My background is mechanical design engineering. I spent 18 years designing, prototyping, testing and developing video camera mounting products – from tripods through to robotic television camera pedestals. Serving companies like the BBC in the UK and ABC in the US. And when you’re an engineer, you very much work [...]
This week, three Muay Thai strength and conditioning questions answered! Standing or sitting between rounds? Weightlifting belts (for fighters), yay or nay? MAS cardio sessions? Plus a bonus game changer to help focus your efforts! Is sitting between rounds best for recovery, or is it better to remain standing instead? How about fighters using [...]
How do you test for maximum heart rate? This question came up in response to my review of the sports science methodologies being used at Petchyindee Muay Thai in Bangkok... ...And this week I've been buried under a LOAD of work, moving my website domain over to new hosts in preparation for something big [...]
Prevent gassing out? Why exactly do fighters gas out? Before you can understand this, and how to train to prevent it, you must be familiar with the key tipping point in your central energy supply... your anaerobic threshold. Once you know what you don't want, you can make sure your training gives you want [...]
This video clarifies some of my thoughts regarding the changing face of Muay Thai training in Thailand itself. It's going to be a long process, but it has begun. Things are slowly changing in Thailand. And with traditional Muay Thai training habits so strongly embedded and blindly defended, it's the foreigners that could be [...]
In part three answering Richi Alvarez' Muay Thai strength and conditioning questions, we turn our attention to energy systems (or cardio conditioning) training while in Thailand. To plug gaps in your cardio conditioning training in Thailand, you must first understand what you're already getting! You'll certainly get a large volume of "threshold training" and [...]
Muay Thai specificity is a term that's largely misunderstood, and therefore misused. In this video I set about explaining how all three main elements of your training; strength and power, cardio conditioning, and Muay Thai training itself, have a range of activities from general to specific. Once you understand this, you can begin to [...]
Don’s Winning Fighter's Principle Quick Coach’s Chat EP. 03 Featuring Manachai and Yodchai filmed at the Yokkao Training Centre in Bangkok. Head over to my YouTube channel #MuayThaiTube and subscribe to get all the latest videos as soon as it goes live every Saturday. Don's Winning Fighter's Principle Video Transcript: I'd like to share with [...]
Coach's Quick Chat Episode 1: When a Fighter Says They Do Strength and Conditioning Featuring Singdam, filmed during performance testing at the Yokkao Training Center in Bangkok. Head over to my YouTube channel - #MuayThaiTube and subscribe to get all the latest info as soon as it goes live every Saturday. Video Transcript: When a lot of [...]
I've put together a couple of videos that should answer a few questions for you. The first one considers what I believe is the biggest mistake in Muay Thai strength and conditioning. Rather than just waffling on, just watch this 2-minute video and all will become clear... The second video elaborates on how I [...]
Testing is motivating. It tells you if you’re good or bad, and if you’re training is making you better. But testing “better” only means you’re getting better at Muay Thai if the test has carry over, if it’s sport specific enough. I use a modified Wingate rowing test in my online strength and conditioning [...]
Not all types of supplemental training will transfer well to Muay Thai. The training adaptations that your body makes are highly specific. You instinctively know training as a long-distance runner won’t improve your sprint performance. But it goes so much further than this coarse example. The concept of transfer specificity is misunderstood by many [...]
It’s not uncommon to have periods where you’re fighting very frequently, which can obviously throw your planned strength and conditioning training into a bit of a spin. Although the very best improvements in athletic performance are built using the periodised strength and conditioning program, there are times when the ideal program this isn’t practical. [...]
This article is in answer to an email I received… Hi Don I have started watching your Starting Strength & Conditioning for Muay Thai Video Course. I found it really informative. I have a couple of questions for you. Being a mature age Muay Thai practitioner (52-yrs-old) I have been involved in Martial Arts for [...]
There’s nothing worse than standing in front of a relentless opponent having exerted all your energy – sitting dead in the water, unable to respond with the same work rate. If you understand how your body supplies energy in a Muay Thai fight, you can train it to not gas out when you need [...]
Nothing happens by accident. If you want to be the best fighter you can be, you need to put some thought into it. Benjamin Franklin famously said, “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” Or was it Winston Churchill? Anyway, whoever said it was bang on! And it’s true in every [...]
Over the Bank Holiday weekend I was privileged to spend 2-days with Joel Jamieson of 8weeksout.com, widely recognised as one of the foremost experts on strength and conditioning for combat sports, and someone that has heavily influenced my personal approach to athletic training and energy systems conditioning in particular. This was his first time [...]
This weeks post is in response to a request from one of the coaches I've done a seminar for. He's after a finisher to stick on the end of his Muay Thai training sessions. Ok, so here's the brief: 10 - 15 mins in duration to go on the end of 2 or 3 Thai [...]
Every element within your being constantly swings between two opposite extreme states like a pendulum. This fluctuation is normal as your body strives to maintain balance. But, if the pendulum swings too far, balance is lost, problems arise and breakdown is inevitable. This principle is true at every level of existence, from the solar [...]
Here's a simple but highly effective test you can conduct on a rowing machine to determine your maximum average power, anaerobic fatigue and anaerobic capacity – a very useful gauge for Thai boxers. The result of this modified Wingate rowing test can not only be used to track your personal fitness progress and the effectiveness [...]
