Khun Kao's Fight Training Regimen

[Khun Kao Charuad]

Hi everyone....

I recently took a group of fighters to Virginia Beach, VA to compete in an amateur Muay Thai & MMA event. Though none of my fighters won (I'm *still* bitter about that!), I have received NUMEROUS requests for information regarding my Fight Training Regimen.

For those of you who don't know me yet, I have a habit of recording EVERYTHING that I do with my Muay Thai classes and our training. I go to every single class with a written lesson plan, often "mapped out" down to the minute.

That being the case, I've compiled my entire Fight Training Regimen into a single document, beginning with two different course outlines, and followed by every single workout we did in preparation for the event. I've included a few comments in the document regarding what I feel was, or was not, effective.

So, without further ado, here is the link to the online version.

http://stickgrappler2.tripod.com/kbox/kkregimen.html

Apologies in advance for the lack of spacing between paragraphs and sections. We expect to have that corrected in the coming weeks.

I would appreciate any comments, discussion, critiques, suggestions, or feedback anyone cares to offer. I may have a number of years of experience in Muay Thai, and accomplished a number of things, but I'm still relatively new to coaching a fight team.

Kob Khun Krab!

Kru Brooks (Khun Kao)

[WinterPalm]

No offense, but if your fighters all lost, then why would we be interested in the training methods? I mean they obviously did not lead to victory.

Am I being a jerk because I'm just trying to be honest.

[Khun Kao Charuad]

No, thats a completely fair question, and I'm glad you asked.

I think that I received a lot of requests for a few reasons...

1. Despite the end result of the match, my fighters actually gave respectable accountings of themselves. Out of 3 fights, 2 of my fighters were actually dominating their opponents until (for lack of a better way to put it) "sh*t happened."

2. A lot of people regularly look to me for advice on Muay Thai training anyway. I have a lot of experience as a student, fighter, official, and instructor. I'm just new to coaching a fight team on my own.

3. The fact that I bothered to record it in detail has a lot of people interested in checking it out. Face it, though other people have done the same thing, I think that every serious fighter or coach would at least be interested in taking a look to see if there is anything in my training program that they would find useful for their own program.

I openly admit that my program has its faults. It definately needs work. Even so, I am confident that what I put together is, overall, a pretty solid program. Yes, it needs more attention in a number of areas, but I don't feel there are any "gaping holes." For someone who is looking for a reference to refer to for their own training, I think my program can either be used as a "base" to be added to, or as material to supplement their existing program.

I'm posting the link everywhere because I really, really am trying to get SERIOUS feedback from other fighters and coaches. I am interested in knowing what parts of my program people think are good, and which parts they think are bad. I want to know how each of you would go about improving this program.

Bottom line is that I am serious about trying to give my students and fighters the absolute BEST training that I can possibly give them. I may be their instructor and coach, but I am still learning.

Kob Khun Krab!

Kru Brooks (Khun Kao

[yenhoi]

Khun Kao:

Ive only read through the outline so far, not the detailed individual workouts.

Whats a dannys hook?

Seems in your basic and advanced combinations you arent training the clinch? I see clinch training, but not as part as combos... Were/are you more interested with these fighters in getting out of the clinch rather then getting into it?

:confused:

[Shaolin-Do]

Where do you feel the flaws in your training regimen are?
What are the weaknesses that were exploited by the more seasoned fighters?

[Khun Kao Charuad]

yenhoi....

"Danny's Hook" is actually what we call an "Inverted Hook" in Muay Thai. The reason I call it "Danny's Hook" is because Master Bumrong "Danny" Prawatsrichai is the first person to have taught me this punching technique. It has a few different variations.

The basic idea behind this hook is that unlike a "textbook" boxing hook punch, you do not strike with the front of the knuckles. In International Boxing rules, all strikes are to be thrown so that they impact with the front of the knuckles. In Muay Thai, however, this rule does not exist. That opens up more striking possibilities.

The variations of this punch that I know are that you strike with either the wrist/forearm, or the back of the knuckles.

In "Ring" Muay Thai, you obviously are wearing Boxing Gloves. The padding of these gloves is thickest across the knuckles, but is practically non-existant near the wrist and onto the forearm. You throw the hook, but turn the fist over to strike with the back of the wrist or the forearm, which is very bony and has very little padding.

In Muay Thai Boran, Mae Muay Thai, Lerdrit, etc (bare-knuckle Muay Thai) no gloves are worn, so the strike can also be thrown with the back of the hand/knuckles.

Now, in regards to clinchwork, that is one of the areas that I stress the MOST!!! You have to understand, when I was a fighter, my ring nickname was "Khun Kao Charuad", which translates to "King of Rocket Knees". I'll be ****ED if I will allow any of my students to set foot in a ring if their clinchwork is not up to snuff!!!

The reason for it being given its own separate area of training is because that is the area that I specialize in!!!! Now, it may not be obvious in my listed lesson plans, but we did cover quite a bit of transitionary techniques from 'outside' fighting to closing to clinch.

Shaolin-Do...

The flaws that seem 'obvious' to me are that due to our gyms lack of equipment, our Heavy Bag training was sorely lacking. That is being corrected THIS WEEK!!! (we have hired someone to come in and get all of our heavy bags hung) Another problem was in conditioning. Another problem was the amount of attention paid to padwork. The other glaring problem was our lack of attention paid towards sparring.

I don't want to be misunderstood. All of the above mentioned areas (PADWORK, BAGWORK, CONDITIONING, & SPARRING) *were* addressed and given individual attention, but in retrospect, we realize that they needed even MORE attention than we gave them.

To give you a general idea, each of my fighters losses cannot be contributed to a lack in ALL of the above areas. ONE of my fighters lost due to lack of conditioning, ONE of my fighters lost due to a lack of sparring, and my final fighter lost because he did not have his head screwed on straight.

My co-coach, Master Danny, and I have sat down with our other coach (Kru Eric) and reviewed our fight training program and have determined that we need more focus on the above mentioned areas. We have even come up with some specific training and drills we need to drop and/or add to our program to improve our team.

But even so, I'm shopping for opinions and ideas from experienced fighters and coaches. Its my opinion that EVERYONE's opinion is worth considering in this. It is my goal to offer the absolute BEST training for my students and fighters that I possibly can!

OK, I'm sure you get the idea... (sorry about jumping off on a tangent, LOL)

Khun Kao

[yenhoi]

Khun Kao:

Thanks for your answers.

Considering those specific "weak areas" are you saying your guys need more time, or higher intensity, or both?

Bagwork: were your guys not hitting hard enough?
Conditioning: endurance or tuffness?
Padwork: your guys had loose defense?


Thanks!

:eek:

[Shaolin-Do]

I love my heavy bags :)

[SevenStar]

That hook punch variation sounds like the FMA bolo punch.

[Khun Kao Charuad]

yenhoi...

"Considering those specific "weak areas" are you saying your guys need more time, or higher intensity, or both?"

A little of both

Bagwork: were your guys not hitting hard enough?

Tough call. I think that in most cases, they were. But there were a number of instances where I would have to get on them about their "sparrow" punches (LOL)

Conditioning: endurance or tuffness?

Endurance, definately. All three of my fighters displayed TOUGHNESS.

Padwork: your guys had loose defense?

One of my guys had loose defense. Another had tight defense. My other fighter kept his defense good, overall, but got clocked and then lost when he got tired and let his guard down.

Overall, I'd say defense was pretty good.

Khun Kao

[fa_jing]

Hey, thanks for posting the routines. Still a good look at some Muy Thai Training. However, the first thing that jumped out at me was the lack of heavybag work for hands, and did you include focus mitt work too? Some of that stuff can be accomplished with Muy Thai pads, but for punching accuracy and snappiness I love the focus mitts.