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This is going to be one of those things that I say and you go, "oh yeah, totally," and then go right back to thinking the way you already think. That's okay. What we think is a habit. But I'm going to say it and I want you to try to really understand it: you do not make your trainer feel any way at all. Not good. Not bad. He feels how he feels because of the thoughts he's having and, in a room full of students, he's not thinking only - or even primarily - about you. Don't try to please him. Don't try to frustrate him. Neither are your responsibility. A few years ago my trainer was in this terrible mood. He walked through the room I was in, didn't acknowledge me at all, got in his car and left the gym. I was the only one there. He didn't train me. I had a fucking emotional breakdown, thinking I'd done something wrong and he was mad at me. I was obsessed with it and when I finally grew the courage to confront him about it, I realized it wasn't about me AT ALL. He was going through something very upsetting and instead of being compassionate, I was obsessing over myself. That taught me a lot. It's a relief, honestly.

This has already been covered pretty well above. One thing I would like to add though is: Don't forget you are the one paying for his service, not the other way around. His opinion doesn't count. He's there to teach you his knowledge, and you are probably paying a good amount for that knowledge. Imagine a cook or a waiter getting angry at you for not liking the food at a restaurant. You wouldn't take them seriously and would likely leave right? You aren't a professional fighter and the gym isn't getting a cut of your purse if you do fight. You sound like you are doing this form of martial arts because you enjoy it, and if you are paying for it, you should enjoy it. Maybe he was just having a rough day and carried it into the gym or something, but don't let his mood wear on you. Unless you are a sponsored fighter, he doesn't get to have expectations from you (other than adhering to gym rules obviously). Just do your best, you are still very very much a beginner. Good technique and flow comes slowly over time. Also, don't be afraid to ask questions if you don't understand something. A good coach can always get everyone else started and then come by to work with you on whatever you are struggling with. That's part of their job, and again, you are paying them for that. It's easy for the power dynamic between coaches and students to become unbalanced, and it sounds like that is a bit of what is happening. I'm not saying you need to leave the gym or anything, but don't be afraid of your hired help Get back in there and have some fun!

You are so right AND I do understand it! and I’m going to put it into practice ( will everything be perfect from now on? No - we all know it won’t ) but this does help. thank you!!!!!

Let's make it easier and use names instead: So Nick throws a cross and Mick parries.....

I would think the first person who thew it but I am not familiar with using the term feeder.

Just keep the mantra "stay out of his head" and stop trying to read his thoughts. People are allowed to feel shitty and be short with me. I don't like it and I am hyper sensitive too. But don't use your adulthood as an excuse to call yourself the "worst" one etc. Those are thoughts I have and yes its harder for me to remember sometimes but I try and laugh it off with the coach - boo hoo I am old (beats the hell out of being dead). Its painful at times. I am older than you - its just a fact that my brain works sluggishly once in a while (and as a Mom of young kids - forget it - your RAM is nearly full all the time). So yeah as a person like you I say - stay out of his head, ask questions and if you really can't stand him go elsewhere. p.s. I am told women tend to want approval and to "belong" more when you coach them. Its nice if the coach knows this but he probably doesn't so you will either have to choose to dispense with that need or ask for more support or do what I do and just ride with it.

AHAHA..... It's not that complicated really. I think I got it off one of Sylvie's videos on YouTube. My personal take on it, is to just relax and let things fly. I know it seems counter intuitive, but the general premise is the more you try to do something perfectly, the more pressure you put on yourself, the more self critical you become. So the idea is to try not to be self critical or put too much pressure on yourself, to just let things flow. Hence the idea, try not to try. I hope that helps.

I wanted to start a thread where we can just place video of female Muay Thai fights that are good to keep together. The title says "top" female fighters and fights, but also hard to find video too, like fights of Thai female fighters that lack exposure. Mostly just a place where you could browse and see interesting full rules female fights. You can post video here and on its own thread too, if you like. [Edit Update: When YouTubes of fights posted become "unavailable" (are taken down), I'm going to delete that post just to keep the thread clean. If you find another video version of the fight feel free to repost it.] Relatedly, this is my P4P World Rank List of fighters 48 kg and under. Little Tiger (WMPF champ) vs Faa Chiangrai The first one I wanted to put up was this underated fight in August of 2014. Little Tiger who is the WPMF pinweight champion seems to be a little selective about her opponents, and I was surprised to see that she was fighting Faa Chiangrai, one of my past opponents, but perhaps not well known internationally. This was for a WBC International Belt. Faa Chiangrai is a really under-appreciated fighter. Great toughness and quite femur. I think she was robed of this decision, even though it was in Pattaya. You can see she was shocked at the outcome. After this fight though Faa Chiangrai was suddenly ranked as the 2nd challenger to the WPMF belt in the 105 lb division. This is pretty interesting because this is a weight class above Little Tiger, and also is a weight class above Faa herself. She is one of the top 100 lb fighters in Thailand, in my opinion.

Hi everyone, So we usually know thai fighters by their nicknames, or fighters names, but I was wondering how they actually call each other when they meet, or train, and sometimes live together. The second part of my question is in regard to the teachers. I believe "Kru" means teacher in thai, and if I remember correctly "Pi" is a form of respect that one puts before the name of the person they are addressing. So how should one call his teacher in thailand, would it be "Kru X", or "Pi X". Also what if the teacher was a fighter. For example I've read online that Karuhat's real name was Suweet. If he was my teacher, should I call him "Kru Karuhat", "Pi Karuhat", "Kru Suweet" or "Pi Suweet"? Lastly just out of curiosity, I was wondering if "Kru Nu" was Sylvie's teacher name, his nickname?...Thanks a lot!!

In my experience it mostly revolves around how well you know them on a personal level as well as personal preference for them. Usually if you have no relationship with them outside a gym setting Kru is what will be used, though they aren't all comfortable with this title. Pi is more personal. It is used for elders/siblings, and often involves a change in names (almost all Thai's have a "play" name or a short/nickname). For example, my old trainer would go by either Kru Korat or simply Korat with students. This was part of his fighting name. Because I lived with them though, for me it became Pi Sak. To make it even more confusing, his family and very old friends who had known him since childhood referred to him as Pi Joy and his wife uses all three depending what mood she is in lol. Long story short, either Kru or Pi are acceptable, though they may change names depending on which you are using. I'm guessing "Nu" is Kru Nu's play/nickname. His students probably refer to his as Kru Nu but everyone else calls him Pi Nu. I've never met him though, so I'm just making a guess

... Where does Trainer Dick step in to correct the two? I kid you not, I once wrote a physics test where the professor had put in a part about lightspeed and time dilation and he had ACTUALLY called the 3 persons in his question "Mick", "Nick" and "Dick"... It put a whole highway-system of knots in my brain even though I was able to figure it out. The most difficult part was keeping track of who was who the whole time...

Being in the middle of the ring in Thai scoring is not in and of itself an advantage in Thai scoring. Any time Dieselnoi has talked to me about strategy, he's focused on getting the opponent into the ropes before doing much of anything at all. Referees certainly shape fights in all kinds of ways; but being at the center of the ring is not what I'd call an advantage, certainly not so much as when and how the referee breaks the clinch being a much bigger deal in shaping the fight.

I think you are both technically "the feeder" (it alternates). Person A "feeds" Person B the cross so that it can be parried, then Person B is counter-striking using their cross but also "feeding" Person A so that Person A can parry. Its just a term for drilling I believe. Another example would be Person A "feeding" a teep to Person B so that Person B can parry the teep and then throw a cross. Then you both reset and do this 10 times before switching. Hahaha I hope that's not too confusing... I think I confused myself a bit just writing it. So much Person A and Person B!

Omg I ***LOVE*** that mantra. Its exactly what I need! i like that you said ‘ people are allowed to feel shitty and be short with me’ ( even while you’re hypersensitivity in nature also) I think I needed to hear that! Thanks- great advise!!!

Yeah for sure it's confusing advice, the try not to try thing. Kinda like when people in real life generally say, "Oh just be more self-confident". In your head you're thinking...wait...how do you *just be* more self-confident if you're not self-confident? If you're not... then you don't yet know what it would feel like if you were...so you got no frame of reference... so how can you instantly give yourself that new feeling without knowing what it feels like? Seems like a damn minefield. So is trying to be relaxed if you're not relaxed. We probably make ourselves less relaxed in the attempt to be more relaxed. Back in the day the sax player Charlie Parker used to say it's good to learn techniques & theories etc, but when the times comes, it's more important to forget all that stuff and 'just play'. Not that music and sports are in any way similar - they're not, but it virtually every area of life you get real seasoned pros coming out with these sayings. Kinda pseudo-clever jedi mind trick expressions that they were told themselves by the masters when they were new and didn't understand. Until way down the road, when the understanding just happened to them after a hell of a lot of non-understanding. Actually talking of non understanding, all of the above sounded way more coherent when it was in my head.

I just left a VERY FUN MUAY THAI CLASS The combos were just like the ones I could not remember on Saturday but today only 4 at a time so I was fine- No memory issues and no problems. So I’m happy My instructor seemed to be in his more patient and should I say ‘gentler easy going teacher mode’ vs his hard ass teacher mode ( I’m not trying to criticize him. My goal is to learn Muay Thai,be a good attentive student and try my best and improve. I can’t help when I react to him when I’m lost and he seems annoyed and a bit hard assy )

That's a lot. But not uncommon. A lot of people think more is better. I'm of the opinion less is more.

Number 1, don't worry about it. We all have bad days. Some days you're on fire. Some days you suck. Don't beat yourself up. A hint for working combinations or drills, break them down, I mean right down, especially if you're having troubles grasping it that day. E.g. say it's front teep, right cross, left hook, right knee, clinch, switch knee, right knee, turn, right knee. Righto, there's nine parts to that, concentrate on steps 1,2,3 and add in 4 when you're comfortable. Even break it down further, teep then big right cross until you're comfortable. No point in just, throwing together all the stuff and getting frustrated because you can't remember it all. From my own personal teaching experience, most of the technique I impart is packaged as combinations/drills, usually totalling 4, with explanations. It's not a memory test, nor is it an ego thing. As well as this, my personal preference for combos is 4, the longer the combination the more chance the chain has of being broken in sparring and/or fight. The best way to get up on a combo fighter is to interrupt them. This plays games with their head. Which you're experiencing now. Don't feel like you're disappointing your teacher. It doesn't if he's in a pissed off mood, that's not your problem. If he noticed you were having problems, he should have slowed you and your partner down and had you guys concentrate on the first few segments of the combination. Plus, you're relatively new to the sport, so please don't think you suck, you just had a bad day. Try not try and let things just flow. And if you don't get it, ask. That's what you're paying for. I know this is easier said than done. But, it can be done.

If you go to the Top King store, please check that they are not closed before heading there. Been in front of the closed door twice already.

Not just for shadow but also good for those hand weight things. Only doing 1, 2s but not in your stance, just neutral and flat, so only looking for upper body to fix this, the thing where the punch comes back in straight and quick to protect the head as the other one goes out to hit, back and forth etc, and check both sides for constant protection. Because punching was always my weakest thing. So nothing but weighted 1 2s for 5 min straight and make sure my sketchy punch comes back to sender. Every day, added up, it kinda helps.

Sagat did exactly this yesterday. He stepped on my foot to pin me to the spot and then yanked me toward him and killed me.