Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

Gyms that I have heard positive things about, or which I visited and have qualities that might appeal to a certain kind of traveler/student/fighter. These are not gym reviews, just quick impressions. Sitjaopho (Hua Hin) - This is a gym in Hua Hin that is quiet popular with those looking for "technical" instruction. It has a strong Swedish connection, as well as a following with some from the East Coast (USA). I've have experienced one afternoon session here and was really impressed by the organization and work put in by everyone. Kru F is the captain of the ship and works directly with his students, sparring and padwork and clinching, and he seems to set the tone that is carried on by everyone in the space. There is a LOT of sparring (very light, very technical), padwork, shadowboxing, some students hit the bag but most didn't, and about 30 minutes of clinch (many participating, but not all), followed by group conditioning. Friendly space, dedicated students, Thai trainers and on this day all non-Thai students, but everyone on the same program from beginners to definitely-experienced fighters. Chatchai Sasakul Gym (BKK) - the former WBC world champion boxer Chatchai is highly recommended if you want to work on your boxing. Precise technician, great instructor. Probably the best boxing gym in Thailand, home of several current world champions. Private sessions are best. You can see a full private session with him here. They also have some nearby accommodation for longer-term stays as well. Dejrat Gym (BKK) - This is a hidden gem in Bangkok run by the coach of the Thai National Team, Arjan Surat. Watch our session together. It just is a very "Thai" gym, so I couldn't recommend it in a broad way, either in a cultural or instruction sense. It's no-nonsense Muay Thai that is focused on its serious Thai fighters. They have had experience with female fighters. Go here only if you want some sort of immersion, are prepared to work very hard, and be positioned in a traditional hierarchy. Not a lot of English spoken. My session with Arjan Surat: Arjan Surat 2 - His Old School Tough & Defensive Style (94 min) Burklerk's Gym (Lampang, contact here) - outstanding instruction from a Legend in sleepy and beautiful Lampang. He and his wife have opened up a brand new resort style gym in Lampang. I wrote about his original home gym here: Burklerk's Family Run Gym in Lampang. Burklerk has a beautiful, powerful style and each time I visit I learn things. Even 5 minutes with him is gold. It's a small community gym in a quiet neighborhood, but not a fighter's gym really. Go there for the time with Burklerk, but there won't be much sparring or clinching. My session with Arjan Burklerk in his original home location: Burklerk PInsinchai - Dynamic Symmetry (82 min) Keatkhamtorn Gym (Bangkok) - This gym is an authentic kai muay gym in Bangkok in that it is still very focused on growing Muay Thai stadium champions from an early age. This means that it is a great gym for small bodied westerners especially those interested in immersive clinch. Immersive clinch the way Thais learned, but be warned it takes a while.They have tons of young male fighters between 45-52 kg, and are a Muay Khao gym, which means that you'll be encouraged to develop proper clinch fighting habits. I will definitely make this my clinch gym when in Bangkok. The owner, Teerawat Chukorn is a Police Captain and very kind, and speaks English. You can contact them through their Facebook page which will respond in English. PK Saenchai Gym (Bangkok) I have never been to this ggymduring regular training at all, but it is a favorite of Westerners both who are seeking to train under a big name and those who have been in Thailand for a long while and decide to move over there for the fight opportunities and training alongside contemporary stars of Muay Thai. A head trainer is Detduang Pongsawang, who was a great fighter in the Golden Age. From what I understand it's a kind of "build a bear" method for training, so you can decide how much or how little you want to do by speaking with the manager and he works it all out for you. He sounds very personable and his English is very good.

So here is an informal list of gyms I'd generally recommend, and a short synopsis why. These are maybe one-month-stay recommendations. These are not reviews, just quick overall impressions. Keep in mind, I don't really spend a lot of time in gyms during regular training hours, and I'm not drawn to mega-gyms with lots of trainers, students and new facilities. I just get asked this question a lot so this is my best answer on my experiences, and sometimes from feedback I've heard from people I've sent there. If you have a question you can post it on this thread, or create a new thread in this Topic. I've included links to filmed sessions with some of the krus that head these gyms, I'd strongly recommend watching them to get a sense of the gym and the teaching style. [updated March, 2022] Sit Kru Thailand (Chiang Mai - contact here) Thailand Pinsinchai is a late- Golden Age fighter, so well rounded in beautiful technique, powerful striking, and a great teacher. He was originally part of the Santai krus, so he has experience with western fighters, but has opened his own gym in Chiang Mai. Importantly, he trains his own son as a fighter, and a handful of young (teenage) fighters who are frequently on Channel 7 and Petchyindee shows. The reason this is important is that gyms can have a sweet spot they hit when a Thai team is being built, which makes them very full of focus. Kru Thailand streams training often, you can find video of it here. The gym is on the premises of a resort, so you have a room right there if you wish. The facilities are nice but not fancy, but mainly Thailand is just an excellent teacher and a funny and sincere man. You can see how great Kru Thailand is as a teacher in my hour long Muay Thai Library sessions with him. Session 1 all about technique, Session 2 on clinch Jor. Apichat Muay Thai Gym - Singburi with Kru Diesel (Singburi) Famed Kru Diesel is the big draw of this gym, his best known for having brought up two Muay Khao superstars at F. A. Group (Petchboonchu and Yothin) but he has moved to be the head trainer of his own gym up in Singburi. Kru Diesel is a mastermind for the Muay Khao style, an amazing padman and a truly great teacher. For Muay Khao, this is a top option. Importantly, this is a legendary kru involved in building a legit Thai fight team, who also has lots of experience of training western fighters as well. These kinds of sweet spot gyms that are authentically Thai, but also understand western needs are rare. This session was filmed at FA Group, but you'll get a strong sense of Kru Diesel's teaching: Kru Diesel F.A. Group - The Art of Knees (84 min). A new session is coming to the Library that I've filmed at Fight House in Singburi. Follow Kru Diesel Facebook, he live streams a lot. Manop's Gym (Chiang Mai) - For those that want a gym that is a bit more personal in their training Manop's gym in Chiang Mai is definitely something to check out. Manop is famously known as Saenchai's Yokkao trainer, and he's left Yokkao now to start his own life in Chiang Mai. He is incredibly perceptive as a teacher, very, very technical. I'm not sure I've run into a more precise and intuitive teacher of technique, a man with a gentle spirit as well. He also works really well with young western fighters. The gym is in a quiet neighborhood outside of the city, and seems like a great opportunity learn and train hard. If you check the threads of this forum you will find some very positive, thorough reviews of the gym a solid year or more into its foundation. Also it would seem very women-friendly, as Kru Manop raised his daughter Faa to become a fighter and Somrasmee (first Rajadamnern woman champion) trains there. LGBTQ+ students have found the gym to be welcoming as well. You can see Kru Manop's teaching style in my Library sessions with him: The Art of the Teep (90 min), Session 2 - The Art of the Sweep (57 min) We did this quick video edit of the gym in 2020 if you want to take a look Sor. Klinmee (Pattaya) - Tappaya Sit Or was Rajadamnern Champion at 135 lbs and was a loved Channel 7 (Kiatpetch Promotion) fighter, facing many top names of his time. He was born and raised in Pattaya, so is a foundational presence in the Muay Thai scene here, which is a much more established region than most realize (most folks think of Bangkok and Isaan). This gym is small but spacious and has produced a great number of fighters over the couple decades since it opened. Tappaya raised all 3 of his kids as fighters (his youngest son still fights), as well as well-known members of his giant Muay Thai family (Sudsakorn, Sinsamut). His nephew has a gym right up the street (Rambaa) and, while Tappaya can come off a little guarded at first, he's a charming and funny man, in addition to being a fantastic and experienced padholder. At the time I'm writing this, the gym still has 5 teenaged to young 20's Thai fighters, but most appear after school lets out, so it's a pretty quiet gym. There's not much sparring to speak of and most of the bagwork is just drills, but the padwork is good and their students are good clinchers. The people I'd recommend this gym to are those who already know how to train themselves without a lot of hand-holding (like me, I do my own bagwork, shadow, and conditioning without needing to be told or it coinciding with anyone else doing it), or people who are interested in an intimate version of training. It basically feels like a private class with Tappaya when he holds pads (the rounds are long and timed by your padman occasionally looking at a clock on the wall, not a timer... so I think they're 4 minutes with 1 minute rest, but it varies) and he's a great teacher if you make it clear you are interested in instruction. His Thai fighters range from 52 kg to 67 kg. #122 Tappaya Sit Or. - Muay Khao Strength In Femeu (82 min) watch it here Tappaya is arguably Pattaya's most successful local hero (excluding Samart and Kongtoranee, neither of whom were born in Pattaya but trained at Sityodtong), as he was a Channel 7 fighter, as well as holding the 135 lb Rajadamnern title for 3 years (1997-2000), and a WMC champion. Tappaya was a Femeu fighter himself, but he trains his fighters in more of a Muay Khao ethic, to be very strong and very adroit in clinching. Contact them on FB: Sor Klinmee Baan Rambaa (Pattaya) - Rambaa is the nephew to Tappaya, and at Rambaa's gym you'll find more of the Klinmee family as trainers. Rambaa's gym is full of little kids, who train sincerely, even though not all of them fight. He has two young-20s Thai fighters, who fight on ONE and Bangkok Stadium shows. Rambaa walks around with a stick, mostly corralling the kids, but he also engages with training as a padman or supervisor. His fighters are known for their resilience, it's a hard-working and hard-hitting style, but he does give importance to technique and has visiting Legends every so often on Sundays to help advise his fighters. With Rambaa and Tappaya just 100 meters from each other, you could very easily treat the two gyms as circuit (although you'd have to pay both, as they're separate businesses). Although Rambaa is a traditional gym in the sense of it being a community space, full of kids, and he places importance on traditional technique, it's also modern to the degree that there's a cage (Rambaa was Thailand's first MMA World Champion), sometimes grappling training, and a large flat-screen TV that plays fights from Entertainment Muay Thai promotions and UFC while the kids train. #86 Rambaa Somdet M16 3 - The Art of the Stinging Attack (67 min) watch it here Contact on FB: Baan Rambaa Silk Muay Thai and Kitchen (Pattaya) - this gym was founded by a former student of Tappaya Sor. Klinmee. Daniel learned in a traditional pedagogy of Thai style gym and he's made a concerted effort to honor and maintain the "Thainess" of training in Thailand, while also having a very comfortable, familiar style of training for westerners. His current gym is on the edge of a lake, which lends for beautiful runs and a nice breeze coming through the open side of the space, nice equipment and spacious training room. He is building a new location, so the set up will change from what I'm describing about the lake, but the new space is meant to be bigger and I've driven past the site and it's still a lovely, out-of-the-way area. It's about 20 minutes from Pattaya Beach, so you're close enough to the city that you would never lack for anything or feel isolated, but it's far enough that it's a quiet and beautiful area. Daneil works with his students, holding pads, clinching and sparring with them himself. He has Thai trainers who have been through a few of Pattaya's other gyms (this is common, but it's also great in that they all have a community relationship among them), he has a small number of Thai fighters, and a large group of western students with a variety of motivations. He is connected to the fight promotions both local and in Bangkok, so it is a fighter's gym. Find them on FB: Silk Muay Thai Gyms I Haven't Been To in While But Probably Still Recommended Kem Muaythai Gym - clinch heavy, gorgeous mountain location, run by a great fighter in Kem, access to Isaan festival cards. Kem's Muay Thai gym may be one of the best in Thailand, high up on a mountain near Khorat. I call it the Shaolin Experience. Big beautiful resort like grounds, grueling training sessions, at times lots of active fighters. The connection to Isaan fighting is very special, there is nothing quite like festival fighting. It's one of the best experiences you'll have as a fighter. I wrote about the gym a few years ago here: Kem Muaythai Gym: Hardcore, Beautiful, Clinch Gym - You can see Kem's teaching style in the Muay Thai Library: Session 1: Building a System (52 min), Session 2: Mastering Everything In Between (80 min) Hongthong Gym (Chiang Mai - contact here) - My private with Joe Hongthong was absolutely wonderful. He thinks creatively about the fighter I am, and then about how to enhance that. They've had successful women fighting out of their gym, and from personal experience I'd say that if you are a Muay Khao fighter Joe would make a wonderful teacher. The gym is very connected to the local Chiang Mai fight scene, and to Bangkok fight opportunities and is very fighter-oriented. mid-sized western fighters seem like they've had success training and fighting out of this gym. Watch Joe's training style: Developing the Muay Khao Style | 87 Minutes - Joe Hongthong - Chiang Mai Please post all gym recommendation questions you have for me here on this thread, or start your own thread. That way the conversation can develop and benefit others too! (This list and its descriptions will be revised over time)

I'd say that it's BOTH awful and also not as bad as you think. The reason it's both is that when it bothers you, it's really bad and seems like it lasts forever; but there are long stretches in any given day when you don't notice it at all. The times it was bad for me was when I went out running. Some folks try to run in a particle mask and some of the older folks (westerners) in Chiang Mai will wear the particle masks all the time when driving around on their motorbikes. I don't think that's necessary, but I'm also not asthmatic or 70 years old, so maybe for them it is necessary. During training I didn't notice it too much, most gyms have a semi-enclosed area where the ring is and unless there's a wind blowing the smoke in it doesn't tend to permeate those areas. And 90% of your time is spent indoors, in your room, anyway. You won't notice it there. I was at Lanna, which is right at the foot of the mountain so the smoke would sometimes get kind of caught in the basin of the valley and not move much, which sucked. But Hongthong is farther out in a flatter area, so probably the smoke is less stagnant there. But I never was out in that direction during burning season so I'm not sure. The shortest version of this complicated answer is this: burning season sucks. But it's not bad enough to keep people from training and visiting Chiang Mai during that time, it's just annoying and "not ideal."

I was just telling my dad in an email what a shame it is that in fighting sports people are allowed so few "mistakes." The undefeated fighter in the West is a crazy phenomenon, in the sense that fans have such a fascination for it. Rousey has two losses, but out of 14 fights. Fourteen fucking fights. How can you be a master of anything you've only done 14 times? As a Judoka she has, what?, hundreds of matches? The comparison isn't even a comparison. I'm closing out 2016 with 169 fights and I'm just barely inching into being "good." Kevin always reminds me that wins make you look better than you are and losses make you look worse than you are. I just hope that Nunes gets the challenges and accolades she is due; I also hope that we don't forget what a hero Rousey has been for ushering in women to the UFC... even if she didn't do it perfectly, even if it's still heavily flawed, even if she was a dick to so many other women in the process. I don't want perfect, I want persistence. I reckon she'll retire off of this, but the main focus now is keeping that fire alight for more women and more divisions to gain traction.

Along with what Kevin and Iwanttogotothailand have already said, people don't like losing money so if a promoter is keen to put you in the ring with someone with more experience than you, it's because they think it's a competitive match up. It's highly unlikely you'll be facing someone with size and experience on you, as gamblers and match-makers tend to balance those things out for gambling purposes. Don't over-think it. You're not going to get your head knocked off. When I was in Chiang Mai before there was a promoter who just loved that I could beat fighters so much bigger than myself, so he just kept giving me bigger and bigger opponents. It was scary. It seemed ridiculous and I wasn't ready for it. I never got badly hurt. Now he's one of my favorite promoters because now I'm more confident in facing these huge opponents, whereas before I just wasn't ready. But again, I grew into it and I never got hurt. So I understand your fear, I understand that you feel like you want people at your same level... but sometimes people with your same experience isn't a fair fight; sometimes it's more fair to give you someone who makes for a challenge. If you're just scared keep in mind that your fear is toward something that hasn't actually happened. It's imaginary. But if you feel like they're taking advantage of you, then trust your intuition and tell them no.

This was a really good 3 round performance by Stam. Stam in blue, as a child was filmed in the documentary Buffalo Girls, vs Sao Khon Kaen (red), who I've fought.

Howdy, I have never trained at this gym but the landlord of my apartment building - who also trains MMA - has trained there for many months now and has spoken highly of it. Usually gyms which feature women heavily in their social media are popular with middle-class women who take Muay Thai for fitness, which is actually very good in terms of being friendly to women. But it might mean it's not heavy on technique or correction. In that case, however, you can always ask for more correction. Usually trainers are happy to help.

I don't know how I feel about this either. It's also interesting timing due to the presidential election we've just been dragged through, the same sentiment of "we want a woman, but not this woman," albeit on the opposite end of the spectrum in terms of what's "wrong" with her. Women just can't fucking win. And I don't know that having Wonder Woman, as she is depicted, will translate well across cultures as the UN would hope for. There are zero comic book women I can think of who aren't of this same ilk - maybe Ghost World? - so choosing a comic heroin is kind of a non-starter to begin with. It's just weird, from the suggestion to the rejection, the whole thing is weird. Can't we have Serena Williams?

I keep coming across this brilliant reminder that confidence isn't a feeling, it's an action. Just now I found this video and I think it's great, I'll be trying it out in the next days (and longer if I like it). I like to imitate my favorite fighter's swagger, so I'm kind of already doing this, but doing it mindfully is even better.

I think it's a clever plan to think of fights as the same as sparring, but you can't decide that when you're already at the venue getting ready to fight. You have to make that decision in training, when you're sparring you have to think of it as the same as a fight so that it's the same thought when you think "it's the same as sparring." You have to practice being comfortable with the "no pressure" approach to the fight, it's not a plan you decide on when you're already in an unfamiliar setting. You train it when it's familiar, you MAKE IT familiar by keeping it in mind often, when you're training and when you're just thinking about the fight at home. You can also reverse the thought and think that training is like a fight, so you have to picture fight scenarios at all of your training sessions. Picture the unfamiliar venue when you're changing into your shorts. Picture your coach wrapping your hands when you're wrapping your own hands; ask someone else to put your gloves on for you just to practice. During sparring, ask your coach to give you a few points between rounds, or get a teammate to do it. Anything, all these small things that you don't normally do in training but are so much a part of fights, bring them to your training to make it more similar. You'd be astounded what a tiny thing that seems insignificant can do to your comfort. I hate being looked at, so I had to start mentally practicing being stared at before a fight to get myself less shaken up about it. It really sucks to get a bad stoppage call from a referee. The fact is they don't know you and so they make calls based on whatever they think they're looking at. It just feels really shitty and I'm sorry you experienced it. I've been stopped for cuts that weren't a problem, but I never wanted it to happen again so I started training how to look like I wanted to keep fighting. The doctor's call is out of my control, but how well I can try to convince him is in my control, so I work on the part I can have control of. You can't change the referee's call, so if you want to focus on something work with your coach on how to look like you're gonna bust out of a flurry at any second. It's especially hard for us smaller fighters. Referees get really protective of small bodied women.

Thanks so much for this interview, Charlie. Is the window for college entrance exams one that closes and never reopens? Or does she just have to wait another year?

Sounds normal to me. My peaks are much shorter because my "fight camps" are much shorter, but the "I feel great, I could smash anyone in the world right now" that's just a little too far away from the fight, followed by feeling drained and ready to crack is very common for me. If you taper for your fight, you can be assured that the rest before your fight is enough to recover from any physical fatigue. So really I think it's a matter of working on your mentality and being able to cope with the fatigue in a way that still feels like you're driving toward the fight, rather than feeling overwhelmed by it. Believe in your training.

As westerners, we sweat a lot more than the Thais we train with, so this is a particularly annoying for us and not something that we can watch the Thais to figure out how to deal with. Mopping up the slippery mats is one option, you can towel off a bag, in the ring anything with a decal is just the worst (and the corners get all slippery from people going to the corner anyway). I feel you on this. While this isn't a cure-all, pouring some Redbull or any sugary soda on the ground and stepping in it to make your feet tacky is one option. Short-term solution, but it works. Good luck and please share any ideas that you find work for you!

WBC International Flyweight Belt Amy Pirnie vs Barbera Bontempi Live streamed on Facebook. I think Flyweight is 112 lbs.

Being stationary in front of a bag is something that just takes time and experience to get around. Obviously making concerted efforts will make changes occur more consistently than just letting time move you along, but don't rush it. The "how much weight" question falls into the same trap of "everybody is different." As a rule I'd say you should not be able to pull your back foot off the ground with how much weight you have on the front one, but probably there are schools of thought that disagree with that. My advice is to watch fighters you either already identify with stylistically or who you want to be like stylistically, make an estimate on how much of their weight is moving and try to imitate it in the mirror to figure it out. My own personal advice is the forsake all other aspects in the interest of balance. Power and speed don't mean anything if you're off-balance, so the correct distribution of weight is the one that delivers the most power and speed without affecting balance.

I've only ever been instructed to transfer weight during a right cross, although some teachers seem to emphasize the hip rotation more than actually getting more weight on that front leg. Jack Dempsey steps forward and almost "stumbles" with how much he drives into that front leg, but it's quick so unless someone were kicking your leg at that exact moment your weight is back off of it pretty fast... and Dempsey didn't do Muay Thai, so leg kicks weren't an issue. Karuhat and Namkabuan (my favorite danger duo) both have a really fast, loose (relaxed) right cross that is almost like you're being pulled by the right fist. You carry all your weight forward at once, like a lunge or like in fencing, rather than stepping. Oh... their punches are amazing. And then I've been taught by Neung and Chatchai, both of whom had boxing careers, that the right cross comes out long, with a big step and weight transfer forward and the head moving off-center as well.

How has she adjusted her goals due to her injury? Is she still training and what adjustments has she made in that realm? She expressed desire to fight against opposition from all over the world; was that in the interest of visiting other countries through Muay Thai or is there an interest in the variety of how different countries perform Muay Thai? Is she coming back to Thailand for a stint in training anytime soon? Where will she train?

Candy Wu Ray's Muay Thai Gym vs Fah Yokkao - Hong Kong This is my article on the fight as well: The Coming Out Party: Fah Yokkao vs Candy Wu Ray’s Muaythai Gym

I feel you. I'm smaller than 80% of my opponents in fights also. When I spar with these bigger guys I used to get really frustrated because I felt like I should do better, that I can't do anything I want to do, etc. Then I sparred someone smaller, which I'd never done before. A kid who is maybe 7-8 kg smaller than I am, which is a size difference I'm usually facing as the smaller person. Suddenly I could do anything I wanted to do. It opened my eyes to the fact that I hadn't been giving myself credit for the challenge of facing bigger people. And as the bigger person in that sparring session, I certainly didn't look down on my partner and think, "wow, he sucks," the way I was thinking about myself when I can't do what I want to do. So, give yourself credit. It will be less frustrating. And go after the body. All my body-shot practice is against the huge ones at my gym because trying to hit their heads is like trying to dunk a basketball.

There are no fights with shinguards in Thailand unless you do those Pro-Am tournaments like the IFMA. Conditioning just comes from kicking a lot. Kick pads, kick the bag, repeat. They will get banged up in fights, but you don't really feel it in the fight. You feel it afterward and you can treat them afterward, they'll get stronger over time - but in a fight you don't feel it. Don't mess with "conditioning tricks" like rubbing sticks or bottles on your shins, that stuff is stupid. Just kick, kick, kick, kick.

https://eroshare.com/k07csbaz Iman Barlow vs Jeri Sitzes - FULL FIGHT - (Lion Fight 31) - (2016.09.02) - /r/WMMA (via Kristen)

Lion Fight 31. Antonina Shevchenko VS Paola Cappucci. Lion Fight Lightweight Title fight. 2.09.2016 Jorina Baars Defends the Belt Once Again at Lion Fight 31

2016 Destiny Six Muay Thai Fight 11 Sam Brown vs Yolanda Schmidt WBC Title fight. Sydney's Female Fighter Yolanda Springbok Schmidt Vs Brisbane's Best, Sam Nanu Brown.

I just fought two fights in two nights, then drove 7 hours back down to Pattaya with very little sleep and not really eating properly for the three days I was traveling. The fights make me sore and you I have some dings, but the traveling and eating and sleeping really is what makes me tired. I don't really take pain-killers. We have Ibuprofin in the house but I'm sore all the time, so I don't take it for soreness as I would be eating them all the time. Instead I rely on this post-fight medicine that Thai fighters swear by, "yaa nam la damphon," which is essentially a laxative but it flushes out your whole system and makes you heal up from bruises and soreness much faster. I took the medicine upon arriving back home last night and a little more this morning when I woke up, just to really flush out my body. The way laxatives work, however, is to pull water from out of your body to your intestine, so it's really important to drink a lot of water when you take this medicine, so you don't get dehydrated. My weight dropped down from the travel, fighting and not really eating much (or training), so I'm recovering with some salt (the salmon is quite salty), quality protein and some easily digestible carbs of honeydew melon and a tortilla. You can put your body through a lot. Being tired and sore is okay, just make sure that you take care of yourself when you're asking a lot of your body - my trainer at Lanna, Den, used to always say, "eat good, sleep good." That's really the whole of it, other than drinking a lot of water also.

Relaxing is 99% how you breathe. When I get tense or feel like I'm gassing, I can always focus on my breathing and realize I was holding my breath. Kevin taught me a technique he read about in a combat (like, military) training book and it's very simple, brings your heartrate under control in about 16 seconds: inhale 4 beats, hold that breath 4 beats, exhale 4 beats, hold that for 4 beats... repeat. If you find yourself feeling too tense in the ring, get out of your mind. When you drive a car, you're not all tense right? When you first start, yes, very nervous and looking around at everything and timid. But after a while you can sing to the radio at the top of your lungs and sip from your coffee cup while driving and you don't really think about it, but you're still aware of everything. If you don't drive, picture walking. You probably walk pretty well. That's what you need to compare your sparring relaxation to. It's not like, wow, I'm so relaxed I could take a nap. It's more like you're not overly focused on the mechanics. So, sing a song in your head; sing it out loud if you dare. Narrow down what you're thinking about and decide you only have to try kicking, or every time your opponent punches you're going to kick their leg. Simplify. When you're relaxed, you're not thinking 100 things, you're thinking a few things. Think about what you want for dinner, make a shopping list. I'm not saying "check out," you're still paying attention to what you're doing, but you need to flatten out the focus in the same way you do when you're driving or walking... not like, "where does my foot go?"