Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

The boxing linament might help a little for a sprain, but if you can get Tiger Balm or something from crushed ginger (anything that's "warming" rather than "cooling") will be better. I know in the west everything is RICE, but even the guy who came up with that acronym was recently turned against it. STOP icing it. You want to get fresh blood circulating in the area so it can flush out the inflammation and toxins that are building up. Your body creates swelling as a way to create a natural "splint", but that restricts blood flow and you just have all this build up in the are that prevents healing - if you ice that then there's even less circulation and your body can't flush it. From my experimentation over the past few years here, it's all heat. Heat heat heat. I fill a long sock with rice and microwave that, then wrap it around my ankle, shin, wrist or whatever is injured. It shouldn't be hot enough to burn you, obviously, but more hot than "warm." Once the area is nice and warmed up, do some movements to keep your range of motion (rolling it around, stretching a bit... gently) and some light massage (which helps with circulation). Only wear an anklet when you're moving around. If you have to stand for a while or if you're training. Just times when a lot of swelling is likely to happen or when you need extra stability, but then take it off as soon as you can and apply the heat. I've noticed I heal much, much faster when I use heat.

I don't think it's fair to say they don't care about their fighters, they just don't have money. Yes, it's terrible business practice and yes it SUCKS for the fighters, but Lion Fight isn't lining their pockets with surplus while screwing over their fighters. They're struggling and trying to keep the shows going in order to recover. I won't defend them not paying their fighters, but I don't think it's because they're bad people.

Argh, bummer. You can train everything that doesn't impact the finger, so just take punches out and do everything else. When my hand was broken I threw elbows on that side instead (which still hurt the hand a little but wasn't causing greater damage to the hand, so thought it was okay; it was okay).

The Loi Krathong and Yee Ping festival will be around November 14th this year, which is an incredibly beautiful event. It's floating baskets on the river and fire balloons in the air. It's really a big deal up in the North, so try to figure out through the gym where everyone is going to be to witness and take part in the festivities. Santai should be able to accommodate both you and your friend's different levels. I've spoken with a number of people who have gone through that gym and most have been super happy and satisfied with their experiences, although from the few complaints I've heard I would just advise you to be patient. Because that gym is very technical and adheres to a single style, they will push you toward a fairly uniform method. So don't take it personally - it doesn't mean your technique is "wrong" or "bad," but they're trying to move you toward their style. I'd recommend you consider that there are TONS of techniques and ways of doing things in Muay Thai, a million different styles; so learn what they teach you and then decide whether you like this way or your old way for the long run, but it's about having options, not right and wrong. Have fun! Chiang Mai is beautiful that time of year. Some options of what to see: Hot Springs in San Kamphaeng Doi Suthep / Phu Ping Palace / Hill Tribes (don't do a "trek", just drive up and visit on your own) White Temple in Chiang Rai The "Sunday Market" in the Old City is overrated in travel suggestions, but seeing it one time for an hour or so is worthwhile, just to see what it is. But don't make a whole trip of it, unless you LOVE crowds

It's a shame that Lion Fight is struggling financially, because they're really the only full-rules Muay Thai promotion of that caliber in the US. But you also can't put on shows and ask fighters to work for you without paying them, that's bullshit. It's a lose-lose scenario.

I just came across the article through a friend. Justing Wong was at the Kongsittha Muay Thai camp that Muay Thai Guy put on last month, so it was cool to see him featured in the article. The Khmer Rouge was an incredibly scary part of history, the Boxer Rebellion in China was similarly freaky. It's nice to see re-emergence.

This is a good point! The guy who runs the company has been very cool in our communications, so I recommend that women who might need longer straps send a note along with their order - I reckon he could send longer straps if they're needed.

There are different styles now, with a "short waist" and the classic waistband that's four or more inches wide. I like the short waist style, but it wears out quicker. The waistband is always very tight when you first get them and it will stretch out as you wear them. I also roll this part down for comfort and have had to have the elastic replaced on a half-dozen pair or so. But I'm wearing them often, so they wear out quickly. $10-$30, as mentioned above, is the general range that's reasonable. If you get something custom, it will be around $30. The Nylon kind are cheaper than the "Satin" style (I don't believe it's actually satin, it's just thicker and shiny) and any kind of decal or snazz will increase the price a bit as well. Most fighters I know train in the nylon type, then have one or two nice (more expensive) shorts for fights. I like the nylon because it dries faster and is very light, but if you choose light colors with nylon it can be transparent when they're wet... so, be advised.

Infidelity is pretty normal here. It's the subject of every other song. Pi Nu used to run a Snooker club behind the gym, which is now the weight room. He said there was a Thai guy who was just always, always there playing pool and his wife was a "bar girl," which is a semi-euphemism for a prostitute. In fact, quite a few prostitutes are married; it's just a job. Anyway, this woman would hook up with western men as the kind of "girlfriend for hire" which is very common here and she would bring the western men to the Snooker club and introduce her husband as her "brother." So they'd totally interact, go to dinner, she'd go home to her husband and tell her western boyfriend she was at her "brother's house." So, it goes both ways but waaaaay more open and expected of men. So, from what I've experienced, Thai men don't hide that they're married even when pursuing other relationships. Maybe if they're trying to hook up with a western woman at the gym they might not mention it, but I can't even picture anyone asking in those kinds of situations. We can definitely talk about "sex and dating in Muay Thai gyms," on the podcast.

You should also read her posts with more swearing. Emma's real classy and cleans up her language for public consumption, but if you want the full-effect you really have to add some swearing.

You can throw elbows on the same pad you're using for the "shadow clinch." (That is absolutely a thing.) Do you have any old tires?

Is it feasible to do both? If you could get just a handful of 1-1 sessions to learn technique and then practice those techniques on your own at any kind of facility that could accommodate you, then go to the far-away gym for some sparring or occasional padwork as a workout... is that just way too complicated? I don't think that what you would be doing at an MMA gym is worthless, even if the level is pretty basic. If you can get repetition in on the things you know to be correct form and practical technique, then it's a reasonable option. Coming to Thailand with a great wealth of technical knowledge isn't, in my mind, as important as coming with a baseline of fitness that allows you to train hard while you're here and pick up as much to bring home with you as possible.

This is definitely a noted pattern among Thai women fighters. Part of it is that, as Kevin said, women don't have careers extending as late into their 20's as men do anyway. There's no "Lumpinee Champion Title" for women, so the road simply doesn't lead very far for a lot of women. So retiring or greatly slowing down in fighting at that age is not only linked to marriage, although it's not unrelated either because Thai women do marry pretty young and teen pregnancy is crazy high in Thailand as a whole. Sexual education here sucks. I reckon the culture about dating is similar to Japan. While there is much greater leniency toward boys in Thailand when it comes to being sexually active, a top-tier or even very active male fighter is discouraged from having a girlfriend because it's seen as a distraction and deleterious to his "power." As a married woman, I can't tell you how many times the more gregarious men at the gym have outright told me not to have sex with my husband before a fight, because they think it will drain my power. If a boy is struggling in the ring, looking tired, the jokes about how he's masturbating too much or it's because of a girlfriend are rampant. My own trainer was something of a playboy in his youth but he tells his 15-year-old son, "you can have a girlfriend later, but now you fight." And it's the same with 14-year-old Phetjee Jaa and her 15-year-old brother Mawin: their dad/coach said the Thai equivalent to "no fuckin' way," regarding either of them dating. Perhaps one of the reasons that the Tom/Dee relationships that Kevin mentioned are more prevalent among female fighters is that it's not seen as "real sex" between women - it's called having a "play friend" in Thai - and so it's not detrimental to training or the body and doesn't risk pregnancy; and because these relationships are largely regarded as temporary or phases, it also doesn't risk a woman's ultimate duty to become a wife and mother. So, heterosexual dating and fighting don't mix, culturally. As such, it makes sense that you have to pick one and because men can do both - because they don't have to carry a pregnancy and culturally are far less responsible for the daily care of infants and children - you'll see 20-something or older fighters with families. In the west, I do see married women who are fighting, but the most prominent of these have a spouse who is somehow involved in their training/fighting. I think even in the west, our own sexism and expectations for women and their maternal responsibilities are too far away from having loads of women fighters who are married to men who have nothing to do with the gym. I don't know if that applies to non-hetero couples.

No the same day. It burned down on Thursday evening and this ring is for Saturday and Sunday nights' shows. The weekend shows are televised and the financial penalties for not fulfilling their time-slot are crazy expensive, so they've just put the ring up in the parking lot behind the burned venue so they can meet the weekend shows. My trainer said that they'll move to Bali Hai after this weekend, which is an outdoor venue on the beachfront and they have televised events every so often: Buakaw's Superfight, One-Round Knockout, etc. However, the guy I chatted with at the gas station this morning seemed to think that Max would be renting out of a stadium in Laem Chabang until they could rebuild, which is maybe 30 minutes outside of Pattaya. I reckon my trainer is better informed, given that he has a fighter on the Max roster and knows one of the promoters, but it's possible that they just don't know yet what they will do so both stories are possibilities and neither is a firm move.

Very much in agreement with you here. When I read the headline I was pretty shocked, but when she actually started talking in the interview and said it was when she was in the medical room, literally hours after the fight, I thought, "well, of course." I've certainly never thought of killing myself after a loss, but absolutely ridiculous thoughts about having your identity ripped asunder due to something as objectively benign as a loss... I get that. Those are incredibly selfish moments after a loss, at a moment of failure. Success is shared, it's social and communal. Loss is very, very self-centering.

Yeah, I don't experience fighting as a "being glanced by death" or super "adrenaline junky" kind of thing. If put to it, I do recognize that fighting is dangerous and all kinds of terrible, life-altering or life-ending things could happen, but I think about it about as much as I think about those being facts of driving my motorbike to the gym or store every day. The difficulty I have is that there appears to be an a priori assumption that because many fighters who come out of poverty, that their fight is some kind of necessity. Absolutely a "hungry" fighter has motivations that are quite different from someone whose livelihood does not depend on the outcome of a fight. But I don't believe that the motivation to fight is singular; the "reasons" and motives behind fighting for every single person are legion. And by and large I think they are more similar between persons than they are different. I have absolutely zero interest in free diving, but I can empathize with the motivation and passion for it because it's similar enough to the core experiences of my world.

It sounds a bit to me like you're happy enough to go back to a gym you're familiar with and which is familiar with you, but are uncertain about what you might be "missing" in the possibility of choosing somewhere new. Because you've already experienced changing gyms a few times, you know what the "starting over" aspects feel like, the new disappointments along with the excitement and little growth spurts of something new and different. Because you want more instruction and direction in order to prepare yourself for the tournament, I'd recommend you go where you know you will get that. I do agree with Kevin that Sitmonchai is a great option. It's out of the way enough that you'll be very focused on training and the instruction there is really good. Kru Dam doesn't let you keep making the same error. Burklerk is a fantastic trainer, very detailed and his style is astonishingly practical, given how "flashy" it seems at times. But I don't know how much attention you get directly from him when training at his gym. There aren't rooms available at his gym but there are apartments nearby if you are able to rent a motorbike. I reckon the overall cost at his gym would be higher than at Sitmonchai, but probably similar to an Island gym like Sinbi. My gym is not heavily instructive. I've mentioned many times before how Pi Nu has a "slow cook method" of developing fighters that is basically applying consistent pressure toward the changes he wants to see, rather than a lot of stopping and correcting. (He does do that, but not as heavily as gyms that I would straight out categorize as "instruction-heavy.") As far as being inexperienced in the ring, I wouldn't give it so much thought. You've been in a ring when you're training and that's more than some people before going to these tournaments. I'd never been in a ring before my first fight at the WKA Nationals; and I'd only sparred 3 times. I didn't win, but clearly that didn't stop me ;) Don't sweat it. You get experience by doing and that's what you're fixin' to do!

I'm so happy to hear people are enjoying the first podcast! If anyone has time, we'd really appreciate a quick review/rating over at the iTunes store, as reviews and ratings can really help establish a podcast. And since we're a bit of an odd one (women talking about Muay Thai, who both happen to also be fighters), it's important for us to get a little bit of ground. You can review and/or rate here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/two-ladies-in-kingdom-woman/id1083107907

This was my most recent post on dealing with a losing streak, and how to regain confidence: Losing Confidence and Losing Streaks - Mental Solutions

Thanks for posting this. Love that you are using the forum in this way, increasing our knowledge base. And I totally loved that documentary Kevin posted above too.

You have me biting my nails reading this post; I'm very worried that your Achilles tendon is trying to snap and that's quite scary. But because you aren't worried like that and you say you've felt this kind of popping thing before, I'll trust that it's not as dire as it sounds. The rolling and compression seems like a great idea, but I might suggest you use heat treatment as well. Hot towels or come kind of hot water bottle, but they do sell disposable heat patches at most Family Mart and 7-11's in the first aid sections. Those might not fit on this area and you can't cut them to size, so not sure if that will work. My Achilles get tight sometimes and I kneel on the ground, put a 2 liter bottle or foam roller (whatever you have) on the bottom of my calves, behind the heels, and then basically sit down on the roller across the legs to create pressure. You might be able to wiggle your ankle to a position where you're getting the outside of the leg, where you said you felt some relief from rolling before. But please be careful and warm that sucker up really well before you train.

I trained at home for a long time. It can be done with great fun and success! Reflex bags are really good for timing, less awesome for combinations... hence "reflex". So work on the timing of your combos more than trying to pattern out and choreograph elaborate combos. You can tie your single Thai pad to a pillar, a tree, a sign post (or something more private than the public street) and work low kicks, put it up higher for punches and kicks, teeps, etc. Or you can punch the wall, just like you work the kick on the wall. It would be great to do sets on the wall and then do a burst on the jump rope, since using a wall is going to feel far more static than hitting a bag or doing padwork might. If you can find an old tire, shadowboxing with one foot in the tire is a great drill as well. There's not much you can do in terms of having anyone hit you back, so you just have to imagine it, like bbf3 recommended with visualization. If you're in the privacy of your own home, really let your imagination go wild. Picture an opponent or someone holding pads for you and block all that out. But go ahead and imagine winning a stadium belt, too. I wish I'd imagined stuff like that when I was safe in my own house :) It makes it more fun.

Hey Everyone, Emma and I are going to experiment with a podcast. If it's successful we'll aim for a monthly schedule, but tomorrow we're recording our debut broadcast with a "theme" of revisiting the concept of "gym hopping." At the end of every podcast we'll try to answer/cover questions sent in, so please feel free to post your questions here, email them to sylvie@8limbs.us or private message on either my FB page or Emma's FB page Also, if you have any suggestions for "themes" or topics you'd like covered, let us know. And lastly, we don't have a name for the podcast yet, so those suggestions are also welcomed and appreciated!

Thanks so much for writing up this breakdown and for the tips on note-taking and water. I think it's hard to organize so many people. Buakaw does these seminars in Italy that are so enormous that it's him on a stage doing moves and, like, hundreds of people following suit. I don't know how they do it. But this seminar sounds great, solid techniques taught and getting to ask Van Soest a question is a pretty great opportunity! Looking forward to your blog post. What's your favorite move that you learned?

A Siripong Ampaipong Playlist of 15 songs. She's called the Mother of Morlam, Kevin calls her the Patsy Cline of Thailand. https://youtu.be/tFgJ_szO4wE?list=PLKIAzkeMKlfMZv3r9wiRVV-yFc9m5kW46