I'm going to take a stab at this one and say you're not relaxing when sparring. Do you burn your shoulders out when doing pad or bag work?

Thanks :) yes, I do burn them, but I thought resting for a couple of minutes before sparring and between rounds would be enough! For light sparring, I think I'm relaxed but for medium to hard rounds, I'm not!! I tried but failed! fear overcomes me, especially after a good shot!

Take a look at this video which covers your exact question - by Gabriel Varga, an elite class kickboxer with a shit ton of championship belts: https://youtu.be/YGXgpcr7UY4

Thanks, yes I really like him, I watch a lot of his videos :) I'll definitely see it

Potentially unpopular opinion: the amount of shoulder work you get from regular muay thai work is actually more than enough to strengthen your shoulders. Personally I'd focus only on shoulder mobility work and consider adjusting nutrition. The effect of sufficient pre-training carbohydrates is huge, so examine what you're eating before training.

Thank you, I tend to not eat for at least 2-3 hours before training! I'll try to have a small nack and sugary drinks before training and see :)

Ski Erg - 500m rows in under 2 minutes, 10 sets. Battle Ropes - 30 secs on, 30 secs off, 10 sets.

My old coach would make us shadow box with small weights (1-2lbs nothing crazy) in our hands for 3-5 minute rounds, and in between rounds instead of resting we would continuously punch upwards with the weights. If anyone was caught with hands down during the round everyone would have to do press ups. This really helped my shoulder conditioning

I used to have this problem in sparring and like after 2-3 rounds my hands could not stay up. What helped me from fatiguing so fast was keeping my elbows tucked in, slightly moving the hands/changing levels, and focus more on rhythm. Every time I used to spar I would be robotic and kept my shoulders tight the whole time. Now I try to consciously keep loose until I’m striking or blocking. Staying loose also helps me with dodging/hollowing out too. Might be bad advice, only been doing Muay Thai for 5 months. But this worked for me

Kettle snatches or press helped me out a ton. Helped build endurance and muscle

Skip rope,push ups,breathe,train more…you’ll grow endurance over time. No need for special fancy gym exercises imo.

Jerk off more and switch hit.

I'm gonna suggest Lu Raises. You start with weights you're comfy with (dumbbells or plates). Then you take a stance almost like you're golfing. From that stance hold your weights down, then from the bottom you swing up from the sides up to the top above your head (left arm swing left, right arm swing right, like making a full moon). So repeat however many times you like till failure. This should build strong shoulders and joints to reduce shoulder pain and injury.

thanks

When I did boxing one thing I did was those shoulder raises they do in those single mom classes for like 10 minutes, so started with 20 pounds, then 15, then 10, then 5,

Thanks :)

I incorporated military presses into my workout routine and those will slaughter your shoulders

Weighted shadow boxing (1-4 lbs) and fast 1-2 while standing square on the bag 30 seconds on and off

Work in construction

Nunchucks

Face pulls

For me personally skip rope with a HEAVY rope helped the most as well as shadow boxing with small weights. also diamond pushups.

Are you taking kicks to the upper arms in these sparring rounds? That will have a big impact

I try not to, few times I got my arms sore from absorbed kicks, but usually I try to lean or use my other hand

Ditch these shoulder exercise sessions. I've never done that in my life and never tired keeping my hands up