Kero Tide

Oh, I should've worded myself a bit different. These kind of coaches makes me scared but i was saying it as a matter of fact. Like saying that ice-cream is really really cold, but I'm still enjoying it a lot. It's not something that bothers me in retrospect. I like sparring with scary, hulk-like coaches too sometimes. I like having to battle with my own instinctive urge to flee away from danger. I find it fun in its own way. And I know I need all kinds of sparring situations/challenges to progress. But they do seem oblivious of how exactly heavy they are and the amount of damage they can do by just "brushing" someone's leg. It's definitely not to everyone's liking and I'm not sure how well they adapt their behavior to fit each student's need. You don't say hahaha.

I like "hard" sparring better. Not because it's a more valuable tool - I think Sylvie pretty much nailed the qualities of all the training tools in her post. It's just a matter a taste. I usually have more fun when my partner and I sparr "hard"; but only if we don't take ourselves seriously. When there's too much ego involved, it's annoying as hell (asshole factor). On the other end when people whine about every single little bits of pain, it's also very annoying. Some of my trainers actually abide by that rule. Pretty unfair.

When I first started Muay Thai I thought knees were the coolest weapons and I wanted to make it my favorite limbs to hurt people with. I still love them a lot but they haven't become my favorite. As I progressed I came to love teep way more. And elbows! Those two are currently my favorite weapons. I use teep first as a way of saying: "do keep your distance and stay way over there I love my personal thank you" - but then of course they eventually end up in my personal space which is actually what I really wanted in a the first place, and I get excited like: "Ohh cool. Let me now introduce you to my elbows." It's all fun.

The main coach with whom I've been sparring most of the time is also a close friend now so I don't feel anxious about performance. Well actually, I've never really felt anxious about performance with him at all - luckily. He's smaller and lighter than I am which takes away some of the fear - he can still be really overwhelming if he wants to. He controls himself super well. He's great fun to spar with. Unfortunately for him, our sparring often gets an abrupt end because I hit him in the crotch by mistake. And he often forgets his protection. Tough luck. Hahaha. All the other coaches I've had in France have all been bigger and heavier than me and didn't control themselves so well. I don't mind the pain, but it makes me very scared and very tense nonetheless when I'm sparring a giant coach with heavy legs and punches. While I'm basically a punchingball when I sparr my French coaches, one thing I got going for me (the only thing really) is that they usually tire before me. One of them once told me, after only ten minutes of clinching: "ok enough, that's plenty of clinch". Wait, what?

This reminds me of Krav Maga. It's a "self defense" kinda thing. I don't think there are any Krav Maga competitions (yet...). It's very trendy in France. I despise this IDF-made trash with a passion. It enrages me - for all kinds of reasons. But the core of it is that it has no soul, no culture, no profound history. It's a rotten spew of stolen arts. And I'll go as far as to say the only purpose of Krav Maga is to be a tool for more deceit and theft. So the more I learn about kickboxing, the harder I find it to appreciate that sport at all, because I see it as something that is vacant and soulless, and made of stolen pieces by insecure, self-centered, disrespectful people. By colonisers basically. It's like a croissant bought from a big supermarket: almost only filled with air. That said, it wouldn't be useful to simply dismiss and hate something. It is necessary to remain curious and learn as much as possible about even the things you don't like. If only to help demystify it and put it back in its proper place. After starting Muay Thai, for a looong while I've just been kinda like "bleh this is ugly and it sucks" when looking at kickboxing - without going further. Not knowing its Japanese origins and all. Thinking it was just yet another attempt from us Europeans to dumb down something (here Muay Thai) so we could pretend we're not as mediocre as we actually are - and get some unearned "glory" and gold. Kinda the same way we so believe we're really enhancing food by simply adding salt and pepper. We've been stealing all the spices in the world for hundreds of years now and yet we still have no fucking clue on what to do with them. The ridicule of this always makes me chuckle a little - haha. Anyway. I've been loving all your thoughts about Kickboxing. Thanks a ton for bringing awareness to its history.

I've only been doing Muay Thai for three years (that's for my experience level). Seeing kids fighting with or without gear doesn't put me off - even if it looks like hard sparring and setting is odd, etc. I don't know the context of the video and I don't understand what the person filming is saying. I'm wondering what is the purpose of putting this video on the internet. I'm way more wary about kids simply being exposed out there, than about the fighting itself. I don't mind the fighting. As a matter of fact, the very first thought that crossed my mind watching this video was: "why the hell are they keeping their shoes on?"

It seems to be working exactly the same on mobile. It even tells how long ago the quote was said. Pretty cool feature.

I've stopped thinking there's any such thing as being too old to do anything. Not out of my own experience obviously as I'm still only 28. But I keep seeing and hearing of people doing all kinds of incredible things at all kinds of ages. Here's Kru Rengrad (red short) one of my coach when I was at Lamnammoon's Muay Thai gym taking a fight in his 50s and smashing it (I don't remember exactly the date of that fight but it wasn't long ago): Also the oldest marathoner is, as far as we know, a man called Fauja Singh from East London who ran his last race at 101yo back in 2013 - and it appears that he didn't start young. (https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-21565970/oldest-marathon-runner-fauja-singh-s-final-race) I see no reason why you wouldn't shine.

When I was Thailand there was almost always Thai music put on during training at the gym. Usually the same CD over and over again - but also some pop music when the kids synched their phone with the speaker and put their playlist on. It's Lamnammoon Muay Thai Gym in Isaan so possibly a lot of morlam style on the CDs. Now the only song that stayed with me up until now is this rap song that made the buzz on the internet while I was there - a worldwide kind of buzz I think, not just in Thailand. One of the Thai boys at Lamnammoon's actually put it on that one time at the end of a morning session. Heavy political song. I don't know the real impact it had in the country and couldn't speak to the Thais about it because I don't speak Thai - even if I did I'm not sure I would've dared lol. There's English subtitles to the clip so we can get a little what's going on. Apart from being moved by this kind of message, I just really like the beat and the flow of their voices. After hearing that song I looked up some other Thai rap songs - I didn't really go deep in my research at all. The most famous rapper in Thailand seems to be "Rapper Terry" (his YouTube account has millions of subscribers). I like this song of his he did featuring another rapper called Chee Genozide. No idea what's being said though.