How to Optimize Muay Thai Recovery -

Being able to optimize muay thai recovery so you are ready for your next training session and in suitable condition for your next fight is key.

Everyone thinks they can train muay thai twice a day, 6 days a week like the pro fighters in Thailand.

And this is definitely achievable over time as you increase your fitness level and exercise capacity of your body.

But this requires a certain mindset and coupled with the highly effective muay thai recovery tips discussed below – you can stay in the game and keep training hard and enjoying your muay thai for a long time to come.

1.Mindset is Key for Longevity & Optimal Recovery in Muay Thai

For most people (non-pro fighters) training 3-6 sessions per week is about all we can handle due to work and life commitments.

That being said it can be tough to recover adequately so you are are in optimum condition for your next training session.

Jason Van Veldhuysen who runs the hugely popular Precision Striking YouTube channel made an interesting point that always stuck with me.

While it was about sparring I also like to apply it to training overall.

He asked :What is the goal of your very first sparring session? This also applies to your 2nd, 3rd and various other sparring sessions to come. The goal JT made clear is:

“To make it to your next sparring session”

The same can be said for training sessions.

You don’t need to kill yourself every session.

Always have a little left in the tank at the end of training.

This is the energy that will be used to kick start your recovery so are ready to train again hard the next session, and the next session and the next session.

Going ‘balls to the wall’ every session cannot be sustained consistently over a long period of time and can lead to burnout, overtraining and injury.

Try adopting this mindset –

“Your goal of this muay thai training session is to be able to come back and train the next session” and to keep doing this repeatedly over weeks, months and years.

Include the muay thai recovery tips discussed in this post and you can keep training hard and enjoying your muay thai training for many years to come.

2.Replace your fluids

Training in Thailand in the heat and humidity you lose a lot of fluids during training.

Even in cooler climates, muay thai training can be very draining and you will lose a lot of fluids.

So definitely when training intenrsely in 1-2 hour sessions you MUST replace your lost fluids.

The best option would be water. Keep sipping water before, during and especially after training.

But also coconut water especially is a really great choice with natural electrolytes as well as being really sterile so a safer option if you can get it directly from the coconut itself.

The green coconut is the best before it fully matures and the coconut water becomes a thick creamy milk.

3. Focus on Good Nutrition

Focus on getting healthy and nutritous meals around your muay thai training.

This way you ensure you are recovering well as well as preparing well for your next muay thai sessions.

good nutrition is key for muay thai recovery

An article published by the NCBI on sport nutrition for young athletes suggested that:

“Meals should be eaten a minimum of 3 h before exercise and snacks should be eaten 1 h to 2 h before activity. “
“Recovery foods should be consumed within 30 min of exercise and again within 1 h to 2 h of activity to allow muscles to rebuild and ensure proper recovery.”

So having a light snack before training and especially having a nutritous meal post training is key.

You could focus on smoothies after training (within 30 minutes after finishing training) and having healthy meals after with good carbohydrtes, protein and moderate amounts of good fats.

4.Mobility Drills Before Training

Doing effective mobility drills before muay thai will help to loosen up your joints and wake up and warm the muscles.

They also increase your range of motion and help to guard against injury.

Preparing for training the right way will go along way toward helping you recover from hard muay thai training so you are ready for your next session.

Check out my favourite pre-workout mobility drills for muay thai in the video below

5.Stretching for Recovery After Training

Do NOT neglect post workout stretching and having a proper cool down.

If you are part of a muay thai class you will stretch after training with a focus on static stretching and holding positions with good breathing to really loosen up tight muscles and improve flexbility and prevent injury.

This will also help tremendously when it comes to muay thai recovery.

6.Active Recovery Exercises

Being active outside of training and off days can help to keep the joints lubricated, range of motion active and energy flowing better.

There are quite a few options for active recovery which can really help you to recover and prepare for more hard training.

Here are some great options for active recovery exercise forms that are not too intense but can still provide a decent challenge to keep working your breath and keeping active to help your muay thai recovery.

i)Qigong

QIgong – this is my favorite options. Tai Chi or other qigong exercises help to promote energy flow beneath the muscles and work on a different level of healthy energy flow.

ii)Swimming

another option I use a lot after training is swimming. I often jump straight into the family pool at home after muay thai training. Swimming is excellent full body training as well as great for cardio and breath control. Also you dont get the same kind of tiredness from pounding the pavement running.

iii)Yoga

great for mobility as well as meditation and working on the mind body connection.

Yoga will help your flexibility and balance while also improving mobility of your joints (Especially the hips) to improve your muay thai techniques.

iv)Walking/Hiking

long walks are especially beneficial for calming the mind and just for relaxing. Science has proven the calming effects of walking out in nature.

Dont try to push too hard if you are using it for active recovery for muay thai. But try to keep moving and notcing the areas in your body that may feel tight or restricted, especially in the legs.

v)Cycling

Also great for active recovery and getting your legs in order for your next session and helping to keep them active as recovery for your muay thai training. Again if using cycling for active recovery don’t worry too much about pushing yourself too hard – save that for your muay thai sessions.

7.Massage

Massage can be really relaxing and help with your body and mind recovery outside of your hard muay thai training.

Of course in Thailand massages can be really cheap so you can take advantage of the cheap prices and abundance of experienced Thai massage experts.

Including one or two massage sessions per week and focussing on areas where you feel more tight such as the upper and lower back, calves (especially with all the running and skipping in muay thai) triceps and traps can really help your muay thai recovery.

Self Massage

In recent times self massage using ‘massage guns’ have become more popular with a variety of options available.

GSP’s former coach, Coach Zahabi is a major advocate for the massage gun and the value of self massage using the high powered timtam massage gun for recovery from hard martial arts training.

8.Quality Sleep

If you are training in the morning and later in the evening a midday nap can be very effective for muay thai recovery and so you are well energesied for your second session of training.

But sleeping during the day can be tough for some.

So make sure your chosen nap area is dark and cool which will help you fall asleep. But often after hard training it is not too difficult to fall asleep.

Just make sure you wont be distrubed so having a secure, dimly lit and cool room (air con or fan) would be ideal.

For bedtime, try to get 7-8 good hours of quality sleep.

It may be good not to drink too much an hour or so before sleep so you don’t have to get up in the middle of the night or really early in the morning to use the bathroom which can disturb your sleep.

9.Compression Garments

There have been studies conducted on the use of compression garments after hard training to investigate effects on recovery.

A study on rugby league players found that The results of this study indicate that the wearing of CGs may augment the active recovery process in reducing blood lactate and Hear rate after high-intensity exercise

A 2019 study found that the use of compression gear lowered time for body muscle recovery in German handball players.

In the study, the athletes wore the garments for 24 hours and then alternated between 12-hour breaks and 12-hour periods of wearing them for a total of 96 hours.

So while not yet fully confirmed by science, it would pay to look into compression gear yourself and test out how it works for you in aiding recovery.

10.Hot/Cold Water Therapy

Alternating between hot and very cold water is something you can do in your shower after training and this works really well for aiding in recovery.

This is often referred to as ‘contrast bath therapy and according to wikipedia it works as follows:

By alternating hot and cold, it is believed that lymph vessels dilate and contract to “pump” and move stagnant fluid out of the injured area and that this positively affects the inflammation process, which is the body’s primary mechanism for healing damaged tissue.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrast_bath_therapy

Furthermore it is believed that contrast bath therapy also helps to boost the immune system so you stay in good health to keep training hard.

11.Track Your Resting Heart Rate

Your heart rate upon rising in the morning can be a great indication of whether or not you are recovering well from hard training.

Measure your heart rate first thing in the morning and you can detect when you may be pushing too hard without recovering well enough from muay thai training.

There are several apps out there that allow you to do this as well.

Be sure to keep tracking and monitoring how effective you are recovering from training.

12.Meditation

Sometimes after training especially if we have a sparring session where we didnt perform as expected, this can keep your mind too active so that it impacts your sleep/

You also burn a lot of energy by overanlaysing and thinking too mich.

This uses up energy you should be using for your muay thai recovery. Energy that should be used for muscle repair and rebuilding broken muscle and refuelling and replenishing your body with the energy it needs.