Want to pass the Muay Thai grading? Here’s how you can do it. (11 min read)

So you want to pass the Muay Thai Grading. 

Before you can pass the grading, let’s take a look inside the program, what you should be aiming to get out of the beginners program and what you can do to make sure that you pass when your chance comes. 

How does the UFT Muay Thai program work and what should you expect from it?

Muay Thai is arguably the most effective striking based martial art in the world. And for a number of reasons.

1 – It uses almost all of the major weapons that you have access to if you’re a human (2 Fists, 2 Elbows, 2 Knees, 2 Shins – That’s why it’s called the art of 8 limbs)

2 – It also uses clinching, which allows you to continue to fight at a very close range as well as learning to sweep your opponent to the ground and how to not get swept.

3 – Everything is extremely practical. Whether you are wanting to develop fitness, learn self defence, become a martial artist or become a fighter.

That being said, it’s not something that you can just turn up a few times to and “get good” at. All of those things take time to learn, grow and develop, so your first tip to passing the Muay Thai grading, is to turn up consistently, listen and work hard.

Because there are so many things to learn and develop in Muay Thai we have broken the program into 2 groups (Beginners & intermediates) and for a very effective and specific purpose. There are a number of fundamental things that you need to understand, execute and practice before you can move onto the more advanced areas.

The beginners program has been designed to teach you the fundamentals of Muay Thai and the fitness required to execute it.

The intermediates program is where the real martial art journey starts, this is where you develop your tools, expand your knowledge and harden your body & mind.

So for your to pass the grading which will take you from beginners to intermediates, you will need to work on the following:

1 – The basics (Footwork, Guard, Twist, Flow)

Without these fundamentals, it will not matter how fit, fast or strong you are, if your stance is wrong and your footwork isn’t balanced. If your guard drops all the time, if you lean forward and you don’t twist, and if you can’t move your body in a way that flows and isn’t stiff, then you won’t be able to throw powerful strikes and you’ll be easily thrown around.

2 – The knowledge and ability to execute all of the basic strikes

Once you have your fundamentals then the strikes come quite easily.

Obviously you still need to know the strikes and be able to execute them effectively.

So you need to learn & execute effectively – Your strikes 1-6 (Jab, Cross, Left hook, Right hook, Left uppercut, Right uppercut). Your kicks (Roundhouse, Switch, Front teep & Rear teep). Your knees (Step knee, Switch knee) and Your elbows (Cross, Up & over).

3 – The ability to execute effective combinations

Once you are able to execute the strikes individually, then you need to develop the ability to put them together, in combinations. They don’t need to be big extravagant ones, just simple and effective.

Don’t forget, if your fundamentals are all correct, the combos should flow without a problem.

4 – The ability to hold pads effectively for someone more advanced than you

When you put on the pads, you become the coach. You are now trying to help elevate the person that is standing in front of you, in their skills, fitness, power, accuracy or anything else that they are trying to work on.

Great pad holding is paramount to moving into the intermediate classes for a few reasons.

  1. The intermediates hit harder and faster. If you can’t hold for harder hits or keep up with the speed you or them will get hurt.
  2. Intensity in training gives you the ability to move forward in the art of Muay Thai and in your fitness journey. So intensity needs to be created by the pad holder.
  3. It will make your Muay Thai better. When you put the effort into the detail of your pad holding, it means that you are developing a deeper understanding in your striking. And the better we understand things, the easier it is to improve them.

5 – You need to pass the fitness test

The fitness test is:

Complete 3 rounds in under 20 mins of:

250 Fat rope skips

25 Push-ups

25 Squat jumps

25 Straight leg sit-ups

30 laps of the mats (15m approx.)

What can you do to improve your fitness, pad holding and striking so that you can pass the grading and start your journey as an Intermediate?

The obvious thing that you can do, is do more classes. If you are training in every class you can, then it’s just a matter of time.

However, there are easier ways to develop certain aspects of your training, especially if they’re holding you back.

Here are 3 things that you can do to better your basics:

  1. Practice in the mirror before and after class or at home. Make sure your heels don’t touch the floor and practice moving in your stance.
  2. Dance. Muay Thai is all about rhythm and the best way to develop your rhythm is to be able to find it with music. You don’t have to become an amazing dancer, but the ability to move your body to a beat will take your movement in training to new heights.
  3. Be disciplined. It is that simple sometimes. Every time you step on the mats, make it your mission that no matter what you will always be doing the basics, regardless of how hard it gets. You will always come back to your stance, your hands will always be on your head, you will always twist when you strike and you will work on making your combos flow. It’s not always an easy thing to do, but with a disciplined mind, it will become habit, and then you will do it automatically.

Here are 3 things that you can do to better your strikes:

  1. Stretch. Before and after class, take the time to stretch your body so that you are not limited by your current restrictions. Stay tuned because we’re going to post a really effective warm-up stretching routine that you can do before every class.
  2. Get some extra bagwork in, give yourself a target for your strike and hit it. Accuracy is usually one of the first things that people lose as they fatigue or increase their intensity.
  3. Get a training partner and go over all of the strikes with each other. Go slow and pause at the end of every strike so that you can feel the right positions or correct them.

Here are 3 things that you can do to better your combinations:

  1. Nail the basics. There are a few reasons that people stuff up their combos, one of the biggest ones is dropping the basics. That means that their stance is wrong, their hands are dropping, their not twisting, it doesn’t flow or all of the above. If you’re disciplined in your basics, it makes it difficult to make mistakes.
  2. Remember “Smooth is fast, fast is strong”. If you move smoothly, you’ll hit well. But if you rush you will make mistakes. So make sure you SLOW DOWN. You don’t have to kill the pads on every strike, you don’t have to hit fast. Slow down, execute it well and move smooth. Once you have nailed that, then pick up the intensity.
  3. Practice. Do lots of classes, do extra pad rounds with friends, do extra bag work, do extra shadow boxing.

Here are 3 things that you can do to better your Pad holding:

  1. Hold pads for people that are better than you. When you do that, you’ll be forced to hold stronger, because they kick harder, you’ll be forced to learn the positions better because they’re more accurate and you’ll be forced to be faster because they’re faster. It might be a little intimidating, but it’s stepping up like this that makes you grow.
  2. Keep your pad holding simple. The biggest mistake that beginners make when holding pads, is they try to use a really big mix of strikes and combinations and in the end they confuse themselves and spend half the time thinking of what to do next. Keep it simple, and repeat the same combo 5-10 times before you change it.
  3. Remember that this is Muay Thai, so there are a lot of strikes that you need to incorporate. This one comes with practice and time. But when you’re holding in your grading you need to show that you can hold for all strikes and create combinations that are not just boxing or just kickboxing. So keep it simple, but make sure you bring in all of the weapons.

Here are 3 things that you can do to better your fitness:

  1. Work on your push-ups. This movement tends to let down a lot of people when it comes to the fitness test. If this is you, follow this link and do the push-up program 2-3 times a week for the next 8 weeks and watch how much your push-ups improve. http://www.uftplaygrounds.com.au/crossfit-wods/improve-your-push-ups-with-this-weekly-strength-routine/
  2. Build your cardio. There are lots of ways to do this but here are a couple of simple ones. Try these; Add in 1 x 3-5km run each week where you push the pace and try to beat your best time. Do a Tabata of 10m shuttle sprints/Airbike/Rowing 2-3 times per week (8 rounds of 20s MAX EFFORT work + 10s rest = 4 mins total). Do a hill sprint session once per week or per fortnight. 
    **If you really want to work on your cardio and your running, ask us and you can buy our 7 week 10km run training program for $10.
  3. Build your mental resilience. This comes from pushing your boundaries, identifying your breaking points or the habits you have created for yourself that allow you to stop, slow down or go easy and changing them. No-one can go full throttle all the time, but we can improve on our ability to push through pain and discomfort. And the first step is in developing an awareness to your training and mental habits. The fitness test hurts, the only way you will pass is if you can deal with the hurt and keep going.

Now that you know what you need to do to pass the Muay Thai grading, there is only one thing left. Figure out which of the tips above you are going to implement and how often, then get on the app, book in your next class and rock up with an attitude that’s ready to work.

There is a grading every 8 weeks for the people that the coaches have selected. On the alternating 8 weeks there is a practice grading session where you get to see where you’re at and what you need to work on.

Make sure you’re at every single one, and you’re working hard to be the next up on that stage and taking on the second step in your Muay Thai journey.

Have a great day

See you on the mats.

Denee

2019-04-12T17:44:19+10:00

About the Author:

Denee Lalouette
A UFT PLAYground is a place that people of all shapes, sizes and ages learn to develop their movement abilities through an infinite learning and development program. UFT PLAYgrounds have been created to re-inspire our natural ability to move, create, adapt, re-act, connect, have fun and of course PLAY. PLAYgrounds have been developed to allow people to feel and explore their own abilities by utilising a multidimensional, infinite, creative and PLAYful approach to training. We live in a world full of specialists and obsessions. At an ever increasing rate, people are specialising more and more, in their jobs, in their businesses, in their sport and in their training. The result, is a backward step in human evolution. By specialising, we limit ourselves to thinking that 1 particular way of doing things is the right way, or the only way. We promote creativity, not only in movement and training methodologies but in thinking in general. A UFT PLAYground is created to provide the general public with an opportunity to PLAY across multiple styles of training and moving, to be able to progress in the training methods that they become passionate about or that excites them and to be a part of a community that promotes more than just fitness. The “fitness” industry above all others has brought about a need to specialise in order to achieve anything, and majority of what we do for “fitness” is for an aesthetically pleasing reason. We understand that aesthetics are nice and we too love to look and feel good. However a UFT PLAYground is developed to allow people to move better than ever before across a broad range of training methodologies and ideas. Aesthetics, therefore are a result not a goal of that system. We know that “If you train to look good, you will not always enjoy what you do, but if you PLAY a lot, and do the things that you love, you will ending up looking good”. Aesthetics should be a result not a goal. For years now, we have recognised that the best movers on the planet are children. They are flexible, mobile & fit, they have better relative strength than a typical adult (and even most adolescents), they are the best creators and innovators, they learn faster, the adapt better, they interact better with other people, they are more connected to nature and most importantly, they PLAY more than anyone else. As adults, we tend to believe that because we are taller and more experienced in “life”, we are better, and then we get to an age that says we are “too old to PLAY”. As we grow taller (and in a lot of cases rounder), we experience things that inhibit our ability to move, think and not think. We allow our experiences to limit our abilities as humans, whether it be a physical injury, a story that we heard or a youtube video that we watched. We also allow our emotions to control our behaviour because of our past experiences. Maybe it was the feeling of humiliation when we tried something new, regret when we failed or heart break when it was taken away from us. Because of this, we allow our experiences to control our future instead of learning from them and creating our own . This is what UFT PLAYground’s are built on. The understanding that we as humans need to go back to the way things were before our negative experiences took over our subconscious mind and body. A UFT PLAYground gives people the ability to re-learn what they have lost, as well as develop new sets of skills that will allow them to follow any particular passion that they uncover in PLAYtime. When we PLAY, we are simply, exploring. Through exploring we become curious and through curiosity we become obsessed or passionate about a particular thing. This is why in a PLAYground we allow people to PLAY across a broad range of training systems (minimum of 3), Through this system they are able to identify 1, their current limitations and be educated on how to overcome them, and 2, identify their passions and learn to develop, grow and excel in them. UFT PLAYgrounds are also a development centre for up and coming entrepreneurs in the fitness industry. Each PLAYground founder will have been trained and will be continuously trained in UFT’s Trainer Success System. This system allows personal trainers, coaches, teachers, instructors, etc. to continue to develop in their fields of specialty (as they play they will find it) and in the philosophy of PLAYtime. They will also be trained in the business systems of UFT in order to have their own successful and profitable business. See UFT Trainer Success System for more details.

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