Khun Kao's Fight Training Regimen

[Khun Kao]

Hi everyone....

I recently took a group of fighters to Virginia Beach, VA to compete in an amateur Muay Thai & MMA event. Though none of my fighters won (I'm *still* bitter about that!), I have received NUMEROUS requests for information regarding my Fight Training Regimen.

For those of you who don't know me yet, I have a habit of recording EVERYTHING that I do with my Muay Thai classes and our training. I go to every single class with a written lesson plan, often "mapped out" down to the minute.

That being the case, I've compiled my entire Fight Training Regimen into a single document, beginning with two different course outlines, and followed by every single workout we did in preparation for the event. I've included a few comments in the document regarding what I feel was, or was not, effective.

So, without further ado, here is the link to the online version.

http://stickgrappler2.tripod.com/kbox/kkregimen.html

Apologies in advance for the lack of spacing between paragraphs and sections. We expect to have that corrected in the coming weeks.

I would appreciate any comments, discussion, critiques, suggestions, or feedback anyone cares to offer. I may have a number of years of experience in Muay Thai, and accomplished a number of things, but I'm still relatively new to coaching a fight team.

Kob Khun Krab!

Kru Brooks (Khun Kao)

[Yin and Yang]

One word...wow. That is really awesome that you wrote all of this down. I am not really familiar with Muay Thai, I do Kung Fu, but I recognize many of the strikes, kick, and other things you wrote down. However some I can not even think of their meaning. I havent finished the entire document, but I will.
-X

[Jay]

At first glance .... WOW !!!

I've printed it off to study tomorrow ... while I should be working

Jay

[Khun Kao]

I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Thanks!

Khun Kao

[Bon]

I have very limited experience & knowledge... but, I'll offer my thoughts anyway.

What's neck wrestling? I see a lot of time being spent on that, does it transfer over to fighting?

I like the Boxing vs. Kicking, very good idea I think. Maybe always follow that up with boxing & kicking? Once you go from being limited to not being limited, things seem to flow a bit better I think.

Why'd you wait so long to work on strategy? Shouldn't that be one of the first things you work out so you can then set about training so you can employ your strategy?

[YODA]

Bon: Neck wrestling = fighting for the Thai clinch - the "plum".

[Grifter]

i also have limited knowledge but was wondering why when it comes to the sparring. You go from boxing only to kicking only to boxing vs. kicking and eventually to elbows. vs. boxing or kicking. so i was wondering why dont you have your fighters spar using boxing,kicking,elbows,knees all at the same time?? Also what is Ram Muay??

[SoKKlab]

Grifter,
A Ram Muay is a part of the Wai Khruu.
It is a Pre-Fight dance ritual to honour your teacher (Wai Khruu-Bow or offer Respect to, Khruu-Teacher) and to help protect the fighter by invoking certain forces to keep from serious harm.

The Ram Muay is literally the trance-like dance movements before the fight commences. In older times each training camp and or region of Siam/ Thailand would do their own unique Ram Muay (Fight Dance), so that an observer could see where the fighter originated from and who his teacher was.

The Movements have both practical and semi-mystical meanings.

[Khun Kao]

Thanks SoKKlab...

He is very right. Our gym actually practices three different Ram Muays, and are in the process of learning a few more. The reason for the number of Ram Muays is because we instructors have trained under a number of different instructors and/or camps. We practice each of the Ram Muays in honor of the different styles/schools of Muay Thai that we have training in.

Grifter...

I have to point out that even though I made note of the Kicking Only, Boxing Only, Boxing vs. Kicking, etc, etc, etc. We also did spar using all techniques. For some reason I just didn't make note of it in my written lesson plans. Basically, I wanted to make note on my plans of the SPECIALTY training we were doing during sparring, but did not note the regular free-sparring.

Khun Kao

[Grifter]

oh I see. Thanks khun Kao and Sokklab

[thiaboxr2]

I also printed out the regimen. Very impressive. I noticed the classes lasted anywhere from 1 1/2 hours up to three hours. Seems standard for most schools in our area.
I really do not see a problem with the training. Respectfully, of course, how much experience do your fighters have? Have they fought before in other competitions? Sometimes being new to competitions, fighters get a little nervous performing in front of a large crowd, throws their concentration off a bit.
I do not see overtraining as a problem. What about the conditioning of your fighters? Are thier endurance levels up to par for competing? Seeing the regimen I would hope so.
I notice you also go through 5 rounds of fighters choice. Would that be against pads or just shadow boxing? I also noticed that you do a little bit of everything during training. Ever thought about deviding the training into specific areas of defense/offense? For example, upperbody defense and offense on one day. your next day would be lowerbody defense and offense...
Just a few things to ponder. Good luck on your future competition. By the way, my school was probably at the competition also. I do not know how they did, though.

[Khun Kao]

Thaiboxer2...

EXPERIENCE:
I had 3 fighters participate. My first fighter was competing in his first fight ever. He has 1 years training experience. My second fighter was participating in his first MMA match. He has fought in 2 kickboxing matches, and a few grappling tourneys, and is the current instructor of BJJ at the school where I teach and train. My 3rd fighter has about 8 years total training experience, and this was his 6th kickboxing match.

In the case of the first two fighters, inexperience (overall) was probably a key factor. In the case of my 3rd fighter however, for some reason he was not mentally prepared.

The conditioning of all three was good overall, but I realize that it needs more attention in our training as it contributed a bit to the first & third fighters losses. Our first fighter completely ran out of steam at the end of the 2nd round, our 3rd fighter was just never quite in the condition that I wanted him to get in.

The "Fighters Choice" was for shadowboxing, not choice of drills in general. You'll see that non-fighters were given specific shadowboxing drills to work on, but fighters should not need that.

"Ever thought about deviding the training into specific areas of defense/offense?"

Actually, that is one of the changes I am seriously considering making. Covering a little bit of everything each day has its benefits, providing you have the available time. But because of the short length of many of my training sessions, this isn't possible and I believe that I should narrow my focus on these days.

Thanks for your responses!!!

Kru Brooks (Khun Kao)

[Bon]

Thanks, YODA.

[SoKKlab]

I'm Just wondering how I could feed/clothe/job myself over in Virginia with Khun Kao..Hmmm.

Khun Kao your fighters are lucky to have you.

[Khun Kao]

SoKKlab...

I'll let you know when my wife and I have a house, so that we can rent out the garage to you or something, LOL!!!

If you're ever stateside, please contact me and come train! We have a blast!

Khun Kao