Aggression can be the difference between winning and losing in your Muay Thai fight. In fact, I had numerous instances where I tapped into my “inner beast” and became an extremely aggressive and effective fighter.
However, there is a big difference between being aggressive and reckless. While the first is more likely to lead you toward a winning path, the other one is likely to lead you to getting caught red-handed and losing the fight. This difference is critical to understand before we dive into the article.
To become a more aggressive Muay Thai fighter, you want to prepare yourself mentally, which you can do by visualizing while understanding the difference between aggression and recklessness. You also want to train as if you are fighting, which means that you want to practice aggression in training.
When you tap into your inner beast, you will find a more capable fighter, who is more likely to win the upcoming fight. To truly become aggressive, you want to also learn to act while feeling fear. If you can overcome fear, you will notice you are more capable of moving toward your opponent’s safe zone and causing some real damage.
And now, let us dive into the things you must understand in order to become a more aggressive and fearsome fighter.
Table of Contents:
- What Does It Mean to be Aggressive in Muay Thai?
- How to Become an Aggressive Muay Thai Fighter
- Final Words
What Does It Mean to be Aggressive in Muay Thai?
Understanding how to tap into your inner beast is like the Avatar learning to control all the elements. In fact, I have a tattoo of the four elements on my left calf, so I know what I am talking about. Seriously though, being aggressive in Thai Boxing is one of the best experiences you can have as a fighter.
Being aggressive in Muay Thai means unleashing your full fighting potential, without fearing the consequences of attacking. Many fighters are intimidated by taking the lead in the fight, which can make them seem passive. Being aggressive is the opposite of that.
However, there are far more things you want to know before you try to tap into that inner beast. You want to understand the difference between recklessness and aggression. Because if you do not, you will find yourself getting hit soon after being, so-called “aggressive.”
So the next time you are fighting, ensure you allow yourself to overcome the fear of getting hit and take the offensive initiative.
How to Become an Aggressive Muay Thai Fighter
Alright. You now know what being aggressive in Muay Thai means. You also know that there is a difference between being reckless and being aggressive. That difference makes or breaks fighters.
What we will do in the following five sections is discuss ways you can start implementing to become a more aggressive fighter. While you might already do some of them, you want to make sure you implement them all far more aggressively (mind the pun.)
Let us dive into the first way.
#1 – Mental Preparation
Mental preparation is the first thing you want to focus on when working toward becoming a more aggressive fighter. You must make sure you get this right in order to see solid results, so make sure to pay attention.
Being mentally ready for a fight means not being scared or intimidated by your opponent. It also means using your fear productively instead of letting it stop you. Whenever I feel fear, I know it is a worthwhile event to tap my inner beast and wake it up. Because fear is essentially the shadow of opportunity.
Another great way you want to start using is visualization, which is already a proven method for boosting performance in various motor skills without doing the skill in real life.1 This is amazing if you truly think about it.
Michael Phelps is one of the best athletes in the world, and he uses visualization all the time. You can watch the video below to understand his thought process.
You want to visualize yourself feeling fear and overcoming it by moving forward anyways. Then, when you are fighting or sparring, you will feel the exact feeling you felt when visualizing, so you will be able to overcome it with ease.
#2 – Building Physical Conditioning
The second way to build your aggression as a fighter is to condition yourself physically. That means doing focused pain tolerance training, so you can prepare yourself for when you will truly get hit, either in the face or body.
Now, building physical conditioning is difficult. Therefore, you want to make sure you train safely, which includes wearing protective gear all the time. Fighters do not typically do specific pain-tolerance training that focuses on the head. Rather, they do focused abdominal pain tolerance work, to increase the pain tolerance of their body.
Once your pain tolerance is higher than what it is right now, you will find it rather easy to move forward, as you will not be as scared to get hit. This is a critical part of becoming a fearsome fighter.
#3 – Working on Your Technique
Let me point out a very important thing you want to understand in order to become a more physical and aggressive fighter. That thing is perfecting your technique. As of right now, your technique is likely not as good as it can be if you were to really focus on improving it.
Now, how solid your technique is —is in direct correlation with how aggressive of a fighter you would be. Let me give you an example. If I know to slip punches properly, I would be more prone to be more aggressive, as I know I have this defensive move in my technique arsenal.
The same applies to attacks. If you trust your ability to strike and clinch powerfully, you will be more eager to get inside and cause some damage. You would risk getting hit, of course; but it would be completely worth it, as you will continue to build self-confidence in your fighting abilities.
So perfect your Muay Thai technique if you wish to become a more aggressive fighter.
#4 – Controlled Aggression vs. Recklessness
The fourth way to become a more aggressive Muay Thai fighter is to understand that you are on the right path. Essentially, you have two primary routes when you try to be more aggressive. The first is actual proper aggression and the second is pure recklessness.
These two options are separated by an almost invisible line. Obviously, you want to ensure you become aggressive, and not reckless. How can you do that? You might ask.
Quite easily, actually. All you need to do is be smart about your aggression. Sometimes, the most aggressive fighters pull back and let their opponents attack because they are convinced it will benefit them. They might see a pattern of attacks their opponent uses, which will make them more likely to hit and take the upper hand in the fight.
So make sure to stay composed and disciplined with your game plan even when the going gets tough. I know how easy it is to get sucked into aggression, but this is the precise definition of recklessness.
#5 – Train Like You Are Fighting
The last way you want to start implementing to become a more aggressive fighter is to train like you are fighting. This can be quite difficult, to say the least; however, you must make sure you do that.
Treat your training sessions like they are real fights. This might be intimidating at first. However, it will be very beneficial in the long term.
When I was in spec ops, we trained like we fought, all the time. We always wore the equipment we use in actual operations. And, we would make training more difficult by adding more obstacles, so we know we are absolutely ready for the fight.
The same applies to Muay Thai. While I do not want you to knock out your sparring partner, as that is not something that should occur when sparring, I want you to throw the same combinations you would throw in a fight.
You can always work on more combinations, of course. But use and train with what you would normally use in a real fight. Keep learning and training, and be as aggressive as you wish to be when fighting for real in training.
Eventually, you will be more aggressive naturally.
Final Words
This is how you become a more aggressive fighter the right way. By trying to simply move forward more often, you will become a more reckless fighter, who gets punished for his recklessness by getting hit.
So be sure to avoid that by following the ways I broke down in this article. I encourage you to read more of my articles to learn more ways you can hone your Muay Thai fighting skills.
Here are other articles you will benefit from reading:
Muay Thai for Street Fighting – Is It Effective? And Why
How to Teach Yourself Muay Thai – Can It Be Self-Taught?
The 5 Best Knee Types in Muay Thai – Dominate Your Opponents
10 Ways to Increase Elbow Power in Muay Thai (Sharpen Elbows)
How to Counter Effectively in Muay Thai – The 7 Best Ways
