weight training for muay thai

[mtknewb]

I've recently started doing Muay Thai, before i started i used to do a bit of gym, had a 3 month bulking session and put on about 15kg of weight with a decent amount of muscle.

Height is 5'6
Weight is at 167 pounds

I want to compete in tournaments in the future both here at home aswell as oversea's.

What can i do to get into fighting form? I do muay thai twice a week at the moment, On Monday and Wednesday Nights What kind of lifting routine would be best suited, i want to preserve the muscle i have increase it if i can aswell as condition my body for fighting.

Improving my vertical leap, endurance and strength are also important to me.

thanks for any help.

[HighRevinSi]

I've recently started doing Muay Thai, before i started i used to do a bit of gym, had a 3 month bulking session and put on about 15kg of weight with a decent amount of muscle.

Height is 5'6
Weight is at 167 pounds

I want to compete in tournaments in the future both here at home aswell as oversea's.

What can i do to get into fighting form? I do muay thai twice a week at the moment, On Monday and Wednesday Nights What kind of lifting routine would be best suited, i want to preserve the muscle i have increase it if i can aswell as condition my body for fighting.

Improving my vertical leap, endurance and strength are also important to me.

thanks for any help.

I would also be interested in seeing what a recommended program would look like
I know most of the Thai fighters do a lot of running and sparring, with minimal resistance exercises. I have really only seen Buakaw doing Push-ups, pull-ups, and leg raises for abs. I know at the Por. Pramuk gym they focus on learning the technical skills and cardiovascular endurance as opposed to strength training; hence Buakaw's unbelievable stamina and relaxed composure in the ring.
I do a lot of light resisted knees with ankle straps around my ankles to provide a little bit of resistance for my hip flexors and thigh ad/abductors. Those are definitely important muscles for maintaining kicking endurance for all kicks due to the frequent need to kick and move quickly ( I use a cable setup for knees sometimes when I am healing up the cuts on my knees; they take forever)
For chest and shoulder exercises I frequently change the positions of my hands and grips during a set which is fairly high in repetitions (i.e. hammer grip one arm and straight grip on the other and switch) I do a lot of varying the grip, challenging my balance, and working very quickly with minimal rest.
I made up a pretty good exercise for throwing elbows and forearms; they are essentially close-stance push-ups but with your forearms rested on the ground instead of your hands. The goal is to push yourself up as fast as you can with just your shoulders. This exercise is pretty difficult and can be further enhanced by adding weight to your back. This will definitely be useful in the clinch when you're looking to push off and swing a very quick and powerful forearm.
I have noticed it to be extremely difficult to train for fighting, lifting, and conditioning so you have to prioritize the order.
Hollar at me if you have any other questions as I am a novice fighter too, but def. not a novice resistance trainer

[RaferAlston26]

I've recently started doing Muay Thai, before i started i used to do a bit of gym, had a 3 month bulking session and put on about 15kg of weight with a decent amount of muscle.

Height is 5'6
Weight is at 167 pounds

I want to compete in tournaments in the future both here at home aswell as oversea's.

What can i do to get into fighting form? I do muay thai twice a week at the moment, On Monday and Wednesday Nights What kind of lifting routine would be best suited, i want to preserve the muscle i have increase it if i can aswell as condition my body for fighting.

Improving my vertical leap, endurance and strength are also important to me.

thanks for any help.

Ask your instructor. Also, if you plan on being a fighter bulking and cutting aren't things you want to keep doing. 15kg ins 3 months is a lot of unnecessary weight.

Anyways, I did some research and here it is from a martial artist answering a question about strength and conditioning for muay thai:

if you're going to run as a conditioner, I'd do windsprints, maybe 30 yards, run as fast as you can and back peddle back to the start, do not rest at all until you've done at least 30 of these. do 5 sets of 30 windsprints.
I'd also do alot of bagwork, mostly heavy bag for non stop "rounds" of maybe 3-5 minutes each.
the weight room is for building strength, not conditioning, that's a mistake a lot of people make, do basic full body power moves, powerclean and press, powersnatches, 1, 2 or 3 reps, maybe 7-9 sets. I like to do heavy pulls, not really deadlifts, more like olympic type cleanpulls and then do overhead pushpresses very heavy weights, then I'll do either powerclean n press or powersnatches to get a whole bodypower workout, the conditioning stuff I do at the dojo, with the heavy bag, sparring partners or calisthenics.
p.s. always do situps, hanging leglifts or for muay thai, I'd do standing knee ups, just turn on your favorite music and lift your knees as high as you can for 20-30 minutes....

Also, check out www.rosstraining.com and possibly buy his infinite intensity book. Probably one of the best books for fighters.

[SuicideGripMe]

Go with a basic fullbody workout revolving around olympic lifts to help explosive strength and powerlifts to help maximal strength. Check my sig for some ideas, go with the lower volume routines to avoid being too sore.

[mtknewb]

i've got training tommrow, i will check with what my trainer thinks i should be doing tommrow but it never hurt getting other peoples opinons.

Go with a basic fullbody workout revolving around olympic lifts to help explosive strength and powerlifts to help maximal strength. Check my sig for some ideas, go with the lower volume routines to avoid being too sore.

i've been doing full body workouts all compounds excercises except for bicep curls for the past 3 months about 3 times a week
squats, deadlifts, military press's, dips, pullovers, bent over rows, chins, and flat benching, occassionaly doing incline and decline benching instead of flat.

my diet was top notch (and still is) so it was no problem for me to be able to do that kind of workout and recover in time for the next session.

are you saying i should be sticking to a program like this?
i was doing about 3 sets and 8 reps at the time, then upping the weight everytime i lifted sucessfully.

the things that im not to sure about is how many sets/reps i should be doing and at what weight, do i keep it light to moderate weight or go hard?

you can see what i usually lift for most of those excersies in my profile.

[SuicideGripMe]

You should try and periodize your lifts. IE go with a few weeks of high rep stuff like 3x10, then the next weeks 3x5, then 3x3, then one week max out your heavy doubles or singles then a week off.