muay-thai-training-o-fallon | O'Fallon Martial Arts | Gracie Barra

Muay Thai Training

Muay Thai Training. Are you searching for a pathway to physical and mental growth? Possibly a route to shedding a few pounds along the way? Look no further than Muay Thai training at Gracie Barra O’Fallon.

Our Muay Thai program is founded upon brotherhood, expansion, and integrity. When you join Gracie Barra O’Fallon you aren’t just joining a Muay Thai gym, you’re becoming part of a family. After your first class, you’ll see immediate improvements to your physique, your mind, and your overall well being.

For the best in Muay Thai training near you, call us at 636-544-3655 or contact us online. For more information on Gracie Barra O’Fallon, you can check out our programs to learn more.

Gracie Barra is the top martial arts team in the world, featuring over 400 gyms in North America and 900 worldwide. Your membership gets you into any of them. Our Gracie Barra O’Fallon programs and classes are split into several groups, including:

Gracie Barra O’Fallon Muay Thai Training: The History of Muay Thai

Muay Thai, referred to as “The Sport of Kings,” is the national sport of Thailand that came about as a system of combat for self defense and military application. Muay Thai is also called “The Art of Eight Limbs” because it makes use of punches, kicks, elbows, and knee strikes, thus using eight points of contact, as opposed to two points (fists) in boxing and four points (hands and feet) used in kickboxing.

During World War II, Thai soldiers were stationed overseas, and foreigners in Europe and America watched these soldiers practice a rudimentary form of Muay Thai amongst themselves. Older soldiers and fathers taught their students and sons the offensive and defensive tactics and techniques, proper posture and position, and skills to enhance overall awareness. Those students and sons went on to teach their children, and the roots and permanent structure and a form of an “Americanized” Muay Thai began to strengthen.

Muay Thai is fairly similar to kickboxing, but operates under different rules and scoring systems. Clinching, kneeing, elbowing are all allowed, as are kicks and punches. At Gracie Barra O’Fallon, much like with any other martial art, we teach Muay Thai from the ground up. Muay Thai has become popular recently mainly due to the rapid rise of modern MMA fighting, where Muay Thai is evident in almost every knockout. As a result of this rise, many people want to train Muay Thai at Gracie Barra. We teach the art the right way.

Gracie Barra O’Fallon Muay Thai Training: Levels of Training

The different levels of training for Gracie Barra O’Fallon Muay Thai are designed to sharpen specific areas as you gradually improve and advance. A lot of Muay Thai training, though, is dependent upon you. While the Gracie Barra instructors will work hard to provide the training and the tools, you are the one who needs to use the tools and do the hard work. We do not set these training levels in stone, as everyone advances and masters at different paces, but these are general training guidelines we use often during classes:

  • Shadow Boxing — At the start of most Gracie Barra classes you will shadow box in front of a mirror. As a beginner, you should focus on your stance, footwork, rhythm, and technique.
  • Pad Work — Hitting Muay Thai pads is an essential element of training. As a beginner, you will work with an advanced Grace Barra student or instructor who will hold the pads and help with guidance and striking corrections.
  • Bag Work — Most heavy bag work will be done on your own time, once you have a foundation of good habits and techniques. The key is to keep everything simple and focus on basics. Throw a jab, reset. Strike with a knee, reset. Don’t worry about combinations, that’ll come in time, just concentrate on the basics learned in your Gracie Barra O’Fallon classes.
  • Partner Drills — One of the best ways we have found at Gracie Barra to become comfortable punching and kicking an opponent is to work on drills with a partner. These drills can help you develop confidence and can be a good teaching tool for blocking incoming attacks.
  • Clinching — In Muay Thai there is clinching and striking. Clinching is when you hold your opponent in order to launch your attacks. It only involves arm control, sweeps, elbows, and knees. Your development as a Muay Thai student progresses as your clinching improves.
  • Sparring — This is what makes the arts like Muay Thai and kickboxing more useful than other martial arts. Sparring is where you utilize all of your techniques against an opponent. As a beginner, you should be patient and wait for your fundamentals to develop correctly before sparring.
  • Body Conditioning — Muay thai fighters are some of the toughest, best conditioned athletes in the world. As a beginner, you’ll notice pain in your shins during the first few training sessions. There are no shortcuts to conditioning your body but the more you condition your body, the tougher it will become.
  • Fighting — Competing in the ring is the final level of training. But it is by no means the end of your training. Fighting is the ultimate goal because it allows you to test everything you have learned in training, at full strength, and see how it applies to a real situation.

To join Muay Thai training at Gracie Barra O’Fallon, call us at 636-544-3655, or contact us online.

Gracie Barra O’Fallon Muay Thai Training: Development and Advancement

In Muay Thai training there is an unfortunate tendency to want to run before you can walk. Because everyone is born with the ability to swing their arms and replicate a punch, it’s easy to be under the impression that you have mastered the basics after a few classes. But in every Muay Thai technique there are so many different movements happening in your body that it takes hundreds of hours of repetition to truly master a technique. Take your time. Your Gracie Barra O’Fallon instructors and peers will help. Follow their lead. You’ll get there.

Because you have to learn all of the basics from the ground up, you will need to focus on one thing at a time. The key to surviving the early stages of Muay Thai is patience and perseverance. With hard work and a willingness to learn and grow, you will eventually start to become more comfortable performing the different techniques, moves, and strikes. Once you perform these things without thinking, as an almost second nature, that is when your learning curve will skyrocket upwards. That’s when you are no longer a beginner, and when Muay Thai becomes a lot more fun. When you move up from surviving the Gracie Barra training sessions, to thriving.

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The Best in Muay Thai Training | Gracie Barra O’Fallon

Our staff has years of experience and is knowledgeable in Muay Thai and all forms of martial arts. Read what other members had to say about our gym, classes, and overall philosophy. Gracie Barra O’Fallon is in business for our customers in O’Fallon and the surrounding areas. You are the reason we turn the lights on. With multiple days and times available, our schedule is made to fit around yours.

Call us at 636-544-3655 or contact us online to book a complimentary class today.

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