We spoke with the BodyArt fitness instructor Roman Rybachok, silver medalist of the Ukrainian championship in Thai-boxing and bronze medalist of the Kickboxing World Cup.
Traditionally, Thai women were banned from entering the Muay Thai ring and there was no such thing as Women’s Muay Thai (translatable as Thai boxing). This was due to the superstition that a female presence may destroy a Muay Thai fighter’s skills, making him weak and prone to injury, and jinx the ring.
The situation began to change in the late 1990s with Thai boxing gaining global popularity. Many women started practising Muay Thai for weight loss and self-defence, which, in turn, lead to increase of the number of people willing to watch women’s fighting and take on the training.
Today, woman’s Muay Thai competitions at regional, national and international levels are held. Some federations make and publish the rankings of the best female boxers.
Why Thai boxing and not Fitness?
Unlike Tae Bo, which is a fitness system, Muay Thai is a martial art. You can feel that the program is tough even at the initial stage, and many people cannot complete even the warm up part at their first trainings. However, over time, the body gets used to the load and is able to withstand long workouts. As a result, a person gets the toned body, increased endurance, and a pack of effective self-defence techniques. Thai boxing is also helpful for girls in terms of getting into good shape, since these highly-intense workouts burn many calories.
On the first classes, the instructor tells about the basic punches and strikes which are then practised individually until performed as automatically as possible. Sparring, or work in pairs, starts once all techniques have been mastered, and each sparrer is considered a partner and not an opponent.
What are the benefits of Muay Thai for women?
Thai boxing makes the fairer sex stronger and self-confident, helps girls and women to master the basics of self-defence.
“The elbow wins over the fist, and the knee wins over the leg,” says one of the basic principles of Thai boxing. It is in inside fighting that the knees and elbows become the most dangerous tool against the opponent.
All Muay Thai moves are easy to master both for men and women.
Low kicks (or strikes targeting opponent’s lower body) are a unique weapon of Thai boxing that are performed with a shin to the opponent’s thigh or knee joint tendons and ligaments, which a regular person will find it hard to defend against. One or two strikes can disable the opponent’s leg and he or she simply will not be able to continue the fight. This technique will be very useful for the ladies to self-defend.
Muay Thai allows strikes to all three body regions (head, body, legs) using arms and legs, elbows and knees.
All movements and strikes of Muay Thai are practised to perfection with an instructor using boxing pads, mitts and bags.
Why women start practising Thai boxing:
- to lose weight.
- Shape up their body for it to look better.
- Gain self-defence skills for extreme situations.
- Sporting achievements.
Thai boxing for ladies is some sort of cardio that helps to lose weight and tone up body muscles. Herewith, you get the knowledge and train muscle memory for one of the most effective martial arts in the world. And any girl can achieve that if she really wants that and works hard for that.
Benefits of Thai boxing:
- Having mastered Thai boxing techniques, ladies will feel more confident in extreme situations and will be able to protect themselves and other people.
- Thai boxing uses all sorts of punches, arm and elbow strikes, leg and knee kicks.
- During training, the body undergoes different types of training which helps to lose weight, get slim and fit body, good health and tone up.
- Sport is the best psychologist. In the gym, you can release emotions and get rid of anger by hitting a punching bag. Girls will forget about such words as “depression” and “melancholia” 100 per cent.
- Thai boxing is a type of martial arts based on karate and kickboxing moves allowing ladies to also try other types of martial arts.
Source: Edinstvennaia
