Mike Lebek

Thanks for your input - its just a choice lol. I want them made of different material.

Hey Guys, I am in search of some muay thai shorts that were made out of something other than the standard materials. I train in colder facilities lol so i get cold and was thinking shorts could be warmer lol my kru wants us to wear shorts when its cold so i was thinking i could pick up a pair of thick shorts. Since I have been searchign I have found nothing. Do any of you know where I could find shorts made of cotton or GI material or get this custom made? OR, do any of you know where to get the stitch pattern for some shorts - then I could try and make them myself. Thanks!!

So, update - I went to LA and checked out the Unbreakable Performance Centre. Its held a higher price tag! But I was able to train with a top tier athlete!

I would get some elbow and knee pads, our gym uses them for sparring when knees and elbows are involved. Just make sure you both know to expect some elbows in sparring. MMA Warehouse has em, or just search online for them. Also,shadow boxing with the elbows would help.

I would try to practice your fundamental strikes, and a couple combos on a punching/heavy bag. Hopefully there is some gym in the city that you can have access to one. Maybe a second hand online community in the city you are in would have some second hand punching bags. If not, then I would hit up any martial arts that will increase your hip flexibilty and keep up your cardio. There is a benefit to try other martial arts :)

Good to hear! it feels like ive tried all the gyms in my city lol after a while I finally found one that I like. maybe it takes the not so good ones to realize the good ones.

What do you think of elite mma in LA at Bas Ruttens gym, I am going to LA for a vacay for 4 days and want to train in a cool facility but I just train MT. He is a legend and seems pretty awesome so thats why. Is there another place that does private sessions or has some legendary people. (i was also thinking of freddy roach gym, but I feel like I would just wanna throw some kicks there lol)

What gym is this in LA? this actually sounds really good. I paid 785 CAD in Calgary for 6 months up front, I cant handle the monthly payments its annoying lol.

yup for me, I have to wait a year until I can do sparring or fighting. So until then I will be hitting pads. Recovery is going well, and no glasses are amazing. I haven't been practising mt for just over a month now but am planning to get back into a new gym in 2 days. Pretty excited about it, and hope it goes well. I had the same vision as you, basically blind, and I would just hold off until you get back if your planning to fight. It definitely sucks to take the break and then even training will be scary for myself lol cuz im very cautious now. but next year itll be wicked awesome. let me know if you have some more questions!

Hey Guys, So i am on day 6 out of eye surgery. This is incredible, from going -8 per eye to perfect vision is a miracle guys. The procedure was super uncomfortable for me, there were a group of us doing the procedure one after the other (about 5 i think). Three people went ahead of me, and I think one person got light headed and had to rest up after, the two girls after him were fine. Looks like girls are the tougher ones for sure, cuz when I completed my procedure I had to lay down for a while. lol. Post surgery is amazing, and the surgery itself is not to bad I guess, it was fast, I just didnt like it. Others in my group I heard say it was a cool experience. There are 5 days after surgery where you need to put eye drops throughout the day, and my eyes are getting dry pretty easily. Things are still blurry and I am still nervous about getting my eyes touched. I spoke to the surgeon about training, and he said I can do padwork and hit the heavy bag about 4 weeks out. so October 5th will be when I will be going back to the gym, I feel empty without training lol. But I can SEEE :smile: so thats okay. I picked up a pair of safety goggles in case a leg or fist come at my head, I cant spar until 6 months with eye protection, then a year without it. So pads and bag work basically till then. Let me know if you have any questions on post-op, happy to share my experience with you guys.

Hey Mish, I would come into the workout with a structured layout of what combos or techniques you would like to have done that day. This way you arent thinking about what to do next and trying to figure out how to teach and what to teach. I found its easier to go into the workout with a structure, for example. Start with a simple warm up, try doing 3 sets of these 3 exercises for one minute each. Warm Up Warm up 1 - Jumping Jacks Warm up 2 - Continuous Squats Warm up 3 - Crunches (or push-ups you can choose depending how you feel that day) Do the workout and technique with the same intensity or higher as the warm-up. You want to keep up your heart rate and have fun as well. So if you want to focus on punches then go through how to jab, cross, hook, etc. then implement them into a work out. Try something like this to keep intensity high and also to push you and your partner. Each for the exercises with the techniques hold the pad for each other. So both of you do the exercises that don't need the pads, then once you both reach the technique round - you hold pads for your partner then once they are done you hit pads, then you both do the next. Let me know if this works for you, I would be happy to share some more workouts I have put together that keep the heart rate up. HAVE FUN! excercise one 100 alternating hops - hop up with your feet in the stance and alternate the footing as you land. ​ excercise two 10 left teep + cross combinations ​ excercise three 25 close grip pushups ​ excercise four 100 jab-cross combinations excercise five 50 alternating roundhouses (left, then right) ​ excercise six 20 alternating teeps - take these slow and make sure you get the right technique ​ excercise seven 10 jab + cross + right knee combinations ​ excercise eight 45 mountain climbers - jump as high as you can, push off the floor with your toes. ​ excercise nine 40 crunches ​ excercise ten 60 navy seals - the slower the better and harder, keep chin on chest. ​ excercise eleven 10 jab + cross + Hook +right roundhouse combinations

I made up this drill to practice a couple combos, I call it the 7 Down Drill. You start by doing 7 rounds of 4 combinations or techniques then moving down to 6, all the way to none. 1. Jab, Cross, Lead Hook, Rear Roundhouse (7 times for the first round) 2. Right Roundhouse (7 for the first round) 3. Alternating Knees (7 each side) 4. Jab, Cross, Double Left Roundhouse (7 times for the first round)

Hey guys! thanks for the tips. I decided to go for the surgery!! :woot: :woot: I have it scheduled for tomorrow and that means I am out of the gym for intense training for a month. In between that I can do some light weights and runs, stuff like that. Im pretty excitied about it, talk to you in a few days. Mike

Sparred a few times where my contact lens came flying out and I had to stop the session. This gets kind of annoying. and I never competed yet, but heard you cannot wear your lenses. I cant see at all without glasses, I have -8 and so I am trying to decide if I am going to get laser eye surgery. I have a consultation in a few days. I was wondering, and hoping some of you have had some experience with this surgery. If so how was it? How long do you have to wait until you can go into pad holding, or hitting the bag. I think its 6 months for sparring, but not to sure. If any of you has had this I would like your input. Thanks guys!

Hey thanks for the info! I will give the 20-20-20 a shot.

Just trying to put together some drills for my training, some that I can use with either a partner on Thai Pads or on the Heavy Bag. For example: Pyramid Drill for kicks - left round once, right round once, left round twice, right round twice, etc, etc, all the way to 10 and back down What other drills do you guys like to do? For any technique. Thanks guys !

Thanks for the input - appreciate it! So I just signed up for a six month membership to a muay thai club in town. and in 6 months I will re-evaluate, who knows maybe ill see you in thailand! Looking forward to becoming more involved in your forum! Mike

Hello - I am from Canada, been practicing muay thai on and off for about 4 years. I am currently looking for a new club back home, but I think I found my spot :) Trying to put together some good drills I can practice on my own. Looking forward to talking to you all! Mike

Home of the laid off workers now, Calgary Alberta Canada - once the heart of oil country now boasts in lay offs throughout all the province. There arent a lot of options for work. Got a lay off and will no longer be working my boring ass 9-5 office job, a blessing but also tough since where else do I make my money. I have a little but of money to pay for some muay thai for 6 months (800 bones is what its going for, this is standard here). so 6 months of 4 days a week muay thai, or thailand training campy for 3 weeks. I registered for a course at the university and that will take up the semester, right now - I could potentially postpone this since there arent many jobs anyways, but maybe its useful for making a living online, I am pretty intuitive with design and website building and just need some clients I guess to do some work for - I want to do it for free to start out. Sorry just went on about randomness.... So Thailand or home gym? has anyone had to face a layoff and then just packup and go? I have been to thailand and tried to train at horizon camp in kho phagan - but it was shut down! I want to train on an island and not in a city, I am tired of the city. I feel like Phuket is where I want to go, I havent fought competitively but i would say im intermediate to advanced depending on the gym. I guess I need some sort of guidance here. Thanks guys! Mike