Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

Yeah, I don't think Karuhat considers himself a teacher, even though he definitely takes pride in his students. I think his approach is very much like being a senior in a gym, who can raise the younger fighters up but doesn't necessarily assume a formal role. This might be a part of how modern gyms are different from back in his day though. You'd have a single superstar come out of a gym, like Karuhat, Sakmongkol, Santiennoi, etc. These guys weren't from gyms with tons of champions. But then there were a few gyms with lots of them, like Sityodthong, Nongkeepahuyut, Hapalang, just to name a few. Nowdays you have gyms that buy up ALL the stars and they all train together, pulling them out of their smaller gyms where they could be raising others up. But they do carve each other, in these "show horse stables," I guess.

Yeah, Chanon is related to both Paruhat and Paruhatlek (his father and uncle, but not sure which is which to him). It's very, very cool that these lineages are being investigated by this generation.

I'm also 35, so I don't think that's too old at all. I plan on another 10 years or more, so long as I can keep doing what I'm doing with adjustments where they're needed. But I do think that as a caveat, you just have to consider what YOU think is enough. A guy at my gym the other day asked me whether I think someone could fight, training only one session per day. I said for sure, but you'd really have to put the work in during that one session. I think you could fight with NO training, but it's about what you want out of your fights and what you want out of your training. So, if you think you're to old, probably that's going to direct your mind a lot. If you think otherwise, you can go farther.

I'm not a fan of spinning shit, but mainly because of how you're describing it as more or less the "hail Mary" of combat. It's rarely executed with balance or timing, although the times when it is... beautiful elbows can come out of it. What I like about the missed-hook-to-back-elbow that both Namkabuan and Arjan Surat have shown me is that it's resonding - quickly - to a miss. It's not spinning for the sake of spinning, it's continuing the movement when you're too deep in to reverse it. The 5 spinning backfists in a single round as an endlessly missed strike in and of itself looks about as badass to me as giving someone your back does.

It's very cool that you are connecting to and researching your family like this. The part of his name that's Jom Samingprai is like the top weretiger (like a werewolf, but a tiger), which is pretty incredible. I have some heavy hitters in my own family (Lord Byron and Bach), but they're not nearly as cool and interesting. I'll see if I can ask Dieselnoi about Sakchai. Doeselnoi isn't old enough to have known him or seen him fight, but he might have heard about him in some way.

It's interesting to me that when you talk to fighters of that era, they blame gambling. Or Karuhat blaming the lack of charisma in modern fighters, no personality to be superstars. He's a fighter, blaming fighters. And Sifu, he's a teacher blaming teachers - or a loss of teachers, really. It's interesting to me that these men are putting the blame in their own wheelhouses. When we suggested to General Tunwakom and Sirimongkol (both in their 70s) that the Golden Era displayed some very old techniques - IN THE RING - both of them said that the trainers of those fighters were too old to have really done much teaching. But, I can attest that sitting in a chair and waving a stick at a distance, you can learn a lot of technique. Sifu made a brilliant point when he suggested that the loss of Arjan - of the men with the real technical knowledge and skillset to disseminate it - had resulted in padmen replacing them as teachers. Padmen were labor; they still are, but now they're also the krus.

It's hard to gauge what the instructor's intentions were and what it means that he didn't come give you pointers as well. It's possible that he's a total jerk, it's also possible that you're taking it personally whereas it's actually just him not being mindful of how his actions might affect your experience. If you feel like he's not looking out for you or is actually intentionally trying to hurt you, take care to protect yourself.

That looks awesome!!

I love watching Sera's brain pull from both emotional experience and rational analysis as she debriefs her latest fight. I wish more fighters would do this. The emotions are raw this close to a fight, but reigning them in so that they propel you forward is just so inspiring to see. Also, follow Sera on FB. She's very cool.

Lisa... this never goes away. It changes, like you have only a moment of shame, or glimpses of shame, or rounds of shame, or you feel it like an echo... but it never fully goes away. And there are times you don't have it, when fights go great and you feel awesome, and then it appears again and your thoughts are "what the f***, I thought I was over this." It's okay. Firstly, the fact that you fought yesterday and are already trying to get over your shame is a really good sign. The thoughts and emotions are still fresh, so it's a bit raw feeling, but lots of folks try to hold on to those shitty feelings for a long, long time because they feel like they SHOULD be ashamed, even when it's time to let those feelings go. It's good to feel them for a short time, I think. They have meaning. But the feelings and the fight are not necessarily a 1+1 equation. Consider this: when you're sparring in your gym, you know everybody. You know the space. You know that you're training, even really hard sparring has a slightly different intention and emotion to it. "Doing well," or whatever you tell yourself in training is under conditions that are not as similar to a fight as we think they are. We think creating the physical conditions, like getting hit a lot, will prepare us. But the emotional unknowns are a big deal. It's incredibly hard to recreate those in familiar spaces. So the fact that you blanked in your fight is not unusual at all. The way I see it, if you hadn't put in the work and then blanked in the fight, that's shameful. Folks who don't put in the work, that's a shame. But you get to keep all the hard work you put in in the gym beforehand. Losing a fight doesn't change any of that. Kevin and I call it "shitting the bed," when a fight just goes totally the wrong direction from what you know you're capable of. If you wake up and you've shit the bed, you're embarrassed and ashamed, don't want anyone to see it are afraid they will, etc. But it doesn't mean you don't know how to control yourself. It means the conditions for that situation to take place were all in line. There's nothing wrong with you to have performed the way you did. There's nothing wrong with you to feel the way you do. But don't hold either of those as permanent states. Just wash the sheets and move on.

All of the above seems right. There's no single response that's "correct," it's about adapting. Everyone has patterns. Everyone. So if you put your guard up and wait out the first punch or two, you'll have an opening. If you lean back, make sure you then counter. Play with it.

Howdy, the gym looks like it's in the middle of a jungle, but it's actually ring off of On Nut road, which is not rural at all! It's kind of incredible. That big lake will definitely provide some mosquitoes, but in November it's much cooler and it shouldn't be a high-time for the mosquitoes to be around. The lake is also not right next to the ring, so it shouldn't be too big of an issue. The gyms that have the most mosquitoes that I've seen have been more enclosed and have standing water (like in tires, puddles, buckets, etc) right next to the gym. Attachai's is quite open. It's a very cool gym.

Here's one way to get control of your kick in kind of slow-motion before really wailing on a bag with it. It forces you to control the whole motion with your standing leg as you go and you don't hit with your foot because you have to find that range. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6MixzofZyo

Angela's turnaround of that fight was so good. Rungnapa look totally gassed. We watched these on TV and I hadn't known they were 3 round fights. I'd have liked to see the Thanonchanok vs Nanghong as a 5 rounder.

The pro debut of both Yumiko Kawano (Canada) and Janet Todd (USA) - Feb 25, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q3STpRNo8Y&

Yeah, in my first ever fight my oldest brother was sitting next to my husband, so in the recording you can hear him yelling, "Breathe! Boffus, breaaaathe!" It is still, to date, the best fight advice I've ever gotten; still holds up, still the most important part. The way you describe your alternate bouts of confidence and nervousness is totally normal and I'd even say is good. So, don't worry about switching back and forth, just make sure that when you're nervous you're letting that energy move out and through you and aren't bottling it up inside as if it should be hidden or something. The first fight is a blur but it's also an awesome ride. Critiquing your technique or strategy INSIDE the ring or even directly after is a waste - you can break it down later, a good day or more after the fight. But in the ring it's not "coach" time, it's letting your training speak for itself time. You've already done the work. Just go.

Definitely try more than one gym if you can, and try the gym you think you like more than once, on different days of the week before deciding. It's the people in the gym that make it what it is, so seeing how you fit into that or like/dislike it is important. But just look for how engaged the other students are and whether the coach is someone you like.

Thanks for this review!

It's been a few years since I lived up there, but if you eat on the "canteen" and street food end of the food scale, each dish is between 30 - 100 Baht. One plate, pretty standard fried rice or rice and some kind of meat or veg. The next step up is about 120-160 for a meal. And if you eat any kind of foreign food (Korean, Japanese, western, etc) it's expensive on that scale. Cost of a room is usually from about 4,500/month for a very basic room, to 6,000-10,000/month for a nicer and bigger option. Both of those are fully furnished, one room generally with a bathroom and a lot of places in CM don't have a kitchen but do have a balcony where you could set up a hot plate. Those monthly rates never include water and electric. Water is "per unit" and is maybe 7 Baht a month. Electric depends on whether or not you run your air con a lot. Some rooms will have a water/electric included if it's just for one month but that price is generally more than what you'd actually use. Many places have a 500 Baht fee for the internet, but maybe by now they just add that into the monthly price. A motorbike is 100-200 Baht per day or 2,000- ? per month. Some places make you leave your passport as collateral, which I don't advise. Bring a copy that you can sign and give them. Training depends on the gym, but in Chiang Mai they tend to be around 8-10,000 per month. Most don't offer meals with that. And then you just have to plan for incidentals, like entertainment, tickets if cops target you, etc. I can't tell you how many guys I've seen burn through their 3 month budget in 1 month because they end up eating western food, drinking, and going to the movies when they're bored and didn't plan for any of that. So, just be realistic and plan for it, then stick to your budget.

Both are great gyms with very different styles and strengths. Kem is more isolated, only in the sense that the "next town over" is pretty far over. Sitmonchai is also isolated in an immediate sense, but you can get to Kanchanburi pretty easily on a Sunday or whatever. That's only important in considering what it might feel like if you're not having ideal training - being able to venture out or if you might feel stuck. The kind of focus Kem has in watching his students is truly amazing and the trainers are very cool. The setting is stunning and, for some, that kind of isolation feels really good. I've had his trainers in my corner at fights and have watched them training others, as well as kicked pads with one or two, and I feel like they're just a wonderful set of men. I'm not actually helping you, but these are a few more balls to add into your decision making juggle, I guess.

Everyone at my gym trains with a cold. I try to avoid clinching and close contact when I'm sniffling, but the boys don't adjust their training at all. Just be sure to stay really hydrated and take it down a notch, work on timing or technique over trying to do conditioning.

Thanks for this review, and great insight into what one should prepare for themselves as well.

1. It's not really possible to say how many I used because each style and technique adds to over all understanding of timing, space and balance. Techniques are seen less and less like weapons (a hammer, a sword, a knife), and more like phrasing in a language. They all add to my fighting. 2. My Complete Fight Record is here. All my opponents, my decisions, etc. are there. My pro numbers are 129-57-7, 70 T/KOs as of today. 3. I've had almost zero issues with head injury. I've only been struck to the ground once in 200+ fights, and concussed only twice. 4. I use Namman Muay all the time, but never have used Tiger Balm, so I can't really say. It has a kind of warming effect.

When I started fighting, it was because I felt like I didn't really know any of the skills/techniques I was learning unless I could do them under pressure. For me, that pressure was fighting. I trained alone in a basement with my Ajarn - Master K - and he wouldn't touch me. He'd pad himself up like crazy so I could kick him but he wouldn't really hit me back. So, the first time I fought I'd only sparred, like, 3 times.. EVER. There are people who get that from their gyms, they get the pressure, the "fight experience," in training. It's not the same as fighting, no matter how realistic you try to make it, because you trust or know your training partners, it's more controlled, you're not (supposed to be) trying to really hurt or KO each other or cut each other with elbows. But it's pressure. I don't think everyone MUST fight, but there is something truly amazing about the experience that I recommend and urge everyone to experience at least once. But if you're not excited by it, then there's no "why," and without a "why" there's no drive or how or any of that. It's not age, it's not experience, it's not skill - none of those things determine whether or not you should or shouldn't fight. But not wanting to, that's reason enough.

I use Thai-Kla for my custom shorts and recently in their shop I saw a gladiator-type deal. I didn't investigate what was under it. I've also seen that style at Boon. These are both Thai companies, in Thailand, so shipping will be the main expense... but not $200... that's crazy. Due to the shipping costs, you might just want to order a few pairs at once. If you contact them, both speak English and if you send photo/image references you'll be in a position to find out what's possible.