Heatrick Heavy Hitters – Muay Thai Performance Don Heatrick

Most likely, if you ask your Muay Thai trainer what fitness training you should do outside of your Muay Thai sessions, you’re told to simply run a number of times a week, and maybe do a little weight training if you want to…

It’s largely down to you. And aside from “do more” when you have a fight coming up, there’s little guidance and rarely any structure. And this is a problem for the majority of Muay Thai trainers.

It’s leaving students with only a basic athletic foundation and no hope of levelling up over time, let alone peaking performance for a fight if the student competes. So why does this happen?

It’s largely because those traditional Golden Era Muay Thai methods are still aspirational to most coaches, even if things should have moved on and improved…

Further notes and resources at https://heatrick.com/2023/03/31/the-problem-with-your-muay-thai-trainer/

As fighters become more experienced, we must understand how to coach them so they don’t become stale.

Experts in any field are ruthlessly good at the basics.

What marks the best apart from the rest, is their ability to revisit and resharpen their foundational practice.

It’s vital that those at the top of their game recognise both that skill is perishable and can migrate over time, and that merely training for your next fight is limiting your progress too.

In this episode… Professor Tony Myers, both a world class Muay Thai coach and an academic researcher in sport psychology, shares valuable insight into what makes good fighters great, and keeps them great!

Full show notes and further resources at https://heatrick.com/2023/02/24/how-to-coach-experienced-fighters-professor-tony-myers/

What is authentic Muay Thai training now, and has it evolved for the better? Muay Thai has a deep history. And when it comes to the ring sport we’ve all come to love, the period between 1980 and 1995 known as “The Golden Era”, spawned arguably the most talented fighters ever.

Names like Dieselnoi, Samart, Jongsanan, and Sakmongkol demand almost superhero status. They were highly skilled and incredibly tough!

Nostalgists will claim today’s fighters couldn’t stand with The Golden Era greats. And may even consider this as evidence that the training methods back then were superior too.

But, what does this mean for your training?

Further notes and resources at https://heatrick.com/2023/02/10/what-is-authentic-muay-thai-training-now-old-school-vs-new-school/

Your work life and fight life are in conflict. I know you feel the clock is ticking, that you’re running out of time when it comes to finding out how far you can go in Muay Thai.

It was true for me, and it’s true for everyone – regardless if they compete or not. 

We all have a “bucket list”, and although Muay Thai is on there, you feel that your work life inevitably gets in the way of your fight life. And you may hate to admit it, but even family and friends crowd out your fight training too! 

The biggest challenge in becoming the best you can be at Muay Thai, is how consistently you can train. And this is compounded when you pick up an injury or simply don’t seem to recover well.

“If only I didn’t have to make a living and I could train full time!”

But, even pro Muay Thai fighters have to work to make ends meet – a full-time income from just training and fighting isn’t there (yet). 

And even then, the truth is a big chunk of your week is tied up with making a living, regardless if you're a Muay Thai enthusiast, amateur competitor, pro fighter, or anything in between.

This balance is crucial, because at the highest level, fighting careers are short, DUAL careers. Any athlete must prepare for post-athletic life.

Like most westerns, you’ve primarily focused your effort on career first and your fight training second. You’ve built stability, and that’s good!

Not only have you got something else you’re good at to fall back on, but you can better afford the costs associated with training – such as gym fees, equipment, and travel too.

But, finding time to train consistently is the issue! You’re relatively financially rich, but time poor… You begin to struggle with the work life balance.

And your fight life planning differs depending if you have a sedentary job, an active job, or a physical job.

Check out the full episode to learn more.

And if doors are open to my Heavy Hitters program right now, you can join here! https://heatrick.com/programs/heavy-hitters/ 

Further notes and resources at https://heatrick.com/2023/02/03/balancing-your-work-life-and-fight-life/

Losing a fight by doing too much? Paul Banasiak shares that losing his Glory debut fight taught him to not over-effort...

That it's important to balance risk and reward, and that doing more or going harder in a fight doesn't necessarily equate to bigger, better results.

Be aware of the "glitches" you suffer by overthinking instructions and losing your flow!

Further notes and resources at https://heatrick.com/2023/01/20/paul-banasiak-losing-a-fight-by-doing-too-much/

When scheduling your weekly training plan for fighters, although many fighters and coaches are doing the right things, they organise their training weeks too haphazardly to get the full training effect or inadvertently cancel out performance gains entirely.

At best this wastes effort, at worst, it burns out fighters and injures them.

But, you can apply simple steps to design weekly schedules that ensure training is efficient and effective – maximising results while consuming less time and energy, reducing overuse injuries, and increasing the amount of time for Muay Thai skill practice – or family and friends if you’d prefer!

I’ll share these steps with you now, and show you how to use them.

Further notes and resources at https://heatrick.com/2023/01/13/scheduling-your-weekly-training-plan-for-fighters-part-2/