) Before this happened though, was trained by Stephen Hall. I was looking forward to going to Thailand in a few months to do a training camp, but looks like this wont be happening now… looking forward to getting back to (and improving) full strength and competing in either boxing or kickboxing later in the year.

Greyhawk

Greyhawk,

I’ve been doing Thai Boxing since 1994, my main reccomendation would be to work on Olympic lifts with the dumbells, coupled with plyometrics.

Through Trial and Error, I have come to the conclusion that Maximal strength is not the most important thing, what is more important is being able to have alot of explosive strength that is gonna last throughout the rounds.

I only really started working on weights since I had an injury/university commitments and other things got in the way and I had to quit. Now, even though I havent trained Thai Boxing (i.e. never actually attended a training session!) When I worked the bag, I was hitting heavier than ever before! Im currently working on getting my fitness back so most of my training is based around Cardio and conditioning!

But im gonna be sticking with the weight training and incorporating more strength training into my regime when I start back!

Yours,
Beev

[quote]Greyhawk wrote:
havoc501 wrote:
greyhawk.
who do you train with.

havoc

hey havoc. not trained by anyone at the moment, as an injury to my left achilles tendon kept my legs out of action for about a year. (this led to me concentrating mainly on my hands, now working on building my leg strength / speed back up) Before this happened though, was trained by Stephen Hall. I was looking forward to going to Thailand in a few months to do a training camp, but looks like this wont be happening now… looking forward to getting back to (and improving) full strength and competing in either boxing or kickboxing later in the year.

Greyhawk[/quote]

Apologies, the guys that trained me were STEVEN Hall and STEPHAN Fox. Sorry bout that, but its late.

Greyhawk