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?

I really enjoyed The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. Mental toughness is a skill and as such it is something you can practice. It doesn't always have to be training related even. Where do you feel you are letting yourself down? Do you have a specific example?

There are some major promotions that will turn down very skilled female fighters because they don't fit the mold of traditional beauty standards, and they'll tell the managers that this is exactly why they are declining to sign the athlete. Professional fighting in America is an odd blend of athletics and entertainment in many cases. It's martial arts entertainment. While there are some promotions that encourage individual self-expression among athletes and don't penalize them for it (Invicta is one of these), the landscape for an athlete who chooses to use her sexuality versus one who chooses not to is quite different. This is something I noticed as a fighter, but seeing the extent of it from the other side now has lead to a bit of disillusionment on my part.

Is it possible that you aren't eating enough on a daily basis? If you are training hard, the binge may be your body's attempt to compensate.

There is a whole lot on the horizon for women in combat sports.

Up here, it depends on their level of experience. If you are new, you can do full pads. Class A usually doesn't wear anything other than elbow pads. Class B is supposed to wear shin pads. Headgear is optional for all fights but if one person wears it, then both must wear it. On our last show I don't think anyone did...maybe one bout? I advise against it because it is a giant pain in the butt for clinch and increases concussion risk. Fighters might be slightly more likely to get cut, but that's pretty rare with pads. We have a doc in house who is amazing with stitches and has done a great job putting pros back together when they catch an elbow or two. Glad you are looking to fight again :-)

We were going to go, but the fighters on our team ended up doing a show on October 13th and did not want to register before completing those bouts. If we end up coming out, we'd be more than happy to help. The Muay Thai community is pretty awesome. I'm sure someone will help you out. P.S. It's really great that you are going regardless. Have fun!

I think so. As a general rule, estrogen contributes to poor athletic performance and testosterone contributes to great athletic performance. If our primary sex hormones decline as we age, it stands to reason that we might do better with lower estrogen and men will do significantly worse with lower testosterone. There are other factors and hormones involved, but I don't think you see the sharp decline in performance the same way you do with men. Oddly, heavyweight males seem to be able to compete well longer but that may be due to speed being less of their game. ...and now I'm on a tangent. LOL Edit: There are more openings available on the PA card. See above.

This is also available. I don't know them personally but they have several female spots open on the East Coast. *edited to include more openings* Iron City Muay Thai Kickboxing is still looking for the following match ups for female fighters: 160 Female 1-0 130-135 25 Female 3-0 165 33 Female 0-0 125 Female 0-0 Pittsburgh, PA on Nov 4th. Amateur Card. Local/driving distance.

Three Oaks - How do you feel training with younger women? Do you feel much of a strength difference? I think age is much more of an issue in the men's division than it is in ours, so I tend to agree with you that you don't need to be separated. I trained an amateur MMA fighter in her mid-40s for a while and she had no problem with 20-year-olds. She had a both wins and losses, but none of them could be attributed to age.

That's really frustrating! I'm sorry to hear it. How long have you been training?