We have told you what to prepare for sparring. And today I want to list out the problems that you will face during this sparring time and you will have to get through it patiently. You won’t get something good easily if you don’t try as hard. So here they are:

DO NOT:
1. Square off to your opponent. That means placing your feet frankly in front of your opponent so that you are facing him with your chest and become an open target. You just have to go back and study your defense moves again and don’t break those basics.
2. Signal intentions with your shoulders, head or flying elbow BEFORE you throw a punch. Always deliver a punch crisply and cleanly. Follow the punching basic which tell you to deliver a straight punch straightly from your chin to the aiming target.
3. Be predictable. Don’t not keep your movement in a strict pattern and repeat it all the time. Be creative. You have to mix up your approach so that your opponent can’t see your moving pattern. If you opponent can read you and your movement, you’re in danger.
4. Reach and paw. Remember these move are mostly useless. So if you really not need to do it, don’t because you will be open for any counterattack.
5. Hesitate. This is in case you already throw out a punch but you suddenly realize it’s a mistake, DON’T freeze in the middle. Do it all the way to finish it even though it’s bad.
6. Flinch. Don’t be distracted by anything. All you have to worry and concern about is another fighter in front of you who’s waiting to make a blow anytime. Be ready and keep your eyes on him.
7. Be fatigue and nervous! Especially your opponent is in front of you. Always concentrate on what you have trained for.
8. Be slow and use sloppy technique. Do you really want to fight or not? But this will take time to perfect yourself. Don’t rush it!
9. Be too intense and stressed or get angry. All that won’t help you achieve your goal of winning I can assure you that. Clear you brain so that you can respond to the game and be smart to use every proper technique in it to win.
10. Charge! This is the result from getting angry and not be able to control it. Well I’m afraid to tell you this, but if you’re facing a good boxer, you’d be brought down to the floor in no time because of that stupidity of yours.

As you can see, this is not only a physically full contact sport. To become a good boxer, you need to use your brain as much as your power. So think, plan and manage every of your moves.

Continue from last time on sparring and what you need to know about it!

Be a smart fighter. Always plan what you are going to do next. Practice something at a time, not everything in one time. Make it simple. This is not street fighting where you will get to beat someone the heck out of him. Example plan, work on your jab and slip during one round, and then another you can work on something else like counter punches. Always manage your moves. This will allow you to see your own mistake of each move and you can correct it more easily.

Do not expect anything to go your plans! It’s not like when you practice with the bag. The move that you want to use and have been practicing with the bag might not work so well when you once have a sparring partner. Well that’s because he has his own plans and moves. You just have to focus on your partner and what you are dealing with in front of you. You will have to go with the flow. That is the fun part of boxing. That is what makes boxing more exciting.

Be calm! Before you get to be a professional boxer, you will have to go through this tough time. In sparring, if you’re still not so good with it, you will get hit A LOT. That’s why you will have to be calm. Learn from it. Find out why you got hit. There must be the reasons, or your opponent is just too damn good. But I don’t believe that. So being pissed and angry about it won’t really help you and you will get hit again if you don’t try to learn from it to avoid it to happen next time.

If possible, tape your own performances! This will allow you to find your own mistakes by yourself. I think this really works. It’s much effective than having someone else even your coach telling you what to do or what your mistake is because that might not work if you’re so eager about yourself too much. Watch and learn yourself!

There’s more! See you next time!

You can practice sparring with a bag but as you know it would be better if you practice it with a person because you can also learn how to move quickly to avoid punches which a bag can’t do. But are you really sure you’re ready for the real action? The result that you’re aiming for is that you are able to hit hard and move fast. Let’s get started!

First, you need supervision. Find yourself a good boxing coach, a person that can help correct any of your bad moves so that you won’t waste your time training something wrong. It’s better if you can spar with your coach and he will tell you exactly what you need to do.

Always wear boxing gear when sparring. Don’t go hit or punch something or someone with your bare fists. It’s too dangerous. All trainings should be meant to be safe!

Remember it’s not easy. You can’t do it in a short time for sure. It’s not just a punching bag anymore if you wish one day you want to be in a bout. To be ready for that, be patient! This is a combat sport and you will get hurt for real. Just knowing how to do it is not quite enough. You will have to move and avoid any attack without thinking. You have to practice it until it’s in your blood. Well to avoid being knocked out in the first round.

Go slow! Like I said it’s hard. A lot of people give in because of the toughness of the training. You will get hurt during this sparring. But get used to it! Mark that it will be worse in the ring if you are not ready. So practice as much as possible for the most effective result you want. Every punch you make, you have to mean it. There’s no use if you do it without concentration.

To be continue next time!

Last time already started the first 5 Muay Thai defenses and I’m going to continue today with the second half. Remember that defense is as important as attack in this type of sports. So make sure you can do it as well.

Sixth defense: This method is similar to the fifth defense. It will be used when the opponent is attacking your with a low kick to the inner knee, by blocking the attack by lifting your right leg up and bend at the knee to block the attack with your upper part of your shin.

Seventh defense: Start from the boxing stance. Pivoting to your left on your right foot, raise your bent left knee a lot higher (at your chest level) than in the fifth and the sixth defenses and use it to obstruct your opponent’s rear kick aiming at your middle part of your body.

Eighth defense: Pivoting to your right on your right foot, raise your left knee as in the previous defense and use it to block the kicking attack from your opponent’s lead foot.

Ninth defense: Keeping your feet in their basic Muay Thai stance positions, lean your trunk backwards while keeping your neck and head vertical to the back to avoid your opponent’s attack with a rear high kick to your head area. It will also allow your do a counter attack easily.

Last defense you need to know here is: as your opponent swings his right foot at you in the middle part of your body, stay away from it by pulling your feet backwards and at the same time pulling in your abdomen and hips, so that your body is arched over, your arms extended forwards over your bent head.

Hope this help! Don’t forget to practice this and become a proficient boxer you wish to be!

To be able to be the most proficient Muay Thai fighter as possible, you need to learn how to do a good defense along the way with knowing how to attack. I’m going to tell you a variety of defense that you can do. Make sure you keep practicing it as often as you practice to attack.

First defense: Start from Muay Thai stance. Then at the same time lift your shoulders, tuck your chin in to save it from being hit (better not get KO so soon) and raise both fists in front of your face (quite high but not too above your head) and keep them there to protect your head and neck, all these vulnerable areas from a punch that is aimed for your head area.

Second defense: From Muay Thai stance, use both your strong lower arms (the bones between your wrists and elbows) keep them close to your body to block your opponent’s kick to the middle part of your body like abdomen by putting your fists together in front of your body at your chin’s level.

Third defense: Start with the boxing stance. Leaning forward, extend both your arms directly out to obstruct a punch strike and then tag on this with either a thrust or a knee-kick. Both this practice and the next defense I’m going to tell you about are in general used by fighters who are themselves not so good at punching.

Forth defense: Take a small step to the front with your left foot (for right handed fighters), tilt your body forwards, right arm gently bent, fist close to your jaw to move from the most important focus of your opponent’s kick and obstruct it, extend your left arm to blow them off stability.

Fifth defense: From the stance, twist to the left and raise your left leg bent at the knee, using the upper part of your shin to block your opponent’s low kick to your outer knee.

For more defense, visit us again next time!

A month ago I was talking about footwork you can go back and read about that. I’ll tell you step by step how to do this footwork. Too bad we don’t really have a good picture or VDO clip to show you yet. But I’ll try to explain it in very details.

Kao Plien Liem or the Alternating Stance Footwork is a walking technique in Muay Thai that reverses the position of the feet and of the body. You can walk with this move forwards and backwards. This action will help you be ready to bring and use any of your weapons to attack your opponent.

Here’s how to do it:
Forward: step forwards with your right foot then step forward with your left. Note that you’re right handed and your right foot is at rear at your stance. So if you’re left-handed, your left foot will be at rear at boxing stance, and then you will have to start with your left foot.
Backward: step backwards with your left foot and then step backwards with your right. Again, if you’re right handed, your left foot will be at front which will allow you to step backward with that foot. But if you’re left-handed, your right foot will be at front, so you will have to start stepping back with your right foot instead.

It really is simple to do. However, this method is really a good thing to know how it will effectively get you ready to bring out your weapons on both left and right sides of your body.

I’m sure you have already seen the head band Muay Thai boxer wear during the Wai Kru ritual and before the boxing match starts. And have you ever wonder what it is and why Muay Thai fighters wear them. It is actually one of Muay Thai outfits today. But who actually knew that it is one of Thai boxing amulets that all of Muay Thai fighters believe will bring luck and victory to them.

That headband is called Mongkon is Thai. It is worn as a charm to bring prosperity and to protect the wearer from danger. It is believed to be taken from Thai warriors in the ancient time that wore a type of bandana around their head before going to war. That might be the origin of the tradition that Kru Muay or Muay Thai master or teacher gives a Mongkon to his students.

One different fact in the past is that Mongkol was worn even during the fight at all time. If it accidentally fell off, both fighters would stop and allowed the boxer to pick it up and wear it again. The other fighter would never take advantage over his opponent during the replacing Mongkon.

If you don’t have Mongkon in your boxing collection, check out this store by clicking on the link below the picture. This is the most popular style because it looks more like the traditional one made of white ropes and can go really well with any color of your outfits. But if you like color, check out the related products. The colors popularly used to make Mongkon are black, white, blue and red. Don’t forget it is a charm, not jewelry. Do not expect to buy a super colorful one!

Muay Thai Head band Mong kol : Boran (Traditional style)

What is a boxing ring? A boxing ring or the ring is the space in which a boxing competition or any other types of boxing matches occurs. A modern ring today is set on a raised stage. It is four-sided square figure with a post at each corner to which for parallel rows of ropes are attached with a turnbuckle. Unlike the wrestling ring, the support ropes in a boxing ring are generally secured at the middle point.

There are quite several professional boxing organizations these days. And because of that, the standards of boxing ring constructions from each organization do vary. But a standard ring is between 16 and 25 feet (7.6 m) to a side (4.88 to 7.32 meters) between the ropes with another 2 feet (.61 m.) outside. The stage or platform of the boxing ring is normally 3 to 4 feet or about .91 to 1.22 meters) from the ground with the posts rising around 5 feet (1.5 m).

The ring itself has around 1 inch or 2.54 cm. of padding covered by stretched canvas. The ropes are around 1 inch in diameter or a bit thicker and held up on posts rising around 5 feet (1.5 meters) at heights of 18, 30, 42, and 54 inches (.46, .76, 1.07, 1.37 meters).
Information above is from Wikipedia

The Muay Thai ring is the same size as that used for Western boxing which is 24 x 24 feet. The floor of the ring consists of judo matting and is covered with canvas. Really not different from regular boxing ring.

Hope this info help a bit in case you want to build your own boxing ring in your backyard. If not, it’s still good to know this a bit of information to learn more about boxing anyway.

This is written especially for you who now live in England and really really want to find a nice Muay Thai gym to follow your dream of learning this truly martial arts. I know it’s hard to find a good Muay Thai training gym out there since there are a lot and, besides, going to a gym today is all about money! It’s true that if you have a little more money to spend on it, you will get a better place. But why don’t you see and consider this one as one of you choices when you get to choose.

Chao Pra Ya Muay Thai Academy can be found in St. Ives, Cambridge shire. You should really check this one out if you’re in the neighborhood. Just like most Muay Thai gyms or any boxing gyms, it’s a good place to help you stay fit and firm, learn self-defense and train regular fitness.

When you think you are going to join this gym, you will get to pick whatever class or training you really wish to train. For example, you want to start with a light training and then move up to the hard and full contact training later. Whatever you train at this gym will help you reach your goal.

This might be one in a few Muay Thai gyms that allow you to train Muay Thai in a traditional way like in Thailand. That might be because the head trainer, Kru Yai Shaun, himself was trained in Thailand and really fell in love with the way he was trained and want to pass that to his own students in England. If you don’t know what it’s like to do Muay Thai the Thai way, go try now with Kru Yai Shaun.

All the standard Muay Thai equipment are provided. You don’t really need to bring a lot of things there unless you want to use your own. So go to www.chaophrayamuaythai.com now to find out more info about the gym. Just to eliminate the gym choices you don’t want anymore and add this one in.

It is crucial to know how to stretch properly before and after you workout. Especially when you do a hard workout like kickboxing, boxing, or Muay Thai, these physical contact sports need really good stretch to add more flexibility to your muscles that will get intense from the extreme exercise.

And I found this website that talks about how to stretch! The site already explains everything you need know in advance before you get started in case you’re new with all stretching thing. The explanations include pictures of body positions and the other parts of body positions, anything that are essential for stretching your body the right way.

Stretching will help prevent injuries and allow you to reach your maximum potential. If you wanna know more about why you need to stretch, go to the site and click on “Why Stretch?” . By the way, the address for this website is www.howtostretch.com.

Once you’re ready to stretch, click on “Stretches”, a link to pages of how to stretch your hands, your legs, your hips, groin, back, and torso. There is also “Advanced Stretch” for those of you who have difficulty with doing regular stretching.

The website is really helpful and useful, especially for us who train martial arts regularly. You can go there to read the useful information and give a little of your support to the site.