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Can Muay Thai Skills Make You Successful?

Can Muay Thai Skills Make You Successful?

Published by on January 10, 2022 | Leave a response

At the Garcia Muay Thai and MMA Gym in Glen Cove, NY, we focus on not only the precise movements of Muay Thai, but also the philosophy and Muay Thai skills that can help you be more successful. This sport, like most martial arts, is steeped in tradition and imparts values. It focuses on respect, humility, courage and a spirit of strength. Those are all qualities that can help in any endeavor.

Goal setting is part of Muay Thai.

Both goal setting and commitment to those goals plays an important role in Muay Thai. In some gyms, the colored belt system, headbands or armbands are ways to track success. While traditionally, there was no belt system, since Muay Thai was created for more practical reasons, like protection. Goal setting is internalized in Muay Thai, with goals to learn a new technique or win matches.

Learning to think clearly under pressure is necessary for success.

To win in the ring, you have to use as much mental strategy as physical output. It’s all about anticipating your opponent’s move and finding a way to counter it. Anticipating problems is a skill that’s necessary no matter what your endeavor. It can help save time chasing a solution that’s a dead end. You’ll think faster and clearer, since the physical side of the sport also builds brain power and improves cognitive thinking.

You’ll learn to think differently about things.

What you used to see as a roadblock, will now become an opportunity. When you’re in the ring, you have to find ways to change the trajectory of the fight if you’re losing. That type of quick thinking also helps you look differently at problems and challenges you face daily. You’ll start to see each challenge as an opportunity you need to think about differently and turn to your favor.

  • Muay Thai builds confidence. It improves your strength, stamina and posture, to give you a more confident appearance. Not only will people treat you different, since they see you as a confident person, you’ll feel more confident, too.
  • If stress is slowing you down or causing you to react too emotionally to things that occur daily, not only does Muay Thai burn off stress, it helps you have more self-control.
  • Developing commitment is easy with Muay Thai. That’s why it’s great for weight loss, too. It’s easy to be committed when you’re having fun, even if the workout is tough.
  • Muay Thai triggers a release of neurochemicals to the brain that increases the neural pathways. It helps increase brain plasticity that boosts your thinking skills and even your IQ. That makes it a good option, no matter what your age.

For more information, contact us today at Garcia Muay Thai

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Will Muay Thai Make You Strong

Will Muay Thai Make You Strong

Published by on December 25, 2018 | Leave a response

While the ultimate goal of Muay Thai is not to make you strong, but to give you exceptional fighting skills, that boost of strength is a nice added side effect. While you won’t see many Muay Thai fighters with bulging huge muscles, you will see the ones who practice this type of fighting with a chiseled physique and highly defined muscles. It’s good for women who want a sculpted look and provides additional strength as a wonderful benefit.

Even though they’re not bulky muscles, they’re still strong.

You don’t want bulk like a body builder when you practice Muay Thai, it slows you down. You want the type of muscle development that occurs when you increase myofibrillar strands. Those aren’t bulky muscles, but denser ones. This type of muscle hypertrophy makes you stronger. You’ll be a lean, ultra strong machine. You’ll have definition and definitely the look of a fit person, but without the bulk.

Muay Thai makes you strong mentally, too.

The training is tough and matches are tougher. That helps you build mental toughness as you keep on going, never giving up. You’ll overcome obstacles and setbacks, which also helps you outside of practice. Mental toughness is the ability to continue on even after others might have quit. It’s a lesson that’s so important to success, no matter what the endeavor. People who come to Muay Thai training with this trait, do quite well. Those who don’t and want to achieve greatness in the sport, soon develop it.

Muay Thai makes your heart strong and provides amazing endurance training.

You’ll build heart strength and endurance when you take up Muay Thai. It’s amazing as a workout to build your endurance. It gets you fit faster because it’s similar to HIIT training, where you go at top speed for a while, back to moderate exertion and then back to top exertion. That almost could describe a Muay Thai match. It’s both an anaerobic and aerobic workout that exercises all muscle groups and improves all types of fitness.

  • If you want to lose weight, there’s nothing better than Muay Thai. It burns up to 1,000 calories in just 60 minutes. It almost melts away fat while you’re training.
  • You’ll build your flexibility, core strength, balance, total body strength and endurance, while you’re having fun training. It doesn’t get any better than that. .
  • Just like mental toughness is important, so is self-discipline. Muay Thai teaches self-discipline. You get rewarded for your hard work by improving, which reinforces this virtue.
  • When you train in Muay Thai, you’ll develop an amazing self-defense technique, while also building strength, confidence and endurance.
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Muay Thai Benefits For Women

Muay Thai Benefits For Women

Published by on December 11, 2018 | Leave a response

The days of the damsel in distress are gone, if they ever really were here. Today’s women have to be tough and strong. Many are going it on their own, while raising a family. They have to compete in a business world that isn’t always female friendly and face the same dangers as men from those with criminal intent. That’s one reason so many women come to my Long Island, NY gym for training. They want to reap the many Muay Thai benefits available.

Weight loss is just one of the benefits.

Who doesn’t want to look and feel their best? It’s only natural. When you practice Muay Thai, you soon learn just how effective it is as a calorie burner. You’d be hard pressed to find one that burns as many calories. Okay, cross country skiing uphill does, but it’s not as easy to find a place to do it. As long as you eat healthy and don’t fill up on junk food, you’ll watch the pounds fall off. In fact, people who come here for fun, but don’t change their eating habits a bit often lose weight. Effective Calorie-burner: Very few sports make you burn as many calories as Muay Thai.

It’s a great method of self-defense.

You don’t have to be big to overcome an attacker. You just have to know the right moves. Most of the people that attack women are really cowards, who don’t have fighting skills. If you’re armed with Muay Thai, it’s not a guarantee you’ll come out a victor, but it does dramatically improve the odds. Kicks, punches and strikes can also stun your attacker and give you time to run. There’s no shame in running to safety! It’s the smart thing to do. That’s why you don’t have to win a fight when you’re armed with Muay Thai, it gives you the skills to deter the attacker and get away. In most cases, the attacker runs.

You’ll build muscle strength and look fabulous.

The lean muscular look has always been attractive. When you workout with Muay Thai, you won’t build bulky muscles, but sinewy, strong ones. Those trim muscles give you strength. Practicing helps all areas of fitness. Not only will you get stronger, you’ll have more endurance and flexibility, too. Even if you didn’t shed one pound after you started Muay Thai, you’ll wear a smaller clothing size because you’ll have more muscle tissue. Muscle tissue weighs more than fat tissue does per cubic inch, so the more you have, the thinner you’ll look.

  • Muay Thai can help build your confidence. Improving your strength and endurance improves your confidence level. When you feel fit and strong, you feel like you can take on the whole world and win.
  • You’ll look more confident. Part of the reason will be because you are, but even before that, the workout will help improve your posture, which gives you a more confident appearance.
  • You’ll have fun. Unlike many types of workouts, Muay Thai is fun. The time goes really quickly and you’re never bored.
  • You’ll feel fabulous after a Muay Thai session. It burns off those hormones from stress and replaces them with the happy hormones that make you feel good.
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What Is American Kickboxing

What Is American Kickboxing

Published by on November 22, 2018 | Leave a response

While Muay Thai is not only my specialty in Long Island, NY, it’s also my favorite types of martial arts that’s classed as a kickboxing style. I often get a lot of questions about the different styles of kickboxing and how American kickboxing is different than Muay Thai or other styles like Burmese kickboxing that allows headbutts and any part of the body to strike the opponent on any part of his body. Cambodian kickboxing emphasizes the use of elbows and Muay Thai uses knees, elbows, feet and hands. American Kickboxing is different in that it doesn’t allow kicking below the waist. .

American kickboxing developed later than many of the kickboxing sports.

While karate and other martial arts became popular in America, Western boxing was also supreme. American kickboxing is a marriage of the two sports. It has elements of both karate and boxing. The development of the sport started in the 1970s, when all types of kickboxing became popular. Because many Americans had only experience with Karate, they weren’t used to expending the energy for the kickboxing rounds. A ten round fight was a pure struggle.

Boxing trainers helped.

Those involved in Karate seldom used gloves, but that soon made those people turn to training programs created for Western boxers. Changes in the number of rounds for sparring, using full contact sparring and taking punches to the upper body and head was all part of the training. That training improved them in the ring and helped develop the modern version that grew into American kickboxing. It spread to international circuits and became its own sport.

A few rules set it apart from other martial arts.

Hitting above the waist is part of American kickboxing. It can be done with either punches or kicks. There’s no use of knees or elbows in this sport. Few matches allow shins to be used either. Grappling and clinch fighting isn’t allowed. The use of sweeps is legal, but that also depends on the bout and referee. The bouts normally last 2-3 minutes. There are as few as three and as many as twelve with a minute rest between the rounds.

  • Some people think that the reason that American kickboxing only allows kicking above the waist is that promoters wanted a flashier sport with high kicks to draw the public.
  • Like other types of kickboxing, agility, energy level and reflexes are king. Planning your next move wisely to defend yourself or attack your opponent is important.
  • The first World Championship of American Kickboxing was in 1974. The Professional Karate Association held it.
  • It’s acceptance also boosted other forms of the sport. It was part of the reason that Mixed Martial Arts was developed.
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Kung Fu Vs Muay Thai

Kung Fu Vs Muay Thai

Published by on November 8, 2018 | Leave a response

If you look at where Kung Fu and Muay Thai started, the cultures were similar, even though Muay Thai started about 1900 years later. Kung Fu origination is disputed. Some believe that it originated at the Shaolin temple by an Indian Buddhist monk while others claim it was around long before that temple existed. It’s based on animal movements and was the father to karate, which started on the island of Okinawa, close to China. Kung Fu started as a program to help the Buddhist monks get stronger and healthier and then developed into the fighting technique of today.

Muay Thai was developed to protect the nation of Siam, which is now Thailand.

The Siamese army was created in 1238 AD to protect the capital city, Sukhothai. Hand to hand combat was taught, just as use of weapons were. To give the soldiers more defense, the use of the entire body as a weapon was also part of the focus. It became part of the culture are camps were created that focused not only on the self-defense, but also exercise and discipline. The Buddhist monks even learned the art and passed it from generation to generation. The name means combat from Thai—Thailand.

What is Muay Thai?

Often called “The Art of Eight Limbs,” Muay Thai uses the hands, elbows, shins and knees to fight. Each is used as you might use a weapon. The hands can be used as swords and daggers while the elbows are used as a weapon to create heavier blows. The forearms and shins are the armor to protect the fighter from his opponents blows. Muay Thai is unlike Kung Fu in that form mimicking animal movements is prominent in Kung Fu, while Muay Thai uses the body as you would use a weapon.

Muay Thai is all about sparring and Kung Fu about practicing form.

Learning various poses may provide the appropriate form, but doesn’t give an advantage when the real battle comes. Looking back at the start of Kung Fu as a form of exercise for health that later was used for self-defense, compared to Muay Thai as a weapon for war and self-defense first that was later used for health, you can see why sparring is an effective way to learn skills in a real fight faster.

  • Training for many martial arts involves punching in the air, Muay Thai practices with real opponents.
  • In the 1970s, there was a match between five Muay Thai fighters and five Kung Fu fighters. The Muay Thai fighters won all five bouts in the first round.
  • Both Muay Thai and Kung Fu use punches and kicks, but Muay Thai also involves the knees and elbows.
  • If you don’t want to compete in MMA matches, but love the idea of style, Kung Fu might be right for you. If, however, you want to win matches and enter competitions, Muay Thai is best.
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How To Long Guard

How To Long Guard

Published by on October 24, 2018 | Leave a response

If you want a defense that will help you get through a whirlwind of punches from your opponent, the long guard won’t let you down. It’s used to protect the head and upper body during those times you’re opponent is throwing a series of quick punches and can protect you while you’re planning your next move, while allowing your opponent to wear out without injury to you.

Your lead arm is used to keep your opponent at bay.

Keeping your lead arm out is important. It can act as a defense and to help you judge the distance your opponent is from you so you can plan strategies. Your chin should be down and your shoulder should be tight. Your other arm goes across your face with your elbow at a ninety degree angle and your palm out. You can use your lead arm to push against the head of your opponent and adjust the elbow and outstretched arm to ward off any punches.

The long guard is about using your shoulders, arms and upper body to not only defect punches but to create space.

The more space you have between you and your partner, the more time you have to react to your opponents move. While there are more intricate Muay Thai guards, this one is effective in a multitude of situations and lets you plan your next offensive move while protecting yourself. Your opponent is busy trying to overcome this defense and it could allow perfect timing to take the critical jab that will help you win.

The long guard is one of the best defenses against a strong puncher.

Another name for the long guard is a good defense against a heavy puncher. It keeps a strong opponent at enough of a distance by using your lead hand to press against his face, forehead, chest or shoulders. Your shoulder, glove and lead arm protect your chin and shoulder, but allow you to see the punches coming. You need to use kicks and quick offensive moves when you can to get the upper hand.

  • While you can move your crossed arm to help prevent contact, one of the main weaknesses of the long arm is the upper cut.
  • Don’t linger in the long arm too long. Make sure you immediately start planning offensive moves once you’re in it and wait patiently for the best time to use them.
  • Varying your guard will help you improve your game. You can go from tight guard to long guard when the situations calls. Knowing more possibilities provides more possibilities.
  • Muay Thai is all about being able to find the best spot to start your attack. Having an arsenal of tools, like the long guard, to protect you and good footwork, can help keep you protected until the time is right.
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Effective Muay Thai Sparring Techniques

Effective Muay Thai Sparring Techniques

Published by on October 10, 2018 | Leave a response

No matter how long you train to get into shape, work on combinations with a heavy bag or hone those combinations with Muay Thai pads, at some time, if you want to use what you’ve learned, you have to spar. I know a lot of my students in Long Island, NY are initially intimidated when they go into the ring and that’s why I’ve put together some Muay Thai sparring techniques that can help anyone for their first real chance to test their skills.

Relax and put your fear aside.

One good relaxation technique is deep breathing. Staying calm and use your breathing to help slow your heart and get more in focus with yourself and what you’ll o next. Take in everything about your opponent as you do. Deep breathing will help you slow down everything around you. Always face your opponent and don’t take your eyes off him or her. If you focus on your partner’s chest, rather than trying to look him or her in the eyes, you’ll get clues from the muscle movement about the move he or she’s about to make.

Don’t try to get fancy, but stick to the basics.

Whether you’re on the attack or defending yourself, keep it as simple as possible. You’ve probably practiced all the basics until you know them by heart and started learning a few more complicated ones. Keep the complicated ones at home for your first few sparring sessions. Sticking to the basics means you can act without trying to remember the next move. You’ll have more power with these tools. Always remember, there’s a reason they’re basics and why they’re taught first.

Don’t worry about getting hit.

One of the biggest problems faced by people new to sparring is they try to avoid being hit at all costs. That doesn’t mean you should let your guard down and forget to deflect, block or evade a punch. What it does mean that don’t it affect your offensive tactics that could help you come out victorious. Worrying about getting hit can take its toll and stop you in your tracks. You’ll get hit sometime, no matter how hard you try not to, so learning how to handle it early is good.

  • Use your time wisely. If you’re sparring mirrors the real fights, there are three minutes in each round and five rounds. Don’t burn up all your energy in the first round only to fade at the end.
  • Remember that sparring is all about practicing and making your skills better, not about winning.
  • After you’ve had a few experiences sparring, look for partners with totally different styles and strategies. The more experience you have against different styles, the more you’ll be able to learn new ways to handle them.
  • Make sure you have all the right equipment before you start sparring.
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Will I Lose Weight With Muay Thai

Will I Lose Weight With Muay Thai

Published by on September 21, 2018 | Leave a response

You can lose weight with Muay Thai, just ask people who practice it. It burns a huge amount of calories. In fact, you can burn up to 1000 calories in an hour. Of course, that number will vary based on a person’s weight and amount of activity during any particular session. You’re constantly on the move when you’re doing this cardio-intense training.

The art of 8-limbs works all the muscles in the body.

While you do use many muscles when you box, the vast majority of the workout is upper body and core muscles. With Muay Thai, you’re punching with more than just your hands, you’re fighting with feet, elbows and knees, too. You can see how it works your legs and your upper body, plus gives you a huge core workout. That’s why most of the seasoned Muay Thai enthusiasts have lean, sinewy muscles and sculpted core muscles.

Everyone wants six-pack abs.

It takes two things to get six pack abs. One is strong core muscles and the other is weight loss so that muscular build can show and isn’t buried under layers of fat. In fact, many people feel that not just strong abs are important, but overall core strength is one of the most important characteristics of being fit. They help provide balance and stability and protect est your back. The movements of Muay Thai build core strength.

Muay Thai is the ultimate weight loss program because it keeps people coming back for more.

No matter what type of exercise program you use to help you lose weight, you have to do it consistently to get results. That’s one huge advantage of Muay Thai. It’s almost addictive. People become focused at getting better and the time seems to fly by at each session. Instead of watching the clock, you’re more focused at watching your opponent or learning a new move. While it may not be fun in the conventional sense, like dancing or riding a roller coaster, it’s the challenge of the sport that makes it fun.

  • Muay Thai teaches you discipline and self-esteem. Learning those two qualities can help you shed pounds. As become more proficient, taking care of your body become more important.
  • No matter what form of exercise you choose, you can never out exercise a poor diet and overeating. In order to get the maximum weight loss, you have to eat fewer calories and healthy food to get results.
  • Learning the basics is simple with Muay Thai, but there are endless moves you can make, so you’ll always have something new to learn.
  • While you might take up Muay Thai for fitness and weight loss, you’ll also be getting a valuable self-defense tool that’s available at all times, especially when you need it.
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Is Muay Thai Good For Fitness

Is Muay Thai Good For Fitness

Published by on September 8, 2018 | Leave a response

People in Long Island, NY have a lot of options that are good for fitness, but Muay Thai is one that’s at the top of the list for a variety of reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that it’s fun and it keeps you coming back for more. No matter how good any workout is, if you don’t do it, it won’t help you become fitter. Enjoying yourself can boost the potential for continuing your efforts to get fit and with Muay Thai, may even have you working on other types of fitness to help improve your skills in the sport.

Muay Thai is the art of 8-limbs.

As the name implies, it uses 8-points of contact to fight; hands, knees, elbows and feet. That not only gives a multitude of options when it comes to techniques (so you’ll never run out of new things to learn), but also works all parts of the body. Depending on whether you’re doing punches, foot-thrusts, kicks or defense moves depends on whether you’re working upper body, lower body or both. It strengthens and tones all body muscles, while giving you a sinewy muscular build.

Muay Thai gives you not only a full body workout, but also works on all types of fitness.

There are many types of fitness. While most people think of strength and endurance when they think of fitness, flexibility and balance are also fitness categories that shouldn’t be ignored. It combines both aerobic and anaerobic exercise and is better than running on a treadmill. While you go at top speed at times, you also have some periods of rest, which gives it the same benefits as high intensity interval training, one of the heart healthiest ways to exercise. The movements build both strength and flexibility. Try kicking your leg in the air frequently and you’ll know why it helps to improve balance.

You’ll burn tons of calories, so losing weight comes as one of the benefits.

Just toning your body and building more muscle tissue can help you lose weight. Any type of exercise can also add to the calories burned, but a Muay Thai workout can burn up to 700 calories in just one hour. That’s huge! Of course, no matter what type of exercise you use, you can’t out-exercise a poor diet, so you still have to eat healthy to get the best results. It simply makes reaching weight loss goals easier.

  • The more you practice Muay Thai the more you become aware of your body and its needs. As people become more proficient, they start to focus on other areas of health to make them even better, like healthier eating.
  • Muay Thai is a stress buster. It mimics the actions humans take when the flight or fight instinct sets in, so you burn off the hormones of stress that cause changes in your body that can create health conditions.
  • Muay Thai boosts mental conditioning and brain health. It not only builds discipline and self-confidence, but also improves brain functioning by increasing circulation.
  • You’ll build core strength and functional fitness. Functional fitness gives you the ability to do everyday jobs and be safer from injury.
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The Top 5 Reasons To Include Muay Thai Kickboxing In Your Exercise Program

The Top 5 Reasons To Include Muay Thai Kickboxing In Your Exercise Program

Published by on August 23, 2018 | Leave a response

Have you ever really thought about your workout program? Have you considered what you like, what works, and what you seriously hate to do? Some people in Glen Cove, NY never really stop to gauge how effect their workout is, whether they look forward to it or find a million excuses to avoid it. If you include Muay Thai kickboxing in your exercise program, you’ll definitely know the answer to these three questions and find a host of other reasons it can help you on the road to fitness.

Let’s face it, Muay Thai kickboxing is fun!

Okay, so maybe the term fun is not quite accurate, but the time in sessions flies by quickly. You won’t be standing around watching the clock or counting each repetition, hoping to quickly get to the last one. It keeps you focused and involved. If you aren’t, you’ll either miss important information or end up losing a match. You’re never doing the same thing twice, so there’s no boredom. It’s a challenge that makes you want too keep on working to get better, so you’ll keep coming back for more.

Muay Thai Kickboxing provides a great workout that is both aerobic and anaerobic.

You’ll get a full body workout when you practice Muay Thai kickboxing. Not only does it build strength and endurance with the anaerobic actions like kicking the bags and pads, it also tests your aerobic endurance with shadowboxing or warming ups with jumping rope. You aren’t isolating muscle groups, but working several groups of muscles at once for a total body workout. You’ll build all types of fitness, flexibility, endurance, strength and balance.

You’ll burn a huge amount of calories when you add Muay Thai to your program.

As noted before, it’s a total body workout. It also uses moves that heavily involve core muscle groups. Those are two flags that this workout is sizzling away the calories. While the amount of calories per hour varies by not only your actual movements, but also your body weight and muscle tissue, it’s estimated it could be as high as 1,000 calories per hour.

  • Because it is a full body workout and uses all types of moves, it improves your functional fitness. That’s the type of fitness you need to do every day tasks and avoid injury.
  • You’ll be gaining both a healthy body and a valuable self-defense tool. This is especially important for women. Size doesn’t matter when it comes to Muay Thai. It’s all about technique.
  • You’ll boost your self-confidence and that will show in other areas of your life. Nothing succeeds like success.
  • When you add Muay Thai kickboxing, you’ll learn the basics fast. That will keep you coming back for more as you add more technique and refine it.
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