LengLeng
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Posts posted by LengLeng
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11 hours ago, Boonchu said:
Hey fellas and Sylvie, I wanted to ask you guys about your concussion experiences whether in sparring or in fighting. And particularly Sylvie what have your concussion experiences been like? Are you concerned with them whenever you fight? How long did it take for you to recover from your concussion and return back to training??
there is a thread here where Sylvie and Kevin give a lot of good advice.
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On 6/20/2020 at 12:28 AM, Isaac said:
I want to get back to the genesis of this:
some guy, American not from any Asian background let alone fron Myanmar specifically, registered the name of the sport, Lethwei, for his personal trademark to use, charge for use, and sue others for using. Which would including Burmese and other Lethwei folks.
some one in this thread noted “Muay Thai” is also not yet registered. Awaiting another pillage? Something to do about it? To whom should the names of the sports belong?
I think it's sad and awful that this is happening but it's not a new phenomenon and comes with international trade. When I was in university this was part of my studies and I later worked with this to some extent. I wonder if you could claim Myanmar people have the intellectual property right over lethwei or similar.
@oliver lol at your tears. I believe sometimes the criticism abt CA is relevant but most times it's just stupid. Had people from my own country stress abt whether wearing chitenge (type of textile) they bought in Cape Town is CA. I stressed a bit abt wearing mongkol and doing the ram muay but I asked Thai friends to help me get the blessing right and got someone who's an expert in ram muay teach me properly so I wouldn't disrespect the culture. I hope I didn't. In Myanmar I sometimes wear the htmain (longyi for women) and thanaka (yellow paste on your cheeks that's also good for your skin) and the Myanmar people get so happy and come and tell me how beautiful how I am whenever I do this. But I'm reluctant to post any photos of it as I don't want uneducated Western friends gonna come with lectures.
CA is basically mixing cultures and of it's done respectfully I believe it's awesome and beautiful. And it's pretty much part of human cultural evolution.
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On 6/18/2020 at 10:07 PM, Oliver said:
That's the general public, LengLeng
But what you said, right there, that's it - we almost forget about the 'appropriator' if the people he defrauds are dumb enough, or if he's from the culture of the thing he's 'appropriating'. Which really leaves you wondering if there even is such a thing as cultural appropriation.Not to piss people off or anything, but it's kind of similar with the whole Bruce Lee thing.
But CA is when a culture borrows/steals/appropriate elements from another culture. In this case, well he misappropriated yoga and the culture of which he is a member and used it to con people from another culture. He sort of made the cultural misappropriation happen and made a lot of money while doing it. Something tells me CA is not really the proper term for what's wrong with that whole situation..
But to get on topic. Are all Muay Thai gyms outside Thailand CA? And if yes, it's that a bad thing?
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3 hours ago, Oliver said:
...but...doesn't that make it worse, not better??
i dont know but people were idiots for thinking there's a national championship in yoga in India.
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On 6/16/2020 at 2:39 PM, Oliver said:
Or we needn't even go that far - how about the 'appropriation' that comes from people of the same culture? Bikram Yoga might be the most gross example, guy becomes a cult leader gazillionaire with 10 Bentley by trademarking and franchising yoga poses that he in no way created. In fact, he probably suckered in way more customers than he otherwise would have precisely *because* he was from that culture, so bored white people with wooden beaded necklaces and Venti Skinny Cappuccinos were happy to become acolytes of somebody 'authentic', and even boast about how great their new charlatan master was. Because the unspoken translation of 'how great my teacher is' actually communicates a subtle 'how great I am' for being his student. Total humblebrag. And then the lawsuits started to pile up. And all these idiots respond with "Oh my god, I can't believe he could be such a monster". Like the news talking to the bewildered next door neighbour of a suicide bomber.
Watching just one interview with Bikram gives any sane, reasonably minded individual the chills. Vacant eyeballs, manipulative speech, glaring NPD. The problem isn't 'Cultural Appropriation' - nothing wrong with an Italian restaurant with Mexicans in the kitchen. The problem is with kind of people comprise the general public. The army that self-form and follow the appropriation, even when it's done by bad people with a weak disguise. That's the truly terrifying thing.
Well.... I mean, there's so much other CA going on in yoga. At least, as an Indian colleague told me, Bikram is a true Indian con artist.
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On 6/16/2020 at 6:59 PM, Isaac said:
Apparently was for money. Wanted to make a “baller move,” since his buddy did it with the related martial art from Cambodia. It’s “entrepreneurship.” More like white privilege. So disappointing.
Yeah very disappointing. WLC is run by some powerful Myanmar business people though (of at least one as far as I know)..one of them recently posted on Facebook he wanted to buy a village in Sweden that's for sale. Maybe they two could team up
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I actually worked on something similar years back. It related to the San people of Namibia and their right to their own traditional medicinal knowledge. Many western companies profit on selling devil’s claw and the hoodia plant for various ailments which is based on the Sans's people traditions and knowledge and whether there is a way to protect or patent/trademark indigenous people's knowledge. Basically the companies would have to ask the San people for permission and give them parts of their profits. There's a group of lawyers working on this in SA I believe.
Another case related to Biltong, spicy dried meat from southern parts of Africa that started gaining popularity in Europe. I discovered that a European person had registered the name Biltong as a trademark in the whole of EU and by talking to various EU offices I found out there are some ways to contest it. In this case we didn't move forward as the trademark was about to expire and the holder didn't renew.
But it is a really interesting question. What makes a person want to register a sport based on thousand years of tradition in another country? Only money? And whether that's even legal. It would be interesting to find out. I guess you could ask him?
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On 6/12/2020 at 2:08 AM, Isaac said:
It’s one particular person. Public information—on the USPTO website.
I looked him up did not seem to have any particular connection to Myanmar, rater Thailand and Cambodia. But couldn't it be someone linked to WLC or something as part of the plans of making lethwei more internationally known? There are many scenarios where an American person can hold a trademark but it could still benefit Myanmar people. But I am fully with you regarding your concern about this.
Interestingly enough that the trademark muay thai is up for grabs...
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9 hours ago, DrunkenMaster said:
Hello I’ve been training for a week now Tomorow is my 11th session.( have 1 yr experience training atleast 6x a week in gym + roadwork and conditioning by myself )
in in bkk right now and Everything in my body hurts I went all in again after a couple months of nothing due to corona ...
my hands and hips hurt my power and energy seriously lack compared to the first days should I ease it up or will it improve as I keep striving to do 2 a day training sessions for about 6 more weeks while I’m in bkk ?
Im 23 but feel like crap but I feel guilty not going to the gym because I love it and want to improveI would say train through it and do more for your recovery.
This article is my go to when I feel like Im overtraining: https://8limbsus.com/muay-thai-thailand/myth-overtraining-endurance-physical-mental-muay-thai
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9 hours ago, Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu said:
I've never been injured by my trainers, but I've had this shit-just-got-very-real experience of emotional rise and physical amplification to drive/meet it. It's scary. I'm sorry for your experience of it, but I've also learned from the experience and it's not all mistakes and terror. I don't know the culture where you are now, but in Thailand (where you know the culture) talking about it isn't a thing. There was a kind of acknowledgment of it, a few words to make sure that we both understood what happened, and that was that. Being bashed in the head like that is much worse than I've ever experienced, but learning to control emotion - including someone else's emotion - is part of the whole game, unfortunately... and fortunately. I hope your head is okay and that the relationship in the gym space is manageable.
Thanks a lot Sylvie.
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8 hours ago, AndyMaBobs said:
Don't be too forgiving when it comes to cultural differences though. I think when you get down to it, we're all more similar than we are different and it could just be that he's an asshole -
That's so true!
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On 6/4/2020 at 7:50 PM, AndyMaBobs said:
This is a situation that I think anyone who tries to really comment on is being disingenuous because they weren't there. My gut reaction is 'that's not acceptable from a teacher' but I wasn't there, I didn't see the situation and I'm sure your own memory of it will probably be slightly different from what happened.
The only real advice I can give is to think whether or not you agree with the other coach who said 'he gets like this' and decide whether or not you feel comfortable working with that particular coach. I'm sure even though you're emotional about it right now, that you won't care in a few months. I don't know the culture of Myanmar or Lethwei very well, but I'd suggest talking to the coach and finding it out if you and him are cool - if that is something that's acceptable to do within that culture.
Thank you very much for your advice and it's also comforting having my emotions validated. With the language barrier and me still navigating the culture, I've opted for an acceptance approach. Like I don't understand it, but I'll accept it. It's tough this shit but would it be easy everybody would be doing it. I think you're right about talking to the trainer, hopefully I can create a bond with him so I understand this better.
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On 6/2/2020 at 11:27 PM, Asger said:
Guess I hit a nerve. Good luck with your journey
No it didn't. But if you read your reply to me again you can see you made a lot of assumptions based on my post - without knowing anything about me - which would put me in a position to have to explain and defend myself.
I'm a big believer of talking honestly about feelings. I have a blog and Instagram where I write about my vulnerabilities because it helps me grow to face them. And I have many readers thanking me for sharing weaknesses. This is also why I'm such a big fan of Sylvie, she is very very brave in her documentation of her journey. By exposing herself she helped me tremendously.
Occasionally, there are people using this to put you down. It's ok, I get it, not everybody understands. But I don't enter into discussions when the intent to help does not appear to be there.
Emotions are present in any gym. I've seen so many Thai fighters get angry and tired and upset and I see how the Arjans manage it. Sometimes they just let the boys punch it out on each other, other times they mock them. Martial arts is very much an emotional journey. And I have close relationships with many of my former trainers because of allowing an emotional bond.
...and with my current trainer, we're very close and we get angry at each other all the time. Bickering, laughing, mocking each others or shouting at each other. I'm very grateful for this relationship.
In no way am I ashamed of having one deeply emotional reaction to this particular sparring situation. Of course it feels embarrassing. But I'm interested in exploring my reaction as it will help me, not only for my next fight but also in life in general.
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4 hours ago, Oliver said:
Double vision after a knock down was the weirdest / scariest experience of mine during afternoon sparring. The Ajarn immediately made me sit out for the rest of the rounds. For sure, it's embarrassing and you don't want to look shit in front of everyone.
Feel better.
Thanks man!
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1 hour ago, Asger said:
From what you're describing, you seem to have a hard time controlling how your feelings affect you - losing temper with your trainers to the point that they have to send you to the bag, escalating sparring, sobbing. No shame in crying, but if it's a continuous thing that you cannot control your temper when sparring, this may have been a very stark lesson on exactly that, and it's a fucking important one. If your trainers, who make a living training and sparring you, can't trust that they can do their jobs without you getting angry at them for your own incompetence and taking it out on them, I can see why they would act as he did. This doesn't mean that I condone it, but I think you might want to consider if this is the case and how to proceed from there.
But if your other trainer has mentioned his anger, maybe he's just a small man who enjoys beating others. Maybe it's a bit of both things. Only you can really be the judge of this.
Right. Please feel free to join me for sparring at one of my lethwei gyms in Yangon and we see who gets emotional
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49 minutes ago, Oliver said:
When you say you saw white and fell backwards, like, your vision got screwed up from a heavy headshot? You see flashes? And this was a knockdown?
Maybe get checked up Leng Leng.
I never been KOd but as it has been described to me it's basically "lights out and you wake up on the floor". But white I've seen a couple of times. Never in Thailand where you sometimes get hard sparring and the punches hurt and give you a bit of a shock wave.
This white is is more from getting punched directly in your face. It's only for a fraction of a second but it's like looking into a snow blizzard.
This case I lost my posture dropped my hands while 5-6 punches rained on my face after already having taken some hard blows on my jaw. And when I saw white I just got panicked a bit and disconnected and fell backwards and sparring ended. I don't feel it caused any damage though. It was a bit humiliating but ok.
And thanks yeah, might be good in general to do a check up. As soon as I can get to a country with proper healthcare
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1 hour ago, Oliver said:
Why did he get angry at you though? Did you find out
I don't know...ego issue because I got a lot of punches in and he wanted to put me in my place or I got it wrong and this is his way of teaching. Another trainer told me to not worry, he angry when he spars with him too but he way better so he uses his anger to trick him to make mistakes. When I train with that trainer and I get heated he interrupts the sparring and tells me to kick bag "because you cannot fight when angry you lose easy". From this experience I realize I really need to work on my mental game and not let my emotions weaken me. I'm usually not this sensitive bit the last months, well I feel it affects me. Which I guess is so great with martial arts, you cannot hide from your inner turmoil. It will show.
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13 hours ago, buddhasoup said:
I am in this as I am training to be an official, and not a fighter, but it may be that as you are in BKK, you are receiving what seems to be the Thai approach to training. I watched some months ago the training and the competition for novice farang fighters at Tiger Muay Thai, and many of the khrus were relentless in their beat downs of the competitors seeking a place on the Tiger team. This approach suggested that the khrus are trying to teach/reveal "heart," and trying to determine who has the heart of a fighter by seeing how they respond to being brutalized or emotionally overwhelmed. Many of the great Golden khrus have said that it is not enough to have technique or conditioning; one must have the heart of a true nak muay in order to be successful. So, try to see this khru in that light, and remind yourself that you are on a magnificent path that few will ever realize, and that it is a path that demands heart. I feel that just by asking the question that you asked in your post, you have the heart of a fighter and just keep this determination in your heart as you train going forward.
Hi. I'm not in BKK anymore, I'm in Yangon (forgot to update my profile). I know what you are referring to, I've seen it many times, and this was not the case in my situation. It was a dude losing his temper (which is definitely very un-Thai an un-fighting in general). I don't believe we shall exotify everything that happens in foreign gyms, sometimes people are jerks. In this case I'm not gonna do a big deal about it but I'll probably not sparring with this trainer again as he has an ego issue.
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Earlier this week I was asked if I wanted to spar with a trainer I haven't sparred with before. I haven't really worked with him much but I respect him as a trainer and asks him technique questions when I can. He was also featured in the Lethwei episode of Fight World on Netflix and I sort of respect him as an authority.
He is around my weight, a bit shorter and now not very fit but clearly has his strength and all his movements intact.
It is always weird sparring with a teacher, I don't want to go too hard. But I was cheered on and told to go harder and use more combinations. Clearly he was better (obviously) and he let me feel his punches. I kicked him pretty hard and at one point I didn't hold back but attacked with some punches.
And then he just had a go at me. Let the punches rain on my nose and forehead and my jaw started hurting and I felt overwhelmed. I could feel he got angry and that sort of shocked me. I respect teachers a lot and it's a shitty feeling having a teacher angry at you. And I dropped my guard, I lost my posture and he came at me until I got scared (had a recent head injury and I felt panic and thought that maybe this is really bad for my head I need to stop). It's not like he used 100% power but suddenly it went white, I fell backwards and I started sobbing. He sort of apologized went away. I gathered myself. Went to him apologized and thanked him.
But obviously if felt shitty. The trainer I usually work with took me to another room and practiced my very recently displayed obvious weaknesses with me on the pads while I kept sobbing feeling embarrassed and just tired.
Since then I've been training. And the trainer has not acknowledged that this was any issue at all.
And I don't really know what to make of the situation. On the one hand I feel shitty like I was put in my place. And on the other I just feel this is fighting. Some people be like that. Opportunity to learn and mature emotionally.
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On 5/23/2020 at 10:38 AM, Alexander C. said:
Does anyone have anyone quick healing tips for treating blisters?
I had some 1on1s about 10 days ago on a very rough turf floor, and both big toes and balls of the feet blood blistered extensively
They've been healing but keep retearing each day,
I figure in a month they'll fully callous over, but if theres any way to speed up the process, Im all ears
I have no quick fixes for this but I get a lot of blisters and wounds on the soles of my feet and what I usually do to avoid bacteria and fungal infections is to wear socks and ankle protector to keep socks from coming off. I put antifungal antibacterial creme on at night together with baby powder. I also tell myself the burning pain is a good way to get used to pain.
And it's annoying to train with socks but I tell myself it's a good way to practice balance and a slippery canvas.
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I visited a traditional family style lethwei gym and saw these wooden things. They weigh maybe 1 kilo each, look like wine bottles and you use them to strengthen your wrists as in the video. I've never seen this before and was curious if they are used in muay thai gyms as well? And also curious about other wrist strengthening techniques used.
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On 5/9/2020 at 5:07 PM, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu said:
I'm sure you googled around, but I'm doing so as well for my own interest. Ran into this timeline:
I'm sure this extended averages are tilted by the higher grade concussions, but it is worth thinking about what standard one wants to use for return. How many symptom-free days before returning to the gym? And being ready for symptoms to possibly persist longer than expected.
Thanks for sharing. It is funny, only during the last couple of weeks I started thinking about head injuries and whether I ought to be more careful. My current trainer goes pretty hard and many times, well I am not blacking out, but I just feel that my head is taking hits and it gets affected. And then because I started thinking of it I started noticing that sometimes I forgot small things. Like the name of the condo where I lived two years. Could be because of stress or cognitive bias of course. My best friend used to be one of the best female boxers in Sweden (amateur) and she took part in a study where they investigated whether there is a certain gene that will make some boxers more prone to brain damage than others. I should ask her for the outcome of the study. I remember she was suffering as they did bone marrow tests or something.
Except from headache in the back of the head I feel ok. Staying away from boxing and things that make my head shake or bounce (running, jumping) and instead swimming, bicycle and yoga. I stocked up on Omega 3 and will get into ketosis this week. I will start with a high fat breakfast followed by 24 hour fast and a long bicylce ride to deplete glycogen. It seems to be the fastest way for me to get into ketosis.
I wonder whether sensory deprivation tanks like float tanks would be good for healing? I have tried it once and it was pretty amazing. I should probably care more about trianing my neck as well, lethwei fighters are quite crazy with their neck training and I saw kids doing head stands against a wall after a training for what seemed to last forever. Haven't seen that in Thailand, but it might be common as well.
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45 minutes ago, Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu said:
From Googling about several sources suggest that the benefits may come from the idea that ketone energy requires less chemical steps, than the burning of glucose, some of that making it a favored choice during strain. But yes Alzheimer's too. I imagine also that autophagy, clearing out damaged cells, may also help.
Yes! I really do believe this from my own experience and (uneducated) research.
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Cultural Appropriation
in Open Topics - men and women - General Muay Thai Discussion and News
Posted
I am not saying cultural appropriation is not complicated or an issue or something that keeps happening and harms minority cultures. I am all in on that. But since white people have a tendency to make everything about ourselves, CA has become something we use to police each other forgetting the original issue and what is healthy, respectful mix of cultures. I have such an issue with white people secretly enjoying being top of the food chain and carry their white guilt gladly.
I am really interested though in the the issue of CA and muay thai. I haven't visited many Western gyms (only 1 actually) and in that gym they tried to respect the thainess of it but unfortunately the female trainer said Sawasde-krap instead of Sawasdee-kaa having all the students repeating back (I know women can use male particles but I do not think this was the case here). I do not feel that there is CA happening with muay thai, not the same way as in yoga. It is my experience that everybody rates the thai muay thai highest as the most pure version of it and western gyms just trying to imitate the best way they can. And that thai muay thai trainers and gym owners are well aware of this and use it to their advantage. But I do feel there is a westernization of muay thai happening in Thailand with more action-filled shows and I believe Kevin wrote about this and linked it to how Thailand escaped being colonized by civilizing itself and how it has civilized muay thai.