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

Not sure if this question has already been covered elsewhere, and if it was, sorry for posting on that yet again, but i am wondering if anyone had any suggestions on getting rid of bad smell on the training gear, I have gloves and shinpads that I thought i was taking care of well enough and are still in a very good condition despite me using them for 4 years, but recently they started to smell quiet awful and I am not sure what (if anything) I can do to get rid of that smell. Most of the stuff I found online seems to talk about how to prevent the smell in the first place, but not how to deal with it once it is there. Thank you

I've been to Sinbi just a month ago, still good training, but many of the original trainers that were there for a while had left so if you were hoping to train with someone in particular, he might not be there anymore; the gym atmosphere feels a bit different now, more serious with the new trainers still getting used to teaching at the gym, but I guess that may not be a bad thing.

I am in the same situation, my coach is not able to go since I am from a small gym and he is the only one running the gym and I am the only fighter from the gym going to this tournament. I messaged USMTO to see what they can recommend and whether they have some kind of a back up plan for that; I was also supposed to do the WKA tournament this past weekend without my coach and the organisers said that they could provide a corner for me and that it was not necessary for me to bring someone with me, but I ended up not doing the tournament after it turned out there was no-one in my weight class and I did not feel comfortable going up to a higher weight class. Anyways, I have not received their response yet, but I can let you know when I do.

I am registered for both WKA and USMTO, but in a lower weight class; it is my first time participating in either of those events so I am hoping it will go smoothly.

Hi Sylvie, Not sure if this question was already addressed somewhere in another thread, but I am wondering what would you say is the one (or several) thing that helps you the most with recovery. I've been back to training in Thailand, getting ready for a fight here and several tournaments coming up back home, it's been just about 1 week since I am here, but I am already finding myself feeling rather sluggish, brain fog, cranky, and just overall like I can't get enough sleep despite even taking a nap in the afternoon, yet I feel like all I want to do is sleep all day (though I must say that taking a nap has never made me feel better, I usually end up waking up drowsy and moody), so I am not sure if i should just give it a bit more time as perhaps my body is not quiet adjusted to this increased demand or if perhaps there is something else I can do to help things. The thing is that if this was back home I could just try to build things up slowly and maybe have some sessions that are a bit more light, but here it seems like if you show up to training, you are expected to give 100%, all or nothing, but if you take a day off or go easier then I get shit from trainers (today I got told for drinking water between the pad rounds)

I've seen kids training at Sinbi in Phuket and even fighting out of that gym.

My first thought that there really isn't a "shortcut" or estimated number of hours before one becomes comfortable at sparring because there're so many elements that go into it, like making sure you're executing your movements with correct technique, practice proper defence, working on timing/angling, etc, and all of that takes time (I am still getting my ass kicked at times and I've been training for almost 5 years now, lol), and everyone progresses at their own pace, some people are more "natural", while some take a bit more time. What worries me more is the fact that you're leaving each sparring session with a headache and a bloody nose, which to me suggests that either your sparring partners are going way too hard, in which case you need to say something as the sparring session is not intended for going 100% each time, it is not a fight, it is however, a time to work on all of the things that I mentioned above and it's hard to do that when you are constantly going at 100%, you shouldn't be feeling like your are fighting for your life in a sparring session...and also, you can't really condition your brain and the constant headaches after sparring are indicative of either subconcussive damage or a concussion (depending on what other symptoms you get in addition to the headaches), which will make for a rather short "career" in fighting or even being able to train for fun if you are not planning to fight as all that damage to the head is cumulative and I would say that if you are going to fight, save the heavy shots to the head for your fights, not sparring...or alternatively, though I don't know whether it is the case for you, if you are yourself going with the same power as you would use on the pads in the sparring session because it seems to be the case with many beginners I saw that just don't know better, then it would be a natural response for you sparring partner to hit back hard if you are hitting them hard, so then things are just escalating and there is no working on the technique, etc.

I sent them an inquiry about how much it costs to do private sessions, drop-in classes, etc, and it is definitely a big contrast to what I am used to paying for my training in Thailand- $40 USD for a single drop-in group training class, 250 SGD (about $230 CAD) for 1 hour private session and there is a discount if you buy a pack of 5, 10, etc sessions...I completely understand that considering the caliber of their trainers, there would definitely be a higher price of the training, but for a broke amateur fighter that's a lot. They do offer $199 USD/week, $499 USD for 1 month and $1299 USD for 3 months of training, and their schedule is incredible, so many classes, I would seriously need live at that gym and do as many classes as I can, lol.

Hello everyone, I am considering spending a few days in Singapore after my Thailand trip and I was thinking of checking out the Evolve gym there so I am wondering if anyone here has been there before and what was your experience like. Thank you

Things that get me annoyed: sparring taller guys who only try to go for head kick the entire round because of our obvious height discrepancy; new people who try to use "fancy" techniques like jumping/spinning kicks when their other techniques are pretty much non-existent; people that are too "jittery/spazing out"; people who have no self-control and treat a sparring session like it is a last round of a title fight; the biggest one though is bigger guys that are showboating, trying to push/trip me in a joking around way, the things that they would not be able to do to anyone their own size so to me it feels disrespectful and a waste of my time trying to spar with a person like that so at that point I just don't even bother engaging to much, just basically waiting until the end of the round as I don't feel like putting any more effort into sparring with someone like that.