Expert: Alan Kahn - 7/27/2006

Question
 Hi i am a 14 year old thai boxer. i weigh 195lbs and I'm 5ft5inches. As you mite have guessed, i am often bigger than my opponent,stronger and i have good strong strikes. however my size leads to a problem- i am TOO big and slow/sluggish. So is there a way i can improve my speed in thai boxing and can you give me a trainig programme to build my speed? thanks

Answer
Hi Oli

Many people think that they are "slow" or "sluggish" because of their size. That is not necessarily so. Big for your size does not really equal or mean slow for your size.

When you say "slow" and "sluggish", I'm not really sure if you mean in your offensive or defensive reaction time, your foot work and ring movement, or your hand/punching speed. They are not all the same thing, and various training insights can work on each individual.

Concerning Offensive Reaction time, that is when you See an opening in your opponent and fire a punch to it, but get there late and it's blocked or misses. Were you late due to not "reacting" fast to the opening, or was your punching (fist speed) slow. Either could be the problem. It is hard to substantially increase increase pure reaction time, but it helps to eliminate wasted motions in your reaction. Don't wind up your punch or hitch your elbow before you punch. Have your trainer quickly hold up the mitt within your range, and your fire a punch or combination from your stance with little or no preparation. NO extra movement, shoulder jukes, head bobs etc. Fire the fist from a dead still stance. Practice eliminating those tiny pre-punch body moves. When you clean up your technique this way, you will suddenly react to the mitt (opening) faster. no getting ready. just fire the punch. NO wasted motions.

For sluggish feet and ring movement, Do some footwork drills, particularly spins and pivots while moving in all directions. Practice pivoting and turning off the lead or back foot, and keeping your balance as you do it. This may be particularly helpful if you do it as a reaction to your trainer just coming at you. Not really mixing lots of punches (you're not working on avoiding punches here. You are working on "footwork"). He just basically comes at you and you move away quickly. Spin and pivot around, concentrating on your balance and core torso movement. Keep your feet the correct distance apart and feel the hips move into each direction. Ideally, you will want to find the "sweet spot" in your movement to fire a punch or combination. You can punch at him (with mitts or targets), but you just want him to keep pressing you to work your footwork and movement. Finding your balance in all directions will help eliminate un-needed, or wasted movements. Much like your offense reaction time drills, you are now eliminating unnecessary ring/footwork/body motions. Hopefully, You will learn to move more efficiently and react faster.   

* Here are some other links that may help

http://trinity.psnw.com/~dlmurray/footdrills.html

http://www.martialdirect.com/reviews/videos/lewisfootwork/lewisfootwork.php

YOu will also find some great tips from Ross Enamait in some of his training articles.

http://www.rosstraining.com/articles.html

For increase Handspeed, you again want to eliminate any wasted "preparation" movements when you decide to punch. You know, like that tiny wind up, or fist pump before you fire the fist out. The first topic, Offense reaction time will help this, as well as basic punching drills on the bags. Here are some tips on using the speed bag for developing Hand Speed:

Speed Bag workouts for Hand speed.
http://www.speedbagcentral.com/ssp/focused_workouts#B

Try this article and tips for developing "Speed-Strength"
http://www.rossboxing.com/thegym/thegym25.htm

Training the Hands
http://www.rosstraining.com/articles/trainingthehands.html

Muay thai training
http://www.horizonmuaythai.com/training.html

http://www.fightingshape.com/exercises.html

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I hope some of the above tips can help you in your training. Good luck and thanks for asking a question.

sincerely,

Alan Kahn
author, The Speed Bag Bible