weight training for muay thai

[dec11]

after my broken toe mends in a few weeks i'll be hitting (literally) the pads.
was wondering what type of weight programmes you fighters follow, i realise that at 220lbs and around 13% bf, i'll drop a bit of weight and im not overly concerned about that, but i wouldnt want to go much lower than 190-200lbs.

do you guys follow full body workouts or splits?

[MIKE_XXL]

I would run a two times a week protocol with emphasis on compound / olympic style lifts, the big part is building up strength while remaining same body weight...this will allow to focus most of the training for actual MMA while still allowing a strength gains...i would recomed some progressive weight increases while simultaneously changing rep range, this should allow for progressive increases in strength while minimazing weight gain. I would keep calories at 5% below maintance or maintance and focus on upto 40% of total calories and upwards of 60% of carbs being consumed in the two meals post training....just my thinking, by no means an expert in MMA training but trying to develop training routines adn techniques that can assit with MMA as far as strength training is concerned and also muscle enduracne training which will assit cardio in carrying someone deep into 3rd round...but muscle enduracne is another subject all together...XXL

[dec11]

yeah i figured on using a plifting routine (competed it for 16yrs and spent prob 10 of those trying to stay at 75kg class) and cutting out most of the accessory exercises, obviously i wont be going as hardcore as my usual 250-270kg deads anymore. had figured on x2 pw, cheers for clarifying. you reckon the muay thai training is sufficient cardio on its own? i cant run due to shin splints and loathe stationary bikes and xtrainers. i dont really have any intention of fighting competitively, just kinda tired of the muscle game and the associated constant force feeding, a drop to 190-200lbs and 10% bf is the aim, im on trt so i reckon that should help out with maintaining muscle on a lighter diet.

thanks for the input

[Twist]

I pmed mike with a similar question (no answer).

Dec one thing you wanna make sure is that you start jump rope now so your toes/archs/calves are conditioned for when you start muay thai. I messed up my feet bad from not letting them recover and in the beginning they weren't conditioned for that. I am paying a hefty price for that now. Seriously take my advice on that.

If your gym has you doing cardio hardcore like mine does then you won't need to do excess cardio. It all depends on what they have you do though. A warmup for my gym is this:
15min jump rope
jog
stretch
60 pushups
60 squats
20 pullups
40 burpees
100 situps
Shadow box for 5-15 minutes then we start boxing or muay thai

The thing I am trying to figure out is how to not get injuries because our muscles are not conditioned for this type of exercise. I have lately been doing faster/higher reps with little rest (30 sec) to try and condition myself for it. My coach (American Kickboxing Academy) says 12-15 reps with no more than a 30sec rest. He says my muscle weight is holding me back because my muscle type is not used to this type of training. I keep screwing up my tendons when I punch. Start conditioning yourself now bro cuz its 180*

[dec11]

I pmed mike with a similar question (no answer).

Dec one thing you wanna make sure is that you start jump rope now so your toes/archs/calves are conditioned for when you start muay thai. I messed up my feet bad from not letting them recover and in the beginning they weren't conditioned for that. I am paying a hefty price for that now. Seriously take my advice on that.

If your gym has you doing cardio hardcore like mine does then you won't need to do excess cardio. It all depends on what they have you do though. A warmup for my gym is this:
15min jump rope
jog
stretch
60 pushups
60 squats
20 pullups
40 burpees
100 situps
Shadow box for 5-15 minutes then we start boxing or muay thai

The thing I am trying to figure out is how to not get injuries because our muscles are not conditioned for this type of exercise. I have lately been doing faster/higher reps with little rest (30 sec) to try and condition myself for it. My coach (American Kickboxing Academy) says 12-15 reps with no more than a 30sec rest. He says my muscle weight is holding me back because my muscle type is not used to this type of training. I keep screwing up my tendons when I punch. Start conditioning yourself now bro cuz its 180*

yeah, i know for sure my shoulders and hips arent going to ease into this graciously lol. im hoping to develope my kicking more than my punching tbh, had rotator probs so dont wanna push em too hard. as for foot arches, havent got em anymore, plifting flattened em a long time ago. i'll focus on explosive deads and squats. cheers mate.

the place im going to has produced pro's and is regarded as the best in dublin, so i reckon the training will be top notch

[MIKE_XXL]

yeah i figured on using a plifting routine (competed it for 16yrs and spent prob 10 of those trying to stay at 75kg class) and cutting out most of the accessory exercises, obviously i wont be going as hardcore as my usual 250-270kg deads anymore. had figured on x2 pw, cheers for clarifying. you reckon the muay thai training is sufficient cardio on its own? i cant run due to shin splints and loathe stationary bikes and xtrainers. i dont really have any intention of fighting competitively, just kinda tired of the muscle game and the associated constant force feeding, a drop to 190-200lbs and 10% bf is the aim, im on trt so i reckon that should help out with maintaining muscle on a lighter diet.

thanks for the input

I hear ya, i am tiered of training BBers all the time and would love to get involved with some MMA fighters i do have 2 i am currently helping, see how it goes...i would also like to get away form BBing type traing and try the MMA seen, just like you said something different and maybe inject some fun into training again as after 20 years or so, it is anything but fun anymore, overfeeding or dieting, that's all i know how to do, i would like to just maintain for a while...and you are welcome anytime...XXL

[MIKE_XXL]

I pmed mike with a similar question (no answer).

Dec one thing you wanna make sure is that you start jump rope now so your toes/archs/calves are conditioned for when you start muay thai. I messed up my feet bad from not letting them recover and in the beginning they weren't conditioned for that. I am paying a hefty price for that now. Seriously take my advice on that.

If your gym has you doing cardio hardcore like mine does then you won't need to do excess cardio. It all depends on what they have you do though. A warmup for my gym is this:
15min jump rope
jog
stretch
60 pushups
60 squats
20 pullups
40 burpees
100 situps
Shadow box for 5-15 minutes then we start boxing or muay thai

The thing I am trying to figure out is how to not get injuries because our muscles are not conditioned for this type of exercise. I have lately been doing faster/higher reps with little rest (30 sec) to try and condition myself for it. My coach (American Kickboxing Academy) says 12-15 reps with no more than a 30sec rest. He says my muscle weight is holding me back because my muscle type is not used to this type of training. I keep screwing up my tendons when I punch. Start conditioning yourself now bro cuz its 180*

Hey Bro, i did answer, that's weired...hit me up again and i will resend the answer for you, sorry about that, but i know i have answered all the MMA related questions in the last few months...anyway once again sorry about something going wrong and shoot me another PM, trust me i don't get down like that, the people that know me around here, know i always answer questions and have helped thousands of people and answered many many questions...so anyway sorry bro and shoot me another PM...XXL

[baseline_9]

Full depth squats
Explosive deadlifts
Bench press
Push press
Pull ups
Barbell rows

U know the deal.

Jumping squats - killer

Try sled sprints as well... Forwards and backwards

I would either follow a full body routine 2x per week

Or an upper lower split...

The upper lower may be good as it gives you options when Thai boxing... If your upper body is sore you can focus on lower body must thai and vice versa...

Good luck man

[dec11]

Full depth squats
Explosive deadlifts
Bench press
Push press
Pull ups
Barbell rows

U know the deal.

Jumping squats - killer

Try sled sprints as well... Forwards and backwards

I would either follow a full body routine 2x per week

Or an upper lower split...

The upper lower may be good as it gives you options when Thai boxing... If your upper body is sore you can focus on lower body must thai and vice versa...

Good luck man

cheers mate, i figured on a nice simple routine like that, although barbell pressing is a no for me, i can press 57.5kg dbells for 10reps but anything over 80kg on a bar kills my rotators.
i like the idea of the sled sprint, my new gym has a load of strongman type gear like that and i fancy having a go at the tyre flip, if my rotators agree lol.

[Twist]

The gym will have you training also bro. Working out and doing muay thai at my gym 3x per week led to severe overtraining and now I have to take a month off and heal. Work your workouts around what they do there rather than come up with a plan because you might go in and they might have you do tons of chest work followed by boxing primarily and if that was upper body day or chest or something you would be screwed. What happened with me is I would work out and then go in and end up overtraining. Like I hit chest and tris then I went in and we did tons of pushups and followed with boxing and this really jacked my triceps. For now just do something like base said to condition yourself but once you start its another game.

Also I can't stress jump rope cuz it will help your shoulders a lot. I have bad shoulder problems (when they get filled with blood my arms don't work lol) and the jump rope helps.

[dec11]

The gym will have you training also bro. Working out and doing muay thai at my gym 3x per week led to severe overtraining and now I have to take a month off and heal. Work your workouts around what they do there rather than come up with a plan because you might go in and they might have you do tons of chest work followed by boxing primarily and if that was upper body day or chest or something you would be screwed. What happened with me is I would work out and then go in and end up overtraining. Like I hit chest and tris then I went in and we did tons of pushups and followed with boxing and this really jacked my triceps. For now just do something like base said to condition yourself but once you start its another game.

Also I can't stress jump rope cuz it will help your shoulders a lot. I have bad shoulder problems (when they get filled with blood my arms don't work lol) and the jump rope helps.

yeah, i'll be goin x2 pw and sussing out whats what mate and then design my weights around it. id be quite happy with hitting the big three lifts once a week to hold strength, cant be arsed with all the pansy isolation crap anymore. i need a break from the heavy weights now that my tren cycle is drawing to a close anyway so ideal time to get started (if the broken toe allows nxt week)

[dec11]

The gym will have you training also bro. Working out and doing muay thai at my gym 3x per week led to severe overtraining and now I have to take a month off and heal. Work your workouts around what they do there rather than come up with a plan because you might go in and they might have you do tons of chest work followed by boxing primarily and if that was upper body day or chest or something you would be screwed. What happened with me is I would work out and then go in and end up overtraining. Like I hit chest and tris then I went in and we did tons of pushups and followed with boxing and this really jacked my triceps. For now just do something like base said to condition yourself but once you start its another game.

Also I can't stress jump rope cuz it will help your shoulders a lot. I have bad shoulder problems (when they get filled with blood my arms don't work lol) and the jump rope helps.

i know that feeling only too well mate lol

[Twist]

i know that feeling only too well mate lol

Makes keeping your hands up impossible bro. Work on your footwork cuz you will need it.

[fitnessforlife]

I found that when I started training Mauy Thai the first thing that would always let me down was shoulders, after a few years of doing heavy shoulder workouts I just could not last the rounds without my shoulders feeling like bags of concrete.

I've now been doing this twice a week for a few months and I don't have a problem with heavy shoulders at all anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGsqk_f3Gr4

Hope it helps.

[Twist]

I don't even work shoulders so I might try this out once a week. I think the problem (for us) is injuries, not lack of conditioning. However I'm willing to try anything once (bugger off DSM). I'll come back and report after a month or two.

[BBrian]

You seem to be getting a lot of specific advice that probably won't help you too much when you have to follow your instructor's program anyway, but when you are training on your own time, and to be a little more vague, it's important to keep in mind that whatever training you do, when it comes to boxing/kickboxing/muai thai, you need to be focusing very seriously on stamina and endurance. I have a perfect boxing and kickboxing record, so hopefully I know what I'm talking about, but as an example when I lifted weights, I focused on high reps as opposed to high weight. I also ran more long-distance miles than I would ever want to recount, though sprinting is extremely useful as well. And finally, make sure you take in good carbohydrates as soon as you finish working out. This will affect your next workout immensely.

[Cafe]

Compound lift for strength, try complexes with a barbell for endurance training