Best Advice For People Over 40 Starting Muay Thai

The question that confuses a lot of people is whether they should start doing Muay Thai or not, referring to many things. One thing that people with a passion for Muay Thai are more concerned about is the age of these people. Some people think they are too old to start Muay Thai. With this opinion, they never start their favorite martial art, such as Muay Thai. The fact is you become old only when you think you are old. If you can walk, move, make slight jumps, and lift your leg easily, then you can also practice and learn Muay Thai. You can even do Muay Thai training at home by watching video lectures and using Muay Thai gear such as headgear, shin guards, rash guards, and punching bag sets. This article explains the advice, guide, ways to do Muay Thai, and the perfect way to master Muay Thai all for people over 40 years old starting or thinking to start Muay Thai.

Following are some tips for people over 40 years old having a passion for Muay Thai;

• When starting Muay Thai, you have to give preference to the martial art over your other physical activities. For example, if you are doing workout and extensive strength training, then you have to stop such hard activities. The reason for this is that you will be exhausted after doing your daily physical activity, for example, strength training. If you are already feeling exhausted before your martial arts training, then how can you focus on your Muay Thai training? You will not have the energy to do Muay Thai training. You cannot focus on your training, and you cannot exert energy for your daily Muay Thai workout if you are not leaving your other extensive physical activity, such as strength training.
• So, to make sure you are learning and training Muay Thai with your full focus and energy, it is better for you to leave your other daily workout. At the start of your Muay Thai training, you will not be able to do it at all. After a few weeks or months of your Muay Thai training, you can resume your daily workout again. After a few months, you will become addicted to Muay Thai, and your body will get used to your daily Muay Thai training.

• Consistency is the first thing you need to adopt to succeed in anything. With consistency, you can even do the things you think you are not capable of. One good example is starting Muay Thai over 40 or even 50. Starting Muay Thai over 40, obviously, will be more difficult for you than those who are doing it at 20. However, the key to achieving the goal of being a successful Muay Thai fighter is consistent training.
• You might often have seen that many people focus a lot on the word consistency. The field might be anyone, but the focus is always on the word consistency. The reason consistency is so important is that you learn a lot by doing things regularly. If you come and do Muay Thai training one day and then come again after two weeks, then what are you learning? Even the techniques or moves that you have learned before, you will forget those techniques. You have to repeat the things sometimes so that you can be a master at that. The same goes for Muay Thai training. You have to develop the skill of consistency in order to learn and train Muay Thai.

• Besides all the above, another very important thing is shifting yourself to a healthy diet. Your body survives on the energy that you provide by consuming foods. If the foods you are consuming throughout your day are healthy, then you are going to be active throughout the day and you will have a good energy enough to do your daily chores as well as your daily Muay Thai training.
• So, when we look in the context of Muay Thai training, there are two categories of foods that you can consume. The foods you consume before your Muay Thai training and the foods that you eat after doing your Muay Thai training. Let's dive into this.
• Before your Muay Thai training, your body needs energy. The energy is provided by the food you eat. So you should be trying to eat the foods that will provide you with the most energy. Carbohydrates such as glucose will provide you with the energy that will help you continue your Muay Thai training. So try eating foods that contain carbohydrates as their major constituents.
• That was all about your pre-Muay Thai training. But what should you eat after completing your Muay Thai training of the day? Same carbohydrates? Obviously No! You are exhausted after the Muay Thai training. So you should be eating somethoing that will recover your body and your muscles. Your muscles are made of proteins. So for recovering your muscles and your body you should be trying to eat the proteins. So, after your Muay Thai training, try to eat foods that contain proteins as their major constituents.

Hydration does a lot of job for your physical activities of your day. It acts as a fuel that helps you to do all your Muay Thai training for a day. You are going to sweat while doing Muay Thai training. It will not be an easy workout. So, you will definitely suffer from loss of water in your body (dehydration) if you are not refilling your lost water. So try to drink water before and after training and stay hydrated.

• Beginners, when they start doing Muay Thai training, they try to do many things at a time. They think that they can easily win against others if they speed up their process of Muay Thai learning and training. But the speed kills your process of learning and training Muay Thai. You cannot learn one thing effectively if you try to make haste.
• Always start with the basics. Learn basic moves and techniques. With time, you will become used to the techniques used in Muay Thai. In the beginning, everything takes time. But once you grasp the basics, then you can easily learn intermediate or advanced techniques.

• The short answer is No! But it depends a lot on the purpose for which you are planning to start Muay Thai. Are you looking for a new hobby or a different form of working out to get in shape? If that is the case, then yes, you can start at any age. Regardless of what shape you are in, you are still going to get a good workout. It doesn't matter how physically capable you still are. You are still stimulating your brain. You are still learning something new and that in itself is still a form of development. So absolutely, if you are just looking to pick up a new hobby or just looking for a new form of exercise then absolutely you can start at any age.

• Are you doing it because you are looking for a form of self-defense, and if the answer is yes then absolutely you could start at any age. Muay Thai is a great way to defend yourself just like many other martial arts like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and some of the other martial arts out there. It is a great way to not only develop physically but also mentally giving us that self-confidence.

• Are you looking to compete, and if so, at what level? This is probably going to be the one where your age plays the biggest factor because the older we are, the longer it takes for our bodies to recover. Any active competitor can tell you fight camps are very taxing on the body. However, there are many different levels to fighting.

• So, if that is what's motivating you to get into Muay Thai, then you should continue pushing forward, find a gym, and get some classes in. Then, have an open and transparent conversation with your coach about goal setting, and then just take it from there.

• When we are younger, our bodies generally adapt to things a lot easier. Our bodies also recover a lot faster. Another advantage of starting younger is that you have more time to develop before you start facing physical limitations. Someone who starts when they are 15 or 20 has a lot more years to develop as opposed to someone who is 40 and 50 before they start running due to physical limitations where they start getting hurt easily. It takes them longer to recover. Some things are not moving as quickly as they would like.
• So that is another advantage of starting younger. Yet another advantage of starting younger is that you generally have fewer responsibilities, which means you have more time to dedicate to your hobbies, sports, and other interests. The last advantage of starting younger is that generally when you are younger, you learn faster. Your brain is more of a sponge. You have fewer preconceived notions of what the expectations are of you as opposed to when you are older. There are certain expectations that you place on yourself. So those are some of the considered advantages if you were to start younger.

• The first one is that you generally have more resources at your disposal. It means that you have more options in terms of where you can trade, who you can train with, and how often you can train, especially if you are doing private lessons. In fact, when you are younger, you are working with limited resources and a smaller bank account. So that is definitely an advantage. When you do start at a later stage in life, you do have more resources, and this ultimately gives you more options in terms of where you end up training. Another advantage to starting older is that while you don't have as much freedom as you would when you are younger, you generally have more control over your schedule, really depending on what you do for a living.
• That means you could train more often in the daytime or you could train more often at night. It is fair to say that, as you get older, you have a better sense of what you can and cannot do, and that gives you more freedom over how often you can train. The last advantage is as we grow older, we stop taking things at face value. We learn how to digest information differently. We learn how to interpret things from different points of view. We learn how to fight smarter, not harder, and the most important thing is that we generally learn to control our emotions better. That is a very important thing when it comes to development and growth.

The concluding point is that no matter how old you are, you should always think about your passion and your goals. If you are too passionate about your goal of starting Muay Thai, then you should ignore your age and give it a try. You should see the positive side of starting Muay Thai as an older person. There are many examples of people who are doing Muay Thai, although they have more age than even 60. So, if you are 40 and you are thinking of starting Muay Thai, don’t think otherwise, and don’t listen to what people say about starting Muay Thai as an older person. Just listen to your passion and start training Muay Thai.

Following are some tips and tricks to get started on your journey in Muay Thai if you are over 40;

• Prioritize Muay Thai Over Your Other Physical Activities.

• Consistent Training.

• Shift to Healthy Eating.

• Hydration.

• Don’t Rush.