TZ22

Thank you Sylvie for sharing those resources, I am currently listening the Wrestling Mindset podcast and it's great, tons of valuable information :)

Sinbi Muay Thai in Rawai area

Lol, true :)

I am wondering if anyone here had experience getting matched up with a friend for a fight, it feels very weird to me to be fighting a friend, so I am wondering what your thoughts are on that, would you do it or would you rather drop out of a fight than to fight a friend?

I spent two weeks at Santai and they do seem to try to mold everyone who comes in to the gym to one specific style, regardless of their previous experience...while I have experienced trainers at different gyms adjusting my technique in whatever way they felt I should be executing it and it is common for trainers to teach you "their style", with Santai it was too much for me and I found that I kept getting forced into a style that felt completely against everything I knew, like I was starting all over, and on many occasions, even when I was doing a private session with my trainer, the head trainer would come by to tell my trainer not to teach me this technique or that technique and insist that we keep working on basics...I agree that it is important to have good basics, but I came to learn more than basics and at that point I already had several years of training, including in Thailand, so I came to learn muay thai more in depth, not just basics...I also found there was very limited clinch time and limited to no instruction/feedback in clinch and sparring, it felt more like "oh just let them do whatever they want" kind of attitude, with trainers just leaning against the ropes, laughing while people who were too beginner to be even attempting sparring swinging haymakers at each other...however, that is only my experience based on what I saw; as was mentioned above, there are people who love that gym so I guess to each their own.

I have never heard of thai short made out of cotton, but why not just order some long leggings instead and wear them under instead of usual compression shorts? Could be an easier option, I've done that myself before and seen plenty of guys do the same.

Ok, so I got my nose broken few days ago, happened while I was holding pads for my friend, he was in a southpaw stance and I didn't move the pads quickly enough in a transition between punches and a kick so when the kick hit the pads I was just moving them to catch the kick but didn't have time to brace for the impact so the edge of the pad and the impact of the kick landed on the side of my nose, definitely felt something cracking inside, it was also bleeding like crazy, but the nose still looks straight, I can breathe ok, etc...went to ER, they didn't do an xray and said that even if there is something broken they wouldn't do anything anyways since the nose looks straight and it is possible that what I felt cracking was actually just a cartilage and not the bone...I don't have any swelling so maybe it was only cartilage...the doctor said that it would probably heal up in about 2 weeks and I should avoid contact sports until then, but I have never had anything like that happen before so I am wondering, for those that have experience with nose injuries, how long was it before you could do sparring again? I think some of it for me now also a mental fear, so that aside I am curious how long it might take before it's good enough to spar again, although I think the mental fear might take longer to get over than the actual injury to heal...

I've been to 5 points, nice gym and friendly atmosphere, also like the fact that they have kettle bell classes so I would recommend that one, though the Wat also has a famous trainer, Ajarn Phil Nurse, but I have never been to that gym.

Thanks Sylvie for the suggestion to start thinking of a training session as a fight, I haven't thought of trying that before but I think it will help. Trying to deal with this issue has certainly been an interesting process since I spent so much time working on the physical aspect of training and preparing for a fight thinking that this is where my weakness was, but I seemed to have completely overlooked the mental component of preparing for a fight, it certainly has proven to be the biggest challenge yet. I also just today came across an audio book called "Mental combat" by Phil Pierce, he has martial arts background himself so a lot of what he is talking about is geared towards martial artists and competition; I listened to it once already but will be going over it again, there are some good and fairly simple tips there so it will be interesting to try implementing those as well. I was planning on fighting in Thailand again in December and I really don't want this "falling apart under pressure" issue to become a consistent theme, so hopefully I can put those techniques to practice soon. One thing I realize now is that perhaps some of my issues might also be due to not getting enough rest; when I fought in Thailand in May I manged to win the fight and didn't have so much anxiety even though it was my first fight in Thailand and I originally attributed that to the fact that I was not watching the other fights before mine so I couldn't start over thinking my own performance, but for this last fight I also tried avoiding watching other fights and yet my anxiety was the worst it has ever been so thinking back about what the difference might be i wonder if the the amount of rest I got before my Thailand fight might have been the deciding factor as I've been training for almost 3 months for this last fight while working and dealing with other responsibilities so there were more than a few days when sleep was sacrificed for being able to take care of all the responsibilities... this last fight is certainly forcing me to rethink my fight prep in a different way so I guess ultimately it's a good thing even if this realization came as a result of a rather disappointing experience.

Hello everyone, I'm wondering if anyone here has experience dealing with pre-fight anxiety and what strategies you use to keep the nerves under control. I just had my 6th fight a week ago, it was a pretty important fight for me, I trained for it since the middle of August so a lot of work went into the preparation, I felt strong and even my coach told me that he is not worried about me and expects me to do well, I was not nervous at all even the week before the fight. Then, when I got to the venue and watched other fighters getting ready I just suddenly had this overwhelming feeling of anxiety and almost felt like crying from the stress of waiting around for my fight...I couldn't really pinpoint anything specific that I was afraid of, oddly enough I don't have a fear of getting hurt, probably because I already had so many bad injuries, so it wasn't that; it also wasn't the feeling that I wished I could have had more time to train because I already spent a lot of time preparing and felt good about the work I put in...I kept trying to convince myself that it's just a hard sparring session and that seemed to work to some extent as I felt better when I was getting into the ring and while sealing the ring, but as soon as the fight started, my opponent just charged at me with flury of attacks and my mind just went blank, I couldn't think straight at all...I lost the 1st round but started to come to my senses in the 2nd round but the fight was stopped by the referee because he thought that I was hurt which was a wrong call even in my coaches' opinion, but the point is that I lost that 1st round when I shouldn't have and I previously had similar issues in my previous fights....it is extremely frustrating to have to be dealing with this issue especially when I can't even understand what exactly sets off this nervous reaction and how to deal with it and why others seem to have no problem with that...I am thinking of reaching out to a sports psychologist but in the mean time I am curious to hear about any similar experience that you might have had and how you are dealing with this issue. Thank you

Awesome, thanks everyone for the advice :)

Hello everyone, I've signed up for a tournament in 8 weeks and for the first time ever I have to cut weight for the category that I registered in. I'm already pretty small, walking around at about 112 lbs, but I now need to cut to 105.5 lbs. Since there are weigh-ins every day of the tournament, we were told to not rely on water weight cut. It's been a week since I tried losing some weight - i have never had to try to lose weight, it's always been the opposite, trying to put on weight for fights, so i may not be going about it the right way, but I gave up my habit of eating sweets and have been eating fewer meals, while still training 6 times a week, plus regular gym on Sunday, and I haven't lost any weight at all, it would go down 1-2 lbs and then I'd weigh myself the next morning and it's the same weight again. Just cutting back on sugar and eating fewer meals for 1 week is already making me feel light-headed and nauseous, so even though I still have 8 weeks to lose 6.5 lbs, i'm wondering if anyone had any suggestions for "a humane" way of trying to cut weight for a fight when I'm not supposed to rely on water weight cut and what can I do to "kick start" the weight loss as it feels a bit concerning not to lose even 1 lb after 1 week of eating less and exercising hard, while also keeping in mind that I need to try to eat enough to have energy for training/fight.

Awesome, thanks everyone for the response :) It appears I got "lucky" in a way and there is no ligament damage, the only thing is that I sprained some muscles and tore some fascia that runs through the front of the knee (that's why I can't bend the knee fully", but the physio said I should be ok in about a month, just continue to try to bend the knee and do some stretching to help with the cramps in that leg from not being able to step properly. I've also been doing weight training few times a week, particularly training for endurance/more reps & lighter weight and was teaching a yoga class before going to training that night so I think that helped from it being a much worse injury, but definitely a lesson learned, avoid training with someone who is considerably bigger than me, it's too much of a risk.

Hello everyone, Lately I've been on a seemingly never ending cycle of injuries and my most recent one is a messed up knee - was clinching with a bigger guy about a week ago, he tried throwing me over the knee, but because of our considerable size difference it felt like my leg was still stuck on the inside of his stance so when he threw me, my leg was still firmly planted and it felt like I twisted around my knee cap as I fell...pretty nasty. Anyways, I never had such a bad knee injury before and just wanted to hear from anyone else about your experience with knee injuries and how long does it typically take to get back to normal training, assuming if the surgery is not required and also if it was needed. I'm still waiting the results of the ultrasound to find out what exactly inside my knee is messed up (my physio suspects MCL and meniscus damage), but it's now day 6 and I have no pain in the knee when I walk (with a serious knee brace though), however the knee feels rather stiff and it's hard to bend it past 90 degree angle (there's too much tightness at the front of the knee to be able to bend it further) and today I tried picking up a heavy grocery bag and I definitely felt some discomfort in that knee...I'm pretty dissapointed right now as I really wanted to get more ring experience before going back to Thailand in December for 1 month (already had my ticket booked before this injury happened) and also get a fight there, but now I am not sure if it will be possible. Does 4 months seem like a reasonable enough time to recover from a knee injury (assuming surgery is not needed) and get back to fighting shape? Did you continue to train/workout around your knee injury (and if so, what kind of training were you doing) or did you take a complete rest? Thank you

Cool, thank you :)

Yes, i've also been trying to convince myself to think of my fight as just another sparring session, kind of like when I was in university and experiencing some anxiety about an exam so I would keep telling myself that it's just another practice exam, but this strategy does not yet work quiet well in a ring...it's frustrating because this time it cost me a chance at a tournament belt against an opponent I could have and should have beaten had it not been for that "brain freeze"...

Hello, I know Sylvie talked about the importance of mental training for muay thai, and I've tried doing some meditation/visualization before my fights, but I'm finding that I am still experiencing a lot of pre-fight anxiety and usually the first round of my fight I feel like my brain is in complete fog, I have a hard time concentrating, hesitate a lot and my technique comes out very sloppy even though I have no problems in sparring. I only had 5 fights so far (3 inhouse/smokers fights, 1 fight in Thailand and 1 fight at a tournament)...I am not sure if what I am experiencing is simply a lack of ring experience and lack of practice performing under pressure of a fight and I just simply need to keep getting fights to eventually get rid of my fight anxiety/hesitation or if there are specific things that I can do to address this problem? I'm also recovering from burnout so I am wondering if this might be part of my problem and I just need to be getting more rest (which is hard when you're trying to prepare for a fight)..Anyways, any suggestions would be much appreciated (if there are any podcasts or books that you know of that might be helpful for me, please let me know also). Thank you

Hello, Sorry if it's a silly question, but I was hoping someone could clarify for me the Thai custom of the opponent's corner men offering the other figher a drink of water after the fight - is it absolutely expected that the fighter accept it/drink it, or is it acceptable to refuse it, or just pour it over your head like I've seen done during training...I get that it's a courtecy gesture, but I guess me being a bit of a "neat freak" I'm not sure I'm quite comfortable with this custom (i.e. using someone else's used cup), but I'm also worrying about not wanting to insult anyone by refusing what is supposed to be a polite gesture. Thank you

Great, thanks for all of your responses :) I tried stretching the neck muscles for longer before the class yesterday and felt a lot better so it looks like it is likely related to neck muscles, which is quite a relief considering that I have a fight coming up in 2 weeks so I am happy that it's something that seems easy to resolve.

I would suggest checking out Muang On Caves in San Kamphaeng - I didn't get to see them myself during my visit but I saw photos from others who went and it looked really cool.

Hello everyone, Not sure if any of you have ever experienced something f similar, but I started noticing a weird achy feeling in my head when I throw straight punches or elbows on the bag or pads...i've worked with the bag many times before and never had this problem so I am a bit confused as to what this might be. The achy feeling goes away when I stop punching the bag/pads and I don't feel it with kicks or knees. I've had several concussions before this so I am wondering if this might somehow be related or is it simply because I took a bit of a break from working on a bag and just coming back to it now? Yesterday it got so bad that I had to stop in class because landing any straight punches was becoming too uncomfortable. The strange thing is that I don't have any headache, dizziness, nausea, etc, that I would expect to be present with a concussion so I don't even know if that's what it is. Few weeks ago I was holding pads for someone a lot bigger than me and when he was doing teeps I did feel a bit of a jolt in my head so I don't know if what I am experiencing now is related. I found some discussions online and someone suggested that it might be due to a neck injury or just very tight neck/jaw muscles, and I do have a lot of tightness in the neck, but I am curious to see if anyone else here has experienced something like that or might have any suggestions as to what might be causing this. Thank you

lol, NewThai, I think part of the reason why I wanted to go to Thailand to prepare because I feel that I'm not getting as much coaching as I would like to at home and a lot of the time I feel like I am left on my own without any feedback; although I certainly understand that I need to be using my own head in the ring and can't expect my corner to spoon-feed me everything I need to do, considering my lack of experience, having a bit more direction/feedback on what I am doing wrong/what I need to improve on would help. Perhaps I might be answering my own question now since in going back to a gym where I trained before would mean that the trainers would be familiar with what I can/cannot do and could give me a better critique (surprisingly my trainer at Sinbi still remembers exactly what he taught/corrected me during my first visit to the gym), but then having someone new to train with might mean that I might get "fresh look" at my technique, etc.

Hello everyone, I am planning to participate in an amateur muay thai tournament this year and I was thinking of going back to Thailand for 1 month prior to the tournament. I have trained at few gyms in Thailand before (Sinbi (3.5 weeks) & Sitjaopho (6 weeks)), and if I were to go back to either one of those gyms I would be working with trainers that I'm already familiar with, however, now I am not sure if I should go back to a gym where I've already been before or if I should take a chance and go to another gym. I have almost no prior fight experience and have never done a fight camp prep, so this would be my first "big" experience being in a ring and participating in a tournament, so I don't know if I am overthinking the entire preparation process, but I want to make sure that I am properly prepared which I guess would also help with the whole "confidence/performing under pressure" issue that I've been told I need to work on. I guess going to a new gym would mean that I am risking that I wouldn't like the training there or would have to change too many things in my technique to adjust to the new gym's "style" too close to the fight. So I guess my question is: if you were in my situation, would you go with a different gym (if so, do you have any suggestions?) or go back to a gym where you already know the trainers? One gym that I was considering for a while was Burklerk's gym so if you have any recent experience training at that gym, I would love to hear your opinion on that gym, including how much does it cost to train there/food/accommodation, etc. Thank you

Hello, I've trained at Sitjaopho for 6 weeks (i'm the woman Sylvie is referring to that moved from the gym up North). First of all, the gym is currently being ran by one of the brothers, Phet-tho, since his brother now lives in Sweden and only comes back to the gym ocassionally and was not there at a time that i was at this gym. The gym itself is located just outside of the Hua Hin city, but if you can ride a motorbike it should not be a problem since the main city is about 15-20 min ride away. The area around the gym is pretty rural, and there is nothing really of interest except a few small convenience stores; a bit further away from the gym towards the main road there are few massage shops and a few restaurants but for the most part you'd have to go to the city for any kind of entertainment. Hua Hin is pretty quiet and pretty safe; there's a big shopping mall with a cinema, markets, beach, elephant rescue center, lots of restaurants with good food, beautiful temples - i am not a big party person so that was enough for me. If you want something different, i did a bike tour with a bike tour company owned by an american and then a group of us rented a van to go to a national park, so i got to see beautiful national parks, waterfalls, etc, but all of that was some distance away from the gym. Now, in terms of the quality of training I have nothing to complain about and I would say that out of the 4 gyms that I tried in thailand so far, this gym would be towards my top pick. Just like you, I was drawn to this gym because of their sparring videos and yes, the sparring there is very light and it is more like play, I never once got hurt in sparring which also helped me to feel more relaxed in sparring and as a result allowed me to try things I would normally be hesitant to try back home out of fear of my partner going to hard. The sparring there is every evening for about 30 minutes (and sometimes a bit in the morning but those "sparring" sessions are more like a mix between padwork and sparring/technique lesson), followed by clinch training for about 30 minutes or sometimes even longer (it's the last bit of training for the day so it can go a bit longer sometimes), so that was another high point for me because I wanted to practice more sparring and clinch and there was plenty of opportunity for that. The owner and the trainers are very detail oriented and very technical so they will pick apart your technique and make you better and also they don't stop correcting you until you get it right, which I thought was another thing that stood out for me because I've experienced in some other gyms where the trainer just says "good" simply because he doesn't have the patience to keep explaining something to you (or maybe he doesn't care enough). If you show that you're serious, want to learn and ask questions, it will be very much appreciated. The owner speaks very good English, but the trainers' English is more basic though I never had difficulties understanding whatever they were trying to explain to me when it came to technique/training. Generally, the morning sessions were more relaxed and focused more on technique and less pad work (usually just 3 rounds), although we would still finish up with abs exercises/teeps on the bag/knees on the bag/etc, but the afternoon session was more challenging and more/longer pad rounds. Now, the sticking point for me was, like Sylvie mentioned, was that when after about 1.5-2 weeks of training at the gym I asked the gym owner if he thinks that I'm ready to fight in Thailand, he said yes, but because I'm only 48kg and still considered amateur at home (only 2 demo fights), it might be difficult to find me a match in Hua Hin so I might be better off waiting until I go to phuket since there would be more female fighters there...seems like a reasonable answer, however, when I asked him to at least try looking for a match for me and that if there's no one I would be ok with that, I faced a lot of resistance to the idea of me fighting without being given any valid explanation. Even though I did end up "nagging" the owner enough that he did find me a match (which in the end still didn't work out but it was for a reason that was out of anyone's control), I don't know if I had so much difficulty getting the owner to agree to let me fight because he didn't want to to get hurt and he was being overly protective (not sure if that had to do with me being a woman, lack of professional fighting experience, both, or something completely different), so I cannot comment on what your experience would be like with trying to get a fight there if that is something that you're interested in. When I was leaving the gym and the owner asked me I would come back again, I asked if he would let me fight next time and he said ok, so again, I don't know if he was just saying that so that I would come back or if he was serious. But in any case, it is a good gym and I learned a lot when I was there and I feel that my technique has gotten much better because of how detail oriented the owner and the trainers were and the amount of attention I received. I saw several complete beginners come to the gym while I was there and I noticed a significant improvement in their form in a very short period of time so I also think that this is a great gym for beginners as well as more experienced students. Hopefully this was helpful, but if you want more details or have more specific questions let me know. Cheers

I just came back from a 2.5 months in Thailand, my second trip, and I would like to ask some questions from anyone here who has spent an extended period of time living in Thailand if you could share your observations on life in Thailand. I've been playing around with the idea of career change for quiet some time now to change to a computer related career that will allow me to work from anywhere as long as I have access to a computer, which would open up the possibility of living in Thailand for an extended period of time, so I was hoping someone here can give me your honest opinion, the good/the bad/the ugly, about what living in Thailand is like when you're not just there for a vacation, because even after spending a total of 3 months there, I feel like my view is being clouded by the initial excitement of just being a tourist on vacation and obviously my lack of knowledge of thai language prevents me from understanding many conversations and cultural intricacies so I feel like you might have better insight. Would you ever consider moving there permanently? Thank you