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I carry my memorial bracelet everywhere. My buddy Zac Tomzcak was KIA September 25th, 2007. That day turned into a massive firefight last lasted for an initial six hours pinning down and entire platoon and went on for the next two days. I carry it with me to not only honor and remember him, but also to remind myself how precious every day is and to be grateful for the time we have. He was 23. Best wishes to you and your family. I hope you will keep surprising your doctors and prove to them how strong a fighting spirit can be. Hang in there.

I'm 36 now, but: Punch me! punch me! I need to work on my defense anyways! Sidenote: there is this guy at my gym who is somewhere in his 40s I think (don't know his exact age) and while he was in no bad shape when he first came in he was not very experienced but he told the trainers he wanted to fight. some people didn't think he would get there but a while back he actually had his first fight (K1, its difficult to find Muay Thai fights in Germany) and it seems he pretty much smashed it. I wasn't there but I know he won and I think meanwhile he got a second win under his belt. not 100% sure though, haven't met him in a while.

I have just suffered my 4th cardiac arrest, heart attack or whatever you want to call it. Wednesday last week after teaching a class. However that is not the focus of what I am about to write. At 40 I had my first two and the specialists all were of the opinion I may last to 50. At 45 I had my 3rd one, that one they had to "zap" me and then CPR. At 48 comes number 4. This associated with chronic back pain and a compromised left leg, from spinal surgery, has made life very challenging to say the least. So as 50 looms so near in the future, I have a few things to ponder. Now that the back story is complete, I would like share with you (aside from my wife and my own strength), the single most important soul enabling me to continue and strive for life, is Jack,he is a 4 year old magpie. My wife and I rehabilitate birds and other animals, with the view to release. However, Jacky Boy is different, he can't be. We estimate he was a week old when we were handed him as a rescue bird. He had a broken wing and a broken leg. Over the course of the last 4 years, he's under gone an amputation and complications that have nearly killed him. Where I am going this story, is simple. This little creature whom I am convinced has a soul, who has showed such toughness and a will to live and thrive and is so loving, came into our lives and provided me in particular a totem. A totem representing, strength, will and compassion. In a lot of ways I credit him with saving my life. If he could struggle through, then why couldn't I? So, I wish to pose this question, do any of you guys out there, have or hold something so dear to you, that in times of need may seem to be your only salvation?

Hey, thanks for the reply Here is a link to Leone, they are made in Italy (I’ve seen A few fighters wear them here in Australia) https://www.leone1947.com/en/store/muay-thai-boxing-gloves-gn031.html I own a pair of twins and im looking for sparing gloves I’m such a creature of habit it’s hard to change.

I had a beer with some fighters yesterday including Keng Sarikadong. He is 36 works as trainer on Samui and just won the King's Cup. If your body is fit, why not? You write the book of your life. Would you want to read it?

Jaroentong is also a switching fighter. I'm not sure what you mean by drills for practicing the switch, as it seems you're trying to learn how to switch in the moment, rather than fighting out of both stances. I haven't been taught "how to switch," but rather Karuhat literally reversed my stance and I had to learn how to fight in Southpaw. When literally going from right handed to left handed or vice versa, in general it's just like walking into the opposite stance. Namsaknoi has a really nice galloping switch on a punch, but he doesn't stay in the opposite stance. He just switches on that punch. But I reckon you could use it as your switch and just stay in that other stance. Karuhat does the same thing, but from the opposite stance, which is meaningful because he's going from his "unnatural" stance into his natural stance for a power cross, whereas Namsaknoi's is the inverse of that, so you're landing into the non-dominant position. Sifu's "when to switch" drills and philosophies are the only time switching is talked about conceptually by a teacher in the Library. Otherwise it's my own take on what the switches feel like or mean. The dangers of switching are being off-guard for a moment as you're switching and landing into a position where your "open side" is vulnerable. But you just have to be aware of that and guard or set up the switch by off-balancing your opponent first. In general, don't switch stance in kicking range. Either closer or farther out. I'd choose closer. Karuhat often uses a simple step back (again, same as walking) when reversing his stance and then his attack just flows directly out of that. Almost nobody switches and does nothing. They switch on an attack or on a defensive step that becomes an attack.

I’m going to quote Sean Fagan the Muay Thai guy here and say very loudly and with a frown “ FUCK NO you’re NOT TOO OLD!!!!!! ” lol. Sean Fagan cracks me up. ( he’s very serious about muay thai but he acts goofy on occasion for fun and I love that. Life’s hard. Muay Thai is hard. Ya gotta laugh when you can imho ) also PLEASE anyone who has any thought in their head they may be ‘too old’ for Muay Thai and especially for fighting - watch this video!!! also TO ADMIN HERE : can I please punch anyone in the face who is ONLY 35 ( still young!) who calls themselves old? Is that allowed??? just kidding. Sorta. seriously watch this video https://www.muay-thai-guy.com/blog/muay-thai-mondays-how-old-is-too-old-to-start-fighting

Hi everyone, Im new to the forums Absolutely love you Sylvie and Kevin! So inspiring to me. I’m just curious about gloves, I’ve been training about 4 years and I’m very obsessed with everything Muay Thai. What is everyone’s choice of gloves? Also what do you guys think of Leone Muay Thai gloves? I’m hearing good things but nervous about not buying Thai made. Thanks in afvance and nice to meet everyone.

Short version I am a natural southpaw and starting to work on striking in both southpaw and orthodox stances. Work schedule does not line up with class schedules of local gyms, so working on this solo at home. Allready watched Karuhat, Samart & sifu mcInnes patreon sessions. Looking for advice on switching between stances in a fight, specifically: solo drills, possible pitfalls and which fighters to watch. Long version I am a natural southpaw, and have been casually training (1 class / week for a year) + 1-3 Heavy bag sessions / week at home (1-2hours at low - medium intensity). Not in shape (when going for a run, after 2-3 km I'm done). For the past few months I haven't been able to go to classes due to a new work schedule, but I still do heavy bag sessions by myself. In these heavy bag sessions, i'll do sets of about a 100 of single strikes & simple combos (e.g. 100 teeps, 100 1-2's, 100 knees, 100 midkicks, 100 elbows, ... ). I aim to do about 2000 strikes per session, with a couple hundred of each type of strike and about a 1000 teeps. For the last few weeks I've been dividing these sets evenly between Orthodox and southpaw stance. There's still a huge gap between the effectiveness of my strikes in southpaw and orthodox, but I'm definitely making progress. Since I plan to continue working on striking out of both stances, it seems like a good idea to carve out some extra time to work on actually switching between both stances. Usually I'd turn to Youtube for guides at this point, but I've found surprisingly little information on switching stances effectively. Most video's on this subject fall in 1 of 2 categories: The video explains "The stance switch". Which is basically the movement you'd make when throwing a switch-kick. (Which seems a little limited, if your goal is to develop a switching style) Videos like Sylvie's Patreon content, specifically the Karuhat videos. In these, you can see the way Karuhat is moving, which in itself is very helpful. However, these videos lack specific drills or exercises you can work on if you don't have a switching master to correct you. Rather than rambling on and turning this post into a long wall of text, at this point I'll simply list a number of questions, which could help me and hopefully others who want to work on stance switching: 1. What are some good fighters to watch for switching footwork? Already looking into: Karuhat 2. Are there any specific videos you would recommend (Patreon or otherwise)? Already looking at: On the forum: Tim's sessions with general Tunwakom (specifically the movement drill in day 1 vid 1) On patreon: all Karuhat sessions On patreon: session with Sifu McInnes On patreon: session with Samart 3. Do you know of any specific drills I can work on? I am Mostly looking for drills without a partner. However, drills with a partner will probably be useful for other readers, so please post those as well. 4. What are some pitfalls of stance switching, I should look out for? The answer that's all over the internet, is: Your defense will suffer. However, people never seem to feel the need to go into details here. I would appreciate any answers with specifics.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them. For your friend, Tyler. It's called the Ode to Rememberance. It come from a First World War poem called, For the Fallen. It's the fourth stanza of the poem, and is said every evening at 6pm in Returned Servicemens League establishments. And most poignantly on ANZAC day.

Best wishes to you and your family. I hope you will keep surprising your doctors and prove to them how strong a fighting spirit can be. Hang in there. Thanks Tyler. I've always been interested in the ways people devine strength. Most of one's strength must be internal, but I believe strength can be helped by realizing it in other things, be they inanimate or alive and respecting that strength. Alot of people look at me like a space cadet when I try to articulate this emotion. Anything that I would have to say about the sacrifice your mate made, would not do it justice. Same goes for the amount of respect I have for armed service personnel in general. Words don't do your service justice. In Australia we say "Lest we forget " as an admonition to ourselves not to forget the service of young men and women to the country they love. On a lighter note, I have every intention of hanging on. The Grim Reaper is gonna have to fight a bit harder to get what he wants. As long as my Jacky Boy is by my side, I'll be ok...... needless to say when I got home from hospital he chastised me for being away.

This is what I came to recommend. I am just starting stance switching as well, and just all the practice walking with General Tunwakom really helped. Figure out your movement first, then start striking once you are comfortable with that (that's what I feel like is working for me anyway).

Howdy I use Boon lace up and bag gloves, then I also have some Fairtex F-Day that I use for sparring/padwork if I know I'm going to be taking gloves on and off (those are velcro). I haven't heard of Leone Muay Thai gloves, do you have a link? I picked up my Boon gloves because the leather is great quality, and I picked up the Fairtex gloves because I got a screaming deal on them (900 baht barely used).

Congratulations LengLeng id love to watch yours on video too if it’s available ( how did I miss a cat? I do love cats)

The very first recorded fight in a fixed stadium ring in Bangkok (1921) was between a man somewhere in his late 50s (muen muay Kueng Tosa) vs a 22 year old (Phong Prapsabok, the son of an opponent he once defeated).

I think it really matters if you are talking about taking a few private sessions, or you are just talking about training at a gym. The Thai way does not really involve constant and repeated corrections (that produces stress and lack of flow which is not conductive to fighting), but there are krus that can and will be corrective in a private, as that is what westerners want, and it happens to be how they in particular think. The Krus Sylvie lists are pretty precise. Of all of them I would think that Manop is the most precise. He has a lot of experience training westerners as the head trainer at Yokkao, and now with his own gym it seems that he brought a lot of that precision to his approach. In Sylvie's session with him we were shocked at some of the very tiny details he brought out (timing on when the heel came down for instance, after a kick, made a huge difference). You can watch the full 90 minute session as a patron here: #55 Manop Manop Gym - The Art of the Teep (90 min) watch it here You can see beautiful slow motion of his technically beautiful teep here: You can watch a segment of a session with Chatchai here: #64 Chatchai Sasakul - Elements of Boxing (72 min) watch it here Here is a segment with Burklerk, you can watch his session here: #17 Burklerk PInsinchai - Dynamic Symmetry (82 min) watch it here

It's hard to say whether it's "worth it" to train there or not, as giving generalized gym advice is hard because every person is different, has different needs and expectations. I haven't trained at the new Lanna Muay Thai, so I can't give first-hand experience, but I've heard from people who are training there recently that it's crowded and more "class" structured. How busy a gym is changes ALL THE TIME, so I can't say whether that's the case at this moment or not - it's low season in Thailand. Kru Daeng is still there and he's always worth training with. He's fight-oriented, experienced, knowledgeable and a great guy. But you could always take a private with him if the gym itself is not what you're looking for. Hongthong is another that I've never done regular training at. Both Gen and Joe are 100% worth taking private sessions with, but regular training is something that I can't comment on from experience. Both Lanna and Hongthong are gyms that can get you fights, if that's something you're interested in. Manop's gym looks good and Manop is a great trainer. Looks like they have a good group of people training most of the time, so you have clinching and sparring. It's a bit out of town, so you'd need to get a motorbike or be happy staying put most of the time. In general, I advise people to try more than one gym and make their longer-term plans based on their own experiences. None of these gyms are so far away from Chiang Mai that you can't take a few days to try each of them and make your decision from there. You'll know better than anyone what feels right to you, and there's no reason to commit before arrival. You might find this thread helpful:

For sure! It's also within walking distance for me so I'll likely check it out again.

I put together a video of the blessing on my Mongkol.