How long do you have to train in muay thai before you can hold your own in a fight?
Hi, as the title says, how long do you have to train in muay thai (assuming you got a few hours a day to practice) before you can you can hold your own in a fight against an opponent with say… 5 years of muay thai experience?
If you have 5 years Muay Thai experience you are definetly already ready to use Muay Thai in self defense.
You think about how Muay Thai kicboxers train: strenous exercise, hitting bags/pads, full contact sparring, full contact competitions, etc. All this type of training develops someone who can fight basically. If they couldn’t fight, well, they would get whupped in the ring all the time. But, that training prepares them to be able to hold their own or win in a Muay Thai full contact kickboxing match. You take out the gloves, you basically have your average standup fistfight in the street. That’s really the main difference you experiencing between the two. Yes, there are referees, rules, rounds, etc. I realize that too, that isn’t a streetfight. But, those sport rules arent’ the main difference. You have a referee but, he doesn’t step in that much, you are basically on your own out there like a real fight. The round is what? 2 or 3 minutes. In that time in the street, your fight should already be over more times than not. So, wearing those gloves is the main difference really. Anyway, you are basically streetfighting once you get in that ring. So, once you are able to hold your own or win a few in the ring you are ready for street self defense.
That full contact training makes the difference between combat sports (like Muay Thai) and martial arts that do light contact or semi contact (like, say, most Karate schools). You get to use your moves full force on another person who is trying to do the same thing to you. Both of you are desperately trying to survive and win. You are feeling pain, fear, exahaustion, some of your moves are working, some aren’t, blood, possiblity of KOs, etc. Doesn’t all that sound like what you basically face in a 1 on 1 streetfight? Those other martial arts that don’t do full contact training don’t allow you to experience these things in the “safety” of the ring or dojo. If their training has you feeling any of those things, it is waaay less than full contact. They may teach “deadlier” moves like say eye gouges but, they can never practice it 100%. So, when it comes down to the real thing who knows how they will perform? Maybe great, maybe not. They will have tons of fear, anger, adrenaline running through them. For them them all that adrenaline is a rare experience. To you as a full contact fighter, you face adrenaline a lot in sparring and competition. They may have an eye gouge while you have a jab punch, but, that punch has proven itself in adrenalized situations over and over, that’s the difference. So, Muay Thai, and other full contact combat sports, speed up your ability to fight for real with them and be successfull.
Muay Thai of course isn’t perfect. In a street self defense situation you may have to groud fight. So, Muay Thai will never train you for this no matter how many years you put into it. That’s why I said for a standup fistfight it will be ready for you soon, but, for a groundfight never. As long as it stays on the feet you should do reasonably well.
So, to directly answer your question, I’d say about 6 months to a year. As long as you are training hardcore, put as much time as you can in per week, and have some Muay Thai matches in that time. It shouldn’t take extremely long. That full contact training really gets you prepared so much quicker than those who never full contact fight. If you have 5 years experience you should be a virutal master of using your Muay Thai moves, especially against some who is unskilled in a martial art.
Muay Thai Deadly Skills
Tags: boxing, muay, muay thai, muay thai gear, muay thai giant, muay thai nyc, muay thai training, muaythai, thai, training