THE IMPORTANCE OF TRAINING & PERFECTING BASICS

By Sean Fagan

One of the big notions of Muay Thai is that the training is very grueling.

The day in and day out of running, sparring, bag work, pads, skipping, not to mention all the sit ups, pull ups, and pushups is the norm.

As a community, Nak Muay Nation has developed the reputation of hard training makes you a great fighter. And for the most part, that is 100% true.

Without a doubt, you have to put in the work to reach a level of skill worthy of fighting in the ring.  But fitness and cardio will only take you so far. You will reach a point where your opponent is just as “diesel”  as you are… or even more. It is at this apex that you will always lose to a more skilled opponent. It wasn’t because you weren’t in great shape, it was you not having the skills to keep up.

Take for example Saenchai. Why is it that he is able to easily defeat his falang opponents? They are obviously much bigger in stature than he is. I am also pretty ...

AVOID THESE 3 MOST COMMON HEAVY BAG MISTAKES

By Sean Fagan

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

“It’s not daily increase but daily decrease. Hack away at the unessential.” – Bruce Lee

Making a mistake means you’ve wasted a portion of your time, or worse still, you’ve set yourself back so far that you must now spend even more time correcting and making up for your mistakes.

We want to minimize tail chasing during your heavy bag training sessions by developing a NOT to-do list, because what you don’t do determines what you can do. Time to save time. Let’s dig in, shall we?

Note: For each mistake listed, there will be a correction that comes with it. If you’re impatient simply read the corrections and the bold. 

Mistake #1: Just going through the motions.

All the below mistakes will in some way relate to this, so pay attention.

Don’t just hit the bag though it were a piñata, it’s...

 Why Malaipet Couldn’t Stop Crazy

From Muay Thai Guy

The following post on how to defeat a more experienced opponent is written by Jon from MuayThaiAnalyst.com. If you enjoy this breakdown and analysis of Kevin Ross vs. Malaipet, you’ll definitely enjoy the rest of Jon’s work on his website. But for now, check out part 1 of this 3-part series on “Why Malaipet Couldn’t Stop Crazy”.

Kevin Ross is a pioneer in American Muay Thai and one of the most accomplished US fighters today. He was voted Muay Thai North American Fighter of the year in 2010 and has held titles from the WBC, USMF and Lion Fight.  Kevin has also fought a number former Thai champions including Saenchai, Sagetdao, Coke Chunhawat and Malaipet.

Ross and Malaipet met on Dec 5, 2010 at the Commerce Casino In Los Angeles. Malaipet Sasiprapa is a former Rajadamnern and WBC champion.  This was a tall order for Ross as Malaipet usually fought two weight classes above him and had almost 200 more fights than him.  Despite thi...

Is Having Sex Before a Fight a Good or Bad Idea?

From Muay Thai Guy

As a Muay Thai fighter and athlete, sex is a byproduct of the training you do.

Hours of long training leaves you with an irresistible body, fight posters are sexualizing your physique, and the glory of winning is as good as having a Lamborghini.  However, there comes a time where you have to take things seriously, a fight is coming up and you want to be at peak performance, both physically and mentally.  Whether you are a male or female, the question arises…

Is sex before a Muay Thai fight okay?

Or does it hinder my performance?

Let’s take a more serious, deep, hard look into whether the century old idea of sex before competition is detrimental to our game.

Muhammad Ali, the greatest of all time, mentioned how he abstains from sex before competition. There have been a number of fighters and athletes to make the same statement, mainly based on the idea that we want peak performance before competition.

Suppose...

Why You Shadowboxing is an Absolute MUST!

By Sean Fagan

If you half ass or skip shadow boxing you probably don’t understand how much it negatively effects your Muay Thai technique (and overall work ethic).

Most people think it is boring and only a warm up to the actual Muay Thai training session… but it’s not.

Shadow boxing the best place to take your Muay Thai technique to the next level. If you take the time to flow with your techniques, be creative with your combinations and feel how your muscles, joints and limbs move, you will become more self-aware which is key to being your own teacher.

Top 5 Shadowboxing Tips For Muay Thai

How to get the most out of your shadowboxing 

1) Set time aside to focus and just shadow box.

If you just go through the motions and do a round or two of shadow boxing without putting your mind into it, you’re missing the point. Having intention and focus behind everything you do will dramatically improve your learning curve so techniques become mor...