GBK Program specifically designed to promote the level of fitness and toughness required for ring competition and overall health improvement

A fighter competitive in full contact fighting sports, muay Thai has a heavy focus on body conditioning. Muay Thai is specifically designed to promote the level of fitness and toughness required for ring competition. Training regimens include many staples of combat sport conditioning such as running, shadowboxing, rope jumping, body weight resistance exercises, medicine ball exercises, abdominal exercises, and in some cases weight training. Thai boxers rely heavily on kicks utilizing the shin bone. As such, practitioners of muay Thai will repeatedly hit hard objects with their shins, conditioning it, hardening the bone through a process called cortical remodeling. Muay Thai exponents typically apply Namman Muay liberally before and after their intense training sessions.

Training that is specific to a Thai fighter includes training with coaches on Thai pads, focus mitts, heavy bag, and sparring. The daily training includes many rounds (3-5 minute periods broken up by a short rest, often 1–2 minutes) of these various methods of practice. Thai pad training is a cornerstone of muay Thai conditioning which involves practicing punches, kicks, knees, and elbow strikes with a trainer wearing thick pads which cover the forearms and hands. These special pads (often referred to as thai pads) are used to absorb the impact of the fighter’s strikes and allow the fighter to react to the attacksof the pad holder in a live situation. The trainer will often also wear a belly pad around the abdominal area so that the fighter can attack with straight kicks or knees to the body at anytime during the round.

Focus mitts are specific to training a fighter’s hand speed, punch combinations, timing, punching power, defense, and counter-punching and may also be used to practice elbow strikes. Heavy bag training is a conditioning and power exercise that reinforces the techniques practiced on the pads. Sparring is a means to test technique, skills, range, strategy, and timing against a partner. Sparring is often a light to medium contact exercise because competitive fighters on a full schedule are not advised to risk injury by sparring hard. Specific tactics and strategies can be trained with sparring including in close fighting, clinching and kneeing only, cutting off the ring, or using reach and distance to keep an aggressive fighter away.

Due to the rigorous training regimen (some Thai boxers fight almost every other week) professional boxers in Thailand have relatively short careers in the ring. Many retire from competition to begin instructing the next generation of Thai fighters. Most professional Thai boxers come from the lower economic backgrounds, and the fight money (after the other parties get their cut) is sought as means of support for the fighters and their families. Very few higher economic strata Thais join the professional muay Thai ranks; they usually either do not practice the sport or practice it only as amateur muay Thai boxers.

Rules of Muay Thai is practiced in many different countries and there are different rules depending on which country the fight is in and under what organization the fight is arranged. The following is a link to the rules section of the Sports Authority of Thailand.

A popular rule that many organizations use is the banning of elbow strikes, as Muay Thai rules are often similar to those of kickboxing. Many believe this is because of the cuts they leave.
Use in other combat sports Mixed martial arts Muay Thai, like boxing and various forms of kickboxing, is recognized as a very effective striking base within MMA, and is very widely practiced among mixed martial artists. Fighters (some of whom have won titles) such as Anderson Silva, Maurício Rua, Wanderlei Silva, Bobby Askari, Thiago Silva, Gina Carano and Cristiane Santos employ a broad range of tactics borne of Muay Thai. Countless other mixed martial artists have trained in the art and it is often taught at MMA gyms as is BJJ and Wrestling. Many techniques associated with muay Thai are often seen in MMA, such as punches, elbows, clinch and kicks.