MuaY Thai Kickboxing:
The Ultimate Guide to Conditioning, Training & Fighting
Author: Chad Boykin
207 Pages
$28 US / $34 Canadian

I like this book. It does not cover a huge range of techniques. The basics are well covered and clearly demonstrated. The strength of this book is in the amount of training drills provided. Only one spot near the back in the conditioning section had any typos that I noticed. It starts describing a squat thrust, runs into a unrelated picture and then skips to a new exercise. Other than this small error the layout is well done. The pictures are, black and white and easy to follow.

The book starts with a thankfully small history section. I say that as it offers nothing new compared to all the other history sections of Muay Thai books I have read. Matter of fact this book references the others. Nothing original here but I think that is ok.

Chapter 2 is the basic strikes. As noted nothing extravagent here either. Once very nice thing in theses 55 pages is the inclusion of a basic defense move following each demonstration of the strike. I like this format a lot. Also this section includes a decent intro to the plamb clinch. I always like to see that.

Chapter 3 is the money well spent. It starts with the basics of pad hitting. (Authors listen up: we need a good section on holding, it is an art) The it moves to page after page of ideas for combos to train on pads, bags, alone , with a partner, drills for every occassion. Really as a person who runs a class I have lots of experience thinking up decent drills (some not so decent too) but it is nice to have a resource of things to try out. Now these weren't all new to me but with over 200 combos listed I will be looking here for fresh ideas when I need them. If you need help thinking up drills, buy this book now.

I could have stopped reading the book at this point and been happy. The Thaiboxing for the street section is too small to be worthwhile and though the conditioning section was very well done I could just rip out the weight training. I am no expert but I don't see how tricep kickbacks belong in a serious weight trainer's program. There are good exercises too; the squat, deadlift, powerclean, it's just that in my eyes a beginner won't know which are which and treat them all equally. The bio in the back credits Mr Boykin as certified personal trainer, I just don't put much stock in those courses unfortunately as they are designed to train the casual gym goer/soccer mom, not a fighter.

Still I liked the book. I put it number 2 on my list behind, the tied for first, Distinguished and Legacy books. It does cover lots of good info, even in the sections I scored lower. Chapter 3 really is worth the purchase price for reuse value.