Belly Pads & Body Shots: A Must-Have
Belly pads are an essential piece of equipment for Muay Thai training. The main reason? Body shots. With belly pads you can train your body strikes without causing unnecessary damage to training partners.
Why You Should Practice Body Shots
Anyone that has followed any form of combat sport knows that practicing body work is what separates the ‘men from boys’, or ‘women from girls’.
Everyone wants to just headhunt with their strikes, and only practicing shots to the head will lead to a clear gap in your training. Let’s be honest here – the biggest reason body work is often neglected, is because it isn’t ‘sexy’. It’s not flashy. It’s not as ‘cool’. Body shots are often referred to as ‘putting money in the bank’. Since you’re slowly accumulating work into your opponent’s body which will pay you huge dividends as the fight progresses. It affects your opponent’s stamina, conditioning, and overall will to fight.
Sure, there are many fights that are stopped instantly from a knockout to the head, but there are also just as many fights ended immediately from liver shots and shots to the solar plexus.
One thing to consider is that the body is a far bigger target than the head, and for a smaller fighter, this is especially crucial.
Realistic Training
Belly pads allow for more realistic training since they allow you to incorporate body strikes into your combos. Belly pads are designed to simulate the human body, which means that fighters can practice targeting specific areas of the body with their strikes. This allows fighters to develop the accuracy, timing and most importantly – the angle necessary to successfully land to the body.
Power Development
Body shots require a significant amount of power to be effective in a fight. By practicing with belly pads, fighters can focus on developing their power and increasing the force behind their strikes. Since the training partner or coach is protected by the cushioning of the belly pad, the fighter can put their whole power into a strike to the body. Even fine-tuning the technique and angle so that they can hit that ‘sweet spot’ for maximum impact. Training as such will translate to effective body shots in a fight and can help them gain an advantage over their opponents.
Injury Prevention
Finally, using belly pads in Muay Thai is essential for injury prevention. Body shots can cause significant damage to the liver, ribs, and other vital organs if not properly controlled. Belly pads help absorb the impact of these strikes, reducing the risk of injury to both the fighter delivering the strike and the training partner receiving it. This allows fighters to practice body shots with confidence, knowing that they are not putting themselves or their training partners at risk of injury.
In sum, practicing body shots is an absolute must! And it is not safe nor effective to train body shots without a belly pad, so we highly recommend you browse through our belly pad collection to maximise your Muay Thai training.