Saturday, November 14, 2009

Do You Want to Train on a Muay Thai Bag?

By Jonathon Hardcastle

Muay Thai is a form of martial arts that comes from Indochina. It has become quite the popular sport in Thailand and other South Pacific areas. Today, modern Muay Thai is typically a ring sport where gloves that are similar to boxing gloves are used. The form of Muay Thai is commonly found in the training used for mixed martial arts; many trainers have a Muay Thai bag in their facility.

The main idea behind Muay Thai is that you have eight different body spots that you can use to attack an opponent. Four of these spots are nothing more than a collection of savage hits below the elbow and knee, but four other spots account for the hands and the feet.

Because of the unique types of attacks, training equipment for Muay Thai has to be specialized. The Muay Thai bag is a special type of hanging heavy bag that was developed to meet the needs of practicers of this martial art form.

Different in size from the average boxing bag, a Muay Thai bag is thinner and longer. To accommodate for high and low punches and kicks, the bag averages between five and six feet in length. As for the diameter, it is designed to be the same size as a person; this enables the practicing of holds.

The bag falls into the standard weight range categories as most heavy boxing bags do. The average weight is at least 85 pounds, which is ideal for the tough punches and kicks that will be thrown its way.

Unlike other heavy bags, many Muay Thai bags are shipped to gyms and at home users unfilled. This allows an experienced Muay Thai trainer to customize the filling of the bag the way the feel should be optimal.

As hanging bags, Muay Thai bags are subject to more force and they need to be able to withstand that force. For that reason, each user or trainer has a different way of filling the bag. Most get started with filling the bottom of the bag with sand; this sand is dense and will prevent the bag from moving too much.

After the sand, the rent of the bag can be filled with rice, flour, or cloth rags. Each of these items has their own benefits. For example, cloth rags easily absorb all blows; flower has a similar feel to stand when in the bag; rice is a good compromise between the two.

Muay Thai is a sport that is exciting like no other; the blows are amazing! Since there are benefits to utilizing special training and equipment, it is no wonder why these Muay Thai heavy bags are found in the homes and training centers of martial arts participants all around the globe.

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