Bryan Popejoy has found himself at the forefront of American Muay Thai since the 1980's, literally involved from Illinois in the East, through Arizona, to California in the West. His experience both as a Muay Thai fighter himself (in the early "Wild West" period of American Muay Thai), and as [...]
Following last weeks post, this article shares more in-fight relaxation tips inspired by my private session with Yodsanklai Fairtex in Pattaya. Every move Yod makes comes from a relaxed, shuffling fighting stance – which is a focus in his coaching. Muay Thai is rhythmical movement, with an escalating tempo from the first to the [...]
Here in the UK we’ve recently had a heat wave (I’m definitely not complaining, I love it — it’s been more like Bangkok than Bury St Edmunds), and the Muay Thai classes I’ve taught in such conditions have shown that movement economy needed some work. It has been an opportunity to focus on efficiency [...]
Thai boxers, like any sports person, are athletes. We are practising skilled movements requiring strength, agility and stamina (Merriam Webster's dictionary definition of an athlete). So it makes sense that despite MuayThai being over 2000 years old, the current understanding of sports science and physiology has advanced. Few boxers in Thailand are exploiting the [...]
Anyone who's been out to Thailand to train in Muay Thai will have no doubt experienced some Spartan weight training equipment and limited resistance training use. The majority of time is spent running, skipping, hitting bags and pads or light sparring. Although this is common place throughout the majority of Thai boxing gyms in [...]
"What special tricks did you learn?" is a common question others ask when you return from training in Thailand. But, if you want to be the best you can be, it's the wrong question. An expert uses the basics – done exceptionally well. Advanced "tricks" are simply the icing on the cake, not the foundation of [...]
