Thai boxing is one of the hardest martial arts in the world. If you have never trained before, Muay Thai will put your body on fire. But I have a question for you – are you thinking of going one step further and becoming a Muay Thai fighter?
Did you answer “yes”? Well, if that’s the case, please let me get to know you with the secrets of becoming a Muay Thai fighter. When you decide to train seriously and climb to the top of the division, you’ll have to live like a Spartan. Training, healthy nutrition, going to bed at 10-11 PM… There will be many obstacles in your way, but stay persistent and you’ll succeed.
Let’s Get Ready To Rumble… Oh, Wait!
Before you even think of becoming a Muay Thai fighter, you’ll have to make significant changes in your life. Every sport demands sacrifices.
If you think that you’ll just train in the evening and have fun throughout the day, you’re making a terrible mistake. I am warning you – you’ll get bored quickly because every single day will be the same. Even when you have a day off on Sunday, you’ll have to recover your body via light jogging, massage, or cryotherapy.
Thai boxing demands a maximum level of dedication. Are you willing to dedicate your whole life to Muay Thai? Would you like to be the champ? Keep reading!
Becoming A Muay Thai Fighter – Seven Greatest Challenges
Many fans think it is easy to enter the ring and leave it with your hand raised. But the majority of them would surrender after the first cut or knockdown. Muay Thai is a sport and martial art, but also a way of life.
You’ll rarely see a Thai warrior fighting random people in the street unless he’s attacked. They mostly respect tradition, their ancestors, and dojos. So if you’re interested in becoming a Muay Thai fighter, please forget about backyard brawls. There is a better place to showcase your skills.
The life of a fighter is hard. Yet, if you succeed, you’ll deserve the respect of your lovely fans, followers, and opponents. Many people will remember your name. Now let’s see what it takes to become a ring warrior!
Are You Ready To Change Your Life?
Some habits are really bad, and you’ll have to change yourself if you plan to step inside the ring and start winning. During my life, I’ve done over 200 interviews with many fighters. Here’s a shocking fact – more than 50% of them were undisciplined before their martial arts’ voyage.
So if you smoke, drink, or take weed from time to time, you’ll have to stop doing that. No excuses! Becoming a Muay Thai fighter reflects strict discipline. So here’s the desired ruleset:
- Go to bed and get up around the same time (unless you work graveyard shifts).
- Try to rest between your training sessions whenever you can.
- Don’t go out more than once per week. It gets even better if you can say goodbye to nightlife.
- Think about Muay Thai between training sessions or you’ll never become a champ.
- The most important rule – as of today Muay Thai is number 1.
- Don’t cheat. If you get caught for PEDs or any other illegal substance you won’t be allowed to compete for a year or two.
Muay Thai Is About How Many You Can Take, And Still Keep Moving Forward
Did you watch the movie “300”, which speaks about the discipline of Spartans? Well, if your answer is “yes”, then you know about their temptations. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, it’s a very nasty and mean place.
The philosophy of Muay Thai teaches you to eat a shot and move forward. The majority of fighters are trained to take a brutal beating and fight until the last dying breath, both in the ring and in real life. You need a strong mind.
Are you thinking of becoming a Muay Thai fighter? Ask yourself the following questions:
- Can I take a lot of damage?
- Will I continue marching forward with a broken nose, even if my face is covered in blood?
- Will I get distracted by family issues or some other problems?
- Can I handle a difficult training regime and live like a real warrior?
- Are my mental strength and moral good enough to survive five rounds of bloody and battered war?
All the answers are yes, are they? Fine, keep reading then, you are potential future champs!
Spars / Corrections – Obsession / Addiction
In Thailand, sparring sessions are mostly light and focused on technique. When you hit the mitts or heavy bag, hit as hard as you can. But the training session means fixing errors, improving all aspects of the game. For example, western-based fighters are usually having a hard time when it comes to clinching.
When you come home after the training session, think about your sparring, put everything on a piece of paper. Make the list of potential corrections. Becoming a Muay Thai fighter demands obsession – putting your training in the spot number 1 and addiction – spending every single day in the world of Muay Thai (if you don’t train, you can think about it, visualize).
Let’s compare the fighter who constantly thinks about Muay Thai and the ring warrior who comes home and does other things. Fighter 1 will progress faster.
Resilience Is The Key
You can train hard and work on your skills every single day. That’s awesome. But sometimes you’ll end up losing three or four bouts in a row, which might lead to severe depression.
Yet, that’s when the heart of the true Muay Thai warrior comes through. You think of becoming a Muay Thai fighter. Great! I have one question for you. Are you a resilient person? Is your answer “yes”? Lock’n’load, your Thai boxing voyage is ready to start. The greater levels of heart and resilience will turn you into a better fighter.
Work On Your Weak Spots
This is one of the greatest challenges. For example, a fighter who doesn’t kick well stays away from kicking training session. Let me tell you, I was a terrible boxer, but today I can throw every single punch, even spinning back fist, Superman punch, and hammer-fist. How did I do that? Training, training, and training – practice makes perfect.
Even when I was having a day off, I trained shadowboxing. I knew my technique was bad, so I was standing in front of the mirror and throwing strikes. Sometimes two, three hours per day. Guys, please, work on your weak spots or you can only dream of becoming a Muay Thai fighter.
Even if you dare to step inside the ring, there is a problem. A fighter with a high fight IQ will notice that you, for example, don’t defend low kicks well, and he’ll destroy your leading leg for a TKO win. There is no perfect fighter, there is a warrior who always seeks improvement.
Watch As Many Fights As You Can
You live in the information age nowadays. Twenty years ago fighters who lived outside of Thailand were having a hard time because they were unable to follow tournaments.
But look at the bright side, now you have YouTube and various other platforms, plus PPV events. I will give you an MMA example. If you purchase UFC Fight Pass for 10 dollars per month, you can watch every single UFC fight since 1993.
If you watch more fights, you’ll see more new techniques, but also more new potential mistakes and holes to patch. It leads to improvements in your game. You can take a look at a video tutorial and try something out in your training session, right. Becoming a Muay Thai fighter is hard, but let me ask you a question. Will you master the technique if you watch it over and over and over? I’d say yes!
Boost Your Cardio
You can be the greatest technician with the best fight IQ in the world, but when your gas tank is empty, it is empty. You’ll get battered, even when you square off against a weaker opponent. Lifting weights is important, but greater levels of cardio make the difference in the later rounds.
Conclusion
Many casual fans believe becoming a Muay Thai fighter is an easy job. Slow but sure wins the race, that’s true.
But listen, fighters must deal with numerous temptations on their path to glory. You may forget about nightlife, but can you tolerate pain? Can you fight while your face is covered with cuts and bruises? Can you survive a few brutal knockdowns and defeat the aggressive opponent? If you believe in yourself, it’s time to keep the pedal to the metal and write your name in Muay Thai history!
Last Updated on May 21, 2022 by Deni
