Do you live in a remote area where you don’t have access to a Muay Thai gym? Or the busy routine doesn’t allow you to get enrolled in one, and thus you are finding how to learn Muay Thai at home?
Muay Thai is undoubtedly among the most known martial arts forms for self-defense. It provides you with various kicks, moves, and techniques that not only turn you into a good martial arts practitioner but make you more active and fit both mentally and physically.
Today, in the era of multimedia and the internet, it is not difficult to learn MuayThai at home.
Therefore, to find out what techniques and Muay Thai workouts you can practice at home, stick by us till the end, and hopefully, you will get the energy to embrace the positive constraints.
So, without blinking the eye one more time, let’s get well abreast with the valuable information.
Can You Teach Yourself Muay Thai at Home?
Yes, you can teach yourself, Muay Thai, at home. But it is always better to learn and practice Muay Thai with a partner.
However, here is How to learn Muay Thai at home- 8 step guide for you to follow and get the outcome
- Make and follow a solid, routine plan
- Stay consistent with the plan
- Prepare your training space
- Buy the necessary equipment ( only if you want to)
- Make proper rounds as we discussed above
- Keep a training notebook to write everyday experiences and problems faced.
- Record your practice and throws and compare them to those of professionals
- Shadowbox whenever you find time
How to Learn Muay Thai at Home with No Equipment?
If you don’t have the basic Muay Thai equipment, there is nothing to stress upon. You can still practice many workouts and exercises of Muay Thai for beginners without the need for any gear.
So, here we will discuss all the alternatives available to avail the maximum gain and improve our game from Muay Thai training sessions at home.
The basic workouts that you can add to your routine are
- Shadowboxing
- Yoga and Stretches
- Strength Training
- Mobility
- Chamber the kicks
Related: If you want to learn Muay Thai at Home with equipment then you can click here.
Shadow Boxing
As I have discussed in my previous topic, shadow boxing is all about hitting and sparring by thinking of an imaginary opponent. It is the basic fighting stance to opt for. And only due to regular shadow box practice, ONE World champion like Nong-O Gaiyanghadao could counter and trick before the opponent even tries to throw off a move.
However, since in Muay Thai, it is muscle memory and regular training that matters, it is essential to focus more on the quality of throws you learn and not on the quantity.
When doing Muay Thai training at home, it is better to go for three sets of 3 minutes initially and then increase it to 3 sets of ten minutes each.
To structure out your muay Thai training workout of shadow boxing at home, you can include the following:
- Single strikes
- Straights, checks, and teeps
- Combo of different kicks like a sidekick
- Forward and counter fighting
- Different punches and elbow combination
However, remember to not shadow box wrong or sloppily as it won’t lead to the gain you long for.
Yoga and Stretches
If you don’t have a flexible body, you need to practice yoga and do stretches daily. A stiff body is more prone to severe damage and allergies.
Yoga can help to bring flexibility to you. Moreover, you can opt for different types of stretches too. Here are a few that helped to increase my flexibility.
- Skipping that helps to move the blood in the lungs and strengthens the bones
- Head and shoulder rolls that loosen up your stiff neck and connect shoulders
- Hip rotation to loosen up the essential part of high kicks
- Knee rotation for joint flexibility
So, you should practice yoga and these stretches for nearly 15 to 20 minutes daily to develop the flexibility required to up the game of Muay Thai conditioning.
Running
Yes, running is a must to add exercise you should practice when thinking, “How can I learn Muay Thai at home”.
Even in the gym, the trainers force us to complete a running session by ourselves before or after the gym. So, you need to complete the running session by yourself.
The fact is many people consider running quite boring and monotonous. You just need to run faster and faster.
But the benefits of running are far outrageous. It helps to develop physical and mental strength, along with cardiovascular endurance. That is why running is included in every Muay Thai training routine program in Thailand.
Mobility
If your hips are stiff, the high kicks aren’t going to be good to go option for you if you don’t work on this part separately.
Hips mobility is very crucial to practicing Muay Thai exercises and techniques properly. In fact, a study claims that Muay Thai practitioners with high mobility have less danger of injuries than those who have a comparatively stiffer body.
So, you need to focus on three things
- Releasing the hips
- Opening the hips
- Anchoring the hips
The best part is that practicing these not only your joints’ agility, bone movement, and muscle strength increases, but also affects the neuromuscular control of the cerebrum, making it believe that you have a far more range of motions.
Chamber the Kicks
As a Muay Thai beginner who aims to learn the whole combat sport at home, you need to have a deep grip on throwing the right kicks.
But for that, you need to have control and balance on your movement so that none of your kicks go out of the way.
How about trying to give your opponent a close high knee and end up hitting your own chin? Quite embarrassing, right?
That is why an easy guide on “how to learn Muay Thai at home” includes chambering of knees so that you can also develop the grip and movement just like Saenchai.
Basically, in chambering the knee, the knee is lifted up towards your chest, and then there is a follow-up act of foot retraction.
How to Learn Muay Thai at Home- 6 Techniques to Focus On!
After discussing the basic workout and exercises, the following section discusses the Muay Thai basic techniques. So, the techniques you should familiarize yourself with are
- Check a kick
- Teep
- Roundhouse
- Switch Kick
- Elbows
- Clinches
1. Check a Kick
Checking the kick is one of the vital defensive moves to check for. Without having a solid check, there are high chances you will become prone to the devilish, hard kicks of your opponent.
So, the checks are necessary to block the brutal attack of your opponent, particularly the low kicks and the body kicks.
Here is an easy way to do so
- Stand up in your basic stance straight.
- Lift your dormant knee of yours with your foot facing down, almost equal to chest level
- And rapidly return back to your stance
2. Teep
Another powerful defensive weapon used and practiced as a part of Muay Thai workouts when learning Muay Thai at home is teep.
Keep is more like a jab, but most people confuse it with a front kick. No, it is based on a jab and is used to check and attack the opponents who try to lessen the distance and come closer.
So, to practice a teep at home, you can follow the given guide:
- Stand straight in such a way that your entire weight is on the back leg
- Now slowly bring the knee up
- Push with the hips in such a way that you hit with the balls of your feet
- Now retract the feet back, stable your balance, and move into the basic position again.
3. RoundHouse
Roundhouse kicks are included in the Muay Thai fundamentals, and therefore, there is no way out but to practice them at home.
It is a part of all the professional training sessions of Muay Thai throughout the world. But learning and developing a grip on it is not a very simple or easy thing to do. You require a lot of determination and practice to do so.
Therefore, to throw this complicated move in the correct way, you can follow the given steps at home:
- Stand as far as you do from the pivot foot.
- Then kick the foot at an angle of 45 degrees.
- Stay on the feet (particularly on the ball of the feet) when you kick.
- Generate power by swinging the same arm as your kicking leg. However, keep your other hand up so that it doesn’t get injured.
- Turn your hip in, and return to the position or stance you originally were in.
4. Switch Kick
The switch kick included in beginner Muay Thai training is almost similar to that of the roundhouse we just have read about. All you do is that you switch the stances. In it, you switch the kick when planning to attack your opponent’s body. So, to learn this kick at home, follow the given steps
- Switch the stances without getting up from the ground or jumping. However, remember to stay on the ball of your feet.
- Swing the arm of the same leg to generate power in your leg, and kick.
- Return to the original position.
5. Elbows
And now comes the throw or one of the famous Muay Thai drills at home that makes it different from other Martial Arts, particularly speaking, kickboxing. There are a number of elbow strikes that practitioners of Muay Thai practice at home, like horizontal elbow, upward elbow, etc.
However, it is better to start learning muay Thai at home from Horizontal Elbow. Here are the steps to follow
- Get into the regular stance
- Using your lead leg, step a bit forward
- Lift the back elbow to the shoulder level
- Remember to keep your forearm parallel to the ground level
- Strike using the elbow that pivots on the ball of your back foot, not the lead foot.
- Turn the thumb in a downward position
- Protect your head with the left hand so that it doesn’t get injured.
6. Clinches
Last but not least comes the clinches. Clinches are the most effective strike or move that makes Muay Thai one of the most effective strikes. In fact, in the whole steps of “How to learn Muay Thai at home?”, the most difficult process is learning clinching.
The fighters wrestle in it, strike, and throw knees in it. So, to learn this Muay Thai exercise at home, you can look for various videos available on online platforms like YouTube.
How to Learn Muay Thai at Home with a Punching Bag?
Whether you ask a trainer of Muay Thai or a famous Muay Thai boxer, all of them will agree that the best friend of Muay Thai is a punching bag. It is no less than a gift from nature.
Therefore, I would recommend you buy a punching bag for Muay Thai so that you can practice Muay Thai at home using it.
For Muay Thai beginners, the 20 minutes workout of Sean Fagan is perfect in which he tells all the possible ways to hit and practice using a punching bag.
Kicking these heavy bags is the bread and butter of all Muay Thai practitioners.
However, try to keep it simple at the start and eventually involve the fancy techniques.
An ideal punching Muay Thai workout for a beginner involves the set of the following five rounds:
Round 1
- 1-minute jab and teens
- Roundhouse for 1-minute
- 1-minute switch kick and cross kick
Round 2
- 1 minute left and right strikes
- 1-minute boxing
Round 3
- 1 minute of roundhouse, jab, and alternating teeps
Round 4
- 30 sec of jab and rear elbow
- 30 sec each of right and left teens drill
- 1 minute of jab and lead elbow
Round 5
- 1 minute of each Power right roundhouse and power left roundhouse
How to Learn Muay Thai at Home via Online Tutorials?
In the modern era, where the entire world has become a global village, we can easily practice all the Muay Thai workouts at home using online means.
A lot of videos and proper Muay Thai training playlists are available on YouTube, from where you can watch and practice the ones you like.
Apart from that, various athletes and professional Muay Thai boxers have made and uploaded a proper library of videos containing the workout online. A few famous libraries available are:
- Muay Thai Guy Library
- Liam Harrison Videos
Sean Fagan Aka Muay Thai Guy Library
The famous Muay Thai Guy offers the biggest library of Muay Thai practice workouts. Its library contains nearly 200 videos of training sessions in Muay Thai.
It has videos of different levels
- Muay Thai beginners workout
- Muay Thai intermediate level
- Workout for Amateur fighters
The course fees vary according to the plan you choose. It ranges from $19 to $250 according to the level and number of videos you buy.
Moreover, it offers a free trial of 14 days too to check the training videos and figure out whether you want one or not.
Muay Thai Conditioning Course by Liam Harrison
Well, if you are really into the world of Muay Thai, I don’t need to introduce you to the UK legend and multi-time world champion, Liam Harrison.
He also has a library of instructional videos in which he focuses on each and every step and gives all the tips and minute details you may feel the need of.
Moreover, is library costs nearly $11.99 to $88.99 per year, according to the playlist you choose.
In his instructional videos, all the techniques from the basic jab to rear elbow and clinch are defined and performed in detail to help you learn them from home.
Muay Thai Diet to Follow
The umbrella of “HOW TO LEARN MUAY THAI AT HOME?” not only includes the tips, techniques, and workout but a proper nutrition-balanced plan too.
Just like a normal gym coach refers you to a proper diet for building muscles, losing weight, etc., so does the Muay Thai coach.
So, here is a proper diet for you to follow when aiming to learn Muay Thai at home:
- The breakfast consists of a small bowl of rice, some fibrous veggies, and breast pieces of chicken ( grilled or steamed).
- The lunch and snacks should consist of fruits and only fruits.
- For dinner, you can again go for half a bowl of rice, some vegetables, or two small pieces of chicken.
- Drink a lot of water every day.
However, be aware that you can’t have any sugary food, and here are some healthy alternatives
- Opt for Greek yogurt with one tablespoon of honey instead of ice cream
- Eat mixed nuts and dry fruits instead of chips and snacks
Conclusion-The Closing Thoughts!
With the right equipment and a determined and self-motivated mindset, along with available online resources, the answer to “How to learn Muay Thai at home” becomes quite easy.
And with this, the umbrella of discussion closes. Now, it’s your turn to just find the right playlist and practice Muay Thai exercises we have covered.
About Author
Chris Bent
Chris Bent is a professional MMA Trainer who has expertise in both Martial Arts and Karate and he loves to teach Men, Women and Kids.
