Conditioning the legs for a Thai Fight

[Clubber Lang]

Guys,

I’ve got a fight (Thai) in March, so naturally the training is starting to get heavy. There’s lots of sparring going on right now, fairly heavy sessions about three times a week, with various good partners. I’m starting to encounter a problem, and I would appreciate advice from anyone.

I appreciate that taking punishment to the legs is all part of the game, I’ve been doing it long enough to accept that. However, when I was just training and not fighting my legs had time to heal, ready for the next session. I’m training for the fight 6 days a week, including all my cardio, padwork, bagwork, skipping, weights etc in addition to the sparring. The problem is, the punishment I’m taking to my legs in sparring, is starting to be counter productive, in that it is damaging my other training because I am still in pain, stiff, and bruised. However, I know this process is important because I need to condition my legs, otherwise I will only come off worse in the fight.

I guess my questions are these:

- Is it just because I am not accustomed to this level of impact so frequently, and I will get used to it?
- What do you guys recommend to help the healing process after sparring, how can I aid the recovery (pain/stiffness/bruising)?
- And finally, what are your thoughts in general when it comes to how to best spar for a fight and the conditioning the legs should go through?

Appreciate it, thanks.

CL

[OctaviousBP]

I'd have your sparring partners lay off your legs for awhile and rest more. Six days a week is a lot for an amateur fight and rest is often an undervalued element in training schedules. You don't want to burn out for a fight two months away either.

[fire cobra]

Guys,

I’ve got a fight (Thai) in March, so naturally the training is starting to get heavy. There’s lots of sparring going on right now, fairly heavy sessions about three times a week, with various good partners. I’m starting to encounter a problem, and I would appreciate advice from anyone.

I appreciate that taking punishment to the legs is all part of the game, I’ve been doing it long enough to accept that. However, when I was just training and not fighting my legs had time to heal, ready for the next session. I’m training for the fight 6 days a week, including all my cardio, padwork, bagwork, skipping, weights etc in addition to the sparring. The problem is, the punishment I’m taking to my legs in sparring, is starting to be counter productive, in that it is damaging my other training because I am still in pain, stiff, and bruised. However, I know this process is important because I need to condition my legs, otherwise I will only come off worse in the fight.

I guess my questions are these:

- Is it just because I am not accustomed to this level of impact so frequently, and I will get used to it?
- What do you guys recommend to help the healing process after sparring, how can I aid the recovery (pain/stiffness/bruising)?
- And finally, what are your thoughts in general when it comes to how to best spar for a fight and the conditioning the legs should go through?

Appreciate it, thanks.

CL

Massage helps a lot bro,after training especially.

[Khun Kao]

Sheesh.... This is why I get so frustrated with the way most people train.

- Is it just because I am not accustomed to this level of impact so frequently, and I will get used to it?

No, it's because you should not be sparring so hard. Save your legs for your fight!

- What do you guys recommend to help the healing process after sparring, how can I aid the recovery (pain/stiffness/bruising)?

Massage with liniment.

- And finally, what are your thoughts in general when it comes to how to best spar for a fight and the conditioning the legs should go through?

Thank you for asking! Too many people spar as if they're trying to WIN or as if they have something to prove. You spar to LEARN! You should NOT be getting the hell beat out of you anymore than you should beat the living hell out of your sparring partner.

Do not spar full contact! Do not throw power kicks at each others legs! Control the amount of power you use and instead focus on rhythm, precision, and timing! You can spar at almost full speed without using power, and it does more in the long run towards you developing into a capable fighter.

Save all the full power training for the Thai pads.

[Clubber Lang]

Sheesh...sorry to hear you are so frustrated.

You have jumped to a number of assumptions. First of all, no one is beating the living hell out of anyone. I train with a very experienced teacher and the guys at the club are superb training partners. My point is that purely due to the frequency of the sparring, and the fact that I am sparring a fresh body every round, its only natural that a certain degree of attrition is building up on my legs. Thats all.

I find it very hard to believe that when you or your students train for a fight, the intensity doesn't increase and its only natural that the level of strain on the body also increases. I also find it hard to believe that the notion of a certain degree of conditioning in the build up to a fight is not a concept you endorse, I certainly wouldn't send anyone into the ring who wasn't conditioned to one degree or another.

Although the condesending tone of your post suggests that you think I'm an idiot, I've been training for a long time. I know what the purpose of sparring is, and how to control it, however is this my first serious fight and I am therefore coming up against new challenges. I was just keeping an open mind and seeking some friendly advice. So thank you for taking the time to reply with yours, maybe next time try to impart it without the side helping of self-importance.

[Khun Kao]

Meh, you caught me on a bad day, so don't take me too seriously and don't get your back up. You gotta admit your intial post does kinda sound as though you guys are pounding on one another while you spar, which is what I unfortunately see as the norm in most places, and as I guessed you've now surmised, it frustrates the living hell out of me.

In any case, a good massage with Thai liniment will do wonders for your sore legs, seriously.

[Clubber Lang]

Thats cool. In truth, I caught myself on a bad day too.

Yeah my initial post can give that impression so fair enough, I hope I clarified it for you. Its just constant attrition as opposed to excessive force, I think thats what has prompted the damage.

I've ordered myself some linament which should be here next week, and put my girlfriend on stand by

Thanks for your advice, and the other guys who pitched in too.

[OctaviousBP]

To add a little more depth to my post, I will typically lay off my fighters' legs a week to 10 days before a fight. It sucks to go into a fight on bum legs. Some sparring days, I don't allow leg kicks at all. All kicks to the body. This is a more Thai way of sparring. Very rarely in 'len' would we kick the legs, and if so, very gently. I'm not sure what scientific data there is out there that supports any kind of contact "conditioning" of the legs.

[fire cobra]

Nowadays in Muay Thai(Thailand) there are very few leg kicks thrown anyway,body kicks being the norm and a high scoring technique if done with balance and power,so maybe working more on body kicks rather than leg kicks that most western Thai style gyms seem to have a fascination with is a way to score high and save the leg punishment!.

[Khun Kao]

"OctaviousBP" & "fire cobra" are boths spot on.... The West seems to have fallen in love with the leg kicks of Muay Thai, but no ones seems to have paid enough attention to realize that in most cases, a leg kick does not score in Muay Thai.

I should also probably point out that when I say "in most cases", I mean that officials who actually UNDERSTAND Muay Thai will not count the majority of leg kicks towards your score. Unfortuanately, there really aren't that many people in the West (especially in North America) that understand this and therefore score fights correctly.

I also agree with what OctaviousBP specifically said regarding mistakenly attempting to condition your legs for fights with impact drills, etc. You're going to get all the conditioning for your legs you need through running, calisthenics, and all the kicking drills you do throughout training. Doing impact training on your legs isn't going to be of much benefit in a fight training regimen.

I use some impact training on the legs for intermediate training, mainly to try to teach guys how to deal with it and keep a poker face, but try to move beyond it before they begin training to fight.

[OctaviousBP]

Ya, I think leg kicks will continue to be prevalent in North America for two main reasons: inexperienced judges and the dominance of MMA. Leg kicks translate well to MMA because there is less risk of being taken down.

I'd also like to see punches devalued here as well, but that is a whole different kettle of fish.

[fire cobra]

Ya, I think leg kicks will continue to be prevalent in North America for two main reasons: inexperienced judges and the dominance of MMA. Leg kicks translate well to MMA because there is less risk of being taken down.

I'd also like to see punches devalued here as well, but that is a whole different kettle of fish.

Ha that will never happen in the west will it bro?! the punch devaluation i mean.

Its like Khun Kao said most people dont understand the rules of Muay Thai,how to win,as you know the punch is down the list so to speak,body kick and knee being the order of the day along side of balancing and hitting/throwing,until all camps understand the ways to win and what is and isnt a foul etc then in the west we wont see Muay Thai look like it does in Thailand.

Talking of kicking in MMA ive noticedthe USA Sityodtong camp seem to work their fighters on the body kick(im thinking Kenny Florian recently).