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)

[dbok1]

I have to be honest I did not get a chance to look at your fight routine but the one thing about preparing fighters to compete is to beable to have a "eye" for it. As you know some of the best trainers in the world have never or have very little ring experinces but they are able to see the strengths and weekness of fighters/students.

You remind me of 1 of our other trainers who also writes everything down and has everything combo/routine on paper. I do not disagree with this but it can be very confusing for newbie's/or other students.

I feel that as basic as muay thai is it can be very diffcult to master, with only about 10% of the population being at a advance level in the sport(using my area as example).

When training fighters, you have to train each fighter differently then from the next. each person has different things they need to work on, and those issues should be addressed first, for example: defense, counter attacking, setting up strikes, etc..etc....

I'm sure we can go back and fourth back and fourth....I just wanted to give some imput and would love to talk future about this issue, But I have to head to open the gym in about 5mins.....so i will talk to you soon.

Take Care.

[Tom Yum]

I think Khun Kao's routine is comprehensive and isn't necessarily meant for begginers, rather those who allready have the fundamentals.

But you bring up another good point; each individual is different. How do you train them mentally with good fight psychology? Some folks are pretty reserved others are extroverts; but both can have mental barriers that prevent them from focusing on the correct things.

[dbok1]

My post's really weren't for anything specific, I was just simply just making some comments and statements that I thought could be added to this topic.

They had nothing to do with any type of routine. We currently have about 7 fighers who will be fighting in about 1 month, most of them in the beginning-avarge level, and each one needs to be trained differently each day. It is a HUGH challenge........

I will check this thread daily, I think this is a good topic to discuss. I am off to class.

Talk to everyone soon,

[Biker]

During their fights, did you watch and see what their strengths and weaknesses are? Then you may be able to give specific guidance to each fighter for in the future. Coaching isn't easy. Trying to maintain strengths and turn weaknesses into strengths.

[Dimz18]

I'm a beginer in muay thai and loking at ur lesson i think its going way too fast. Im in my 4rd month and we are just begining to learn elbows. I think u should really focus on th efundamentals. If the students then undertand that the rest should be a breeze

[Khun Kao]

Dimz18...

You bring up a valid point, except that all of my fighters had already demonstrated proficiency of the fundamentals. The program you read was tailored for preparing them to fight.

However, I did have ALL my students following the same workout, and you are right. I think that it did detract from the training of the fighters AND the beginners to have the entire class lumped together.

Unfortunately for me, I don't have enough total students enrolled to justify dividing my classes into skill-levels yet. I hope to be able to do this in the near future, but I can't yet.

Thanks for the feedback everyone!!!!

Kru Brooks (Khun Kao)

[goatnipples2002]

How do you train them mentally with good fight psychology?

IMHO you have to spar, spar and spar some more, Full contact that is. There is no replacement for experience. Don't spart a few weeks before a tourney, but other than that have at it, knuckle up.

[William Eriepa]

Khun Kao..

Damn, thats an immense regieme. You must find it hard to stick to it. You should try to make it less complex and more simple. Try to make it more general and less strict. Ahh but that might be your approach already, using that huge list just as a guideline and not a bible .

Hey didn't you help write a book? I was reading about it on some other forum. If you did, could you please tell me where I could purchase it.

[barspinmatt]

Oh Yeah! 25 Squats inbetween rounds! Exemplary, very well detailed, and I'm sure I would throw my guts up whilst into the more advanced part of your training and conditioning. And that's always good, a sure sign it's working. I am interested about your foot work training, and if at all possible you could shed some light on this for me, that would be great, I don't recieve any footwork training and would like to see if this would benafit my techniques.

I train in england, and frankly a lot of training schemes I have seen are very poor, but yours is the first that I would love to blast through. I wish you and your team every bit of luck, and I'm sure they will go far under your supervision.

Any plans for a UK or Europe trip for some internationals?

[Khun Kao]

Hi guys...

Thanks for the interest in this. This topic is pretty old (last Spring). After discussing this with many, many people, including my current MT and Boxing coaches, I have come to the same conclusion that many of you have pointed out. The regimen, as is, is way too detailed and rigid.

The regimen actually works well for advanced students, but not beginners and definately not fighters.

Don't get me wrong, overall, my fighters performed decently in the ring, but as I'm sure was mentioned, the weaknesses in the regimen were exposed in the ring.

My current training program for fighters is a lot more "adaptive". Rather than having a completely planned out regimen, I have pared down the training and have stopped working via a script.

Currently, our class is structured as follows:

Classes are 90 - 120 min's depending on the session.

We begin with 15-20 min's of warmups (rope, jumping jacks, running) and stretching.

We then have 3-5 rounds shadowboxing (though sometimes we will go up to 10 rounds, depending on the day)

We then partner up for various drills, including mitts, pads, clinchwork, contact drills, and sparring.

Instead of a daily "script" to work by, I instead have instead created a list of essential skills that I wish fighters to focus on for their fights. I try to keep things as simple and effective as possible.

For instance, I come up with a list of approximately 10 combinations, 5 clinch techniques, 10 defenses and/or counterattacks, and then a couple of other basic skills including footwork drills.

Speaking of footwork, there are a couple of footwork drills that we work on. We will practice circular footwork switching directions, we will occassionally do things like jumping on tires, or plyometric "jumping" drills for explosiveness, etc. However, mostly we intermingle our footwork drills with our actual technique and combination drills as opposed to drilling footwork separately.

I do not have any plans to travel to the UK in the near future, but if you (or your school) are interested in having me (or any of my coaches) come out, contact me at:

khun.kao@verizon.net

Brooks (Khun Kao)