TZ22

Great, thank you, that definitely helps :) I thought about it some more and decided that I will wait a bit more since it does not seem to be bothering me now and I am still not sure what my competition year will look like so there are too many uncertainties and too many other things going on that going through this completely elective procedure at this time just does not work well, especially since it confirms that I will need more time before I can get back to training so I think I should just wait.

Yes, if you could ask them that would be great, thank you :)

Hello everyone, I am wondering if any of you know anyone or have personal experience with having a hernia repair surgery, and if so, how much of a set back was it in terms of training? I've had a small umbilical hernia for about 10 years and it has never affected my ability to exercise and does not cause me any symptoms other than the cosmetic issue, but when I was getting my medical form signed for competition a doctor suggested that I should consider having it repaired so I had a consultation with a surgeon last week, he said that the procedure would be a day surgery and take about 45 minutes, no mesh needs to be used, just sutures, and that I should be ok to go back to my activities in about 2-3 weeks, but now that I think about it, it sounds a bit too optimistic and I am not sure if maybe the surgeon misunderstood the level of my training intensity to give me such a short recovery time eventhough I did tell him that I do martial arts and weight lifting/crossfit so I thought I would ask around for second opinion because if it's going to cause a long recovery then maybe I should postpone the procedure even longer so that i don't end up ruining another year that I could have been competing

I have been training for almost 6 years, but after doing a few private sessions with different trainers from another gyms (boxing and muay thai), both of them pointed out that I am too tense, even when I am skipping, and that I need to be more relaxed and that got me thinking about what is that tension and relaxing that they are talking about because I don't feel it, I feel like I am relaxed, but obviously they see something that I don't and perhaps that inability to be as relaxed is an obstacle to my ability to progress. So I am curious if you have received similar advice and what did it mean for you? Perhaps the relaxing that they were talking about means not thinking so much about what I am doing and just let the actions come out instinctively?

@Fighting Frog - thank you :) Yes, I think you are right, the technical sparring is most certainly not helping me to develop the killer instinct and the pace is off too because as you pointed out, I need to score and not get scored against, so I think that might be the key element that had been missing. Yesterday I got to spar with a girl just 10lbs heavier than me, which was quiet the "treat" in itself as I rarely get to spar with someone close to my size, but she was quiet aggressive so I also got to experience some of that outside the ring and I have to say I did notice that my timing and speed was off and it took some time to adjust to that, so I definitely need more of this kind of practice.

Not sure if this question has already been asked elsewhere on here before, but I am curious to know from the people who have trained for fights - how hard do you go in sparring when preparing for fights? My problem has been translating what I do in training and on pads into the ring and I can't quiet put the finger on what the problem is because I am strong on pads and got better in sparring, but it just does not seem to be translating into the ring and I am starting to wondering if it has to do with the fact that all of my sparring is only technical so maybe I am not giving myself enough opportunities to get used to the pace of the fight before the fight so when I get into the ring it's still too new to me, but I am curious to hear other opinions as to what the cause might be. For one thing though is that I also do not have the sparring partners of my size at the gym so everyone is much bigger and I don't know if that is a detriment to me as well.

Hello, Not sure if this was already mentioned in another thread on this forum, but I am wondering if anyone has come across any good podcasts or audio books that deal with addressing the issue of lack of confidence/self-doubt? Thank you

I am not sure if anyone here had this experience, but this time around I am really struggling to adjust to training in Thailand's hot temperatures, I've trained in Thailand before and usually felt ok after about 2-3 days, but this time around I can't seem to get used to the heat, I drink water with electrolyte powder in it and I thought it would be helping, but I still feel like I get too tired quickly on the pads and sweat like crazy just after about 5 minutes on the skipping rope, so not really sure what I could be doing wrong this time that is preventing me from adapting to the heat, it's been 2 weeks now...

Awesome, thanks for the info :) I ended up going with Sutai gym too, but might add a few sessions at another gyms towards the end of my trip for some variety/ extra technique training.

Hello, I am wondering if anyone here has trained at Rawai Muay Thai in Phuket and if so, how long ago was that and what was your impression of the gym/quality of training? I am trying to decide on the gym to train at for 3 weeks, looking for a serious training and don't really care about any particular location, so I am open to other suggestions too, just looking for a gym with the following criteria: 1) reasonably clean (not much of a germaphobe, but I have gotten seriously ill before at a gym where cleanliness was not a priority beyond just basic sweeping debris off the floor, never seen the floors washed the entire time I was there, so I am more picky about that kind of stuff now) 2) open to training women seriously, not just tiring me out on pads 3) lots of clinch training and sparring opportunities (would be great if the gym was also open to allowing women clinch/spar with Thai boys) 4) would be great if the gym also had a western boxing trainer, but not an absolute must 5) could help me get a fight if time permits

Hello, I am wondering if anyone here has experience training at the Muay Thai Plaza gym in Bangkok or has heard anything about this gym? If you have trained there, what was your impression/experience of this gym? Thank you

Hello, I am considering another trip to Thailand, about 2-3 weeks, doing some training, but also hoping to see more of Thailand as my previous trips were primarily focused on training with the expectation of getting a fight there so not whole lot of time for exploring places beyond the top tourist attractions. That being said, I am wondering if anyone here has experience renting a car in Thailand and what is the driving experience like outside of the big cities, is it fairly easy to navigate (not sure how effective my Google maps app would be on rural roads, so perhaps I could get a GPS as back up), and are there any specific things that I need to be aware of/keep in mind when driving/renting a car in Thailand aside from the traffic driving on the opposite side than Canada, lol. What is the availability of gas stations like outside of big cities? Thank you

Lol, "no pain, no muay thai", at least that is what I heard a lot my thai trainer say :)

Hi Sylvie, I just watched your video blog where you mentioned your plan to have a seminar with 3 muay thai legends in Aril and I am wondering what possible dates are you looking at for that seminar? What would be the cost of that seminar and how long wohld it be? I certainly would be interested in coming depending on the dates. Thank you

My goals are: - end my losing streak - have a fight every 2 months or so - win at TBA tournament in Iowa and provincial/National tournament in Canada - do more 10km races - work on my strength and conditioning more - go back to train/fight in Thailand again