Lots of people wonder how to practice their skills when it comes to Muay Thai in Sydney. Well, there are several and varying ways of doing it depending on the gym or studio you’ve registered with and who your teacher is. But there are 4 basic ways that are most popular and used when it comes to practicing your skills.
1. Shadowboxing
This is an excellent means of practicing your technique, footwork, and flow. Ensure that you move 360 degrees and work your defense too. Be conscious of how high you raise your hands, your chin position, and how your elbows are placed; basically, be truly conscious of your stance. Lots of individuals use a mirror to shadowbox. A mirror is certainly an excellent tool. But, just ensure that you are utilising it to get some valuable feedback concerning your technique and stance. Lots of times, you will see people shadowboxing and flexing their muscles, but they will be more concerned about their looks instead of their technique.
2. Bag work
This is another great way of practicing. There are several and varying bags for practicing your varying skills and tools. When choosing the bag to use, you are better off asking for recommendations and suggestions from your instructor. When working your bag, always be conscious of your stance. Smashing away on the bag working your power is always great, but you certainly don’t want to sacrifice guard, stance, and technique. It’s because of the availability of varying bags that you will see some individuals joining a particular Muay Thai gym in Sydney. Your bag mustn’t be flying all over the place; that normally means that you are ‘pushing’ it instead of ‘penetrating’ it. Ensure that you eventually work up to simulate your defense, combinations, and also work your footwork.
3. Pad work
Again, there are several and varying pads that you can use for your training. Again, you should ensure that you keep your stance and technique prefect and sharp. Pad work is an excellent means of fine-tuning your defense. Just ensure that your pad holder is decent. The job of the pad holder is to place them in a manner that stimulates them as appropriate targets, works some foot work, tests the student’s defense, and offers an excellent workout. Sometimes, holding pads can be fun, probably too much fun, and being carried away attempting to ‘kill’ the student by pushing his cardio to extremes or hitting him with the pad, becomes easy.
4. Cross-fighting
This is the last means of practicing. It’s selecting drills on one another. It isn’t sparring. Ensure that you both wear the right protection. The aim is to work proper accuracy, footwork, range, timing and flow. Also, work power sometimes but make sure your ego is kept in check so it doesn’t turn into a fully-fledged sparring match, or an actual fight at the worst.
Hopefully, you’ve gotten some ideas that will help in enhancing your skills when it comes to practicing Muay Thai Sydney. Don’t forget that less is more sometimes. Practice just a little daily and you will eventually attain all of the goals you have set for yourself.
