Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu

Fear conditioning enhanced during the Luteal phase: Influence of Female Menstrual Cycle on the Acquisition and Extinction of Conditioned Fear

Oxytocin increases amygdala reactivity to threatening scenes in females

pain is processed very differently in the Luteal phase, and is experienced more acutely: Different Brain Activation Patterns to Pain and Pain-related Unpleasantness during the Menstrual Cycle A graphic summarizing some of the above:

Women in the midluteal phase of the menstrual cycle have difficulty suppressing the processing of negative emotional stimuli: An event-related potential study

this study finds a stronger amygdala reaction to fearful faces in the follicular phase

In the Luteal phase the high level of progesterone has been shown to have an analgesic effect: source

A (paywall) study examining the differences in amygdala response in natural and oral contraceptive Luteal phases: Regions of the parietal cortex are thought to be involved fundamentally in spatial processing and the control of action. The follicular and reward sensitivity.

Study cited above, the Anterior cingulate cortex was also heightened in the Luteal phase. This correlates to the emotional experience of physical and social pain (wiki): as well as skews towards errors, and difficulties in self-confidence:

more on the left amygdala and fear conditioning Whether the left or right amygdala is heightened in the Luteal phase is not consistent among women. PMDD women have differing profiles

Note: the study was trying to isolate the mechanistic effects apart from the menstrual cycle (perhaps for birth control application reasons): This study (paywalled) found that it was the left amygdala that was heightened during the Luteal phase: The Left Amygdala has a heightened ability to detected fear in facial expressions: The left amygdala knows fear: laterality in the amygdala response to fearful eyes

Important and interesting in terms of the development as a female fighter, one of the roles of the amygdala is in terms of long term memory consolidation, and fear-conditioning. Events that are fear inducing become encoded in the long term memory as lessons learned. A very obvious application of this prospective idea is that female athletes (fighters) are often put through "toughening up" training, to ostensibly to mimic similar things boys/men go through, and to train-in more "masculine" coded responses. Just very broadly thinking, if the amygdala is stimulated during the Luteal phase, when fear-conditioning sensitivity may be at its highest, this would be the worst time to do this kind of thing. You could be potentially hard-coding negative responses. On the other hand, positive emotional coding of learned behavior during this time, might find itself in long term memory more easily? Though this study suggests that positive rewards have strongest effect during the follicular phase. The emotional component of memory is perhaps enhanced. more on emotional coding in women and the left amygdala:

I've only speed read a pretty densely worded study summation, so I'm dropping this here for a re-read, and for others who might find this interesting. Looking into the emotional and mood dynamics surrounding elevated progesterone - not only naturally occurring, but also supplementally so - it appears that the sensitivity of the amygdala is a real possible factor. As the article suggests, these are very complex mechanisms, and you can't just say that "fear goes up" (for instance it also suggests that the ability to also reassess fear responses, and have control over them, also goes up), but this does possibly coincide with experiences Sylvie has reported in her sparring and training in general. There are times that she will have fear responses that are not cognitively fear driven, as if her body is just responding fearfully, almost independent of her thoughts and conscious beliefs. Or, experiences of physical touch sensitivity, almost a nerveyness, a rawness, not wanting to be touched, but still having to spar. We haven't correlated this to the luteal phase, having just begun looking into this, but...this could be a pretty huge and seldom discussed dimension of emotional shifts of female fighters in training and fighting. You may have one emotional spectrum and sensitivity at Day 8, in the Follicular phase, and a completely different one at Day 20 in the Luteal phase. Some set of events or circumstances at Day 8 may produce one set of mental and physical responses, and quite another at Day 20. And, if you are fighting at a progesterone peak period, knowing that your amygdala and related systems could be heightened, is probably a really important framework to be thinking about, in terms of performance, catch-safes, anticipation, recovery and self-forgiveness (if overcome at times). And, this could also have some bearing on progesterone birth control methods and how they might effect your emotional spectrum, the ability to overcome fear conditions, etc. It's not something as plain and simple as a fighter's concern: Fear goes up during the Luteal phase, as also it is suggested that alertness might go up as well, which may aid in fighting, but if one could have a differing set of criteria of self-judgement, based on where in the cycle one is, and even two (or more) sets of criteria, and skill requirements, for differing areas of the cycle, that may be of real importance. We tend to judge ourselves on a very flat, inflexible scale of perfection. [edit: reading further down in this thread, the amygdala has right and left hemispheres which play different roles. Differing hemispheres in the menstrual cycle are heightened in women, generally it is the left hemisphere which is heightened during the Luteal phase, but not always so] In any case, worth thinking about and reading more into. Progesterone selectively increases amygdala reactivity in women https://www.nature.com/articles/4002030 Edit in: A graphic of the main notes taken from the studies in the thread. It's important to note that these are narrow studies, and women can have the columns or rows reversed, individually based on history or individually. More important maybe is tracking your own pattern. These are just aspects that are hormonally in play.

In posting a new photo in the Noir aesthetic, a portrait of the legend Wangchannoi, it struck me something that should have been obvious, but for some reason I never caught. There is a very real - sociological, identity laden - way in which Muay Thai fighters are aligned with the image of the Gangster. I think unconsciously using cinematic tropes that encapsulate the picture of the American Gangster, Film Noir, somehow work to braid western and Thai conceptions of manliness. In fact, this photo has some of this. Wangchannoi in particular was known for his savage, violent, but ultra cool fighting style. Seeing him here, later in life, in a Noir light, somehow embodies that in a very curious and emotive way: If you want to read more on the connection between the Nak Muay (Muay Thai fighter) and the Nakleng (gangster) in Thai culture, this article and essay is indispensable: Thai Masculinity: Positioning Nak Muay Between Monkhood and Nak Leng – Peter Vail

This "to catch a kick" idea is just a ridiculous thing. I think Kenshin promulgated it? I can't recall. First of all you do NOT want to catch kicks in Thailand, you want to check them. When you catch a kick you have lost a point. You have been scored upon. At general best you can get the point back, but you've given up a point. Yeah, there can be a sweep or whatnot, but the idea that Thais are somehow adopting really terrible punching techniques in order to catch kicks easier is flatly ridiculous. Honestly, it's just habitual poor technique that has somehow become widespread in Thailand that people are making up reasons for. Yes, Thailand has the best fighters in the world, but training protocols and knowledge of optimal technique is constantly shifting, and sometimes in certain lines of gyms it actually devolves.

Here is Sylvie using a wall to build that straight ahead, in the frame feeling. Not only on straights and cross, but elbows and hooks:

Sagat in the Muay Thai Library was the first one to really push hard at getting rid of this in Sylvie. It was a major point of his. Everything from within the frame. Sylvie would stand with her side against a wall to get the feeling right. Sagat was a pro boxer as well, and came from a boxing gym. Gyms with connections to boxing are much better at getting this right. Lots and lots of Muay Thai gyms get into bad habits with their winging punching, holding pads wide. Not only does it make punches less accurate, less consistent, I think the chicken wing also helps the opponent see the punch a hair sooner. When it come straight out of the body its very hard to see, track or gauge the speed of. I think this is a huge problem in Thailand's Muay Thai, to be honest.

I have trained very little actually, but rather have become - kind of like - Sylvie's antennae, watching as she is shaped by literally 100 krus plus. I weigh all the input and see how it impacts her, and try to find the way she can go forward. I also watch carefully the methodology of others around her, seeing where it succeeds and falls short. Maybe I'm a kind of ethnologist of Muay Thai, the (largely silent) eye who has been watching the entire time.

I think there is a lot to that. Yes, you can pick up bad habits like "dropping your hands" etc, but a little correction, and a continuous emphasis on ruup and defense, goes a long way. The Thais talk a lot about "tamachat" (be natural). When tired lots of the path of least resistance movements come out, I believe.

I've heard his theories, the one you mention, and his "you should never get sore in working out" idea. I think he, though praised endlessly in western internet media, is (intelligently) full of it. He's all about making the "coach" the fulcrum of training, and also in building up a gym's clientele. In my mind his business model has seriously shaped his "theory". It certainly is quite opposed to many things in Thailand's traditional Muay Thai.

One of the things we think about is the idea that when you train something when you are fatigued, you wear a deeper groove than if you trained it over and over again when relaxed and fresh. This is only an intuition, and could be totally wrong (Science!), but the sense is that when you are fatigued it's like heating up a metal that is to be re-worked. All the constituent parts are floating more freely, subject to change. The things you do in fatigue seem to get locked in more, more associated with stuff you'll do when stressed in a fight or in life. Some of these thinking comes from an analogy of annealing, and simulated annealing, for me. But, there is definitely a sense of deeper grooves being hard to change. When you begin creating habits you have to respect that you ALREADY have habits, even if they are just instinctual responses.

One of the best inexpensive options would be Rambaa's gym in Pattaya. He runs his gym on a tight budget, full of kids, so any western monthly payment surely would help. He has incredible spirit, teaching a beautiful, dynamic Muay Thai, he gives great pad work, and you feel like you are part of a real gym. But, there isn't a lot of western fighter focus. The last day we visited there were a few French fighters who were training with each other, and seemed to be living across from the gym in cheap rooms. It's kind of wild, wild west. I suggest taking the bus out to Pattaya and visiting the set up, and seeing if it suits you. Westerners have come and gone through the gym. Some staying for a long while, some just find it isn't their cup of tea. But during the downturn it might be a great thing to try. There are lots of smaller gyms in Pattaya you could turn to if it didn't work out. You could also try Petchrungruang which is kind of a 50/50 gym, friendly to westerners while still being part of the family style aesthetic.

Here is Sylvie's vlog on 3.0:

This isn't ridiculous at all, in fact it's something I'm trying to get Sylvie to realize to get her clinch to the next level. It's not the exact same realization, but related. One of Sylvie's biggest opponents is the ref. If in clinch you get to a stagnant position, especially for her, the ref will come and break. Upon break her actual opponent, who's game is to simply nullify the clinch, wins a very small style point...because she has reached a point of no progress for her. If Sylvie, who is usually relentlessly pursuing clinch and lock would push off, and disengage, attack, and then reengage, she would be triply hard to handle. She would be the one in control over when clinch is happening. On her terms. I write this in some sympathy because I think there are lots of habits like this, like the one you describe. If you are a clinch fighter you are supposed to be pursuing clinch at all (most) times. It feels counter intuitive to build in disengagements. But, disengagements will make you all the more exhausting as a fighter. Your opponent loses the chance to call on the ref to signal a moment of control. I don't know much about BJJ, but it sounds like a similar realization.

Just as the "art" of cinema can be said to consist of the edit, the art of fighting consists of tempo shit. Playing with Time.