If there is something I love doing it is lifting weights. However, I also cannot stop doing Muay Thai. So which one should I choose to continue doing? Well, this is simply too hard of a decision. Let us just combine weightlifting with Muay Thai. Here is how we can do that.
Lifting weights and doing Muay Thai is possible if you make sure you eat sufficiently, rest abundantly, and not train too much, too intensely, or too often. For instance, if you are training Muay Thai three times a week, you can insert weightlifting sessions on the days when you are not doing Muay Thai while having a rest day.
Having one rest day per week can be a fantastic solution for avoiding overtraining. Indeed, it will help your body recover and build itself up to be stronger.
If you would let me, I would like to tell you a short story that will help you understand why our bodies are machines that we can continuously work on and strengthen. I once got low-kicked straight to the thigh and I could not run for a whole week. The pain was so excruciating that I could not even ride my motorcycle. And that was just from a single low kick!
Why am I telling you this story? Because in my training session, which was a week later since I was in such excruciating pain, I got low kicked precisely on the same spot. You would expect me to feel some pain. However, what ended up happening is I did not feel any pain whatsoever, which was an eye-opening experience.
Let us now dive straight into how you can lift weights and do Muay Thai simultaneously without overtraining.
Table of Contents
- How to Lift Weights and Do Muay Thai Simultaneously
- The Benefits of Lifting Weights and Doing Muay Thai
- The Challenges of Balancing Lifting Weights and Muay Thai
- Strategies for Balancing Lifting Weights and Muay Thai
- Final Words
How to Lift Weights and Do Muay Thai Simultaneously
Let us now review the key points you want to understand when you want to incorporate weightlifting and Muay Thai training. If you miss one of them, your chances of overtraining skyrocket. Thus, you want to make sure you follow each and every step in the following list, so to avoid overtraining altogether.
Doing both weightlifting and Muay Thai will result in high-stress levels in your muscles. As a result, you must ensure to get these right. If you do not follow the guidelines I will mention in the following section, you will be more likely than ever to experience overtraining symptoms.
Let us dive into the first part, which is nutrition.
#1 – Nutrition
The first part we will discuss is nutrition. As I have stated earlier, our bodies are machines, or at least mine is! We can strengthen our bodies by working on them. So if you do push-ups, you are working on your chest. Now, all machines need fuel to function. Their fuel might be actual fuel or it might be electricity. In any regard, they need fuel to function.
Our bodies work in the same manner. We need fuel to make our bodies work. Without food or water, we will not be able to function. So when you do Muay Thai and lift weights, you want to eat more and eat the right type of food. If you do not eat protein at all, for example, your body will not be able to build itself.
I wrote a complete diet plan for professional fighters, which you can read by following the link. This diet plan explains more than I could describe in a single section.
#2 – Sufficient Sleep
Now that you know that nutrition is key to remaining healthy while lifting weights and doing Muay Thai, let us move on to an even more important factor, sleep.
If we return to our body being a machine analogy, sleep equals charging. So when we sleep, our body is charging, so we will be able to work out the next day. Without sufficient charging, we will not be able to perform or recover nearly as well. Eventually, this will lead to overtraining.
So how much should you sleep?
According to Harley Street Medical Doctors, for optimized fitness results, you want to sleep anywhere from 7-9 hours. Any less than that and you will not recover or perform nearly as well. So make sure to get abundant hours of sleep if you are both weightlifting and doing Muay Thai.
To learn which supplements are best suited to optimize recovery and progression in Muay Thai and weightlifting (the supplements I use), follow this link.
#3 – Progressive Overload
Next up, let us talk about progressive overload. Our bodies are used to a certain level of stress. Now, the beautiful thing about that is that you can increase the tolerance your body is used to. For instance, by gradually increasing your training volume, you will be able to increase the tolerance level your body is used to.
This is called progressive overload and it is one of the most important concepts to understand if you want to incorporate weightlifting and Muay Thai. Currently, your body has a certain tolerance level, which you can increase.
So before you begin working out 5 hours per day, you want to start from where you are currently at. For instance, if you have been training three times per week, do not start training six times per week the week after. What you can do, however, is to increase the number of training sessions you do to four. And then, two weeks after, increase it to three.
This is going to sound a bit controversial, but try to understand my point. Science has very little to teach you here. Although I am a big fan of optimizing your life through studies and medical articles, you want to learn to listen to your body.
This is going to sound wishy-washy, but your body is you and you are your body. Start listening to it. Are you experiencing any pain that you do not know if it can lead to injury or not? If the answer is yes, avoid increasing your weekly training sessions.
To recap, listen to your body and progressively overload more and more stress on your body. Whenever you feel it is too much, dial it back down. Experiment and learn to listen to your body.
#4 – Goal Alignment
The last point I will break down is goal alignment. What I mean by goal alignment is that you want to suit your goals for your training. Ask yourself this: what do I want to achieve?
Do you want to bulk up and pack on some muscle? If so, you must include more resistance training in your week while eating more than you burn per day.
Do you want to lose body fat? Make sure to be in a caloric deficit (200-500 fewer calories than your daily burning rate) and to also do some cardio and HIIT workouts (Muay Thai is perfect for when you are trying to lose body fat.)
Align your goals with your training. That way, you will see the results that you want to see. If you are currently overweight, you might want to consider starting by cutting down some weight by being in a caloric deficit. Then, you can focus on building some muscle.
The Benefits of Weightlifting and Doing Muay Thai
The benefits of lifting weights and doing Muay Thai are abundant and clear. You are going to become a much better athlete than if you were to only do one.
Lifting Weights and doing Muay Thai simultaneously will allow you to build muscle while learning to fight. Many people think that you cannot do both at the same time, but you can if you do not train too often. If you allow your body to recover, you will experience the benefits of both activities.
But, you might experience some of the negative results of training in both activities if you do not follow the guidelines I presented in the previous section.
This leads me perfectly to the next section; the challenges of balancing weightlifting and Muay Thai.
If you do not know what equipment you need to bring to your first Muay Thai class, follow this link to read an article I wrote about the required equipment to bring to your first Muay Thai class.
The Challenges of Balancing Weightlifting and Muay Thai
Balancing weightlifting and Muay Thai is difficult. I am still working on optimizing my weekly training routine, as I experienced what overtraining feels like, and it is definitely not a nice feeling, to say the least.
You are always tired and are never at your peak performance, which will decrease the amount of results you will see from your training. Likewise, you will stop enjoying your training and will be forced to take a prolonged break from all sports. Overall, not a fun experience.
The primary challenge you will experience from balancing weightlifting and Muay Thai is to avoid overtraining. Most trainees who have just commenced their training will find it difficult to resist training. This is just the motivation you will experience at the start of your fighting journey.
To avoid overtraining, you want to ensure you:
- Sleep at least 7-9 hours per night
- Eat enough protein and enough calories
- Have one rest day per week
- Gradually increase your training volume
Overall, I encourage you to begin training in both and experiment with the intensity and frequency. If you feel it is too much, then dial down the training volume and let your body fully recover.
Strategy for Balancing Weightlifting and Muay Thai
So you want to lift weights and do Muay Thai simultaneously. However, you want to know how to avoid overtraining or any other symptoms from training in more than one sport. First of all, many professional Muay Thai fighters lift weights regularly, so it is definitely a wise choice.
Now, let us see a strategy I encourage you to adopt.
When balancing weightlifting and Muay Thai, the best thing you can do is to train Muay Thai on off days from lifting if learning Muay Thai is your primary goal. However, if weightlifting is your primary focus, then do Muay Thai on days you are not lifting.
The worst thing you can do to your body, if you are a natural athlete, is to do both Muay Thai and follow it up with an intense gym session or the other way around. Therefore, make sure to do Muay Thai when you are not weightlifting. The mistake I made is doing them on the same day, which eventually caused my back muscles to throw the towel!
Here is my training routine (For Muay Thai and Weightlifting):
- Monday – Weightlifting (chest + triceps)
- Tuesday – Muay Thai
- Wednesday – Weightlifting (back + biceps)
- Thursday – Muay Thai
- Friday – Weightlifting (legs + core)
- Saturday – Muay Thai
- Sunday – Rest
And, of course, repeat. I have actually been able to build quite a lot of muscle that way, which surprised me at first since I have been lifting weights for over 8 years now. However, this training routine seems to do the trick when it comes to avoiding overtraining.
If you want to learn Muay Thai at home in nine simple steps, follow this link!
Final Words
Let me end this article on a high note. My aim with this article was to make you take the first step and boost your training, which will also boost your results. One of the best things you can do is cross-train when doing Muay Thai, as it will make you a better, more competent athlete.
So if you follow the guidelines I have listed in this article, hence having proper nutrition, sleep, training, and volume while aligning your goals to your training, you will not experience overtraining. But make sure to get this right before you start weightlifting and doing Muay Thai.
If you want to know whether you can do Bodybuilding while learning Muay Thai, follow this link.
Here are other articles you will benefit from reading:
How to Teach Yourself Muay Thai – Can It Be Self-Taught?
Boxing vs. Muay Thai – The Ultimate Showdown (Knockout)
Lifting Weights & Muay Thai – Can I Do Both? (And How)
Does Muay Thai Build Muscle? How to Bulk Up
The Ultimate Guide to Muay Thai Gear: Must-Have Equipment
