Coach James Poidog

I think you hit the nail on the head with this. Well said.

This I absolutely believe to be true. Just watching the growth here has been shocking. For those of you who dont know, this man has almost single handedly brought youth muay Thai in the the US back (check him out online, fb/ig and his page usamuaythai_ydl on instagram.). Yes there were classes before but now theres a level of structure based on specific competition. I dont have any competitors...yet. The important word is yet. They get taught with the idea of ydl competition in mind (whether the goal is to compete or not) and eventually a few will fit and want to compete. Either way its win win.

General question (and if its been asked already, forgive me): whats your favorite technique and why? Any good memories with using it? Whats your level of experience?

Nice! My coach isnt much older than me but could still whup me lol but I really dont mind. Ive been told that its a lose lose to spar the coach either because you lose to them or you do well but then feel bad. I hold my own with my coach but really dont feel bad when I get whupped. I always learn from it. One of the aspects I love about combat sports is how the ego eventually takes a back seat to other aspects after years of getting dominated by others and not quitting. I feel like its one of the healthiest things one takes away from combat sports.

So how many of you actually dread sparring (clinch or otherwise) with your coach? As a coach I dont really see it so much unless I post a meme or joke about it, then the truth comes out lol. I always looked at myself as merely a gate keeper, not the top of the food chain, so cant really understand the fear of dealing with me. For me, if they can handle me then thats merely the first step. All my top guys can deal with me no problem. How do you guys feel about it? Scary coaches? Or is it fun sparring with them? Let me know VID_26620329_013231_040.mp4

Not sure if this question was meant for Sylvie particularly or open to anyone, but Id go and train at a gym letting them know from the beginning youd like to fight at or near yhe end of your trip IF they felt you were ready. More than likely they'll train you specifically for a fight and find you someone of equal skill to compete against. The cool thing about muay Thai is you can compete as you learn and grow. One doesnt end when the other begins, so you can compete as a beginner and grow from there.

I think thats a dead on assessment. I think thats exactly it. It looks good to view, maybe even from a morbid fascination, but to be on the recieving end is just a no. I think this is why its so important to market to hobbyists and make them really understand the safety. In my time around mma and bjj (over ten years) Ive seen way more serious injuries there than in muay Thai. Sure bumps and bruises, but not the limb and finger injury frequency from bjj/mma. Educating potentially interested but cautious hobbyists has to be a priority I think.

For me itd be Somlak. Not sure if he would be what some consider a legend, but hes been a favorite of mine for a long time. Id love to see him show his stuff.

I have the same issue. I see what I believe to be heavy interest but its got to be my bubble. Because I have a lot of connections in the mma and bjj world though, I definitely see the difference in interest. Whats crazy to me is how a video I shared on ig of Sage getting crushed by Cosmo ends up being the highest viewed post Ive ever had. Its a reposted video too, so the viewership on that video worldwide has to be bigger than any bjj video ever posted. Theres some sort of disconnect we are missing between people liking seeing striking (and muay Thai in general) and the decline in interest (in training in it?).

And this is bigger than people realise. Many gyms, schools have been kept afloat because of kids classes. No joke. Add in things like the ydl (youth development league) and olympics and you could have a new surge of popularity with these kids coming of age in muay Thai. Already, Ive seen a huge surge in a friend's two gym locations in Hawai'i in his kids classes. Hes grown so much using the ydl as a platform, he had to add more class times and hire more instructors. The last video he posted, a couple days ago, had something like 40 kids all in the gym completely filling the space. Basically these kids are influencers for the future of the sport. Get the kids into aspects of it whether its competition, aspects of training, whatever and watch their love of it grow to encompass all aspects. For me, its the clinch that became a big hit for my kids. I expected other aspects to be more popular, but they werent. In fact bag work and even interpersonal strike drilling were boring after a certain amount of time, but I can let them have a full hour of clinch and theyd be happy. So I use the clinch to grow the other aspects and watch their love of everything grow as well.

Not surprised if mt takes a back seat to bjj in popularity anywhere. Id be curious to see what a comparison chart looks like for number of schools in the US. Also, Id like to see how many have both, especially those that started as one or another then later combined. I know a lot of schools that have both but started as either a pure bjj or pure muay Thai school. I also wonder if theres a way to use the youtube info to our advantage.

Totally agree with that. The body definitely gets more sensitive over the course of the fight. Money in the bank

Ok I lied lol I gotta talk about the liver shot too. I have a current fighter who I specifically taught and teach body destruction to. He won his last fight by making his opponent quit in the third (tko) by repeated body attacks (finished by knees in the clinch). He has a nasty lead middle kick he targets the liver and dropped opponents with. I think with the liver, it has to be hit dead on to really get that ko effect. Obviously some people arent as susceptible, but with most I think its just slightly missing the target. The rest of the body takes time to get results, so if you miss the liver shot its just a regular body shot. Good but time investing. I teach that body shots are small money in the bank for later rounds, make as many deposits as you can to invest in your future. So if you miss the liver no big deal. Im gonna go on a limb and say the reason I think people dont target the body as much, especially in the US, is because of the need for an early ko and the practice of those techniques which can produce that. Its been lamented frequently by my peers and my betters about the lack of training to attack the body outside of western boxing. Having a boxing background Ive always seen the value of it not just as a target but in producing the head as a target again after an opponent shells up from past head attacks. Probably the most famous example is Mike Tyson and how he'd use body shots to open the guard of boxers for his nasty uppercuts. Theyd shell, he'd hit the shell amd dig the shell into their body opening the pillars of their guard, giving him a clean line up the middle to their chin. Body shots in general are as important as leg kicks. Both techniques have such a wide use tactically its really ignorant to not study the hell out've them. With that I give a shout out to Sitmonchai gym for specializing in leg attacks and the high low of body/head/leg tactics.

Do much info to talk about lol, Ill just talk about the low kick. Its one of my favorites and I tend to specialize in it. I do think some of why it might not be used as much as it should is the low hanging fruit idea, meaning its too easy. Let me tell you, its not. Besides needing buildup to take someone out, theres the simple check that not only stops the kick, it can damage a weapon you need to win. I was taught to check two different ways 1) with the knee cap turned out towards the ankle of the kick and 2) with the knee cap jammed towards the shin. The second one seems like a no no but it actually works well with minor damage to yourself but shuts down the kicker hard. These things make it so one has to be really smart in how they throw low kicks to make them effective, which means a lot of practice on a technique that may seem low in its effectiveness compared to body and head kicks. The thing is, again from experience, if you practice the set ups, timing, and tricks of the low kick, it is REALLY effective and doesnt need that much time in a fight to end it. One of my favorite fighters, not in muay Thai but kickboxing, Bazooka Joe Vallentini has a whole system behind how he low kicks, even with how he places the kicking leg in return based on his goals. He has tester kicks (probes on defense and over all reaction) that he throws a specific way vs damagers. He has specific set ups and counters. Its enlightening how much effort hes put into studying something that might be considered low percentage effective. Just shows that its a really good technique. And thats just one of what you brought up. I imagine theres a lot of similarity to the others too.

Mark Beecher runs a gym in Houston called both Houston Kickboxing and Hyena Muay Thai. Excellent instructor and there's a lot of beginners there

I dont think the instructor was intentionally trying to hurt you. I do think hes out of touch with what it feels like to hold for a heavy kicker or what it was like when he started. Do you need to adapt to the process? Yes, but you also need time to do it and not feel destroyed during the process. Sometimes coaches are more fighter oriented, meaning they orient towards the harder aspects of the sport and training. Those ones tend to forget that a lot of people train in the arts for stress release and fitness. Some of them are really disconnected to the hobbyist. Suggestion: if you go back, pick a partner whos kicks you can handle. Maybe speak to the instructor and make your goals known. If none of that works and you get the same vibe, then I highly suggest finding another spot that caters to your wants and needs. Just my two cents.

So a good friend made this meme a while back and its always resonated with me. The idea being dont pass over the basics and fundamentals for fancy technique. This meme always becomes so relevant when someone in combat sports wins by spinning anything. Not because Im against spinning techniques, but because of how they always seem to jump the line so to speak past tried and true (possibly boring to students?) fundamental techniques with high percentages of landing. For context: (its not muay Thai I know, but it does effect me teaching muay Thai, so...) Raymond Daniels winning his fight in mma this last weekend. If you havent seen it, look up Bellator's social media. Curious to hear people's opinions, reactions, etc.

I think how and who we blame shows our focus. Id probably focus on the coaches and teachers too since thats my focus. Whats interesting to me is who Karuhat blames considering he is now a teacher, you can see his focus. Hes still a fighter at heart.

For me it really depends on the my goal for the night. Wjat do I want out of this session? If its to minimize damage (say the person is a little outve control), id use a guard and footwork to clear space to keep the pressure off and look for openings to counter and shut the agression down. If my goal is to feel pressure and learn to deal with it, then I might shell up and accept their attack to feel it. I believe its important to counter asap regardless to keep from being run over. Most of the time my goal is to preemptively keep them from over whelming me with outside footwork at range. I usually keep moving so as to not make a tempting target and not let them get a bead on me. Their swings wiff air so I can counter.