Learning martial arts help you in maintaining a healthy body and mind. You can find yourself in a dilemma when choosing among the available styles of martial arts. Before starting to practice Muay Thai, it is good to know what are the Muay Thai benefits and the not so good parts as well.
Apart from Karate, Jiu-Jitsu, or Taekwondo, you can also learn Muay Thai. The sport has gained prominence over the last few years with special appearances in movies like the Ong Bak series. You can read below as you prepare to visit the nearest gym to train in Muay Thai.
Brief Description of Muay Thai
Muay Thai ranks as a national sport in Thailand. It is known as an ‘art of eight limbs.’ The trainees learn to fight using two fists, feet, knees, and elbows harmoniously. The sport was initially passed on as a combat training for soldiers to help them out whenever they could be disarmed.
Muay Thai is gaining more popularity as a martial art that helps in building one physically and mentally through vigorous training sessions. It also provides efficiency in equipping trainees with self-defense skills.
Muay Thai benefits are endless as there is always something new to learn as you train Muay Thai. The Ancient Greeks encourage one to find the harmony between body and mind. Muay Thai allows you to achieve a balance between body and mind, which is essential in modern-day.
Physical and Emotional Benefits
- Develops Agility and Flexibility
The martial art involves full-body motion training that enhances body flexibility and ability to move swiftly in attack and defense. Muay Thai fitness drills help your body to burn down fats that might hinder your agility. While sparring, or under attack, you need the speed and agility to evade your opponent.
- Helps in Weight Management
Muay Thai is a full-body workout that helps to sculpt your body through aerobic and anaerobic exercises. You need a few years of vigorous training through the physical routines such as shadowboxing, running, kickboxing during your sessions. Burning more than 1000 calories per session helps you to maintain a perfect physique.
- Improves Body Stamina
Regular training sessions are vigorous, helping the body to burn down extra fats. As you train more, the body gets toned as you grow more masculine. Muay Thai trainees push their bodies beyond the possible limits by training for hours on end. The stamina you develop can help you in later stages as you handle physical tasks.
- Helps with Stress reduction
Muay Thai helps you to reduce the stress that might be weighing you down. After a long day, you can take on your workout session to free your body and mind. As you throw the punches and kicks, your body produces a happy hormone that helps you feel a whole new fresh after the session.
Advantages of Muay Thai
- Allows you to Interact with new Culture
As a Thai national sport, Muay Thai offers you an opportunity to build cultural links internationally. The sport is rich in the culture of Thailand and Asia as a whole. While training, you can learn more about the people of Asia, specifically Thailand. You can pick a few skills that are important in your workouts, daily routines, eating habits, and social skills.
- Healthy eating habits
Muay Thai can help you to change your diet for the better. While training, you need to eat well to allow your body to withstand the rigorous training exercises. You shall also need to increase the intake of calcium to help in building bone tissue. By reducing your consumption of sugar, you also help in the reduction of body fats.
- Self-defense Skills
The ability to defend yourself and your loved ones is important. Muay Thai training helps you to learn how to defend and attack using different parts of your body. It is almost unlikely that you might have to use the self-defense skills that you learn, but you can stand up to attackers using different fighting skills or weapons.
- Helps in the development of Self Discipline
Muay Thai is a sport that requires full dedication and sacrifice from trainees. The workout sessions can be vigorous, that you might want to quit in the early days, but you shouldn’t. Developing the urge to attend more training sessions in the future while right on time at your own will is highly dependent on your self-discipline.
- Helps you build a Bigger Circle
During the training sessions, you get the chance to meet new people. The new-found social skills help you to build bonds that can last forever with the training partners, trainers, and other people outside the gym. You can also keep the conversation going as you enlighten others about your new-found art of Muay Thai.
Disadvantages of Muay Thai
- It Might Deliver Physical Injuries
Muay Thai helps the body to get stronger, flexible, and agile. However, you might suffer some injuries now and then. You might quit attending the training after a few sessions if you are faint of heart. You shall need to stay cautious and maintain a proper diet to avoid breaking some bones.
- The techniques are lethal
A Muay Thai fight in the ring involves the use of every body part in the attack and defense. Some fights get bloody and messy that the faint of heart might not stand to watch, often ending in a knockout. Moves that go wrong might result in internal bleeding and death in rare occasions.
- Requires Commitment
Training in Muay Thai(best combos) requires commitment and sacrifice on a whole new level. The aerobic and anaerobic exercises that are involved in Thai boxing might send you away after a few sessions. To grasp the most out of your training sessions, you need to train daily. If you have a tight schedule, Muay Thai might prove ineffective for you.
Muay Thai benefits the body in building endurance and cardio strength through an all-rounded fitness program. You should not be afraid of stepping into the gym for fear of getting a black eye on the first day.
You are assured of positive results the more you show dedication to learn more from the ancient art.
Muay Thai helps you build fitness that allows you to learn more from other forms of martial arts.
