Muaythai is a sport that has changed my life for the better! I am married to martial arts and recommend everyone to try any form of martial art whether it’s Muaythai, BJJ or Boxing! Muaythai provides some of the best workouts for the body.
Here are my five reasons to train Muaythai: Read More
Training on your own is part of the sport some times, so here are 5 drills I like to do as part of my training to be more efficient with time.
1. Shadow boxing. This seems like an obvious one but it’s a great chance warm up and work your technique without impact on your body. I also use visualization in my shadow boxing, instead of randomly throwing shots I visualize an opponent sparring in front of me and work my defenses, attacks and footwork.
2. Tabatha bag work. Tabatha is awesome for fitness! Find a long bag and start with 20 seconds of technique combinations at lower intensity and then 20 seconds of high intensity with hard and fast combinations. Do 8 rounds of this then have a minute rest.
3. Clinch work on bag. Lock on to a heavy short bag, pull and push the bag like you are in the clinch driving knees in at different angles. Practice your pop back straight knees and continuous knees, it’s also a good way to practice hard elbows.
4. Plyometric work is great for developing explosiveness in your Muaythai. My favourite plyometric drills are box jumps including one legged box jumps. Gradually build up the height on the box jumps ensuring that both feet are landing cleanly so you can stabilize on top of the box.
5. Ladder drills help with speedy footwork and agility. There are heaps of different drills to try the aim is to be as quick and light on your feet as you can. I usually start the drill at half speed and build up the speed as I get more comfortable.
I try to keep drills simple but also challenging, since it they are ‘solo’ drills it’s best to choose ones you enjoy as you get what you put into the drill.
Claire Foreman
#iamabsolutemma
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is an incredible sport and a martial art in where you never stop learning. For an average person it takes 10-15 years to earn their black belt and that’s because BJJ is extremely difficult. BJJ can be practised as a hobby, a competitive sport, a way to get fit, stress relief, a social outing and a very effective form of self-defense.
In your first few sessions, you will learn the fundamental moves and concepts which will carry you through to more advanced techniques later down the track. Usually you will repeat the technique on a partner without any resistance, which is called drilling. The next step of training is where you test out the technique or sequence you just learnt with live resistance from you training partner. This is a great way to give you feedback on how effective your execution is and where it could be improved. Probably the most enjoyable part of training for many is the sparring part – or ‘rolling’ as we call it in BJJ. This is where you train with full resistance with an aim of having positional control over your opponent and eventually making them ‘tap out’.
In your first month of training, you should expect to have a lot of fun. You may see yourself dominated by a smaller, but more skilled opponent, which means that the sport you are choosing to do actually works. You will learn new skills, meet some wonderful people and become a part of a friendly community. You will get fitter but also realise that the more efficient you become at the technique, the easier it gets. You will learn about patience and discover things about yourself – be it on a physical or emotional level. The beginning is often tough, but all you have to do is keep turning up with an open mind and be ready to learn. Training BJJ for whatever reason you may choose is a journey absolutely worth having.
As they say, a black belt is a white belt who never quit.
Livia Gluchowska
#iamabsolutemma
Personally, I believe the clinch is an aspect of the game that I resort to if I feel I’m struggling to dominate an opponent in striking range. In the clinch you are able to lock someone up, land powerful knees and elbows, perform discouraging sweeps and wear the opponent down physically and mentally. On the other hand, your opponent may also resort to the clinch to defeat you if you are keeping on top of them in the striking range; therefore it’s essential that you are proficient in this discipline to defend against strong clinchers or as a means of winning your Muaythai fights. It’s unique to aspect of Muaythai and is one that separates it from other striking disciplines like K1 style of kickboxing. It is important to understand scoring in the clinch and is essential part to Muaythai, this is why I believe it is so important.
John Mckenna
#iamabsolutemma
