Brought to you by the coaches of ALL POWERS Gym (Panicos Yusuf, Stevie Guest, Elliot Turner, Josh Burley, and Jason Lau)
Clinching is a specific close-range strategy where a Muay Thai fighter is allowed to off-balance their opponent by pushing, pulling, holding, kneeing or sweeping. Under Pro-Am and Professional rulesets, elbow strikes are allowed within the clinch exchanges. Most striking sports do not incorporate this aspect into their sport practice (due to rulesets) though many Mixed Martial Arts gyms and UFC fighters have started to incorporate the aspects of clinching within their teachings. Clinching is often practiced barehanded or specific rounds/sessions with gloves worn to imitate fight environments.
Clinching demands both technical skill and physical endurance, as fighters must maintain their posture and disrupt their opponent’s balance while delivering knee and elbow strikes.
Within this guide, we will discuss two approaches in developing strength in clinching through two approaches: the pragmatic(skills practice and drills) and the dogmatic (traditional resistance training/S&C).
Being pragmatic involves using problem-solving skills to creatively find multiple solutions to achieve an outcome. In the context of combat sports, this can take the form of strictly clinching rounds or specific clinching drills and games during skills practice. While a pragmatic approach may not implement as strict of a system similar to a traditional strength training program—such as progressive overloading to create general strength adaptations—it will help build strength in specific positions and scenarios that can be replicated to transfer into clinching-only and live sparring rounds.
Though some strength and conditioning purists may argue that this method is ineffective for developing strength, the evidence speaks for itself. Many Thai fighters, who may not supplement their training with weightlifting or engage in ineffective weight training, still demonstrate dominance in the clinch. This success stems from their consistent practice; not only do they refine their techniques, they will also build a degree of strength through daily clinching.
Drills are essential in combat sports training for several reasons. First, they allow athletes to practice and sharpen specific techniques before application in real-life scenarios, building their effectiveness during competition. Second, drills target the development of particular muscle groups and joint positions, building strength and muscular endurance. Ultimately, drills serve both purposes—facilitating skill acquisition and contributing to a certain degree of physical development—making them an integral part of a fighter's training. In the next video examples, are drills I have learned during my time training and coaching out of ALL POWERS GYM in Stockport, UK.
Within this drill, both partners will compete for the inside arm position, which is critical for gaining arm or neck control and defending against elbow strikes. This constrained drill forces both partners to focus on maintaining inside-arm or neck control while neutralizing the other partner’s attempts. This develops technical skills and builds muscular endurance in the forearms, biceps, and shoulders, making it effective for athletes of all experience levels due to its low complexity.
Both drill variations are used with the intention of becoming stronger in a clinch scenario, building confidence in moving into or dragging an opponent off their base. Both are beginner-friendly, one-dimensional drills where both participants are constrained to only pushing or pulling (this drill can be progressed with the addition of stepping off later on).
In the first drill shown, both partners are free to explore different tactics or body positions to break the opponent’s posture. In contrast, the second drill shown requires the working partner to maintain a tall posture while pressing forward against resistance from their partner (as a progression, the partner who is pressing forward can start incorporating knees). This can also be used to build conditioning (manipulating push-to-pull and work-to-rest ratios) in clinch-specific scenarios.
While one partner within the drill practices skip knees, the other wears a belly pad and is required to stand their ground, maintaining their posture by engaging their core, lower body, spinal erectors, and traps. Partners wearing the belly pad are required to engage the traps and neck musculature, imitating a clinching scenario where one is fighting against neck control from the other partner.
This drill improves the fighter’s strength and endurance to maintain a strong posture within a controlled, unstable environment while the other attempts to maintain a dominant clinch position practicing skip knees.
This situational drill was inspired by grappling-based sports, such as Wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. One training partner takes a dominant position/lock in a clinch, and the other partner fights to escape and return to a neutral 50/50 position or gain a dominant position themselves.
The Lock and Escape drill can be performed with a start-and-stop approach or continuously. This drill requires more cognitive effort compared to the previously mentioned drills, as it allows each partner to use problem-solving skills and opens the possibilities to different approaches to a single solution. As the experience level and competency of the fighter progresses, the drill can then be adjusted with fewer constraints (more on this later in the article), and the intensity of each partner’s resistance can be scaled depending on their experience level and drill progression.
“While clinching is technically demanding, relying solely on technique is sometimes not enough, especially in a fight. Strength and explosiveness can be used to create openings in a clinch.”
— Panicos Yusuf
Drills are designed to bridge techniques learned into live rounds or fight scenarios. By practicing different scenarios, athletes develop the strength and confidence needed to execute techniques effectively under pressure. Ultimately, this pragmatic approach ensures that fighters are well-equipped to handle the dynamic and often chaotic nature of clinching.
This approach follows a systematic structure. Strength and Conditioning (S&C) adheres to principles of progressive overload, exercise specificity, exercise progression, and timelines in which training outcomes should be achieved.
Clinching predominantly relies on grinding strength qualities—pushing, pulling, and holding against external resistance. Traditional resistance training aids in the development of a fighter’s physical capabilities by strengthening the muscle groups involved in clinching. These include, but are not limited to:
When developing strength within clinching scenarios, exercise specificity may not always benefit the fighter. Clinching demands strength in positions that cannot be easily replicated through resistance training. Attempting to mimic clinching positions with weights may limit physical progression due to the challenges of loading variability within the clinching skillset. Additionally, very rarely does resistance training directly contribute to skill development in combat sports.
Therefore, I advocate for a general approach that focuses on improving a fighter’s overall grinding strength in key muscle groups rather than emphasizing specific clinch positions. This broader strength approach also enhances striking ability, offering benefits that support multiple aspects of a fighter’s development.
Maintaining a strong frame in clinching means positioning your body to off-balance, lock up your opponents, and neutralize their attempts to gain inside control or a dominant position. A strong frame is the foundation of both offensive and defensive measures in clinching and requires the use of all aforementioned muscle groups. These muscle groups contribute to postural support, arm control, pulling force, and rotational stability during clinching.
As previously mentioned, the goal of Strength & Conditioning is not to replicate the exact movements of the sport but to develop the physiological demands required for the sport or specific actions within it.
Time Under Tension (TUT) refers to the timeframe in which muscles are under strain during an exercise. This can involve:
Tempo describes how fast or slow a repetition of an exercise should be performed. By training with controlled tempo, athletes can improve their ability to apply constant resistance against an opponent. This is crucial for maintaining inside arm control or preventing an opponent from gaining inside control during a clinch.
Tempo variations can be incorporated within a set (starting with slow reps, then increasing speed) or within each repetition (slow eccentric phase followed by a fast concentric phase).
Isometric exercises involve holding or resisting external weight with no changes in joint/muscle movement. This strengthens an athlete’s ability to maintain a strong frame or lock on an opponent during a clinch.
Preferred isometric exercises include:
Partial range movements focus on maintaining muscular tension within a limited range, helping athletes build strength in their strongest or weakest ROM. Similar to how sprinters use Barbell Quarter Squats to strengthen sprinting-specific ROM, this concept applies to clinch training as well.
This method can be used seasonally and combined with timed sets to enhance muscular endurance.
In Muay Thai, clinching is performed without interlocking fingers or gripping tightly, as gloves limit grip security compared to barehanded clinching. Relying on interlocking fingers during training can develop a bad habit, creating a false sense of security when transitioning to clinching with gloves.
To securely lock an opponent in a clinch while wearing gloves, fighters use a "gooseneck" grip, which involves tensing the palms to fit the natural curve of the glove and maintaining wrist flexion. Additionally, a “gable” grip can be used, in which both arms interlock along with the gooseneck grip to ensure a dominant clinch position.
The primary muscles responsible for wrist flexion include:
To effectively build wrist strength and supporting muscle groups, a holistic approach is recommended, focusing on overall joint robustness and strength. This can be achieved through:
Intra-abdominal pressure (IAP) is the pressure within the abdominal cavity, created by the coordinated contraction of the diaphragm, abdominal muscles, and pelvic floor (similar to bracing your core when taking a body shot). IAP is essential for maintaining core stability, transferring force in striking, and supporting efficient movement during activities such as lifting, bending, and twisting.
While core training in combat sports is often associated with striking performance, it is equally important for maintaining proper posture in clinching. As the body moves, IAP adjusts dynamically—rising during heavy exertion for greater stability and lowering when fluidity and flexibility are needed. This balance allows for both stability and force exertion in various sporting movements.
For more information regarding core stiffness in combat sports and McGill’s study conducted with multiple MMA champions and fighters , such as GSP read my Instagram Post here.
Athletes should address all aspects of core training, including rotational, sagittal planes, and overcoming isometric exercises. Developing key muscle groups to work together in generating and controlling twisting movements provides stability and power during rotational actions. The core should be trained like any other muscle group, ensuring no areas are left underdeveloped.
Strong anti-rotation core muscles play a crucial role in stabilizing the torso, maintaining posture, and resisting external forces that can push, pull, or twist you off balance. These muscles help fighters stay grounded, control the clinch, and perform techniques such as knees or off-balancing opponents more effectively. Additionally, a stable core allows for efficient power transfer from the lower to upper body, especially during strikes.
Rotational strength, particularly in the transverse plane, helps fighters push, pull, and twist their opponents to throw them off balance. Both slow-velocity (muscular bias) and high-velocity (tendon bias) exercise variations are recommended to ensure well-rounded development. This rotational ability also generates torque for executing techniques within the clinch and enhances striking power.
Overcoming isometric exercises require athletes to exert maximal force against an immovable object. These short, intense contractions recruit a high number of motor units and muscle fibers in a brief period, similar to the effort exerted during a one-repetition maximum (1RM) lift.
This strategy can be effective for improving and maintaining an athlete's rate of force development both in and out of camp. Short-duration contractions (3-5 seconds), performed in low volume (3-5 sets) with long rest intervals (at least 3 minutes), allow for quality repetitions while managing overall workload and volume.
A dogmatic approach to strength development emphasizes strict adherence to principles such as progressive overload and exercise selection; however, this method may not always align with the unique demands of clinching in combat sports.
Clinching relies on strength and positioning that cannot be effectively replicated through traditional resistance training alone. Instead, a more generalized approach, focusing on improving general grinding strength capabilities, can yield significant benefits for fighters—enhancing both clinching strength and overall striking performance.
The following is based on the “SPORT Framework” from the publication by Farrow and Robertson (2016), "DEVELOPMENT OF A SKILL-ACQUISITION PERIODIZATION FRAMEWORK FOR HIGH-PERFORMANCE SPORT."
Periodizing drills for skill development is more complex than periodizing for physical development. Learning skills involves multiple factors that influence an athlete’s ability to learn and perform. Simply learning a technique is not enough—coaches and athletes must bridge the gap to real-life scenarios that require problem-solving skills.
Factors to consider include perceptual-cognitive skills, execution, application, and the opportunity to fail. An additional consideration is the introduction of **chaos and noise** as a method of progression, adding external stressors such as knees or sweeps within the clinch to divide an athlete’s attention.
Fighter development should consider both long-term and short-term outcomes. General exercises focus on foundational physical capabilities, offering options for continual progression through intensity, volume, and exercise progression. Specific exercises, which closely resemble the sport’s movements, are ideal for short-term performance enhancement but have limited progression options.
Progressive overload is the principle of gradually increasing stress on the body over time (within an exercise, session, or over weeks and months) to improve strength, power, endurance, and other fitness parameters. Adaptation occurs through training, followed by recovery to allow the body to fully rebuild before progressing.
“Endurance” is often mistaken as only low-intensity, long-duration activity. In reality, endurance refers to the ability to sustain activity at any intensity over time. Training options include:
The same principles apply in skill-practice settings but with greater flexibility. Learning should not be overly rigid—coaches may allow longer rounds to help students reinforce their understanding of techniques.
More is not always better. There comes a point where doing more will lead to diminishing returns. It is important for fighters and coaches alike to understand that variables such as intensity and volume must be adjusted periodically to provide a new stimulus for improvement.
Another important note is that this is not an end-all, be-all approach. A complete training regimen must include:
No single approach is inherently better than the other—both are required. A pragmatic approach (just clinching and drilling) is effective, but in today’s evolving fight landscape, where fighters seek Strength & Conditioning (S&C) coaching to improve power, strength, and endurance, doing just enough is no longer enough.
On the flip side, relying solely on a dogmatic approach (resistance training without clinch practice) is the worst thing you can do—if you do this, you might as well start kickboxing instead. Both approaches must go hand-in-hand to develop a well-rounded fighter, continually evolving to keep up with the dynamic nature of Muay Thai.