10 Bodyweight Exercises For Muay Thai
Muay Thai is widely regarded as technically the hardest and most advanced striking style. Due to the nature of the sport, each athlete must put a lot of focus on improving strength and endurance.
Strength, in particular, is closely associated with the power of your shots, clinch battle, and how efficiently you can absorb punishment so working on improving these areas directly enhances your overall performance inside the ring.
That being said, you may wonder – what are the best bodyweight exercises for Muay Thai, and how each of these may improve your game?
Well in this article, you are about to discover all the answers. But first, let’s take a brief look into why bodyweight exercises are so beneficial, not just for Thai boxers, but in combat sports in general.
Bodyweight Workout for Muay Thai – How important it is?
In sports like Muay Thai, athletes strive for finding an ideal balance between fast and slow twitch muscle fibers. On one side, fast twitch muscle fibers enable you to use huge power over a short period of time (explosive strength), while slow twitch muscle fibers enable you to perform over an extended period, long-distance running for instance.
Thai boxers must do various types of anaerobic and aerobic workouts to develop lean muscles that will give them enough strength but also fatigue slower, and this is where bodyweight exercises come into play.
Being jacked with bulky muscles is never going to work, because first, these muscles burn a lot of oxygen which is why a jacked bodybuilder will probably gas out minutes into the fight.
On the other side, not having enough muscles makes you weak, messes up your balance, and takes away a lot of power from your shots.
Bodyweight exercises are great because you can find that ideal balance between slow and fast twitch muscle fibers. By regularly doing pull-ups, push-ups, and other exercises listed below, you will develop strength and muscle endurance without impacting cardio and range of motion. As a result, you will perform at a high pace and absorb punishment without running out of breath.
Dips
Dip is a great exercise for developing upper body strength, and one of the most underrated as well. Depending on the motion and variation, it primarily targets the chest, shoulder, triceps, and rhomboid muscles on the back. It will improve the range of motion of your shoulders, which makes you more agile inside the ring, and of course, the power.
This exercise is mainly performed on the parallel bars you can find in every gym or park, but there are also advanced variations where people do it using gymnastic rings. Although rings increase the difficulty and have more benefits, parallel bars will be more than enough to begin with.
To do it with proper form, focus on supporting yourself on the dip bar with your arms straight down and your head looking forward. Take a deep breath and dip down until your arms are bent 90 degrees angle at the elbows. Do not go any lower to avoid strain on the shoulders. Lift yourself up by pushing from your triceps and exhale and get back to the starting position.
Pull-ups
Pull-ups is a universal bodyweight exercise that is beneficial for just about every athlete in every sport. It is a great exercise for improving upper body muscles such as latissimus dorsi, and trapezius as well as arm muscles, primarily biceps, grip strength, and your core.
This exercise has many variations with each one targeting different muscle groups with the most popular ones being overhand and underhand and neutral.
Muay Thai practitioners love pull-ups because it significantly improves their clinch game. Pull-ups, in general, are great for grappling sports where there is a lot of pulling, joint and weight manipulation because it improves the strength in your shoulders, back, arms, and grip, and it also improves your punching power. For example, Thai boxers often engage in a clinch by grabbing the opponent by the neck and pulling them down, which imitates the position and motion of the pull-up.
Push-ups
Like pull-ups, push-ups are a type of universal exercise practiced by athletes across all sports, especially fighters. It is used for improving pectoral muscles, and shoulders. It also targets the stabilizers because the body is pushed and lowered which improves the body stability and balance which are crucial in sports such as Muay Thai.
Depending on the variation, push-ups also improve the triceps, biceps, forearms, and core, making it a great exercise for adding more power to your strikes.
The best thing about it — push-ups never get monotone. There are dozens of different variations you can combine together to make training more dynamic and interesting. Some of the most effective are:
- Wide-grip pushups — for improving chest muscles.
- Decline pushups — for improving lower chest muscles
- Incline pushups — for upper chest muscles
- Close-grip pushups — for improving your triceps
- Diamond/Triangle pushups — for improving rear deltoids, rectus abdominis, and chest muscles.
Squats and lunges
Squats and lunges are essential for Muay Thai because they improve leg strength and stability. Since these are the muscles used for kicking and balancing, squats and lunges will boost the power and speed of your kicks, and also reduce the risk of you suffering an injury.
Squats engage the quadriceps, hamstrings, and glutes, and overall improve leg strength. Strong legs are a must because Muay Thai puts a lot of emphasis on kicks. In fact, legs are considered the main weapon, and expect to throw hundreds of kicks per session. Strong legs also improve your balance and enable better movement in the ring.
Lunges work the same muscle groups as squats but focus more on stability and control. They simulate the movement used when striking or defending in Muay Thai, making them highly functional for fight scenarios. Lunges also enhance hip flexibility, crucial for generating explosive kicks and fast footwork.
When it comes to these two bodyweight exercises, it’s not a question of whether you should add them to your training regimen, you simply must do it. You can’t expect to develop a strong kicking game, and with that succeed in Muay Thai, without strong legs.
Burpees
Burpees are fantastic for Muay Thai because they build overall body strength and endurance. Burpees work multiple muscle groups simultaneously, including the arms, legs, core, and cardiovascular system. These are all crucial for improving striking power, notably kicks, clinch work, and of course, endurance.
Further, burpees enhance explosive power which is crucial in any form of fighting, especially combat sports that involve striking. Although Thai boxers tend to be patient, even flat-footed inside the ring, they attack using rapid bursts of energy to land a strike, angle out, or block which is why just about every Muay Thai athlete has burpees in their training regimen.
Burpees is also a high-intensity exercise that burns a lot of calories and it is one of the best for boosting cardio fitness.
- Begin from a standing position with your feet shoulder-width apart
- Lower down into a squat and kick your legs back to get into a high-plank position.
- Next, bend your elbows and lower down to the ground.
- Rise back in the plank position and then bring your legs back to get back in the squat position.
- Jump.
Plyometric exercises
Plyometric exercises are great for developing explosive strength, and there are a ton of different exercises you can do at home or in the gym with your weight only.
The majority of these workouts are anaerobic, meaning that each exercise requires you to unleash a large amount of force in a short period of time. This includes exercises that involve quick movements and concentric muscle contractions, and for the most part, emphasize core and lower half muscles. Some of the most effective plyometric exercises for Muay Thai are:
- Jumping Lunges — improve strength in your quads, hamstrings, glutes, and hip flexors.
- Tuck Jumps — is a type of explosive exercise that helps you develop dynamic power in the legs and speed.
- Box Jumps – great for developing explosive power in the lower body and kicks.
- Medicine ball throws – are one of the best exercises for improving fast-twitch muscle fibers in your upper body. This exercise builds explosive power in your upper body which results in a greater punching power.
- Lateral and single-leg hoops.
