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Don't decide before you get here that you can't run. Like Kero said, the pace is usually quite slow for most fighters in a gym. When we run in the morning, there's a huge gap between when the fastest runners finish and when the slowest runners catch up. It's not a race, it's what runners would call "junk miles," in that nobody cares how fast or slow you go, it's just that you're doing the work. I am 100% in the school of thought that if you don't run, you don't Muay Thai. People who argue otherwise, to me, are making excuses. When you see two fighters in the ring, you can tell with 100% accuracy, every time, who runs and who doesn't. That said, if you literally cannot run but can do something else, like skipping or jumping on the tire for ungodly amounts of time that make up for it, that's good. It's just important that you do something. But the short and blunt answer about whether you'll be looked down on by your gym for not running: yes. How much they judge you will depend on what kind of gym it is - a western-heavy gym where lots of folks don't run, not as much - as well as if you try to make up for it with something else. If you're doing other work to make up for the run, that will be acknowledged.

It could be a few things. One of the more hidden aspects in the first 10 or so fights is that you can end up unconsciously holding your breath. This can happen if you are being pressured, or doing the pressure. You can be in great shape but still gas because you just are not breathing in rhythm, due to a lack of experience. Fights early on can make you hold your breath in ways you just don't realize. Another thing could be if you are not properly balanced with electrolytes, especially if you have cut weight. You want your sodium, potassium and to a much lessor extent magnesium to be abundant at fight time. If you are low on sodium or potassium you can seriously fatigue out of nowhere.

"No run, no Muay Thai" ... Hahahaha.

I really appreciate the responses y'all. What I'm hearing is that I need to suck it up and do the work.

Love all your insight !

Where is this video off Rambaa Somdet... well... expressing his thoughts about this to a student who wouldn't participate in runs?

@Natewoods This is a great post on importance of running and hard training regimens in Thailand: https://8limbsus.com/muay-thai-thailand/paul-banasiak-sponsored-fighter-harsh-training-realities

I'm glad to hear Sylvie likes him, dangerous from any position at almost any distance. I hope that it'll work itself out and he'll be in there sooner rather than later. It'd be awesome! He's not at Muay Thai plaza anymore right? From what I've heard he's moved? And while we're at it, any chance of Lerdsila showing up in the library? The Eel would be great continuing on the Jocky guys you've already got in the library. Thank you for you're work and dedication in capturing "real" Muay Thai. I especially enjoy that it has become a real good bridge between old and new MT techniques.

Pet Peeve, maybe call it UFC inflation. Everything that appears in the UFC is defacto "World Class". Ummm, nope. The very thin frame of reference has created a pretty distorted vision of even what "Muay Thai" is, let alone what elite level Muay Thai would look like. Ugh. No, the "American" version, or the Western version, isn't really close to where the art can go, and has gone.

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!

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.

Not sure if this is a meme, but I enjoyed making this today. Samart cracks me up.

My exact reaction

I made a gif