Kids Muay Thai Is Mostly Not about Hitting

Muay Thai is a traditional martial art that teaches striking with one’s hands, feet, elbows, and knees. If you’re a parent, you might be wondering why on earth you’d want your child to learn this skill.

As it turns out, there is far more to training Muay Thai than making your punches and kicks pop when they hit the bag. Kids who train experience benefits in their emotional, spiritual, and social development - in addition to the physical positives.

This article will cover:

• Benefits of Muay Thai
• What is Muay Thai?
• Give us a try!

Benefits of Muay Thai

If you’re looking for a lifelong martial art for your child, consider Muay Thai for the following reasons:

• Physical development Muay Thai practitioners must be comfortable and proficient using all of their limbs in concert with one another. Students spend much time training both pairs of arms and legs, which builds muscle tone evenly and reduces awkwardness, particularly in the nondominant limbs.

• Emotional release Growing up is hard for everyone, and kids need to have constructive avenues to work through their anger and frustrations as they encounter them. There is no better way to do so than to practice Muay Thai on a heavy bag or with some other training activity. The endorphin release and the long-term reduction of cortisol help to inoculate your child against stress in the future.

• Discipline Like any martial art worth its salt, Muay Thai is hard. It takes quite a bit of time to become proficient, and there are plenty of hurdles and plateaus to overcome along the way. However, the Muay Thai student learns that they can overcome these obstacles, and that persistence will help them to push through barriers in other parts of their lives.

• Respect Muay Thai is a contact sport. So, practicing it with others through drilling and sparring requires an incredible level of respect for both the art itself and the others on the mat. A common mantra at The Fight Lab is “take care of your training partners,” and we say that because Muay Thai requires diligent care for the people who train with you, and for those people to care for you. A Muay Thai gym is a very polite place for a reason.

• Confidence The truth of the matter is that kids often experience physical conflict as they go through their early years. Those who train Muay Thai, however, desensitize themselves to the pressure of those situations and can handle themselves more ably. Ironically, knowing that they can actually protect themselves lowers the chance that they’ll have to do so.

• A sense of belonging People who train Muay Thai are extremely varied, both in terms of their body types and their experiences. However, as we all experience the same hardships associated with training, we form social bonds with each other because of the shared struggle. Your child will find that he or she is part of a larger group, and it is a group that accepts and respects them because it knows how tough the journey can be.

What Is Muay Thai?

Muay Thai is a striking martial art that, unsurprisingly, developed in Thailand. Its roots trace back more than 1000 years, but it remains one of the most popular and respected martial arts today due to its effectiveness. In particular, numerous mixed martial artists have incorporated several distinct elements of the art into their styles with great success.

Some of those distinct features include the aforementioned use of knee/elbow strikes, the Muay Thai clinch, and the pushing front kick known as a “teep.” Alongside these strikes, Muay Thai practitioners must learn opponent distance, footwork, and defensive techniques - as well as developing the proper amount of cardiovascular conditioning to sustain through a sparring session.

If all of those things sound like too much for a child - you’re right. Even adults aren’t permitted to compete against each other with some of those techniques. Your child will not be in danger at any point. Our first priority in training is to ensure that each student leaves class uninjured.

Give us a try!

The Fight Lab offers multiple Muay Thai classes for kids throughout the week. All of them are conducted by trained professionals with years of instructional experience under their belts.

Additionally, you are more than welcome to stay and observe your child during class. We have seating available directly off the mat. If you have any questions about the techniques at hand, the instructor(s) will be more than happy to discuss them before or after class.

There’s no harm in trying out a class or two. In fact, we offer any prospective student the chance to practice for a full week at no charge to you.

The best thing to do if you have more questions or want to get started with your child’s free week is to email us at contact@thefightlabtx.com. Alternatively, you can call us at 346-298-0965, or use the form at the top of the Fight Lab home page.

Whatever the case, we want to hear from you. Come take a look!