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This is a somewhat complicated question in that, especially in Thailand, there's a moral component to alcohol consumption that will be included in how it's viewed by your gym. Trainers who drink aren't viewed as super dependable by those who don't, students who drink are socially engaging with those trainers, but will also be dismissed in some ways by those in the gym who don't. If you're showing up and working hard, you'll be appreciated for that. If you're tired and drained - even if it's occasional - and it's known that the reason behind it is that you were out drinking, you'll be judged for that in addition to what you'd be chastised for if you were just having a "bad" day. I'm in the same school as Madeline, where I just can't afford feeling shittier than I would if it were simply a rough night of sleep or being tired from the work I'm already doing. So, I abstain for the same reasons I don't eat sugar or stay up too late to watch Netflix or whatever else. If it's compromising my training, it goes. But people have different goals and different motivations. The 5AM runs make me a total asshole for the day and I still go do those, so we all make compromises, hahaha.

Hello all, I'm looking for input/advice especially from those training in Thailand regarding running. When I research gyms in Thailand most seem to have a running regime of 30-60 miles a week and therefore I've been attempting to build up to this for quite some time but it's lead to constant injuries and has become a huge source of frustration. I want to continue attempting to build my mileage because I don't doubt the benefits but I'd also like to get in a gym and be able to train. I'm sure I'm not the first to bump into this barrier to entry of sorts and I'd be interested to hear about your own experiences with the running culture of various gyms.

Hello all, I did my second fight last night and now have soooo many questions. Would be grateful for any insight from you (and hopefully Sylvie will be able to respond too!) The fight didn’t go quite well in that for whatever reasons I couldn’t translate what I’ve been working on into the fight. I know I’ve physically and mentally grown since my last fight, but that didn’t seem to be manifested in the ring. I think I was taken aback by how different her style was than my first opponent. In my first fight there were a lot of clinching and knees, but in the second one my opponent was very evasive and I was left puzzled the whole time on how to get into the pocket. I couldn’t adapt to my opponent’s style quickly. Does this something that just come with experience? Does this have something to do with fight IQ? If so, any advice on how to improve my fight IQ? Another question: why is it when I’m in the ring I don’t hit as hard as when I train in the bag, pads, or sparring? I have strong crosses, hooks, and over hands, but these didn’t make any appearance during the fights!!! When this happened in the first fight I thought it was because the opponent was taller and I couldn’t reach her. But the opponent in the second fight was also tall but I realized even when I was in the pocket I didn’t hit hard. I didn’t feel like I gassed out in both fights. So what is it? Was I nervous? I don't think I was. Was it a mental block? I’m still trying to understand myself when I’m in the ring and I would be grateful if anyone can share their thoughts!!! Thanks so much in advance!!

Hi, I just spent nearly a year training at Petchrungruang in Pattaya where, even though the fighters run everyday, they liked, to at least offer, the foreigners a 10km run 3x a week. Running wasn’t mandatory at all though if you wanted to fight they did want you to run. Personally I struggled slightly with the impact on my knees but I did get used to it, I just had to struggle through. I found that the early morning runs were a great way to interact with the more serious trainers at the gym. Petchrungruang was really good and for awhile, after a fight, when I physically couldn’t run, offered me the option of cycling which still gave me the benefits of the early morning run. Personally I think any gym that sees you want to make the effort of getting up at 4am to run but understands that sometimes you just physically can’t, is a gym worth going to, though it may take trial and error to find this gym, and this fit, that works for you

Was researching - well, you know, Googling and reading, Googling and reading as you do - the hormone oxytocin, a chemical known to be connected with experiences of bonding, and ran into this very interesting piece of information. Oxytocin and Testosterone are antagonists. Originally I was thinking about how some of the social elements under the influence of oxytocin have been issues of stress in Sylvie's training. As many have pointed out women are often much more motivated by social cues (coach trust, fighting for the team, proving worth) than by powerful antagonisms. I've talked about this with fighter Kaitlin Young, and our discussions definitely came back to me as I was reading the below. What is really interesting, at least from a prospective place of investigation, is that it may be the case that many seriously committed female fighters have elevated testosterone. No expert in this, I'll just hazard that some may have just a higher baseline profile of testosterone than average on the bell curve, and some may have increased levels of testosterone as a matter of their regime and their training. Or a combination of both. This is the really compelling part. If fighter training (and the selection of women who become fighters) will produce elevated testosterone, and the below is also true, being a fighter as a woman may result in oxytocin suppression. This could be related to the supposed need or difference in motivations reported by female fighters as opposed to male fighters (who have different hormonal profiles and balances). The relevant part: "...What you might not know is that most hormones work as antagonists to other hormones. In other words, they can balance each other out. When one is released, it tempers or suppresses the over-production of the other. But if you keep over producing one, it can begin to snuff out the other all together. Now let's look at some examples. We'll start with my favorite, oxytocin, and its antagonist testosterone. You might think that the antagonist to testosterone would be estrogen, the feminine hormone, balancing the masculine. And to some degree you'd be right. But testosterone is more powerfully antagonistic to oxytocin, the cuddle hormone, the one that makes you go, "Oooo" when we see something cute. Oxytocin is released during the experience or even the witnessing of loving kindness and affectionate touch, even when you see it on TV. It's also called the love hormone, the bonding hormone, as well as acting as a stimulant to contractions during pregnancy/birthing. When oxytocin is released, we feel softer, more nurturing, more cuddly, more loving. It changes our visual and mental perceptions allowing us to see the oneness of all things, the interconnectedness of all of us. For a brief moment, it turns us into right-brained systems thinkers, rather than analytical critics. And if you release enough of it, it allows us to see God. Studies have shown that those with high average levels of oxytocin are more likely to believe in God. So can't we just give people oxytocin directly? Sure, but the half life is only about 3 minutes, meaning the effects fade very quickly. This brings us back to it's antagonist, testosterone, the masculine and aggressiveness hormone. It's released when a breach of trust occurs, making you even more distrusting. And as it rises, it suppresses oxytocin. That's what makes it a chemical antagonist. And just like the antagonist in a good novel, you need a chemical antagonist to keep things in balance in the body. Testosterone makes you more logical, linear, rational, and more goal oriented. In societies, it's testosterone that keeps an eye out for threats, dangers and free loaders, those who would take up resources while returning nothing to the community. So oxytocin and testosterone. They are both required in a healthy person and a healthy society or culture. The reason we need the protectiveness of testosterone is that not everyone has a healthy regulation of oxytocin. Both biological diversity and abuse results in some people who have little to no oxytocin (or poor regulation). This misregulation of oxytocin has been linked to conditions as diverse as autism and sociopathy. Needless to say, if your oxytocin never gets released it becomes harder to see the point of being loving. There may be rational reason to get along, but there is no compelling biology that would require it of those with poor oxytocin regulation. And without the biological imperative of oxytocin to be loving, we are decidedly self-centered, short sighted and egotistical. Without oxytocin, our testosterone would cause us to be more fear-based in our decisions, or at best, coldly analytical. The testosterone that gets released when we argue makes us less trusting, more closed minded. The oxytocin that gets released when we reach out to lovingly understand and forgive makes us more trusting and allows us to see world views we didn't know existed..." source: Quora IF there is a causal connection between the increase of testosterone and female fighter training (or selection by population) and there is a bonded antagonism between testosterone and oxytocin, then it would be really important to make sure that there is care taken to keep oxytocin levels in check. Yeah, I know, it sounds stupid. More hugs, more "Great job!'s", more "You're a part of our team!"s, but it may very well be the case that there is a chemical deficit is that is created through training and the ambition of fighting. A coach or a team designing training of female fighters would need to purposively attend to this chemical reality. Further, female athletes themselves, aside from just generally putting themselves in the "best" or most positive training environments, should probably attend to this hormonal balance in concrete, specific ways. Acknowledge that yes, you are in a regime ostensibly designed to increase testosterone, but this may very well put you in an oxytocin deficit. This means taking active measures to stimulate oxytocin, either outside the gym, or in training itself. Don't be passive to your own states. Your training contexts might not be feeding you the right mix, but you can actively work to caretake. Small things like systematically giving compliments to others, helping instruct others (when it is desired), building team chemistry between partners, could effect your own oxytocin levels. This is the really profound thing. A lot of the time we can address issues like this at the emotional layer of our "character". If we are not motivated, it's our character that has to change. If we are not feeling positive its our character we have to change. The benefit of changing the layer at which we think of these problems to the hormonal level is that we can think of something like oxytocin suppression much in the way we think of dehydration. To stay motivated and positively focused oxytocin levels needs to be in a certain range, just as we need water to be in a certain range. Really strenuous, aggressive training will dehydrate you. It may also leave you in oxytocin deficit. As to men, I really don't know. I think studies in these areas are pretty sporadic. I do know that hyper-aggressive training contexts like military bootcamp and wartime engagement are also structurally linked to socializing bonds that end up cementing relationships between men in a very deep way. This goes for team sports as well. So in men there may very well also be an important testosterone/oxytocin balance that is culturally addressed in the very nature of male bonding and training. Men get very aggressive, but then can be glued together through rites, practices and mores. Culture finds a way to set the hormones right in traditional forms, that's how traditions last and are propagated. But what is particular to female fighters is that they are in nearly all instances, almost by definition, "outside" of the masculine coded space, they are almost structurally determined to find themselves in oxytocin deficit, in a generalized way. The rise in testosterone may make oxytocin more difficult to regulate. They cannot as easily avail themselves of powerful forms of bonding, at least not as readily as men may be able to. They may find themselves on a testosterone train without balance. This may in fact account for the powerful romantic (and near romantic) attachments women sometimes form with the instructors who train them (not to say that they are un-real, but romance does provide an oxytocin spike in environments where it may be suppressed). And, it may account for the very significant successes some gym have when women are specifically nurtured, and team is really emphasized. I wrote about this from a very different angle in my guest post: The Female Fighter and the Chain of Shame I hadn't thought about it at the time, but perhaps oxytocin (and testosterone) have a role in that theoretical construct.

Oxytocin Is Also At Play In Intensifying Traumatic Memories It isn't just the love hormone, it appears to also be involved in creating powerful stamps of trauma that are experienced on the social level. This article refers to the connection. "...For this study on the link between oxytocin and fear-based memories, the researchers used region-specific manipulations of the mouse oxytocin receptor (Oxtr) gene (Oxtr). The scientists were able to identify the lateral septum as the brain region mediating fear-enhancing effects of Oxtr. The research shows that one function of oxytocin is to strengthen social memory in this specific region of the brain. If an experience is painful or distressing, oxytocin will activate the lateral septum and intensify the negative memory..." The author proposes using the social-bonding powers of oxytocin to unwork and re-weave the powerful traumatic connections made by the first memory. These are related article by the same author: "The Neurobiology of the "Love Hormone" Revealed" "Holding a Grudge Produces Cortisol and Reduces Oxytocin" "The "Love Hormone" Drives Human Urge for Social Connection" "Cortisol: Why "The Stress Hormone" Is Public Enemy No. 1" "Optimism Stabilizes Cortisol and Lowers Stress" "The Neurobiology of Grace Under Pressure" "Mindfulness: The Power of "Thinking About Your Thinking" "The Neuroscientists Discover the Roots of "Fear-Evoked Freezing"" "Optogenetics Allows Neuroscientists to Turn Fear Off and On" "Decoding the Neuroscience of Fear and Fearlessness" "The Neuroscience of Forming New Memories" "The Neuroscience of Recalling Old Memories" "Returning to an Unchanged Place Reveals How You Have Changed" Oxytocin study that suggests it can delay fear extinction.

And then there is a 3rd (prospectively) Cortisol, the stress hormone, is a 3rd player in this dynamic. It is reported also to be a natural antagonist of testosterone AND oxytocin. We hear a lot about cortisol, stress and overtraining. Think about what is happening to oxytocin when testosterone surges. A female fighter in training may begin to lack oxytocin-type experiences of connection. Stress levels increase due to natural workload fatigue (inflammation) but also perhaps because of social alienation, cortisol shoots up creating further detachment, suppressing oxytocin further. No longer is it testosterone which maybe forcing oxytocin down, it is cortisol.

Losing Harder On Women Than Men? Here is an interesting study that suggests that women losing to other women in competition actually increases testosterone. Speaking very widely under the assumptions of the above post, this might suggest that losing maybe even harder for women to experience than men. If testosterone becomes elevated when a female fighter loses, so might oxytocin become suppressed, which means feeling less bonded to the social group. Losing could create something of a runaway train effect at the hormonal level for women. You might come back to the gym, train even harder, raise your testosterone even higher, and push your oxytocin levels lower, and feel even more disconnected and ostracized from the group.