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We think that forward aggression is just the natural way to show dominance, but it's more complicated than that. Let's say we are kids, I smack you in the mouth in a fight, and then move away from you and make you miss when you lunge at me. Then I laugh, move slightly out of the way, call you a name, you lunge at me again. And then again, this time I hit you making you off balance, and laugh again. Who is dominating the scene? This is just a simple school yard fight, but you can clearly see who is "winning" the fight by dominance. The kids are all around us, laughing. This is an extreme example of how Thais see the backwards fighter looking in control in a fight. They have to keep scoring, they have to seem like they are controlling everything, but they do it by making the other fighter look desperate or out of control. It's actually much closer to "real" fighting than otherwise supposed real fighting is.

Hi, "dern" is the Thai word for walking, so it means the fighter who is going forward. Sometimes the Thai commentator will be saying "Sylvie dern" and it means I'm the one coming forward, pressing the action. Clinching is allowed to go for longer out in the provinces, medium in the stadia of Bangkok, and broken stupid quickly in new 3-round formats like Max, Thai Fight, Superchamp, Hardcore, MX, etc. They claim it's to make the fights more exciting, but it makes them more boring. It only gives people time to hold, rather than work. Golden Era fights like Samson Isaan vs. Pepsi (the third one especially) or Langsuan vs Lamnamoon, the clinch goes forever and the ref just kind of keeps them off the ropes. Breaking the clinch too fast would be like separating fighters after two strikes... totally interrupts the flow of the fight. But they claim it's to make it more exciting, but really it just makes it more like a Windmill show. The way you see going forward as being positive, Thais see going backwards as being in control of the fight, rather than looking like you're scared. You can't ONLY go back. Dieselnoi often complains that all my opponents did was "nee" which is the Thai word for escaping. Going backwards for the sake of going backwards is as bad as going forward simply for the sake of going forward, it has to have meaning to how the fight is being directed by your movements. But a fighter who has the lead and then goes backwards to force the opponent to chase, or catch up, shows control of the fight. A fighter who is simply coming forward all the time looks desperate to a Thai eye, especially if they already have the lead, they look like they don't know that they're in the lead.

These are questions I have when I watch the live streaming of Sylvie’s fights and listen to Kevin’s commentary what is Derning? ( durning?) if clinching is part of MT, what is the rationale for it to be broken up so quickly? Also why would someone be a backwards fighter .... I feel like it makes the person look like the weaker fighter whose struggling and always running away from the forward walking fighter I had a few other questions but I forget now. I’ll add to it as I remember. ( Started MT about 10 months ago. So I’m just curious about many things. Obviously there’s a lot to learn. More than I ever will be able to )

A lot of wrestlers stand with their strong/dominant leg forward for this same reason. Balance, better strength against takedowns. If you don't want to switch your stance, you can always "calibrate" by switching to Southpaw for a moment to do a movement and see why it's different or how it's different from when you're standing Orthodox, then make those adjustments in Orthodox. For example, I stand way more squared up in Southpaw than I do in Orthodox, so I check it in Southpaw and then go back to Orthodox and adjust so it's the same. If my kick is stronger in Southpaw, it's because my dominant leg is the standing leg, so I see where it's landing in relation to the target and then recreate that in Orthodox. I'm just entirely too "bladed" in Orthodox, should be more squared up in general, for my style. I'm not a kicker.

Congrats on the wins! Anyone else waiting for the videos to drop?

Has anyone trained at Sitjaopho camp recently? Their methods and instructor looks top notch, but since they don't have a website it has been difficult getting information. -Do they have accommodations at the camp? If so, how many? There are 4 of us traveling there. -Are there accommodations near the camp? -What times are their 2 daily training sessions? -I know it is away from the city, are there food places nearby? Or anything like a Big C, Tesco, 7-11? -Any suggestions for Hua Hin in general?

Hey:) I have been training muay thai 5-6x times a week for a couple of years and have a couple of amateur fights. I am right handed and have always fought out of orthodox stance. I have always felt that there is something wrong when i am standing in orhtodox stance. When i block kicks with my front leg, my balance is fine, but when i block kicks with my rear leg i get really unbalanced. Same with the right cross( rear uppercut)it just doesnt feel natural at all, even though i practiced it alot. I get really easy unbalanced when throwing boxing with my right hand, even though im not over extending when throwing it. I also feel unbalanced in the orhtodox stance compared to when i stand in southpaw stance. Last couple of weeks i have been switching to southpaw stance, and everything just feels so more natural there. I have better balance in southpaw stance, and the boxing feels more naturral aswell with the elbows, i dont get off balanced when i throw it in southpaw compared to orhtodox. My favourite weapon are knees and cliching. When i fight in orhtodox i barely throw any punches, only knees and low kicks and clinch, because thats the only thing that feels nattural in the orhtodox stance. Would i benefit my orhtodox stance from switching to southpaw? Obviously my defence is alot better in orthodox then southpaw, but could it be worth it to switch to southpaw on a permanent base? Also when i block kicks in southpaw i dont get off balanced. Even though i pracitced the things alot that makes me unbalanced in orhtodox it just never seem to feel naturral, or that my balance gets better. When i am clinching, wide feet i have really good balance so i cant figure out whats wrong with the orhtodox stance even though i am right handed.

What often happens to fighters who enjoy the idea of switching stance is that their offense will improve, but their defense will suffer. A lot of this happens simply because you aren't used to seeing things reversed, so you don't pick up strikes as quickly. One piece of advice we've seen when fighting someone who switches back and forth in a fight is to just rush them when they move into their unnatural side, because their defense is probably suspect. But this isn't such a huge problem, you just have to work more on your defense than you might think. Focus on it. The biggest aid in this for Southpaws is learning the "forward check", which is a feigning left leg (rear leg) raise, that closes off the Southpaw's biggest weakness to Orthodox fighters. This is a really, really big tool. Karuhat teaches it to Sylvie in the Muay Thai Library session where he turns her from Orthodox to Southpaw. There is a whole vocabulary of the forward check that is really special, both defensively and offensively, for Muay Thai. Maybe check that video out.

Hello to All. I am new here.

hi, im going to Hua Hin & Sitjaopho on January 2020 for a week. I never been there. I neither have complete information. However i going to rent a bike and book hotel through agoda.com, where you can select accommodation based on your preference. In case anyone going there same time with me, just say HI~ ^_^

I've never trained in or around Hua Hin, but I've been there a few times. The gym is a fair way out of town, but looking on google maps there's a still quite a few hotels/guest houses nearby, so if there's no accommodation at the gym you should easily be able to find a place nearby. There's always somewhere nearby to eat in Thailand, always! You won't have to venture far too from the gym to find street food or a small cafe. As for things to do in Hua Hin, it's good place to eat seafood. Pala-U waterfall is worth a visit on a motorbike. It's out by the Myanmar border, the scenery on the way is very nice and the waterfall is pretty impressive. If you're going to Hua Hin on a night out, see if you can find the Stonehead Band. They're a really good cover band (60's - 90's rock) fronted by a guy called Ratoon. They were playing at the Irish bar (I think it's called Murphy's), but that was a good few years ago, so they might have moved on from there now. If they're not there ask around for Ratoon and the Stonehead band, they're well known around the town.