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Because Muay Thai is breathing to me. Everything else is just drowning. There's a quote from Rosa Luxemburg that goes: "Those who do not move, do not notice their chains". In a similar fashion I wasn't aware I wasn't breathing before starting Muay Thai. The oxygen it gave me is my life-changing discovery - that and kitties.

Out of my little training experience in Thailand, I would say as long as you're doing something they most probably will appreciate the effort. I trained at Lamnammoon Muay Thai (in Ubon Ratchatani) for about two months and during that time I saw that most people (foreigners) weren't always doing the full 10k in the morning, and some had to walk or skip altogether because of injuries or exhaustion, etc. Even the Thai fighters didn't always run non-stop. Sometimes they walked, especially in the afternoon run. Also their running pace were usually quite slow. Not that they can't run fast but most often they couldn't be bothered. That said, the more you run (and the harder) the more the coaches will be content and take you seriously. My coaches basically told me I could fight when they saw how much I ran. Not when they saw how hard I hit or how slick my techniques were (Lol I would still not be ready then). Running is really essential. You say you're an awful runner, but how many days per week do you run usually? Unless you're a rare exception, your running endurance should definitely improve if you run everyday. It sucks for a while but that's okay. It should stop being awful once you're used to it. Unless you personally want to keep improving your pace for whatever reasons, then running will suck forever haha.

You gotta do it every day. Running is much more mental than physical. Pick a distance to do every day then make sure you complete it one way or another. 3k for the first week, 5k for the next week, etc. If you have to walk so be it, but complete your miles. Just keep at it and you will get there. I firmly believe that the reason Thais run so much is to build mental toughness as much as it is to build physical strength/endurance. Hence, as Kero said, your trainers will know how much you've been running based on how you fight. If you are timid or inconsistent when clashing with an opponent, they are gonna say you didn't run enough lol. I don't get the whole runner's high thing either and have a strong hatred for running (especially fast). It's necessary though and will teach you to break through moments of weakness. Just get your miles/Km in every day, don't worry about the pace. Good luck and enjoy your trip to Thailand!

That's really helpful; at least I'm not going the complete wrong direction. Thanks!

Wonderful, welcome Nicolas! Hope you make your goal of 2021, but be sure to let us know how your training is going in these threads in the meantime and maybe some of the advice and posts here can help you plan your trip

Hey all, I've been doing Muay Thai on and off for about three years now and am looking to get more serious about it. I'm looking at doing a trip to Thailand for a couple of weeks to train in Chiang mai and or Pattaya October. My conditioning isn't the best, but I'm in decent shape and can do two classes at my gym back to back without much trouble. The only thing I'm a little worried about is road work. I am a godawful runner. Like, I did cross country for my Highschool P.E. credit and I pretty much never improved after the first couple week. I always feel like i'm dying beyond mile two. I've heard most gyms run 5-10k every morning, and that to get the most out of training one should show the coaches that they are willing to give their all. What I'm wondering whether it would be frowned upon to only complete part of the morning run, or walk for sections of it.

So I'm trying to work on my punching as I feel it's one of the weaker parts of my repertoire (not that there is any part in there that is great haha). I was watching Sylvies sessions with Chatchai and Sagat especially. Actually I was watching part of the just newly uploaded Sagat session when I though I could try posting here. I'm tall with a good reach but so far I didn't learn to really make use of my reach so I'm trying to punch at greater distances with limited results. I tried the basic weight transfer Chatchai style and while it somewhat works and makes sense I kind of don't realize yet how to get the range I seem to need. Actually one thing I always notice is how my cross actually always seems longer than my jab.... wouldn't logic dictate it's the other way round? Maybe it's just because I'm right handed and my right side (cross) is more well trained than my left? I realize leaning in is a bad habit but I seem to often end up doing that to get the range I need. It's weird... I know I should be able to reach a target at a certain distance, so I think "loooong!" and it doesn't seem too far away either but at that range my punches seem to arrive without any power. Top acceleration and speed should be at the end of the punch says Sagat (and I'm sure many other people) and I try to go for that but somehow I can't get it to work so far... Any tips on what the best approach to training this is? On the bag (or some other "solid" target)? In shadow? some other way I didn't think about yet? Some form of combination of all that? On the plus side I feel like I get Sagat style "tiger"-uppercuts quite nicely as long as I have my footwork and weight transfer under control. I'm sure there is room for improvement but still it's pretty cool :)

Another Patreon session to check out is Samson Isaan. He was an undefeated boxer and, although short in stature seemed very long armed with great reach. He has some very beautiful form that is a little different than Sagat and Chatchai: https://www.patreon.com/posts/samson-isaan-art-19485162 a still from the session, above. This is his cross, he's southpaw. Extension comes from the rotation of the hips and/or shoulders. You pull back the opposite shoulder. In the most recent Sagat session you can find Sagat's jab, which indeed is very long. A still from that session, Sagat really exaggerating his reach to prove a point:

Thank you! I THINK it might have to do with being to stiff in my hips. When I get on the bag later today I will try and do some exercises I learned in Kali-training years ago and see if I can't get this going some more and maybe transfer the basics to punching. There I got to a point where I felt like I could drive every single attack out of my hips with spring and power. Those were more "round" moves though like stick/sword-strikes or open hand slaps or hammer-fists. I feel like the "spring loading" of the hips on every strike should be transferable to punching pretty well if you get it down. lol I was watching some more of the Sagat sessions and somehow I felt like more power was slowly but steadily flowing into my fists just by watching hahaha

Thanks Sylvie will do! On Tuesday I'm passing the exam to get to the advanced class, two months after entering the academy, mostly thanks to your videos on how to improve the techniques. My biggest weakness are kicks though, I need that hips flexibility!

Hi, I've been practicing Muay Thai for about 2 years relatively lightly and, long story short, during holidays I'm not near the gym I normally train at and I can't get anything like a partner or a bag to train on. What I have built however is a makiwara (essentially a plank in the ground with some light padding). After browsing online, I've found very little in the way of Muay Thai training on one of these. At the end of the day, it's something to punch and kick and knee without injuring myself, but if anyone has any experience with one of these in Muay Thai or any ideas of what could be a good regime, I'd be grateful! Thanks in advance

You could always build a tire stack too. Usually you can get tires for free from the junkyard. Then just fill it up with dirt or braces.

It's a meter deep with 2 sets of cross braces underground, so it shifts slightly but I just pour a little dirt back in and its fine. Some models I saw used metal braces screwed to the ground (wood or concrete), or filled a hole with concrete instead of dirt.

Usually zero haha, but I do plan on correcting that. I would definitely say that I've avoided running in favor of jumping rope and bag work for cardio. I've always felt like I'm not really built for distance like a lot of people I know are. I would run almost every day for weeks and never feel any kind of runners high and always be struggling with nausea. I want the coaches to take me seriously though, so I'll try to increase my running leading up to the trip. Thanks for the input!

Amy Pirnie vs. Lommanee W.Santai - FULL FIGHT - (Lion Fight 59) - (2019.08.31) https://ok.ru/video/1807891304731 via u/ReactQ on r/WMMA

The pads are in good condition. I’m not sure if the brand I’ll look next time I’m there but he usually buys the well known Muay Thai brands I think

What make of pads is your gym using and what sort of condition are they in? My old gym had pads that were way past their best and left me with a sore wrist for a couple of weeks. So I just bought my own set of pads (Twins). Definitely a worth while investment

I do it because I really enjoy it. I really regret not starting when I was younger, but nothing I can do about that. It keeps me fit, my flexibility is getting better, but mostly I think its learning new skills and seeing myself slowly improve. It also provides me with a connection to Thailand (I love it there, see). I’ve also really enjoyed learning about the history of it - reading up about all the golden age legends, then looking up their fights on youtube, studying them in Sylvie’s library. I’ve been able to get over to Thailand a couple of times this past year and train with some of them, which was amazing. I think another thing that fascinates me about Muay Thai is how the sweetest, most softly spoken people you could ever meet have developed such an explosive and brutally effective martial art. It’s all about causing the maximum amount of damage in the most efficient way possible. No fancy unifroms, no grading system, they just put on a pair of shorts, train real hard and fight!

I used to get a sore neck from punching the heavy bag, until I built up the appropriate muscles for it. It's just the strain of holding the "shields" (I say pads, sorry) and you're probably bracing hard and straining your neck. Tucking your chin will help, but in general it's matter of building up the muscles needed to prevent that kind of thing. My hips still get really sore when I decide to up my teep counts.

There are definitely plusses and minuses to being a product of this kind of environment. It can make you strong, but can also give you a lot of self-esteem issues. The desired effect is that the guy will fight back (which earns you cool points if you do it right), but if you aren't familiar with that kind of situation or come from an abusive background that can quickly spiral into unintended territory. What may have started out as mild shit talking turns more into confrontation and can escalate from hurt feelings to physical altercations. With most groups of guys, you are either in or out and it can really suck if you don't understand that kind of treatment. Not responding appropriately will basically lock you out of the group. There isn't an in-between area really and that can be hard to deal with if you are someone who wants to be included. As someone mentioned above, I think there is a lot of pressure regarding body issues too (not unlike women). We all have different genetics though and sometimes you just have to re-frame that kind of stuff in your mind. I think men often times aren't taught how to communicate at all, we just kind of figure it out as we go. For better or worse. A lot of guys never learn to communicate their feelings, their desires, etc. Women often complain about being taught to communicate or act in certain ways from early ages due to how women "should" be perceived (being "lady-like"). I totally understand that frustration, but I think it at least provides some bearing one way or another. Even if they disagree completely with how society tells them to act or talk, at least there is some kind of structure to observe and makes changes from. Through female social circles they learn to communicate better and with more variety from when they are young and begin to make changes about how they act or want to be perceived. Accepted by everyone you respect, guys and girls. Usually the people with the most experience, most fights, best techniques, etc. While we compare ourselves against other guys most of the time since that is who we are directly working with for the most part, most of us still want to be accepted by everyone. I don't think (at least for me) impressing the girls has anything to do with it. That's just immaturity in my eyes. I think the gym environment can really affect the desire to be respected though. In a laid back fitness gym its not as much of an issue. If you are training in a gym where everyone fights, it becomes much more of an issue because there are immediately expectations (I think everyone male or female probably feels this kind of pressure). Depending on your background though I think there are a lot of guys who have overlapping issues with women in gym settings. For example, I have a friend that started doing Muay Thai and BJJ about two years ago. I really had to push him into it and eventually I realized he was just incredibly nervous about the whole thing. He was nervous about getting hit, nervous about not being accepted, nervous about doing exercises the right way, nervous about embarrassing himself, etc. Lol basically anything you can think of. He's a pretty introverted guy and hadn't really done any kind of exercise most of his life and had certainly never been in a fight. It took him a long time to grow comfortable (hahaha and I pushed him a lot to keep going), but eventually he used that nervous energy for positive things. He did extra workouts at home, extra bag work at home, etc. He got really good in a short amount of time and now isn't afraid to mix it up with anyone in the gym. He is still nervous about competing though. I think most people regardless of sport/performance get nervous about that though. Hahaha that all ended up being a bit of rambling and potentially an incoherent mess. Overall I don't think guys have nearly as many fears, difficulties, drama, emotions, etc. coming into a gym compared to women, but I also think we are conditioned for it a little bit more. For me personally, I've never really felt nervous at a new gym or going into a fight. If anything, that's where I am most comfortable. Inversely, I can go to social settings that my gf is completely comfortable/fine in (dinner with new people, parties where we don't know people, basically places I am completely safe lol, etc.) and I'm a complete mess lol. We've just got strengths in different areas, and I think that's perfectly ok so long as we also keep working on our weaknesses.

Hmmmm....... I love it because of the freedom it allows. You don't get that freedom from Karate, etc. That's my opinion. The freedom one gets from expressing their muay. It becomes integral to your state of being, of who you are. Once someone discovers the difference of feeling of training, teaching muay thai as opposed to kickboxing, I believe their lives change. I might be rambling, as this is just coming straight from the heart. I enjoyed my Karate, Kickboxing etc, but I love muay thai. At least as I understand muay thai. My understanding is my own, and will be totally different to anyone else's. They say this feeling can be achieved in other martial arts, but I never experienced that feeling. That's why I gave away karate. When I go to sleep I dream muay thai, I think continually about muay thai and how it can benefit everyone. If I was the all,powerful emperor Ming, I would decree that it should be in every school's phys. ed. programme.

At least part of what keeps me coming back is the way that the fear/adrenaline/exertion of training do wonders to stave off anxiety and depression. It also give my life a certain continuity in that I have something that I can feel like I've improved at every day.

Hello everyone! I am Nicolas, French but living in Barcelona, Spain. Been in love with Muay Thai for 5 years but only began training 3 monts ago. My goal is to go to a Thailand Camp in 2021 fro 3 to 6 months and hopefully fight!