Leaderboard

Hey, everyone who has been a part of the forum over the last several years, as many of you know the 8limbsus site was maliciously attacked in a pretty devastating way, the site had basically been wiped clean from the server, and though through the very hard work and support of several people 99.9 % of the site has been restored, one of the aspects of the site that was lost were all the photographs that had been uploaded to the forum. This means not only as the profile photos that everyone used, which gave a sense of closer community, but also all the humorous photos, the rich artistic photos, the uploads that were informative and explanatory. This was a pretty huge hit to me, personally. As a photographer I wanted the forum to be a home for an archive of images, and discussion around images, and I worked pretty hard on trying to develop this. I opened up the upload options so photographers could load hi-res versions of their photos, I hoped the forum would be a home for not only awesome conversation, but also graphics. I'm also writing to say that Sylvie and I really have to get back to focusing our time on the forum. For us the destruction was a serious gut punch. It honestly felt like our house had been broken into and ransacked. It felt invaded, and almost like it wasn't our home any longer. It's hard to explain, but we put a lot of ourselves into the digital record. Sylvie poured her heart and mind into everything, I extended my imagination, together we were creating something very special that exists no other place, and the forum was a huge part of that. There is no conversation space like this anywhere in the world, in a time when conversations are so radically changing. We feel beat down, honestly, by the intrusion and erasure, but we want to help bring it back, and maybe make the forum even better, different than it would have otherwise been. I'm really writing this to say thank you to everyone who keep investing in the forum, and to let you know we are in on it too (!), but it's taking some time. And to let you know that the wiping of the forum, and it's photos, it hurt us somehow, and we are still recovering from the kind of psychic-shock. We are doing so many projects, trying to document and foster conversation in so many ways, the blindside of it all just kind of unexpectedly hit us in a weak spot. So, thank you to everyone a part of the forum, you make so many important things possible. This forum is important. It's a digital oasis, and we can make it whatever we want it to be. That is really what this forum has always been. With the help of patrons we were able to carve it out, to kind of donate it back to everyone, and invest in it ourselves. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

@Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu Thanks for sharing this. I am deeply sorry for what happened. I once had my home broken into and I thought when this happened that it must have felt like that. A violation and attack on your space that you built and nurtured. I'm grateful and happy you could rebuild it. You two are doing so many amazing things that no one ever done before and it's beyond me how you can be so generous not only sharing it, but also package everything you do in a way we can all learn from it. You always take care of putting things into a context, ensuring the right message comes across for everyone to absorb the knowledge. It also struck me more than once how you two never really take any time off and I have no idea where that energy and productivity and discipline come from. First doing all the things. Then sharing it. Repeat and repeat.

I went to Sinbi around 4 months ago. I thought I should do a review as it seems to be quite a popular gym. Class Format - 3.5/5 Classes are 2 hours each and usually follows this format: 15 minute running or skipping -> stretching -> hand-wrapping -> shadowboxing -> bag work & pad work (5 rounds of each, usually 3 mins each round but may be 2 if it gets too busy) -> sparring or clinching or technique (I didn't like this format as technique is only ever taught as the same time clinching (morning) and sparring (afternoon) happens) -> cool down exercises and stretches -> Sinbi cheer Overall, I think the class structure is just ok. As mentioned above, I didn't like having to choose between sparring/clinching and learning techniques. I also thought sparring every day was excessive, even if it alternates between boxing and MT. Although Sinbi does have a weights room, there also doesn't seem to be much emphasis on conditioning or repetition -> sometimes, we are told to do 50 sit ups or to do 50 kicks on the bag as part of the cool down exercises but its definitely not like other gyms that make you run 10km or do 200 knees/push ups (you are only required to do hundreds of kicks/knees if you are fighting for them) Instruction - 3/5 On paper, the krus are extremely well-qualified with hundreds of fights each and numerous belts between them. There are also some (shoutout to Dee, Cookie and Bao V) who are very experienced coaches and who are very patient and generous towards students. Most of them knew at least enough English to teach. Unfortunately, there are some newer, younger coaches who don't care much about the students. They will make you do the same combos again and again and won't provide you with much correction at all. They will tell you you are doing "good" even if you feel like your technique isn't quite hitting the mark. The worse bit is that once you've had a trainer a few times, you are likely to be pushed towards him for the rest of your trip. I did somehow manage to correct this problem by having a few PTs with my assigned trainer. I didn't like him much but my friend said things will change once you do PTs with them. Lo and behold, my friend was right. After only two PT sessions, he started putting a lot more effort in. He not only became much more alive while holding pads but would even deliberately walk up to me while I was hitting the heavy bag or when shadowboxing with suggestions. He turned out to be a very knowledgeable teacher with a very sharp eye. Too bad he could only be bothered teaching me when there was more money involved and would keep asking me to do a daily private with him. Overall, there are around 15 trainers on staff. The ratio is at around 3 to 1 so that's pretty good. My friend who went a year ago though said there was a thai female trainer/fighter there. There isn't. Big boss Sing also seemed to be absent most of the time I was there. Facilities - 5/5 This is probably the best aspect of Sinbi. The gym itself is massive and very clean. I didn't count the heavy bags but there must be at least 20 to 25. There are also 3 full sized boxing rings and at least 5-10 exercise bikes. There is a large weights room too with everything you'll need as well as a very well stocked (but expensive) shop. They can take care of your laundry, organise airport pick-up for you, organise taxis and day trips - name it and you'll get it. Accomodation is also very, very good for a gym - legit, the Sinbi Apartment look and function like a service apartment and is very safe and very clean. It also has a swimming pool. Location - 4/5 The gym/accomodation is located in an area where you can get anything you need within 3-10 minutes walking. This includes massage shops, laundromats, thai and western restaurants, a 7-11, street food, cheap clothing shops, a barber and even a Thai language learning school (as well as a scuba diving school). The only downside is that you will need a scooter to get to the beach, to nightclubs or to a large shopping mall like Central Festival. Female-friendly? Yes While I was there, the male to female ratio was around 2:1. Like the men, they were given fight opportunities if they were up to the required standard. Women often trained in their sports bra and were not made to enter the ring via the bottom rope. They were not made to do pad work last and were allowed to clinch/spar the Thai boys if there weren't enough women or there were odd numbers. There was some friendly flirting from the coaches (stuff like "you're beautiful!" or "pretty girl!") but nothing that crosses the line. Overall: 7/10 - its what you expect from a Thai gym but not much more. Will go again if I was in the area but would not plan another trip around this gym.

Nice post, Kevin. It must have been very upsetting for you and Sylvie to suddenly lose all your work like that after putting so much into it over the years. I'm glad you were able to get most of it back. And not to worry, that gif I made the other month is still saved on my hard drive

I have not found an email for them, and i don't have a Facebook account or any social media for that matter. ill figure it out hopefully lol. not too worried. just sucks that I'm getting in so late. only about a week to go until i leave, I'm getting super excited/nervous.