Building Skills And Abilities

Anyone who has dedicated his life to Thai boxing must make absolutely sure that he is always in shape. And before a boxer can do serious training, he must pay close attention to the basics of acquiring Thai boxing skills.


Building Skills And Abilities

There are 10 basic elements involved in building up the skills and abilities critical to a successful career in Thai boxing:

1. Warming up: essential for "waking up" the muscles and making them flexible and for loosening up the joints so that the body will be in the proper condition for heavy training.

2. Students just getting started in Thai boxing: should begin gradually, building up endurance over time. Building up the physical capabilities of a Thai boxer requires time and it should take 6-8 weeks (training 2x a day) for a new student to reach the point where he can perform all the warm-up exercises competently.

3. Training session duration: to prevent the counterproductive effects of over strenuous training, an appropriate training session length, neither too long nor too short, should be decided upon in advance based on the endurance and experience of the boxer. For boxing students, training should not be too exhausting and should not exceed 2 hours for a single session. The trainer should keep a close eye on the boxer to be sure that he does not become too tired as excessive training can result in muscle pain and even severe damage to muscle tissue causing muscle breakdown.

4. The limits of physical ability: not everybody's abilities and endurance in Thai boxing are the same. Every boxer has different limitations. But some boxers may require a resting period before they reach their limits to recover from fatigue.

5. Physical strength: this is one of the primary requirements for agility in Thai boxing. Therefore, a boxer should build up his strength before working on endurance and speed. Once he has gotten his strength up to proper levels, speed and endurance will follow.

6. Persuasive powers and dedication: it is important for the boxer as to how the teacher or trainer prepares him so that he does not become bored with his training.

7. Intensity of training: since the main objective of training is to build up strength and ability, consideration must be given to the intensity of the training exercises so that a lot of training can be accomplished in a limited amount of time. Should the intensity of training be increased to any degree, the length of the session may be decreased proportionately.

8. Special exercises: are the exercises which have components that focus on developing physical strength, bodily relaxation and flexibility, and the exercises that are to be practiced after training sessions.

9. Relaxing the body: relaxation directed exercises begin with massage then followed by activities aimed at making the muscles relaxed. They improve the circulation of the blood and reduce stress and form part of the warm-down procedure that puts the body into a relaxed state.

10. Regular exercises: an element of training that is also important in building up physical capabilities. Such includes shadow boxing, workouts with the punching and kicking of bags and etc.