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Ask someone if they want your opinion first. Then you'll know.

Thank you for all the amazing feedback guys.It's helped a lot. I need to clarify though before I paint myself into a corner... I don't do microcorrections on every technique or anything, only usually when someone asks or they look frustrated when we're doing something... It's the shutting up once I start that's the problem lol. I'll definitely take a look at the inner game of tennis, I know Sylvie also did a few videos with a round table on Patreon too, so may follow up with that. Thanks again guys. "Khob kun krub"

UFC has just gone to shit lol. There is no debating it. They are going the boxing route now and it's gonna end poorly. It is funny to see how bad some of their "muay thai" strikers are. ONE is the only promotion to have legit strikers on their roster in MMA. Ever since the "WME" era the UFC has been going steadily downhill. No one ever believed their fighters were the best in the world in any on particular aspect, but the idea was who could nullify or outperform different aspects of the complete game. Now it's just all show and flash. Competition has gone out the window.

To all my American friends on here, I apologise fro what is about to come out of my fingers. The UFC and all it's hype and associated bullshit is just way too American for me. It reminds me of WWF, which was okay when I was ten. Plus, I honestly think it lacks a certain kind of purity.

Ramsey Dewey said recently that corrections are the lowest form of coaching, and to an extent I agree. If you go to a muay thai class and look at the guys sparring, you see them sweeping kicks, teeping, countering well and it's not like those techniques are specifically drilled again and again (especially when it comes to sweeps) with meticulous corrections to perfect it. Unless you're doing something quite wrong, everything falls into place with practise and time!

I think it's good that you ask about these stuff. Some people are hungry for advice, some people learn better without too much interference. So I guess it's about feeling your way forward. My husband is a crossfit coach and I join his classes now and then. Some time back in one of his classes I saw a woman doing squats with a weird form. Since I think I know everything about squat depth I tried to get the attention of my husband and sort of whispered that he should check on her form. He just brushed me off. And afterwards he told me she squats like this because she has this injury she is struggling with. And I realised it was definitely not my place to think I could have any educated opinion on how she should move just from joining one class with her and that I shouldn't think I know my husband's work better than him.

@guyver4 there is a thread I started on this called Unsolicited advice during training which might give you some views. Is your gym a place where people give each other feedback a lot? If it is I guess you just need to "feel" where the line is. Otherwise I would let these questions guide me: 1. Am I a teacher with a mandate to teach instructions? 2. Did this person ask for my advice? 3. Am I really experienced enough to know how to teach this particular movement/technique? 4. Why do I have this urge to give feedback to this person? Do I really want to help or does it originate from my own desire to seem knowledgeable? Learning is an individual thing. Gyms are full with people who overestimate their own knowledge and enthusiastically share their knowledge with others in a way that is not constructive.

Hi Sylvie and Everyone Else! I was curious to hear your (and everyone else's) thoughts on the UFC and other similar western fighting, apologies if you've answered this question before. You've very clearly fell in love with fighting from the perspective of the non-aggressive, composed and unaffected Thai ethic that makes up Muay Thai and I wonder what your thoughts are on the predominant western and aggressive style that fights like the UFC play to. This might make for a really interesting topic on Muay Thai Bones! Thank you for all of your time and effort!

Hi guys, It's been a while since I posted, but I've been meaning to ask this question to a broader audience. Just where do we draw the line when it comes to critiquing someone, criticising, and basically commentating? What I mean is, I am an overthinker, unfortunately this is a curse and a blessing as I can't turn it off, it's amazing for my work, but not so great when it comes to Martial Arts. I can critique someone, the snap pointers where you see your partner not twisting their hips on a round kick, or pivoting on a hook... But it seems whenever I attempt a constructive criticism as to why something isn't working by brain goes into overdrive and I basically start explaining it step by step as if I was telling myself how to do something, which the digresses into micro adjustments and eventually onto a full blown commentary... There are examples of it on this forum. Extremely valid examples which I was called up on, which at the time I was writing seemed important, and relevant, but upon going back and reading after, I could totally see why I was called up on it and gave me a completely different perspective on what I'd written. Where should I be drawing the line to just help my partner? But at the same time, no be stepping on toes of instructors etc. Does anyone else have a similar problem with things like this? Especially if it is a subject which you are extremely enthusiastic about and have a tonne of observations which you think would benefit. There will always be a point where help becomes hindrance, and at that point no on is learning anything. How do I keep things objective, and subjective when there is so much noise to filter?

I heart Bas

The Bas tapes look interesting to me. I wasn’t sure of all the numbers he calls but I’m sure I’d pick it up... now that you explain adding a knee or kick with opposite side it makes more sense

So on these tapes, there are 4 different workouts with two versions (10x2 minute rounds and 7x3 minute rounds, both with 1 min breaks). So each one is a 30 min workout. In each tape Bas calls out combos with prompts, like "4" for jab-cross-hook-cross, or "2" for jab-cross. On the thai boxing tape you follow the last punch with a kick or knee from the opposite side. I like to use them for shadowboxing or on the heavy bag. He calls them out faster than is comfortable for me and as you can tell from that video he's got a certain energy to him that gets me hyped. Its nice because there is a structure to it that I can't always enforce on myself in real time if I'm making it up as I go, or maybe after a long day of work I just want to dump any mental/physical energy left in me into some rounds on the bag.

So many fighters signed and so many fight cards through the year, means the good fights are way more spaced out now than ever before. So you'll get a good headlining match up and the rest you could take it or leave it. Back in the day there weren't as many cards so their business model was to stack the deck so the whole main event and even prelims were solid, and the thing would sell.

Highlights.... Ok.... maybe not boxing vids but Bas at his finest lol.

I have mixed feelings on all of this. The best answer I have is a bit of a non-answer. For me there is a time and place for safety equipment. If I am doing simple drilling I kind of like doing no pads, but for full sparring I prefer to wear shin guards. It really just depends on the partner, pace, and power levels. I have training partners that I loved sparring with (no longer work with them), but I can't imagine us training without shin guards lol. That is because we went fairly hard though. I like to spar somewhere between 60-80%. We could only go hard like that though because we knew each other quite well and understood when to back off a bit. Even when we tested each other a bit there was always an understanding to back off if it got to be too much and it was never emotional. That said, I've been dropped with a few shots in sparring and had my nose fractured twice lol. I've had other partners that I also sparred "fast" with, but with much less power. I never sparred them with no shin guards, but I think we would have both done really well with that. It's just different with each person. The added protection is just that... added protection. Depends on what you are doing and who you are working with.

Hey! I haven't trained at any of the gyms on that list but I've heard good things about Mankong Phranai Gym, which is in the area you're looking at. Maybe that's worth a try. Good luck in your search! Hope you manage to find a place that's a good fit

That's actually an expression I have used myself as well, "too American". I'm not saying "American" is a bad thing in and off itself, its just this kind of.... totally overdone, over the top "Americanism" that I hate. I do actually sometimes watch MMA on different promotions where for me it feels more like ... I don't know... more like a martial arts event instead of a circus show. This "style" of presentation seems to be wanted by the powers that be in the UFC, people like Connor play into this kinda thing very well of course and Dana White seems to totally be in support of stuff like that so I don't see it changing anytime soon. Like in this press conference I mentioned, Dana wasn't even TRYING to look unbiased or serious but instead totally played into and supported Connor's clowning around. I mean it's ok to still be a funny guy even if you're in charge of some kind of event. Like my boss ( a few levels up, not direct boss) at work who will sometimes crack a joke when asked something during a presentation before he gets back to serious and actually answers but that kinda stuff happening in the UFC I just can't stand and can't take seriously.

For me, it's especially all the show act surrounding the actual fighting that really pisses me off by now. I didn't ever closely follow the UFC but nowadays I hardly ever watch anything UFC. I remember someone posting this press conference that happened before the Mc Greggor vs Nurmagomedov fight on a martial arts forum I sometimes visit and I just couldn't take it.... then I found a video of 3 hours of circus music on youtube and tried again with that playing in the background. Finally I was able to watch it... I think that kind of sums up my opinion on this topic and I didn't really say anything about the actual fights. Watching Muay Thai (and also Kickboxing) has actually become much more interesting to me. That might have to do with actually having more insight from personal practice of course.

I watch my trainers let someone be "wrong" for a really, really long time with no correction. Then they'll make a small correction, enforce it, and then let it go. Kevin's reference to the Inner Game of Tennis is really good because it's about the learning process, and correction, critique, and commentating really don't help that at all. Very often, people are already over-thinking and not feeling, so over-verbalizing is counter-productive. But in terms of where the line is, to me the most important aspect was raised by LengLeng: did this person ask? If you offer a small point, unsolicited, did they then ask for more?

There is a very good book to read on this subject which is The Inner Game of Tennis, which presents the Coach's Dilemma, which is verbal correction very often leads to the opposite results as intended. As an overthinker you might find this book very interesting. If the aim is to actually help someone (as the outcome), and not just display knowledge, it gives powerful food for thought. I say this as a very analytical, breakdown oriented, let-me-explain-things, kind of guy. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003T0G9E4/

Thank you for the feedback guys. It's much appreciated. @LengLeng I'll definitely keep your pointers in mind going forward. @MadelineGrace I completely understand what you're saying. I've just passed the year mark with Muay Thai, and as much or as hard as I train, I still think of myself as relatively "new". Our Muay Thai classes are only run twice a week at our gym, but there are guys there who train K1 5-6 times a week and do Muay Thai on top, but I only do the Muay Thai classes so always feel a level below if that makes sense. I think where I've watched almost 100 hours watching the Patreon videos though, there are small things I can contribute which they may not have thought or seen before and in most cases they havent, especially in the clinch. I think I will just try to keep myself more grounded going forward, and apply what I know, and just throw the nuggets if someone has me in a dominant position and doesn't know where to go, or vice versa.