# COMPETITIVE BODYBUILDING - POWERLIFTING - ATHLETICS & SPORTS > BOXING / FIGHTING / WRESTLING >  Improve Muay Thai Cardio

## messmorph

Guys,

I went to improve my cardio in GENERAL and for Muay Thai.

I train in MT 4x a week. Although my cardio is not great It is not bad. I want to take it to the next level. I dont do any other cardio then Muay Thai. 

What do you suggest I add in there and how many times a week. I could do running but find I get sore feet / shins!

I already do 4x gym and 4x MT so I can only fit a couple of extra cardio sessions in there and I have to be careful not to overtrain.

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## NBRD1808

looks like your schedual is pretty damn full already bro so perhaps instead of adding extra sessions in why not just increase the intensity/duration (or both) of your current sessions and see how that goes

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## jjfman

Alright mate I play rugby so get a lot of running done already so dnt really wana do that for extra cardio aswell so I do hyperthrpothy exercises like Barbell cleans, DB snatchs or high reps deadlifts and squats they will really get your heart going and increase muscular endurance 

Good luck

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## Bernie87

well, instead of improving your cardio you could work on your breathing, once it´s perfectly mastered it might bring you to the next level. 
To improve your cardio without getting your feet sore you can swim. It enhances your endurance its also a nice overall training on muscle-endurance and goes easy on your joints. sounds like a really good deal eh?

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## yannick35

I knew this guy that did MT for 6 months like you 4 times a week class anywhere between 1hour to 2 hours each time, he lost 60 pounds and is cardio just was out of this world.

I would just go to class and your cardio will get better with time.

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## chadstud

the best cardio exercises for martial arts are suicides and fifty yard sprints

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## newbie56

As muay thai and mma are anaerobic activities, to improve your cardio with this, you must cross train anaerobically.

As mentioned above, fifty yard sprints and suicides are great. Basically anything that get your heart rate high. Interval training is ideal. I always preferred sprints personally, but as you mentioned you did not like running, anything works as long as you are doing a HIT type of training. Although this cardio may not be ideal for bodybuilding, it is a must for muay thai and MMA.
Unless you need to cut weight for a weight class, I find that your general LSD cardio fairly impractical for your goals. Hope this helps!
If you are training already 4x a week in muay thai, you shouldnt be adding more then a session or two of sprint work a week, you are risking overtraining.

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## kickboxer206

If you want to improve your cardio for Muay Thai you need to do sprint work, however, sprint work will do very little for you if your heart is not pumping large volumes of blood out to your body. I will break it down, bear with me. Doing low intensity cardio, ie running for at least 30 min, helps increases the the volume of blood your heart pumps but not the rate in which it pumped through the body. 

The first step to building better cardio, for fighting, is by exercising at an intensity that allows your heart to engorge itself with large amounts of blood and pump it out to the rest of your body; below 60% of your target heart rate. Now that you have a strong base you can move on to the next stage which is sprints. Where long low intensity cardio helps strengthen the heart to push more blood through the body, short duration high intensity helps improve the rate in which the blood is pumped. Sometimes people fail to realize that sprints will not work to their full potential if your heart is not pumping more blood so be sure to have build a strong foundation of LLI cardio to get the most out of your sprints. 

As far as applying your cardio improvement into the ring is another story. Let me know if you need any more help, I'll try to break it down the best I can.

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## kiddo24

Refer to the principles of training that are- Overload, Progression, and specificity.
MMA has a split energy system contribution of 20%anaerobic and 80%aerobic.
Aerobic training is improved by overloading the body in a progressive manor using exercises that are specific to your sport.
I'd look to work in continuous, interval and fartlek training at some points into your training over the next few months.
4 x weekly Muay Thai should be enough with sparing and the drills you do there to work your anaerobic system.

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