Self Improvement

The ‘S’ Factor is a group of attributes that all begin with the letter S. They are very important to your total development as a Thai Boxer. They are ;

Strength
Stamina
Speed
Skill
Suppleness
State of mind

Each attribute should be developed equally. If you neglect one area this could be a deciding factor in a fight.

Imagine that you and your opponent are of equal skill and fitness levels, but your opponent is twice as strong as you, who has the better chance of winning? Or what if one of you is 20% fitter or 20% faster than the other when every thing else is equal, who has the best chance of winning?

From another viewpoint how can you improve your fighting ability when you seem to have reached your maximum skill level? How would your fighting improve if you improved your stamina and your self-confidence (state of mind)?

What can you do to develop the ‘S’ Factor?

STRENGTH
Strength can be developed in many ways. Weight training is an excellent way to develop strength. We will be doing seminar called ‘an introduction to weight training’ later in the year. Most people involved in Thai Boxing that start to develop the ‘S’ Factor do not have the time for weight training along with all of the other attribute training that they are doing, so I have devised a short workout that is ideal for Thai Boxing and takes just 15 minutes twice a week. This is the same strength workout that I devised for Damien Trainor and some of the other K-Star Champions.

The exercises are
Chin ups, for the muscles of the back and the biceps, this is an excellent exercise for clinching strength.

Dips, for the muscles of the chest, shoulders and triceps. This will help to add extra power to your punches.

Press ups, for the muscles of the chest, shoulders and triceps. This will also help to add extra power to your punches.

Squats, for the muscles of the legs. This will help to add power to your kicks and your knees.

The routine.

First you need to find out how strong you are now. We do this with a simple test. Simply do as many reps as possible on each exercise. Make a note in your training diary.
When you have your maximum number of reps we can start our workouts. You simply half your maximum number of reps and do 3 sets of reps of that number.
E.g. maximum number of reps 10, start on 3 sets of 5 reps.
Each workout you then add 1 rep to each of the 3 sets.
E.g. workout 1, 3 sets of 5 reps. Workout 2, 3 sets of 6 reps. Workout 3, 3 sets of 7 reps and so on. You do 2 workouts per week with at least 2 days between each workout.
Continue to add 1 rep per workout until you are unable to do 3 sets of the required reps. At this stage stay on that number of reps until you can do 3 sets of that number. Once you can do 3 sets of the required number of reps, then add 1 more rep to the sets.
E.g. workout 1 set 1, 9 reps, set 2, 8 reps, set 3, 7reps.
Workout 2 set 1, 9 reps, set 2, 9 reps, set 3, 7 reps
Workout 3 set 1, 9 reps, set 2, 9 reps, set 3, 8 reps
Workout 4 set 1, 9 reps, set 2, 9 reps, set 3 9 reps
Workout 5 set 1, 10 reps, set2, 9 reps, set3, 7 reps,

How does this work? This routine is excellent because it is a continuos, gradual increase in intensity. It allows your body to get into a gaining momentum. Each workout is an easy, believable step up from the last one, your mind believes that you can do one more rep than you did last workout, so you can . It is fantastic for setting goals and achieving success, which in turn, helps to build self-confidence.

STAMINA.

When you are first starting out in Thai Boxing, just the classes alone are probably enough to get you fitter and can keep a lot fitter than you were. However if you want to fight or get fitter then you will need some additional training. Padwork, bag work and sparring will all help your fitness in a specific manner, but to increase your general fitness and stamina you cannot beat running. Running is the best exercise possible for building stamina. Start off doing the ‘pub run’ twice a week. Record your times and gradually decrease the mount of time that you take.
When you feel comfortable, increase your distance to the ‘masterclass run’ or the ‘cemetery run’ twice per week. Once again record your times and try to gradually decrease the time. Sometimes it is good to go for a run before the class, this acts as an excellent warm up and makes the class much more challenging.

SPEED
As you become more proficient and relaxed with the techniques, you will naturally become faster. As your muscles become stronger flexible you will naturally become faster. In addition to this to increase your speed perform all of your shadow boxing, padwork, bagwork and sparring as fast as you can. After all, you wouldn’t expect to increase your running speed by taking a leisurely walk in the park. Do it fast and relaxed! Use the speedballs to aid your hand speed.

SKILL
This is well covered on your normal classes. Try to make a minimum of 2 classes per week and your skill levels will increase steadily.

SUPPLENESS
Suppleness or flexibility is very important for performing some of the high kicks that we do. It is also very important as a way of avoiding injury. Increased suppleness can also help your techniques to become faster and increase your speed. Using the stretching exercises that we do at the beginning of the class can increase suppleness.

STATE OF MIND

This is a massive and complex subject, but briefly it refers to yours state of mind. Your confidence and beliefs about your self as a fighter are very important and can often make the difference between winning and loosing.

Confidence is of utmost importance in a fight. Confidence is built on success, that is why many of the above attributes have very realistic goals that you can achieve and build your confidence with.

You need to build strong beliefs about yourself as a fighter. You need to motivate yourself by making your values important to you.

It is very important to keep a positive state of mind while you are practising all aspects of the S factor.

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