LengLeng

Awesome thanks for clarification both to you and Kevin.

As explained in earlier posts I study lethwei and through this experience I also get a deeper understanding of muay thai. Anyhow, I recently learned an interesting clinch technique where you - while holding each other controlling body etc - pull out your leg like a teep and bend your leg and hit your opponent's back thigh/back of knee with heel of foot. It's very effective and hurts a lot. Would anybody know if this is something done in muay thai?

We've had a discussion on this topic before I believe and since head injuries are the only thing worrying me I pay extra attention. I have the same understanding as you.... It's simply a lack of knowledge. But at the same time there are countless times I'm surprised by how much people in martial arts gyms in this region know about the body and injuries so it's hard for me to know when to listen and when not to. Thanks for the input.

He's got the money but listens to his teacher who gave him some traditional medicine and told him he was fine. But I agree and I told him a doc visit wouldn't hurt.

What an absolute bs reply!! You obviously have no clue about the extra barriers coming with being a foreign woman training in Thailand. Recommendations from other women is key and it's great that she asks, especially since gyms change from year to year. There are also several of cases of sexual violence happening at gyms in Thailand. This is not exactly something that will come up on google. Luckily there's a community, like this one, where women can come together and advise each other.

I recently adopted a Myanmar stray kitten . What I find so amazing is that I now throughout the day take short pauses to play or cuddle and I find it so great for my general well-being. I had no idea about the benefits of their purring. I will look into it. My kitten lost her mum very early so since I got her she has been suckling on my neck. It's so cute.

I have a friend, Burmese, who is training for his first Lethwei fight. He's done kyokushin karate matches before and a street boxing match against a very easy opponent. His fight will be what they call semi-professional lethwei, 5 rounds 3 minutes, all weapons allowed including headbutts but instead of no gloves they'll wear MMA gloves. KO or draw. About a week before his fight he did sparring and my teacher, who I know to be very very controlled and can go hard without causing damage, kicked him in the head. My teacher is 63 kg and around 175cm tall and my friend 185cm and 78kg and will fight open weight (possibly against a muscular tall 100kg dude). My friend told me the kick hurt extremely much and he almost lost consciousness. I wasn't there to see it but my teacher, who of course apologized, said he didn't use any force. And the rest of the gym pretty much laughed and said it wasn't a big deal. The thing is I saw a photo of my friend's face and he had like a dent in his cheekbone from the kick. He also said he had a lot of pain and felt dizzy for two days. But his teachers and gym mates tell him to stop making a deal about it, if he wants to fight he needs to be able to take some pain. I dont really know how tough this guy is. But he's done heavy hard sparring before. And I know my teacher's body is incredibly hard (they don't kick banana trees in Myanmar, they kick, elbow and headbutt coconuts open) but he is a controlled person so there's the possibility of my friend being sensitive. But to me this situation sounds absolutely reckless, especially so short before what will be a very tough fight. And I suspect due to a lack of knowledge about head injuries they ignore his worry. I know this is not directly related to muay thai but I'm asking from the perspective of general safety and fighting. I believe everyone should respect martial art traditions and listen to your teacher. But at the same time your own safety has to be your responsibility and priority.

You mean the laxative thingy? I didn't know it had anything to do with staph. I was told is to get the stress hormones out or something (never tried it). I have a shingles (herpes zoster) related question as I remember you've written you had it a couple of times. I had it 2 years ago and when I said the Thai name to my trainers they all knew exactly what it was and took it pretty seriously. Whereas people in general don't really know it too well. Any reason it's common in Muay Thai gyms other than the training is taxing on the immune system? I got it real real bad as I went to doc too late. An old Swedish word for it is hellfire which is exactly how it felt. I also had the post-shingles nerve pain for months which was treated with high-dose vit B (I think B6, 12 and maybe B3?). A former colleague who wasn't happy I needed to take some days off work insisted it's probably because of my "dirty boxing gym". Whereas doc told me it's stress that activates the checkenpox virus. Any idéa?

I'm experiencing the second lock down of the year and haven't seen a gym since July. I'm training w a friend/trainer outside. Doing what we can, borrowing pads from friends hook then on to trees to emulate a boxing bags. I'm dealing with an injury so I'm studying physiotherapy and took up yoga again. I'm reading books that will help me train better(currently the Oxygen Avantage). I'm doing 75Hard to increase my mental strength (just Google 75hard and Andy Frisella if you interested). I adopted a stray kitten. I'm reaching out to strangers on social media asking for advice or sparring opportunities. Grow through this instead of falling into the trap of paralyzing self-pity.

Hi! Since I gathered a lot of expeirence getting injured and sick while training, I thought I would start a new topic, namely: gym/trainer advice received on how to care for injuries or ailments. I will start with a couple of things I have been told and their origin. Swollen, painful knuckles: massage with hot water and salt (western boxing coach, Sweden) Ligament or muscle issues: Ice bath with salt. Eat potatoes and ocra/lady fingers. (lethwei trainer, Myanmar) Any kind of muscle pain: warm water massage (basically all muay thai trainers, Thailand) Cough: gurgle with warm salt water (muay thai trainer, Thailand) Shin dents: gentle warm water massage downward motion (muay thai trainers, Thailand) Prevent skin rashes of any kind: rinse water directly after training then apply baby powder (muay thai trainer, Thailand) Pink eye: stay away, absolutely no clinching, hot water compress (muay thai trainers, Thailand)

During our current lockdown I discovered I live very close to a trainer from my gym and we have been training outside waiting for gyms to open. He had the exact same thing to say about my chicken arm as described above. He had an interesting drill though to fix it. Or you guys might know it, I've never seen it before We stood opposite each other and with straight jabs and punches, punched each others gloves. And we stood shorter apart than arms length distance so I would have to "strike through" his glove. We did a couple of minutes if 12, 12, 112, 1hook2 etc. It was really uncomfortable but pretty effective ensuring arm hit straight into the target since the target was literally not bigger than a glove and with bent arm I would have hit the side of the glove.

sorry I have only trained in Bangkok as I used to live and work in the city. Bangkok is a wonderful city but not great if you dont have any fight experience as there are not many fight opportunities other than Asiatique. The north is great for women apparently with plenty fight options. Some people like Phuket. The women section on this forum has some threads on good gyms for women. and discussions on sexual assault and the legal system which you should be mindful of.

I haven't been myself but I heard Sitjaopo is really great. And their students do get to fight, men and women. Hua Hin has a couple of places where they organize fights., so it would not be that difficult once covid is gone.

I would definitely try a few sessions at a gym first before you decide. And it is not seen as weird in any way. Gyms change a lot and especially now during the pandemic, some gyms are having fewer trainers and other students. If you are a woman and you want to fight, the north is probably better. In Bangkok it is very difficult to get a fight as a woman with limited fight experience. And of course now it might be difficult to fight at all. It seems like Thailand is slowly opening up for tourists on this so-called special tourist visa (STV), but this also includes hotel quarantine and there is still some confusion on which countries will be eligible. One thing to be mindful of is a potential second wave. I am in Myanmar and we had 300 cases up to mid-August when it started spreading again, most likely coming from India. This virus strain made its way to Yangon and despite a very strict lockdown, it keeps spreading with about 1000 new cases per day (currently at almost 18,000 positive cases). They do think the virus might reach the Thai border soon (not that far from Chang Mai).

I really enjoy this discussion. Funny how these ideas circulate. In lethwei catching kicks would make sense since you can only win by KO. But muay thai, yes it's a ridiculous idea punches like these would make catching kicks easier. I almost laughed when my teacher told me this but seems like it's a thing people actually believe.

Yes you definitely see a bent punch faster than a straight one. I had Vero Nika (she fought against Sawsing last year) try to teach me straight punches. She has the most beautiful straight powerful punches. I'm gonna try the wall thing, great tip.

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.

Yesh it sounds about right. Such a weird thing that from the outside it's a muay thai thing when it's well not really. My teacher said something about it's good for catching kicks fast . Anyhow very difficult for me to unlearn.

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.

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?

This is really interesting. What about the overhand punch, is it basically a hook?

For me it was when someone told me the best advice he ever got was to simply stay on your feet when your partner tries to trip or sweep you in the clinch. I realized there's this moment of giving up like "damn he got me" before tripping/falling and you can actually choose not to give up and stay upright. It was a complete game-changer for me. Suddenly the boys had to work hard when trying to sweep me because I wasn't "helping" them.

It's great to have such s resolve. For now better wait and see what happens with the country and covid. It might take a bit until the country opens up. But a good advice would be to come as a tourist and visit a few gyms and find your place within a geographical area that suits you (depends on your preferences). Some gyms can help you with a longer-term visa. There's also the opportunity to work as an English teacher for example. However. South-East Asia is mainly closed for now. And there are a lot of mixed messages on when countries will open up for whom and under what conditions.

Exactly my experience as well. And the more I learn, the more interesting it gets. I've given up on getting back to Thailand to fight and considering lethwei fight in Myanmar (scares the shit out of me). But realized I know way too less abt this art and it's technique. Started training at Phoe Taw's gym and getting excellent technique advice. Especially how the "no gloves" and only win by KO affects training style. Way more forward as well messes up my stance. How was your fight experience?

I so agree with this. The preserve the legacy and basically everything Sylvie and Kevin do is a beautiful example of sharing a culture without diluting it or disrespecting it. The trademarking of lethwei is so sad... especially knowing Myanmar culture a bit and extremely friendly and humble Myanmar people are be they Kachin, Bama, Shan, Chin or any other ethnicity.