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When preparing for a Muay Thai Fight, you'll have all kinds of questions running through your mind? The main usually being, how do I cut weight? What should I be eating? How do I make sure I'm fit enough?
Well, here at Fight Platform we've decided to try and help you with your Muay Thai fight camp. In this article we'll go more into cutting weight for Muay Thai, nutritional tips for a fight camp, a beginners guide to strength & conditioning and much more!
5 Quick Tips to Help Improve Your Fight Camp
1. Always listen to your coaches
The first and most important thing to help improve your Muay Thai fight camp is to always listen to your coaches. If you don't trust your coaches, and their knowledge, then you should probably think about moving gyms.
Your coaches will be able to prepare you to bring out the best in yourself, improve your weaknesses throughout your fight camp as well as helping you to build a strong game plan for the opponent that you are facing.
2. Ensure your resting your body
Over-training and a lack of rest is a major problem for many people when they are in fight camps. Instead of getting fitter and stronger, their bodies will begin to break down as they get deeper into their fight camp.
Ensure that your having one full day of rest per week to allow your body to recover and be ready for your next sessions.
Sleep is also key to your rest and recovery. Make sure that you're getting at least 8-hours of sleep.
3. Don't slack on your diet
The hardest part of a fight camp for most people is often the diet. Ensure your eating a healthy, balanced and nutritional diet during your fight camp. This will allow your body to operate at peak performance.
4. Try to avoid short notice fights
If your looking to fight then you should be looking at having a 6 - 8 week fight camp. This is to ensure that you have the time you need to build up your cardio, get in the sparring rounds you need too and also provide you with time to cut any necessary weight.
5. Establish a routine
Establishing a fight camp routine/plan is a great way to help ensure you stay on track during your fight camp. Read our fight camp training guide at the bottom of this article to help you stay on track.
Fight Camp Nutritional Tips
If your training hard and looking to achieve peak performance in your fight camp, then you'll need to make sure you keep your diet on point!
Use an app like MyFitnessPal during your fight camp to help you track your food and ensure your getting the correct balance of macro-nutrients. You can also a macro calculator to help you know how many calories you should be eating during your fight camp.
During your fight camp, ensure you avoid eating processed foods and drinking alcohol during your fight camp. However, ensure your eating foods that you enjoy and taste great to help keep your moral high and to avoid slipping up.
Cutting Weight for Muay Thai
Cutting Weight for Muay Thai is a crucial part of your fight camp, and is something that needs to be taken seriously as doing it wrong can result in serious health complications. Throughout your 6 - 8 week fight camp you'll want to be eating in a calorie deficit to ensure that your slowly loosing wight. On fight week, you'll want to start your actual weight cut.
In your fight week, you don't want to cut any more than 8-10% of your body weight. To ensure your safety we recommend sticking to at most 8% of your body weight.
How to cut weight safely
Most fighters will go through a 5-day process where they increase their water intake at the start and then slowly reduce their water intake as the days process. This is called water loading.
You will want to restrict carbohydrates to 30-50g per day during your weight cut. This will allow your body to deplete your glycogen stores from your body, which not only weigh themselves, but also help to hold water in your body which is your primary source of weight loss during fight week.
Below is a simple guide to help you with a simple fight week weight cutting process.
| Water | Protein & Fat | Carbs | Salt | Fibre |
Day 1 | 2 Gallons | As much as you want | Less than 50 grams | None | Less than 3g |
Day 2 | 1 1/2 Gallons | As much as you want | Less than 50 grams | None | Less than 3g |
Day 3 | 1 Gallon | As much as you want | Less than 50 grams | None | Less than 3g |
Day 4 | 1/2 Gallon | As much as you want | Less than 30 grams | None | Less than 3g |
Pre Weigh In | None until weigh-in | As much as you want | No food pre-weigh in | None | Less than 3g |
If you are someone who struggles to loose weight during your fight camp, or has had your fight performance hampered by a poor weight cut, then we recommend working with a nutritionist.
Recommended fight week foods
The main thing to think about when deciding your meals for fight week is that you want foods which are low in carbs and high in fats and protein. At this point, our main goal is to withdraw water from the body, not to loose weight via fat loss as we'll have already done this throughout our camp.
Avoid adding any salt to your foods, or purchasing foods which are already pre-seasoned with salt as you want to be eating zero salt during your fight week diet.
Eggs: Eggs are a great food to eat during fight week, they are carb free and full of protein, fat and they are extremely filling.
Turkey: High in protein and low in fat, turkey is a great food to eat during fight week
Steak: Steak is another great high-protein option to eat during fight week that is carb free.
Avacado: If your an avacado lover then it can be a great choice for your fight week meals. It's packed with healthy fats and it's low in carbs. I'd keep your serving sizes low though as it does contain fibre.
Strength & Conditioning for Muay Thai
The days of just running, skipping and hitting the bag and pads for your fight camp have now passed. The popularity of strength & conditioning for Muay Thai has surged as fighters look to gain the most out of their training, and work to improve their overall performance.
The first thing to be sure of when thinking about strength & conditioning for Muay Thai is that it shouldn't replace your Muay Thai work. If your in fight camp, focusing on your Muay Thai should be your primary focus. The strength & conditioning work you'll be doing is only to supplement this.
By adding strength & conditioning into your fight camp routine, you will be able to reduce injuries, build strength and power, improve balance and mobility and improve your bodies overall energy supply.
Simple Strength & Conditioning Guide for Muay Thai
8 to 4 weeks out from your fight:
Day | Routine |
Day 1: Strength Routine | - Front Squat: 4 sets for 8 reps - Dumbbell RDL: 4 sets for 8 reps - Dumbbell Floor Press: 3 sets for 8 reps - Back Row Exercise: 3 sets for 10 reps |
Day 2: Sprints Routine | 10 x 25 yard sprints with a 40 second rest in between |
Day 3: Jog | 5-10km jog at a steady pace |
Day 4: Strength 2 Routine | - Front Squat: 4 sets for 8 reps - Dumbbell RDL: 4 sets for 8 reps - Dumbbell incline press: 4 sets for 8 reps - Renegade Row: 3 sets for 8 reps |
Day 5: Sprints Routine | 10 x 25 yard sprints with a 40 second rest in between |
Day 6: Jog | 5-10km jog at a steady pace |
4 to 2 weeks out from your fight:
Day | Routine |
Day 1: Strength & Power Routine | - Box Squat: 3 sets for 4 reps - Box Jumps: 3 sets for 5 reps - Dumbbell Floor Press: 3 sets for 8 reps - Medicine Ball Chest Pass: 3 sets for 1 rep - Glute Raise: 2 sets for 12 reps |
Day 2: Sprints Routine | 10 x 25 yard sprints with a 40 second rest in between |
Day 3: Jog | 5-10km jog at a steady pace |
Day 4: Strength & Power Routine | - Box Squat: 3 sets for 4 reps - Box Jumps: 3 sets for 5 reps - Dumbbell Floor Press: 3 sets for 8 reps - Medicine Ball Chest Pass: 3 sets for 1 rep - Glute Raise: 2 sets for 12 reps |
Day 5: Sprints Routine | 10 x 25 yard sprints with a 40 second rest in between |
Day 6: Jog | 5-10km jog at a steady pace |
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do fighters cut weight?
The main reason that fighters cut weight is in order to gain a size and strength advantage over their opponents. By cutting weight, fighters aim to quickly recover their weight after weighing and thus making them larger than their opponents when they enter the ring.
What are the dangers of cutting weight?
Cutting weight is an extremely dangerous process if not done correctly. If done incorrectly cutting weight can lead to heart & liver problems and even in some cases death.
Should you lift weights during a fight camp?
You should lift weights during a fight camp, however you should ensure that you know how to lift weights correctly. Improper form will lead to injuries and decreased mobility which will only impact performance in the ring.
Conclusion
Fight camps for Muay Thai fights are grueling, stressful and very demanding. However with the right plan, and proper preparation you should be able to reach peak performance.
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