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It's like clinching, some gyms you do it at the start of training but most of them do it at the end, right? My gym we do it at the start, which is cool and everything. The upsides are evident. But kinda prefer doing it at the end, after pads, after bag work etc, when you're damn well exhausted. Because that's how it will be in the fight, clinching when you already tired. Which one helps you learn more, when fresh or when tired? Honestly don't know. Feels pretty much same same personally. Just prefer clinching when tired - also the body feels more loose and supple.

I think this is more a rule of thumb thing than a fact. Learning new things while fatigued might help. When you tired you also expose your weaknesses. Fifth round on pads will tell you more about yourself than first round. I think you can create systems for better learning, but I don't think there are any bulletproof ways that will always work. I don't believe physical movements can be taught by over-intellectualizing them which I see a lot of in this forum. You want fluidity? Stop thinking go dancing.

One of the best inexpensive options would be Rambaa's gym in Pattaya. He runs his gym on a tight budget, full of kids, so any western monthly payment surely would help. He has incredible spirit, teaching a beautiful, dynamic Muay Thai, he gives great pad work, and you feel like you are part of a real gym. But, there isn't a lot of western fighter focus. The last day we visited there were a few French fighters who were training with each other, and seemed to be living across from the gym in cheap rooms. It's kind of wild, wild west. I suggest taking the bus out to Pattaya and visiting the set up, and seeing if it suits you. Westerners have come and gone through the gym. Some staying for a long while, some just find it isn't their cup of tea. But during the downturn it might be a great thing to try. There are lots of smaller gyms in Pattaya you could turn to if it didn't work out. You could also try Petchrungruang which is kind of a 50/50 gym, friendly to westerners while still being part of the family style aesthetic.

Since the start of this year I have been practicing Myanmar traditional boxing after two years of training muay thai in Thailand. These are similar, but also very different sports. For example, this sport focuses much more on hands and most trainers would correct my punches, making them more straight, hence enhance knuckle power (you fight bare-knuckled). I've recently have had the pleasure to train with an older very knowledgeable teacher who has operated his gym since 1982. He is in general very interested in most martial arts and has a lot of respect for muay thai as well. And the first thing he said when he saw my punches was that they were typical muay thai punches with the elbows slightly bent. The thing is,, yes! I have seen it plenty of times, muay thai fighters on pads with slightly bent arms. But I've never had a muay thai teacher telling me to have my arms bent. They have always focused on getting my arms straight and punches more powerful. So I am just wondering, where this is coming from?

It's something I have to train out of people often. I see a lot of people doing it, and there is an idea amongst some coaches that the flared elbows are some how to make kicks easier to catch. For me though, if it does/doesn't make it easier to catch a kick, I would still rather my fighter hit them while they're on one leg as opposed to catch. And you don't NEED those flared elbows to be able to catch a kick, but you do need a tighter stance in order to have quicker more powerful punches. So if I have someone that flares their elbows a lot, I will try getting their arms in tighter (but not so tight that they'll be kicked in the arms all day). Ideally so they can not only go on offence, but use a cross guard and mummy guard easier too! But that's also a part of my relationship with a fighter I train, I'd advise you NOT to do it personally, but at the end of the day you're not working with me, and for sake of argument your coach might have a plan or style that values things I don't.

Here is Sylvie using a wall to build that straight ahead, in the frame feeling. Not only on straights and cross, but elbows and hooks:

That's to bad you don't train that much, it's fun lol. I get it though, Sylvie's lucky she's got you, I think you help her in her growth just as much as some of these krus. In some kind of weird way your perspective lends itself to her development. Don't know if that makes sense, but I think it sounds good lol.

I had a crossfit coach once who told me to work on gymnastics technique when I am tired. Easier to get it right because the body is exhausted and will naturally use the best technique for the movement to waste as little energy as possible. And you are too tired to overthink stuff.

I've heard his theories, the one you mention, and his "you should never get sore in working out" idea. I think he, though praised endlessly in western internet media, is (intelligently) full of it. He's all about making the "coach" the fulcrum of training, and also in building up a gym's clientele. In my mind his business model has seriously shaped his "theory". It certainly is quite opposed to many things in Thailand's traditional Muay Thai.

I'm finally going to start playing in clinch with one person at my gym (limiting it due to covid), but he is quite a bit bigger than me (and it seems like 70% of the fighters here are heavyweight). I've had every coach at my previous gym, and the coach here tell me that taller fighters are favored in clinch. I think of Sylvie's success in knee fighting and my experience in clinch with taller people before covid, and wonder if this sentiment is true. Being tall in muay thai definitely seems like an advantage, but I'm not sure if it's exaggerated during clinch. What are your thoughts on this? What advantages do taller fighters have in clinch? Are there advantages to being smaller in clinch? Do you have any advice for being the shorter/smaller partner in clinch? I understand the only way to improve is to just get hours in, so I'm very excited to finally have a partner I can responsibly train with. Thank you for your time.

Angles and leverage definitely favor the tall in clinch. That said, as a shorter fighter if you can get a taller fighter down to your angles and height - breaking theor posture and destroying their leverage - the advantage is huge. Tall fighters are also more susceptible to trips, as the center of gravity is higher. The lower base of short fighters makes us harder to off-balance.

Moderation. Small doses of quality alcohol are good for health. During the lockdown, I started making cocktails at home, mostly non-alcohol, but sometimes I added a bit of polish potato vodka. As for the smoking, I'm strongly against it.

If you're considerably taller, double underhooks become lethal, knees take way less effort to get to the face etc. that's a very big part of Dieselnoi's success, tho he was a great fighter by any metric, his freakish physical advantages made him exceptionally lethal. AFAIK only Vicharnoi was able to overcome him If you're just slightly taller, I think while there are advantages they're not huge - but when you're WAY taller... ooh boy. Those huge physical advantages + a knowledge of how to use them, usually makes for an exceptionally dominant athlete. Dieselnoi, Semmy Schilt, Wladimir Klitschko, even outside of combat sports, Michael Phelps.

I'm not tall so I'm not the person to ask for advice on being the tall person, but as a shorter guy and one who has a bjj background, I really love double under hooks. There's this sweep where you have your lock around the opponents hips and you just bulldoze your forehead into their chest (don't know the name of the sweep) but it's awesome. I'm sure there's some pitfalls in muay thai to this but so far its worked like a dream. If the opponent tries to elbow or hit me i just shrug my shoulders and really bury myself in their chest. The toughest thing about this is sometimes it's really hard to basically bulldoze them down so typically they shoot their hips back and it just sets up a great knee to the body, and then after that they tend to push their hips forward in response so they don't get kneed again in which case i go right back into trying to bulldoze them down only this time they're usually a bit weaker and easier to break down. I can't remember the private but someone shows this in the muay thai library. Another thing i was going to mention is because I'm short i basically just end up in this double under hook position usually my opponent can easily get the "plum" position. So i would think this type of clinch position would be good for big guys. Since I can kind of anticipate my opponent going to this position I've started looking into a lot of escape stuff and counters to this, which is awesome because it gives me this clear cut thing that I have to work on. So if I can get good at countering and defending the "plum" and chaining this with my under hook game then i think my game will really flourish (my A game anyway). It took me a long time to realize this but the best people are the ones who can chain things together in such a way that they can almost predict your response and from there they give you less and less options until your out of options and in the case of bjj you get choked out and in the case of muay thai you get knocked out or battered or thrown lol hope that helps somewhat

Here is Sylvie's vlog on 3.0:

I hardly train at all right now, but I just love my Thaismai Gecko gloves. Everytime I see them, or even think of them, they make me happy.