Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

Here's another perspective, from Chocolate who fights for Onyx MMA in Singapore: http://www.onyxmma.com/#!Sparring-Application-and-SenseMaking/c1cuh/568786e80cf20a60e3b129f9

You can see the fight here: http://dai.ly/x3pgz8f

This is slowly collapsing for me, but it's certainly not 100% and I've definitely struggled with it for a long time. But the good news is that it's all mental, which means you can work on it in a variety of different circumstances, including when you're not even at the gym. From my own experience, it's a difference in bodily interpretation of space and context between the "safety" of hitting pads and the fear of escalation in hitting during sparring or even a fight. My trainer even hits me back in padwork, but it's very much controlled - whereas in sparring you can't really control your opponent and don't know what they might do, they're not "calling for strikes," etc. On the surface they seem really different, and my body thinks they're really different. So what I've done is go through as many small steps as I can to get more comfortable with imposing myself in sparring. The fist step was imposing myself in padwork. I stand too close to my trainer, forcing him to back up in order to call a strike. When I got more comfortable with that I would throw something he didn't ask for, but that was still "safe," like a teep or knee to his bellypad or a very controlled kick to the leg. (Now I kick his legs hard and punch his face all I want; we've developed that over time and he kicks my legs freakin' hard too!) But even with all this, it was hard to bring it into sparring. I trust my padholder, but these damn kids I spar with... well, I don't know what they'll do or how controlled they are or anything like that. Even sparring with Emma, who is close to my size and has great control, we both struggled to stay close enough after strikes instead of just bouncing back out. So neither of us was really threatening the other to cause each other to bounce out, we just both did it on our own as a defense. It took me a long time to learn and really understand that space does not equal safety. But I think a lot of the real difference has come from getting used to the idea of hitting someone, that it's not going to cause this escalation that I then can't handle. And if it does cause escalation, I can meet it. I had to really realize that tapping at someone doesn't help either of us. Light and controlled is one thing but pulling shots and not even really hitting each other at all does nothing. Imagine if you're playing baseball with your friend and you throw the ball so lightly that she can't even swing the bat at it. You've got to throw hard enough for it to reach the bat and for your friend's efforts of swinging the bat to produce anything meaningful from her end, either. That's what going too light or being fearful does - it makes it so you can't even pitch the ball and she can't even swing the bat. And I think that part of it is that I am okay with being hit. I used to get upset, internally, and just rag on myself for making a "mistake" that caused me to be open for that strike. And that's clearly nonsense. Nobody can go into a fight or sparring and not get hit; even Mayweather and Saenchai who seem so "untouchable" get hit. It's a hitting game. So, making peace with the fact that when I get hit 1) I'm okay; 2) that's not a mistake; 3) I can find a way to avoid it later but right now I just need to strike back... all of that acceptance allowed me to accept that I can hit someone else, because all of those things are true for them also. I'm not sure if this is where your question is coming from, but I'm taking a guess that some of it is the same. I would go too light against people much bigger than I am, who clearly I'm not going to accidentally hurt. So my fear wasn't about hurting someone else - even if I thought it was, it wasn't really - for me. You don't have to be angry or trying to hurt someone, but you have to be okay with making them uncomfortable.

Cool! I'll bet you'll discover tons of little adjustments that will just keep it getting better. I'm really inflexible - can barely touch my toes - but I can kick over my head. There's a big difference between static stretching and then the explosive movement of kicking high, so I think technique can make these huge differences whereas the "just stretch more" advice is too one-dimensional. Very happy your kick is coming out more easily though!

I'm wincing at the thought of that pain as I read this. In college I fell while climbing out of the shower and had to get a couple stitches down there; it was horrid. While the nurse was stitching me she told me stories of the two other times she'd done stitches on the lady parts and after hearing about those I felt pretty lucky. Getting split from a knee though... *shudder*.

This is amazing. I'm interested to see how it actually pans out in application to different sport authorities and practices, but it's pretty radical!

This is a stretch that I've used for the kick, you might want to try this too:

I feel like everything I've ever gotten "good" at has been at the minor expense of something else. I never actually "solve" anything, I just rearrange the same plates on the table over and over again, if that makes sense. So, when I broke my hand my jab got much better. When my kick got more balanced I kind of stopped punching. When my guard got better my kicks weren't as long. But all that changes. It comes and goes and everything gets better over time, but nothing is ever top-notch at the same time as anything else. So I just reshift my focus and work on the next thing to balance it out. I remember Arnold Schwarzenegger saying in "Pumping Iron" that he couldn't make his chest bigger without then having to make everything else a few centimeters bigger because he's already perfectly proportionate. It's that kind of balancing act, but without believing you're already perfect. It's just making these incremental changes. But I guess all that is to say, don't give up on your kick. It went through a difficult time with the broken foot and other stuff got focus, but it'll come back around. I feel like all my progress that has really mattered in the long run has been in this neutral gear, like my balance or timing. Just a general awareness rather than a particular strike or limb or whatever. My teeps are doing really well for me right now, but I don't think it's the teep itself; I think it's the timing and comfort with throwing it. And that's from throwing thousands of shitty teeps in training, even when I wasn't thinking "man, my teeps are great." It's like it happened to me, rather than me doing anything for it.

Hi Kavi, Without seeing your kick I can only wager some guesses, but the issues I've had with my kick and how I've solved them have come from my standing leg and my arms, not the kicking leg itself. So if you're kicking with your right leg, the hip pain might be from trying to "turn over your hip" as we say in the west or "close your hip" as they say in Thai. If you're flat-footed, the hip pain may be a result of that. Try getting on your toes a bit more, whether or not you turn on that standing foot, getting on the ball of the foot should help. With the arms, keeping the opposite side from the kicking side tight to your head in guard will help your balance and then pressing your shoulder on the same side as the kicking leg as you turn will help rotate the hip without focusing at all on the actual hip. Don't lean back too much with your upper body; the turning of the shoulder should help with that a bit, too. Let me know if any of that makes a difference.

As some may know, after I published my favorable review of the Lobloo Aeroslim Female Groin Guard the company reached out to offer a 15% discount on that particular guard to any of my readers. It already was pretty reasonably priced, but this brings the price down to about $28 including free shipping anywhere in the world, so it's a pretty nice deal. Read my post on what I think about it - in short, its fantastic - and I'd love to hear feedback on it as well. The promo code on checkout is: SYLVIE-AEROSLIM You can find the Aeroslim here. It looks like this:

I know quite a few women in Phuket, one or two who have been in Samui and train there regularly. One of my friends is a serious fighter and is getting some good fights at a stadium in Samui. If you're getting advice from friends it's probably good to follow it, since they have shared experience back home with you and would know what you are and are not looking for. Every gym does not fit every person, so what is a great gym for one person may be no good for another and vice versa. Generally speaking, I advise against paying in advance. You simply don't know if a place is right for you before walking in the door and if you decide within the first week that you aren't happy but have already paid upfront, well... you're kinda screwed. Usually there are a few gyms within pretty close distance of each other (close enough that you can try them both or move if you don't like the first place you land), so while I don't think you have to go around and sample different gyms, knowing that you also don't have to stay if you don't like it.

When you come back to Thailand go to the reclining Ganesha temple in Chachoengsao and whisper your last one into the ears of the rats, who are Ganesha's minions. They remind him of your wishes and increase your chances of them being granted :)

Hi Jen, Most of the camps that I can think of off the top of my head either offer accomodation at the camp or have plenty of hotel/apartments with weekly/monthly rates that you could stay in. Generally speaking I think most dorms in the touristed camps and nearby apartments are all pretty safe. What I'd be more aware of, rather than actually worrying about it, is understanding cultural boundaries and would never let any men/boys from the gym come to my room and definitely not INTO the room. I'd make that space a really strong boundary line. In my personal experience, when you find an apartment or hotel (they're largely the same here in Thailand) that has other westerners staying there, they tend to group you together. So there will be a floor that is mostly westerners and maybe other floors that are Thai college students, etc. So long as you don't get any intuitively bad feelings about your neighbors, I'd reckon just the same safety precautions you take at home are fine.

Thank you to all of you for your support and cheers :) I'm amazed, really, as the title of "Fighter of the Year" is one I didn't ever expect to win (especially with such huge names on that list) and the second place categories are really remarkable. I owe it all to those who support me, and it means a lot that these awards are nominated and voted by such people. A million thanks!

Lommanee vs Cocopuff Round 1: Round 2: Round 3: Cocopuff's team felt that she won this fight, but when I watched it Lommanee shows why she is an expert at controlling the outcome of a fight. Makes for a great rematch (scheduled for Feb 21 - 2016). Lommanee I rank as the 2nd best fighter 48 kg and under in the world.

Here's my 20 minute interview of our Roundtable mod Emma Thomas: You can read the full article here.

I think you need to bring what you'd use in a training session. Wraps, gloves, your normal training attire, shinguards if you have them... better to have more than you need than less, I think. But send Kate a private message if you don't hear back from her here!

I think I know a few people who have trained at this gym. The first is my friend Frankie, who spent quite a bit of time down at this gym and had very good things to say about it. She never fought for them but she loved the training there. She's very talented and strong, so I'm sure she's very welcome at every gym. I also met a guy who trained there for a few weeks and loved it. He's not a fighter, was a beginner and had very positive experiences there. Another is a woman I was in correspondence with who moved from a gym she was training at up north to this gym and had some difficulty with treatment at Sitjaopho. I think the training was good but she had a hard time when she wanted to fight. There are a lot of things that go into how readily one can get a fight in Thailand: age, size, gender, experience, location (availability of opponents), etc. But it kind of seemed like the gym was uncool in their treatment of her when she made it clear she wanted to fight, which is something to consider. There's another gym down there called Por. Promin, which I know to be a friendly and good gym for both beginners and more experienced folks. Again Sitjaopho has come up with many positive experiences from those I know who trained there, but not every gym suits every person, so I throw the Por. Promin name in as another option.

Good call on the plantar fasciitis. I remember looking that up for heel pain and thinking, "God, I hope I don't have this." I think it was heel spurs for me that time.

I have this also. When I wake up in the mornings I hobble for a few minutes and my feet are incredibly sore. I have worse periods and better periods, but when I first started experiencing it I figured out that it might be coming from going up on my toes and back down to flat foot over and over again for strikes on the bag and padwork and shadow. I would notice that I was fine actually doing my padwork, but when I stopped and got down off the ring to walk flat-foot on the ground I was hobbling. I think it's stress from the Achilles Tendon - I've heard that if you wear high heels all day (or night), you're supposed to stretch your Achilles out before taking them off and walking flat-foot because you can actually snap it. I'm sure that's not common, but it means that the tendon needs a little TLC. Obviously, I'm not a doctor. But I started using a foam roller (well, my version of one) on my Achilles Tendons before and after training. You get on your knees, tops of your feet on the floor. Put the foam roller on the Achilles, behind your heels and under your calves, and slowly lower your butt weight onto the roller to apply pressure to your tendons. I do that for maybe a minute or two. And then when I would get home from the gym I roll my arches out using a rubber lacrosse ball - a tennis ball works too, but the lacrosse ball is harder/firmer. This all helps with my aching feet A LOT. Trying to keep those tendons supple will prevent further injury and should help to reduce what you're already feeling. By my experience, anyway.

I have that "poker face when sucking" goal also. Landing my hands in combination and with heaviness - stopping someone with my hands would be great. Work on my flexibility a little bit. I don't want to be doing splits or anything, but I'm losing range of motion in my shoulders and wrists and stuff, so I'd like to be more on top of that in a preventive manner.

I've only been to one seminar, a long time ago. I suspect it's like a group class where she will show you techniques or combinations and then you all practice it. Perhaps there will be a chance to interact with her? You can find clips of Sanchai seminars in NY and around the world on Youtube and his Instagram, generally him in the middle of the group with everyone circled around while he spars with attendees or shows a technique. Of course, I don't know what Tiffany's are like in particular, but most seminars seem to be one person directing a group of people wanting to learn their advice and set of skills. I've heard tales of seminars as large as 300 people in Italy with Buakaw leading movements at the front, but also some given that were really small, just a handful of people (Dekkers gave one like this at John Wayne Parr's gym). My recommendation is to bring someone with you who you can train with later, so you both see the moves and hear the advice and can keep drilling it later on. Otherwise, try to relay the techniques that you really liked to one of your training partners ASAP after the seminar so you don't forget and can keep working on it. It's a lot of information in a short amount of time and forgetting where your foot goes or how exactly something went can happen quickly. Hope you really enjoy it! And make sure you get back to us with your experience so we all know more.

And here is an edit Kevin did isolating Loma's Gold Medal victory at the IFMAs this year, to make it easier to view. https://www.facebook.com/sylviemuaythai/videos/vb.127492557284883/1116064498427679/?type=2&theater

This was a big fight this year. Peungsiam who is on the rise, fought and beat the then 100 lb World Champion Little Tiger in a largely under reported fight in Phuket: Little Tiger then went onto lose her belt to Saya Ito.

Yeah, it's close enough to your head but I mean put more of a squeeze in the arm. Like if you were trying to hold your hand on your head and someone else was trying to pull it away, how you'd squeeze to not let them pull it off. That's what I mean by "tighter." The tension in that arm will help you to re-balance yourself as you return off the kick (and as a guard if anyone tries to hit you while you're kicking). It doesn't have to be tense the whole time, but as your kick lands and you start to come back, then it should be tight.