Young Fighters

[southpaw14]

Hey i am 15 turning 16 in little over a month and was wondering what the fights are like for young people? Do weekend warriors fight or is it just for the most dedicated trainers. My trainer never had a young fighter before so he doesnt really know how it works, so any advice or knowledge about young muay thai fighters in north america (canada) would be greatly thanked

[Khun Kao]

Fighting and Fight Training varies little for a junior fighter. You still have to put in the same amount of work that the older crowd does. Fighting is not a good idea for "weekend warriors". Fighting, even recreationally, is a full-time committment. This is absolutely necessary to prevent serious injury! You're not preparing to step into the ring to play paddy-cake with someone....

1. You should already know all your basics, stance, offense, defense, combinations, counters. You should be at the point in your training where your coach is not spending time telling you HOW to perform a technique, but rather WHEN to perform it.

2. You should be in good condition. That means you are performing pushups, situps/crunches, pullups, squats, and running numerous times throughout the week. Quite a bit of this conditioning work should be done on your own time.

3. You should be putting in 5 - 6 days training each week. And I don't mean a 45-60 min. training session. I mean putting in 2 - 3 hours daily! There should be at least 1 day each week where you do NO TRAINING! This is your recovery day. REST!

4. If you're under 18, most organizations will require you to wear headgear, shinpads, and oversized gloves.

5. I'm a bit surprised that you coach doesn't know these things?

[muaythaiguy15]

Khun is totally right. A lot of trainers in my area dont train younger guys usually so I have to go out and find your own comps. However...you shouldnt even bother thinking about competing. I didnt compete in muay thai until I was training in it for 3 months, and after 2 years of boxing and shootfighting.

[Python]

We have a whole team of junior fighters, so does Dean Lessei (his juniors have won several national titles under the IKF. The juniors can begin competing at the age of 8. The majority of them only do leg kick, if they do use Muay Thai rules, they are generally required by the IKF (using them as example) to wear a chest guard. Otherwise it is the same as the adult amateurs: headgear, shinguards, and mouth/groin protection.

Khun Kao, I have not heard that the juniors have to wear oversized gloves, all of them I have seen wear 10oz. like everyone else. Everything else you have said I agree with 100%. The training should not differ from junior fighters to adult fighters...a fight is a fight.

We had two 13 yr. old fight Muay Thai at our November 5th card and they were awesome. People watching could not believe they were that young. This card January 28th we have a 13 vs. 15, again should be a great fight.

[Khun Kao]

Python....

I think you're right. I misspoke when I said that juniors are required to wear oversized gloves. That happens SOMETIMES, but is not the rule. (one of my Junior fighters wore oversized gloves when he fought this Fall)

I think I said that because normal sized gloves LOOK oversized on junior fighters... LOL!!!

[seppuku]

I was going to start a new thread on this, but it looks like ive been beaten to it.

I'm 17, and after missing training for 2 months im going back on tuesday. There's an interclub tournament coming up soon that I want to compete in. Worth noting that i am not at the stage where im being told when to do techniques, im still learning them i suppose.

Assuming I'm going to lose this fight, which does seem likely given the above paragraph, what advice can you give to help me lose more gracefully?
My techniques will hold up well enough I think, but the physical conditioning is nothing like there yet. Please make any suggestions, I dont know exactly when the fight will happen but i think its about a month.

How do i get fit enough to fight in 4 weeks? Ill be at the club twice a week, but i lack a gym membership so im pretty much limited to body weight exercises. Its a challenge certainly....

ANY input greatly appreciated. Thank you

[THT]

One thing I would recommend is a TON of cardio. If you have no gym access and the weather doesn't permit roadwork (or even if you do, and it does) get a nice speed rope and jump for several rounds at a high level of intensity at least every other day. More would be good if you can recover, but I know when I first started to get into a lot of skipping I would get sore calfs and shin splints so bad that I could barely pull my pants on. Not that you care about that detail .

In short skipping rocks.

[seppuku]

I can go running. Thats the only idea ive had so far that seems to have any merit. Im looking at running morning and evening. Currently not very far, but thats because i hardly ever run. How far is a good idea?
I think running a set distance at increasing speed may be better than running further, but please feel free to contradict me there.

I may have to learn to skip. Currently i cant, i hit my ankle and fall over etc. Ill bribe my little sister to teach me lol, nice and embarrassing

Many thanks THT

[southpaw14]

thank you all for posting replies to my thread, I have only been training about 1 month and will only have 2months at most in the gym 2 days and sometimes 3days a week in the gym. I dont know wat type of condition i have to be in, I switched right from boxing to muay thai, I have been in boxing for close to 2 years and when i switched i was in fighting condition and winning. In the younger fights is there more boxing than kicking, Ill be forced to fight american kickboxing so i cant kick below the waist (Pits I know). I want to fight so bad I got that desire right now where I finish a workout and throw up and in 20min i want to be back in the gym doing it all again. I spar and train with people ages 18-early 30's who are also training for fights, this should give me a harder training ruotine than the usual young fighter right? thanks to all train hard and keep up the good work.

[seppuku]

The boxing should be a huge advantage, especially if people cant kick your legs out. Ive never been in a ring before. So slightly worried there.
On a different note, ive got no idea how hard ill be training at the gym, the guy i saw 2 days ago told me it was living hell. So could be good. I find out on tuesday.

Best of luck to you regardless

[BANG's Protégé]

Hey i am 15 turning 16 in little over a month and was wondering what the fights are like for young people? Do weekend warriors fight or is it just for the most dedicated trainers. My trainer never had a young fighter before so he doesnt really know how it works, so any advice or knowledge about young muay thai fighters in north america (canada) would be greatly thanked

Hey bro you were just like me when I first came to this forum. I almost posted the same exact thing you did "Hey i am 15 turning 16 in little over a month" and it was like a year ago that I was last on this site. I am 16 and I have been training Muay Thai with my uncle Duane Bang! Ludwig for about 6 months on and off because he is busy with his career. We live in Colorado and I train with him every weekend. But i got to stay with him the last summer and train 6 days a week. It was and still is very fun and exciting. I have learned a lot from then and I want to fight in K-1 when I am more experienced. This is my first post under this name but I useto be "MuayThaiGuy" but I forgot the password. How tall are you and what is your weight? I am 6'2 161

[seppuku]

I doubt the question was addressed to me, but im a similar age so it might be relevent. Im 6 foot 2 and approx 72 kg, i think thats 158 pounds. Weight still varying a lot tho, was a stone heavier a week ago. Similar size to you tho.

How hard are you training with your uncle? Im bruised a fair bit after training, nose bleed occasionally, but yet to be spitting blood. How about you?

Cheers

[BANG's Protégé]

I doubt the question was addressed to me, but im a similar age so it might be relevent. Im 6 foot 2 and approx 72 kg, i think thats 158 pounds. Weight still varying a lot tho, was a stone heavier a week ago. Similar size to you tho.

How hard are you training with your uncle? Im bruised a fair bit after training, nose bleed occasionally, but yet to be spitting blood. How about you?

Cheers

Wow you are the same as me. I also chang in weight throught the week. One day I am 158 and the next day I am up to 161 or 162. I just do training on the thai pads real hard all out for 3 rounds 5 min each with either 30 sec or 1 min break in between the rounds. Then i do like 2 rounds of just punch combos with knees at the end of each combo, but not all out, just to lossen up. After that I might sparr or go hit the heavy bag and work on my combos. I sparr once in a while with someone who is already been training for years but they take it easy on me a little. I jog my uncle after training, but he hasta go on with out me most of the time because I just go 2 or 3 miles and he goes around 6 or 7 and still doesn't even look tired after he is done. I train to my full ability once in a while because I am not an agressive fighter yet.

[seppuku]

If thats daily then your doing a lot better than me friend. I train once a week atm, very soon will become twice a week. Actually becoming twice a week now, since ill be there 2mo. Trying to run every day, but i dont know how far it is since i havent found a decent map yet, and its changing daily. Hope its more than a mile though.

What sort of conditon are you in atm? My shins are bruised the next day after i kick the bag, and thats not even the heavy bag... they were better but then i missed training for a while. Pulling myself back into shape as quickly as i can though. Tournament coming up which i intend to enter and hope to walk out of so need to be better than i am now.

Also need a fractured knuckle to stop pissing about and actually heal completely.

Peace

[BANG's Protégé]

I useto train 5 to 6 days a week but now its just the weekends. My shins are in very good shape. I don't get any bruses on them but I have got a couple in the past. I can't wait until this summer so i can get more serious about training again. I would have to say that my low and high kicks are my strong point and I am decent in every other aspect except for my left jab. I can never get it right but it will come to me as I train more. I would like to get a fight as soon as i can so that I can get agressive and throw what ever I want and not be worried.