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For those who do not know, Ajarn Dale Kvalheim was one of the first foreigners to train muay Thai, in 1973. He fought many times in Thailand, eventually becoming NE Champion. His training methods were very different, as he believes the Thai overtrain their fighters, and force them to fight at too light a weight. But his methods did prove out, and he is still in marvelous shape.
"Roadwork: Working myself up slowly, I eventually settled on 10 miles of roadwork everyday in the early morning hours.
(my note here: he told me he always would finish with an all-out sprint the last 100 yards)
"Training: At 4:00 every afternoon I trained in the following manner (all rounds were 4 minutes with 1 minute breaks between each round; the last 30 seconds of every round I did as many repetitions of the knee exercises as possible)
"6 rounds of arm exercises designed to build shoulder endurance and get the blood circulating.
"6 rounds of shadow-boxing, in which I used all my techniques at full power. I also tried out new combinations and worked them until I was comfortable with them, or discarded them if I found them awkward or lacking in power.
"Next came 6 rounds of bag work; here, as in shadow-boxing, I worked all my techniques at full power, also trying out new combinations.
"Then came 5 rounds of pad work with my trainer wearing arm pads; again all techniques were worked as my trainer directed me in combinations.
"Finally, at the end of the workout, my trainer and I, or one of the other fighters, worked on grappling techniques. We did this for three 5-minute rounds, again breaking for 1 minute between rounds.
" At the end of the training session I just warmed down by moving around and throwing light kicks, knees, punches and elbows.
" Should your goal be to reach this level of training, remember to start slowly and build the number of rounds from a low to a high.
" ...will prepare the heart, lungs, and muscles for long-term use...and, believe me, 5 rounds of Thai boxing is a long time."
"Roadwork: Working myself up slowly, I eventually settled on 10 miles of roadwork everyday in the early morning hours.
(my note here: he told me he always would finish with an all-out sprint the last 100 yards)
"Training: At 4:00 every afternoon I trained in the following manner (all rounds were 4 minutes with 1 minute breaks between each round; the last 30 seconds of every round I did as many repetitions of the knee exercises as possible)
"6 rounds of arm exercises designed to build shoulder endurance and get the blood circulating.
"6 rounds of shadow-boxing, in which I used all my techniques at full power. I also tried out new combinations and worked them until I was comfortable with them, or discarded them if I found them awkward or lacking in power.
"Next came 6 rounds of bag work; here, as in shadow-boxing, I worked all my techniques at full power, also trying out new combinations.
"Then came 5 rounds of pad work with my trainer wearing arm pads; again all techniques were worked as my trainer directed me in combinations.
"Finally, at the end of the workout, my trainer and I, or one of the other fighters, worked on grappling techniques. We did this for three 5-minute rounds, again breaking for 1 minute between rounds.
" At the end of the training session I just warmed down by moving around and throwing light kicks, knees, punches and elbows.
" Should your goal be to reach this level of training, remember to start slowly and build the number of rounds from a low to a high.
" ...will prepare the heart, lungs, and muscles for long-term use...and, believe me, 5 rounds of Thai boxing is a long time."