I would say most of our members come about 2-3x per week, and the question that is asked is what to do on your days off of training muay thai? For those that train every day, I rarely get asked whether or not to do more since they are already pretty sore from the training itself lol
But for those who typically come about twice a week, here are a few things I recommend you do on your off days.
#1 – Study Muay Thai Fights
Not “watch” but study. Pick one of the latest muay thai fights (I’m partial to ONE championship, as from what I’ve seen it highlights some of the best muay thai practioners in the world right now, especially the up and coming ones) and try to avoid fighters you necessarily are a fan of. Find some random fights and if you can, watch it in a slower speed. Things will become much clearer as far how moves are setup and try to recongize patterns. By studying fights, you actually will see what’s working and what doesn’t work at the highest level.
#2 Shadowbox
Shadowboxing is one of the best ways to sharpen your skills, footwork and overall technique. Plus, it doesn’t destroy your joints. The problem with hitting pads every day or the bag, is that overtime your joints need some time to recover. Trust me, I’ve done hard bag work every day and it’s resulted in more joint pain than your average guy in their 30s. Shadowboxing also teaches you something extra valuable — how to follow up after missing a shot. If you only practice on bags and pads, you’re dealing with 100% hit ratio (although you can miss the bag and pads, but that’s pretty rare). By shadowboxing you’re learning how to maintain balance after kicks and punches and keeping control.
#3 Body weight exercises (10 minutes max)
I know alot of people want to do weightlifting (typically dudes) on their off days because they see so and so fighter doing it. Keep a couple of things in mind, most professionals have reached their literal peak when it comes to their development in fighting skills. So all they need to do at this point is increase their power, speed, and cardio for longer rounds. So they can spend more time in the gym doing strength training. If you’re a beginner, doing bodyweight or gymnastic training has a 3 fold effect. One, you won’t be as sore for the training next time you do Muay Thai, Two: you will actually develop more mobility as it is helpful to Muay Thai and Three: You’ll be practicing more time under tension (think gymnastic rings, pull ups, ect) which is more helpful in a position like the clinch.
#4 Rest
Listen to your body. If you’re overly sore, don’t push yourself to do more on your off days, otherwise the chance of injury shoots up higher. Rest allows your body (And your brain) to recover so that way you can get more out of training the next day. I’m one of those guys that has a hard time resting because I don’t like to be comfortable too long lol. But in all my years coaching, listening to your body is one of the skills that will prevent you from being out for 6 months because of some injury. My rule is this, if you go to the training and the next day you wake up sore, do something active for 5 minutes to get the blood flowing. If you’re still sore, you may need to rest. If you feel good (sometimes we just feel sluggish the following day because our muscles have lactic acid, you just need to move around more and it usually goes away), then go ahead and train.
Hope you found this article helpful. If you have any quetsions about our classes or want to sign up for a trial class, you can contact us at 214-907-4907.
Have a wonderful week, God Bless!
– Coach Taylor Kelley
Owner / Head Coach Grand Prairie Muay Thai