Kaitlin Rose Young

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I'm curious what has happened in her first two fights, and the aftermath of both. Were you friends at that time?

I don't think 35 is too old at all! We've had people in their 40s join our team and fight for the first time and do really well. A lot of fighters stop by 35 because they've been doing it a long time and want something different or feel like they are slowing down. Part of that is the amount of wear and tear they have after training and fighting for more than 20 years though. They've been pounding on their body for decades. A vehicle made in 1983 with low miles will still run just fine

Kaensak's trainer (Kru Kimyu) still comes through Dejrat on occasion. It's been a while since I've seen him though. He can barely walk but will prop himself on the ropes and hold pads for fighters. He has to have 20 years on Ajarn Surat.

Yes, that is way too much in my opinion. There is no need for that. It sounds like the culture in that particular practice probably values "winning," and using physical attributes to do so, rather than skill development. I'm all for the occasional hard spar, but it needs to be between two people of similar size and experience. Sparring in a manner that creates concussions with such frequency is both unnecessarily AND it trains people to be fearful strikers. If we need to survive in our home gym, we will only ever work our A game and defense. We will not be able to risk the costs of potentially being hit while we develop our B and C game. If you are a smaller person in a room like that, it is a good way to never really develop striking and potentially receive career ending injuries. It would be like trying to learn by only taking tests, with no actual lessons. Now, it's important to take tests here or there (fights) but if that's all we do, we stunt our growth. The team I spent many years with prior to working with a Thai trainer was exactly like that. I suffered multiple broken noses, several cuts, separated ribs, a separated shoulder, a broken hand, and a couple of popped MCLs. I was injured in that room more than I ever was in a fight. Since leaving that group, my injuries have been incredibly rare and my performances have been better than ever. Here's the crazy thing, almost none of the guys in that room were finishing people with strikes. It wasn't transfering to the ring. The big guys had become accustomed to using their power on smaller people that they did not have on their opponents, and the smaller guys would give opponents too much respect as they were used to being hit harder than an opponent their size ever could. The team I work with now does primarily timing sparring, with harder rounds here or there against similar size/experience teammates. Our results are WAY more consistent, and even the big guys have a very high KO ratio. It's not just safer training, it's more effective.

Yes, I think you are correct. When you do it often, you'll eventually forget about it completely. So much of clinching is feel , and we can only develop that with time spent. Time with another novice can be valuable, especially if you are doing rounds with an objective or make situational drills out of it (pull the head down, one person tries to land 20 knees without being swept, etc.). It will be important to work with more experienced people sometimes because they'll correct mistakes you both may be making, but clinching with another novice is still far better than not clinching at all. For instance, the addition of elbows, like you'd have in a fight, will make certain habits a bad idea. It would be inadvisable to spar with elbows as or with another novice, so having an experienced person being present will help you keep those type of things in mind without having to get cut to learn them. Have fun with it and try not to worry too much about winning or doing well. You are in the lab! Try different things out, see what works for you, what works on some body types but not others, see what works on tall or short peeps - slender or thick- experienced or novice.

Do you have anyone your same size and experience level to train with? Maybe if you are able to have really competitive rounds it will be easier to forget about the closeness. Sometimes when there is a big size or experience discrepancy it slows everything down so much that there is more time to think about it.

If you are able, you might find Chatchai Sasakul.He has a gym in Bangkok. He was a champion in both and teaches some very helpful concepts with weight transfer. Sylvie has a few posts involving him as she's trained with him a bit. http://boxrec.com/en/boxer/4088

Interesting! Parts of them feel very similar to me in MT and BJJ. Why do you think it is easier for you to do in BJJ?

I want to hear about what you are good at...it can be in the gym, or in your fights, or maybe tell me about a really good day in sparring or competition. List as many things as you want. I'd love to hear about them.

Sounds like it may be an intercostal injury. Do you do pull ups as a part of your training regiment? If not, adding them might help.

Hi All, I am matchmaking for a Muay Thai show in Shakopee, MN (not far from Minneapolis). We are constantly in need of pros at a select few weights (have to be able to match a local), but also we are always in need of ammys - especially Class A women. We encourage people not to wear much padding (elbows only) if they are competing as a class A, as it makes the transition to pro a little easier. We have a third party - TBA-SA (the one that puts on that monstrous tournament every June in Iowa)- sanctioning all events. The only medical required is bloodwork. They are streamed online and we have a great photographer. Send me your info if you feel like it KailtlinRYoung@hotmail.com. The next show is May 12 and we are pretty desperate for women 155-165 at all experience levels. :-) Sylvie and Kevin - Please let me know if this is not ok to post.

What Sylvie said. In Thailand, or even with a Thai trainer in the States, you are expected to do everything the exact same as you would when healthy. Here I try to avoid training with others, especially anyone cutting weight who might be more susceptible to germs. Maybe hit pads with a well-fed holder ;-) Plus, Sudafed is a hell of a drug.

You said that you are new to this gym, correct? Is she one of the only females there or maybe the most experienced one? Unless you were going hard and not realizing it, maybe she is a bit threatened by you. Sometimes women who aren't used to training with other women will act like they are trying to oust you from their territory. (Men do this to others too, it just so happens that you are also a woman.) Maybe she is afraid of losing her position as top dog, or afraid of having to share the attention that being one of few women in a gym brings with it. Hopefully, she'll settle down after a while. Are you two about the same size?