Plyometric Development for Muay Thai & Kickboxing
Plyometric movements involve a pre-stretch of the muscle-tendon unit in order to create a higher rate of force development. It is crucial to develop this ability in the sport of Muay Thai and Kickboxing as many blocking, kicking and kneeing techniques are plyometric in nature.
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Plyometric movements involve a pre-stretch of the muscle-tendon unit in order to create a higher rate of force development. It is crucial to develop this ability in the sport of Muay Thai and Kickboxing as many blocking, kicking and kneeing techniques are plyometric in nature.
In this article, we will use continuous plyometric kicks, that we see often in Muay Thai training, as the prime example of plyometrics in action, as well as offer several plyometric progressions you can incoporate into your strength & conditioning program to develop your speed and reactive strength on the mats and in the ring.
This article and the exercise progressions provided solely focus on developing the physical attributes required for high-level continuous kicking, blocking and more advanced, reactive-combinations.
However, it is important to keep in mind that the number one and most important step to fast and powerful kicking is technique.
Stepping in with the pivoting foot,
Whipping your leg and turning your hips
Swinging the same side arm to project the kicking leg for counter-balance.
If you've ever worked with a high-level Muay Thai or striking coach, you will have heard that "power and speed comes from balance". Balance is key.
From a physical performance lens, continuous kicking is a highly plyometric ability, and there are further improvements we can drive through S&C training outside of technical practice. The key is developing tendon stiffness in the lower leg as well as the contraction-relaxation speed of the hip flexors.
Increased tendon stiffness is an adaptation that comes from progressive plyometric training, benefiting many striking athletes as they will be able to possess faster ground contact times (faster kicks, faster blocks), increase their rate of force development, and maintain their “spring in their step” for a longer duration within a given fight.
exercise progressions
Plyometric Progression Series #1 - Plyometric Pogo Jumps performed in Bilateral Stance, Fight Stance and Switching Stances. While considered an extensive variation in the world of S&C, these are higher amplitude relative to the jumping intensity most Muay Thai athletes get from skipping rope and an ability I find that many fighters lack in Muay Thai.
Plyometric Progression Series #2 - Continuous blocks to pair a plyometric action of the lower leg with the flexion of the hips. A rudimentary stage to building the rhythm and coordination needed for continuous kicks.
Plyometric Progression Series # 3 - Alternating kicks and blocks, the last step of the progression before chaining your kicks together. The use of the block acts as a buffer to allow you to regain the rhythm and ground contact time to execute your kicks. If you're an experienced Muay Thai fighter/kickboxer with little experience in plyometric training. We recommend investing time into the extensive variations seen in Series #1 and #2 for several weeks before moving onto the last progression.
Programming Recommendations
Plyometrics, like most high neuromuscular-demand modalities of training, are best performed at beginning of the training session, after an comprehensive warm-up. To reap the biggest benefits of plyometric training, fighters should be performing these fresh and non-fatigued. For more explanations, read this article on exercise order to learn how to optimise your training sequencing.
If you’re an experienced fighter by have limited experience in plyometric training or dedicated S&C training in general, it is recommended you start by limiting your jump height and perform a higher number of repetitions.
Plyometric Pogo Jumps (Bilateral Stance, Fight Stance, Switching Stances)
Weekly Frequency: 2-3x a week
Sets x Reps: 3-4 Total Sets x 16-20 repetitions per training session
A rule of thumb on jump height for these plyometric pogo jump variations - higher than your skip rope jump height, but lower than your max effort jump. Focus on quick ground contact times and let your feet and ankles do most of the work.
Plyometric Continuous Blocks
Weekly Frequency: 2-3x a week and/or can be incorporated into Muay Thai Training
Sets x Reps: 2-3 sets each leg x 16-20 repetitions per training session
Alternating Kicks & Blocks
Weekly Frequency: Incoporated into Muay Thai training
Sets x Reps: 2-3 sets each stance x 10 repetitions or done in clusters of 3-5 repetitions
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Squats vs. Trapbar Deadlift, Hypertrophy Training and Plyometrics - Combat Sports S&C Q&A #2
This week’s topics discuss the differences between squats and trapbar deadlifts in a training program, the use of a “hypertrophy phase” for combat athletes as well as how to introduce plyometrics in a fighter’s training.
These questions were taken from my Instagram Story Q&A (@gcptraining). Alongside answering questions on Instagram, I will pick the best 3 questions related to combat sports S&C and discuss them in-depth. Some of these questions were asked by followers and readers of my newest ebook “The Strength & Conditioning Handbook for Combat Sports”.
Question #1 - What is the difference between squats and trapbar deadlifts? They both have similar joint angles.
To the naked eye, they have similar joint angles - especially if you’re using the high handles of a trap bar, meaning you’re “sitting” much deeper into the deadlift. Even if this is the case, squats should have a much larger degree of knee flexion, stimulating more of the distal quadriceps and lower leg muscles.
In terms of programming, there are distinct scenarios where I would use one over the other.
The trapbar deadlift is one of the exercises in the weight room that allows an athlete to lift the most weight. Because of this, I use this to build systemic, full-body strength through high-intensity loads. Although the degree of knee flexion is larger than other variations like the conventional or Romanian deadlift, an emphasis is still being put on the muscles of the mid- and lower-back. Trapbar deadlifts play a big role in improving “pulling-strength” in my combat sport athletes.
In contrast, when I want to build more robust knees and lower-body “pushing-strength”, I prescribe squats. Front squats, safety bar squats, back squats, heels-elevated cyclist squats; any variation that I can load safely and effectively with my athletes and achieve the deep knee flexion angles we want to see in order to develop quad strength.
QUESTION #2 - How would you structure hypertrophy phase while doing MMA?
I wouldn’t. Muscle hypertrophy is rarely a training goal for combat athletes, unless they’re trying to move up a weight class and even then, that is better performed over the span of several months or years, not through a 8 or 12 week phase.
If you find yourself in that position, the best options are to slowly increase the training volume of compound lifts and increase caloric intake over time. The key here is a gradual increase over the span of several training cycles. This way, the muscle soreness from sharp increases in resistance training volume will not disrupt skills training. As well, this gives time for the athlete to become acclimated to their increasing bodyweight.
There are more benefits to a high volume training phase than just hypertrophy.
Increased muscle coordination via repetition volume
Re-sensitization to high-intensity training
Muscular endurance and work capacity
Pair this with proper fueling and let hypertrophy be a by-product.
Question #3 - How would you start with plyometrics for a fighter that’s never done plyometric training before?
For lower body plyometrics like jumps and hops, start with “extensive” plyometrics. Also known as low level plyometrics. Simple exercises like plyometric pogo hops can be prescribed to help the fighter familiarize themselves with redirecting energy/force before moving onto more intensive plyometrics like depth jumps and lateral bounding.
Because extensive/low-level plyometrics are lower impact, they can be trained with relatively high volumes which in turn, will develop favourable tendon and muscle properties that will aid in getting the most out of intensive plyometrics.
For the upper body, exercises like assisted plyometric push ups as well as continuous medicine ball slams are a good choice.
FREE EBOOK CHAPTER DOWNLOAD!
Chapter 7 of the eBook, “The Sport-Specific Trap - Revisiting Dynamic Correspondence for Combat Sports” talks about key concepts to consider when selecting exercises to enhance combat sports performance and some common mistakes coaches make.