Thai Boxing Association of the U.S.A. 

Training Methods

CAUTION:  UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The five ways of training a Muay Thai combination

1.  Shadow boxing
     A.  Go slow step-by-step
     B.  Fast shadow boxing

2.  With Partner
     A.  Go slow step-by-step
     B.  Len chen (sparing)

3.  Focus mitts or Focus mitts & Thai pad

4.  Thai pads

5.  Heavy bag

1. Pre-defined drills
2. Flow at the feeder's discretion
3. Flow at the kicker's discretion

You don't need to learn to hold Thai pads to become a fighter.  However, learning to feed Thai pads is a challenging part of the art and is necessary to become a teacher.  If this is your goal, make sure to pay careful attention to Thai pad holding technique as you progress.  Listed below are several things not to do:

• Don't put your thumbs on the inside of the hand strap.  You can get your thumb sprained or broken.
• If your thai pads have buckles, use the buckle but not the secondary loop.  If the pad holder is injured you want to be able to get the pads off him right away.
• Adjust the angle of your pads to the kicking angle of the kicker.  Students with little hip flexibility will kick in a more upward direction.  For students with better hip rotation don't create too little surface area by holding the pads at a near parallel angle to the ground.  The kicker's leg can bounce off the pad and hit you in the stomach or groin.
• Don't reach out as the kick comes in to try to keep it away from your body.  This can cause the kicker to miss and hit you either above the pads (face) or, more commonly, below the pads (stomach, groin).  Hold the pads and relax your body, and exxhale when the kicker's kick makes impact.  
• Don't hold the pads near your face for high kicks or while kneeling for a low kick.
• Don't stick out your toungue, no matter how tired you are.
• don't put your head down if you are holding for plum position.  you stand a good chance of getting a knee in the head.  Combatively you want your head upright.
• DON'T FORGET TO PAY RESPECTS!!!

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