How to Revamp Your Skills and Make Fight Training Fun.

Not the hair, not the hair! Damn, he's ruining it.

Training can become awfully boring! 

I understand the seriousness of training for a fight. The weight of your gym's reputation and your own head are hanging on the line. That stress of hard training can also leave you feeling flat, drained and lifeless. 

A few of the foreigners who visit my gym have commented on how fun it must be to just wake up and train full time. I do feel blessed and I'm grateful for being able to do the things I had to do to get here, but it's not as romanticised as some people make it out to be. I had more fun watching Kennel Club Dog shows on TV while getting a tooth extracted compared to waking up every morning at 6am to run 10K.

Author Daniel Coyle's Tip #19 from his book titled Little Book of Talent, makes references about how dull and monotonous training  can be, specifically drills.

The term "drill" evokes a sense of drudgery and meaninglessness. It's mechanical, repetitive, and boring. - Daniel Coyle

I can't agree any more. Hours and hours of hard training to the borderlining point of overtraining, which is also known as peaking or overreaching (depending on how optimistic you are), can leave your motivations staler than a lame joke about bread. 

Q: What did the yeast say when he won the lotto?

A: I'm rolling in dough!

Q: What did the bag of flour say to the yest?

A: I knead you! 

When training starts to get crumby then it's time to sprinkle a little competition among your teammates. I'm on a roll here but I promise no more bread jokes! These little games can excite your mundane spirits, revamp techniques and promote your skills.

Games , on the other hand, are precisely the opposite. They mean fun, connectedness, and passion. And because of that, skills improve faster when they're looked at this way. - Daniel Coyle

If your teammates or training partners are not up for diminutive games you can do them solo or keep it among yourself while doing technical work with a them. 

Some examples are;  

• How many knees on the bag can you do in a minute? .
• How many times can you off balance your clinch partner?
• Scream "Ooii" at every clean strike you land on your training partner.
• Better yet have a faux fight with your training partner. Think pro-wrestling! Pretend his/her hits are rocking you, fight as if you got knocked down, beat the 10 count and stunned.  

Need more heavy bag workouts & circuits? 

Check out Muay Thai Guys video series, 

The Heavy Bag Blueprint.

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How much hang time can you get off a kick?

Sabi sabai as they say in Thailand. It translates to "relax". When it comes to sparring, you don't have to blast each other, instead focus on your timing and speed but land with medium to light contact. Unless your training partner is a dick then feel free to blast the crap out of them. The goal here is to try and improve  your answers at every training session. You want to keep it simple and measurable.  As grueling as training can be there should also be an element of a fun and relaxed atmosphere. Being relaxed while having fun will leave you with a strong impression and boost in confidence after training.

References & Support

I highly recommend Daniel Coyle's The Little Book of Talent. it's a great resource to have that offers 52 simple yet tremendously helpful tips to improve your training. Below is my affiliate link to Amazon. Please help support this blog and as always check out the reviews and rating before buying to see if it suits your needs. 

About the author

Danny Millet, is a pro fighter, personal trainer and a muay Thai kickboxing instructor at 5 Points Academy (NYC). When fueled by copious amounts of coffee, a blogger who breaks down and analyses fights. 

Danny decided to aim his life in a different direction and took the plunge by quitting his job of 11 years and donating his belongings. He moved to Thailand where he lived in a Thai boxing gym for 2 years, training full time along side high level fighters like Pornsanae SitMonchai, KongFah Aood DonMuang, Kanongsuk ChuWatthana, JomThong ChuWatthana and fighting in prestigious shows such as Rajadamnern, Lumphini, Petch Buncha, M150, and MBK.

After getting sliced open from elbows in his 1st and 2nd pro fight, Danny took the healing time to do his homework of studying and analyzing the training, tactics & techniques of high profile fighters.  If you're looking to improve your fight game contact Danny Millet to schedule a training session or check out his free training & fighting information on Youtube, and  Facebook.