The best Muay Thai classes near me

Muay Thai is Thai Boxing and is the national sport of Thailand. Although it is a combat sport, it is more like Kick Boxing than other martial arts. With eight points of contact, it is often known as “the art of the eight limbs” as the whole body is used as a weapon and a shield. Participants utilise kicks, punches, knee and elbow strikes to attack, with thrusts and jabs designed to knock an opponent off balance. For defence there are techniques for evasion and blocking. Kicking with a straight leg means that an opponent can be attacked at a longer range. Fast paced and energetic, this sport is exciting to watch and demanding to take part in.

Developed over centuries with a long powerful history, and full of traditions, modern Muay Thai has evolved into a modern athletic combat sport that is both fast and powerful with extremely rigorous training required.

Benefits of Muay Thai Training

Self-Defence

Muay Thai is one of the best martial arts for self-defence. It teaches participants how to defend themselves against multiple assailants at once and protect themselves from different types of attack. With cunning footwork, unarmed combat defensive tactics and its unpredictable attack techniques it is a good way to keep yourself safe and get prepared for the unexpected.

Self-Control

Like many other martial arts, Muay Thai, teaches a level of control that can be highly effective in dealing with anger management and emotional issues. The breathing and focus techniques help to bring peace and inner clarity, while the self-discipline required to master the techniques is a great tool for regulating your emotions. The extreme physicality is a great way to channel any negative emotions into attacking moves and redirect negative energy into the fighting techniques.

Stress Relief

The intensity of Muay Thai Training is an excellent way to encourage your body to produce endorphins. This natural hormone is produced when you participate in high energy activity and will help combat your body’s stress hormones such as cortisol. As well as being mentally relaxing, it has positive effects on your body’s ability to heal, regenerate and perform.

Not only does the intensity help you relax but the combat element can be a great boost to your self-esteem as you begin to take control of your body through the rigorous discipline of the training. As you feel and see the difference that the training makes to your body, you will soon ooze self-confidence.

Improved Strength, Power and Endurance

Muay Thai training focuses on strength, quick releasing power and endurance. Training will help you to channel your energy systems and push yourself for longer periods. Delivering punches and kicks whilst considering your defence builds stamina far beyond gym training and offers motivation to keep going beyond your body’s current ability.

Abdominals

Building core strength is an essential part of learning your Muay Thai technique. All the twisting and kicking helps to build your abs and develops your six pack. A single training session is likely to include shadow boxing, bag kicking, jabbing and skipping. All of these will work your abdominal muscles. Add to this the balance required to perform Muay Thai kicks and you will find that your inner core strength is naturally developed.

Cardio Fitness

Muay Thai is the perfect balance between aerobic and anaerobic training. You will get plenty of aerobic exercise from running, sprinting, jump rope and shadow boxing. The anaerobic exercise will come from the kicking, punching, elbowing and kneeing. This combination encourages your heart to beat extra fast to generate more oxygen thereby being a great workout for your heart and cardiovascular system.

Balance and Coordination

Training your limbs to make a connection is a great way to develop your hand-eye coordination. Timing involves working on your reflexes and you will need to develop your balance to perform the kicks with strength. Learning to hit a moving target or ducking and diving out of the way, are great ways to develop your proprioception and build better response times. All of this will happen as a matter of course when learning and perfecting the Muay Thai techniques.

Burning Fat and Calories

Muay Thai is an extremely high energy sport that will allow you to burn hundreds of calories per hour whilst training. Not only will this help you to achieve a calorie deficit, but you can also improve your VO2 max by getting your heart rate to 85% or more of its maximum rate. Great for achieving an afterburn effect that will see you burning more calories up to 24 hours after your training session.

Turning your body fat into muscle is a certainty as the training will involve lots of strength and resistance training and conditioning such as throwing punches and kicking bags that will help you to build plenty of lean muscle.

Muay Thai in Dubai

If you live in Dubai and are wondering “where can I find Muay Thai near me?” then you will be wanting to find the best Muay Thai Instructors. Taking on such a physical challenge means that you want to be assured that you will be taught the techniques and form correctly to avoid injury and improve your performance.

When looking for Muay Thai in Dubai you can’t do better than Muay Thai Muppets. Exclusively at GymNation, Muay Thai Muppets is led by Jason Woodham. A former professional Muay Thai fighter with more than 80 fights under his belt, he was known as "The Handsome Hero". Having lived and trained in Thailand he fought all over the world before turning to become one of the best Muay Thai Instructors.

Muay Thai Muppets is the leading provider of Muay Thai Coaching in the UAE. It caters for all levels of ability, from beginner to advanced, providing both group and one-on-one Muay Thai and Kickboxing coaching.

Whether you are looking for something different to improve your fitness levels or whether you want professional training to take part in this highly competitive sport, you will be able to improve your technique, develop new skills and take on the challenge of a whole body workout.