Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu
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Everything posted by Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu
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Hey, I love that you posted these - it's a cool idea to have a community "workshop" on technique, to borrow a word from writers. Keep in mind that there is no one right way to kick. So here are my suggestions based on what I see from my own experience, but surely your coaches have their own rules and you as an individual will have a personal style as well. Anyway, those are the disclaimers. The foot of your standing leg is pivoting super strong, which is one style of kicking, but I'd recommend stepping out with that foot when you first initiate the kick. So, when you watch the video you should see your standing foot stepping at an angle closer to the chair. Your foot should disappear behind the chair as you're kicking. You have really well-trained arm position with your arm swing and opposite side guard. The arm that you keep up by your face (your right arm, since this is a left kick) is what you use to re-balance yourself when you return the kicking leg, first in the block and then back to starting position. So the tighter you keep that arm, the better your balance will be when pulling your kicking leg back to the block and then back to starting position. In the long run you want the floating block to be up a little higher, the same level as if you are checking a kick from your normal stance. But don't be too picky about that one, that's just an "eventually" or "ultimately" kind of goal that will take time as you get more comfortable with that floating block. Each kick looks pretty uniform to the one before it, so that's a really good sign that you have control over your movements!- 5 replies
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There are some good soy-based protein powders that you can try in order to gain muscle, but you'll have to lift weights in order to have that effect. Just drinking protein shakes doesn't build muscle. If you want to gain weight you should probably keep your carb intake up, which as a vegan means either insane amounts of vegetables or adding more grains to your diet. In terms of supplements, I've never been able to gain weight easily or consistently. I'll go up a very little bit, then drop down again. I'm heavier now than before I moved to Thailand and my "mass" is certainly more muscular. When I look at old photos I'm surprised by how much my body has changed, but I think that has more to do with my training than my diet. Anyway, the point was that the supplement Creatine helps your muscles hold on to water, thereby helping you maintain (rather than "gain") weight. So you can try that.
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I've found that I'm less sore ("less sore," not absent of soreness) when I take BCAA's regularly. I gave some of the powdered intra-workout kind to my trainer so he could try it. He had tablets that he never remembered to take but the powder he liked the flavor so he took it for about 5 days. He said he felt better, less tired he said.
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Not answering for Emma, but in terms of my experience and understanding of Thai culture, this is a very tricky and difficult thing to address. Firstly, it's an incredibly non-confrontational culture and addressing offenses directly can open up ALL KINDS of problems and misunderstandings. That doesn't mean that one can't or shouldn't call it out. What is a deeper difficulty is that the very concept of racism isn't something that can be easily expressed or even explained to a large swath of Thai society. It's not a widely recognized concept and the belief that "white is good" and "black is bad" is so pervasive that countering it is met with confusion, not comprehension.
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It's best to tell your trainer or the boss (whoever you meet to get oriented) what your goals are. They might ask, but they might not and offering that information make sure they know. I've never been to Rawai so I can't say what their orientation process is, but you basically suit up and get right to it at most gyms.
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The new promotions that are taking its place (as in, all-female and big budget cards) are keeping with the beauty aspect. On the King's Birthday this year there was lots of makeup and two of the highlight fights were made of A) a woman who is a model and posed for Thai Playboy (there's no nudity in Thai Playboy), she has now had 2 fights; and B) an airline stewardess (the guidelines for Thai air hostesses are pretty similar to pageantry) whose number of fights I have no clue of. They both fought with determination, although the fights were messy. But selling the fights through "sexy" and "pretty" and all that was the main goal. Thanks to Emma for finding these videos in the first place. Here's the Air Hostess, Porsche (red): And the model, Puifai (red): Neither of the opponents for the "pretty" fights (in Thai they call models and women whose job it is to be pretty, "Pretties") look very experienced, which is reasonable because neither are the "pretties," but the caliber of fights is certainly not in line with what World Muay Thai Angels was trying to accomplish.
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I somewhat recognize the voice but not enough to be able to help. Usually they use Carabao for everything. We call him "Thai Willie Nelson" but he's a bit more like Springsteen in terms of his working-class hero demographic.
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I like that they featured so many women from so many different places, but I wish there'd been more Thai women throughout the process. They brought in more the second time around and at different weights, which was cool.
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MB, I just saw this. On his English language page Arjan Pi posted that if you intend to have a Yant done in Bologna, you should book and appointment before it fills up. The Facebook post has a link. Take a look. I don't think you have anything at all to worry about in terms of appropriateness. An attitude of respect is all that is needed. Everything else will be explained or works itself out.
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So you mean "guard level," not keeping the arm actually against your face in guard position? That's more common - I was referring to people who actually don't move the arm at all and keep the fists both up, not extending the arm at all. That's the weird one. Keeping the arm straight in the extension rather than swinging "down" is common enough. I need to make a video of what I'm doing. I'll try to write a reminder on my arm or something to do it at the gym and post it for you :)
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Awesome! I hope you get to go meet him and get a Yant. Keep in mind that not all Yant can go below the waist - so you couldn't get a deity, for example, but most animal Yant can go on your legs. He's got lots of photos online and I recall seeing a lot of photos of women getting their thighs tattooed - really beautiful stuff.
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Never hurts to be ambidextrous, if you can find ways to challenge yourself and get good work out of switching up in training. But it's not "necessary" to switch. I fight a lot of southpaws - there are a shocking number of them in Thailand (maybe it's a normal ratio but there are just SO MANY fighters out here) - and they never seem to have a problem with me being orthodox because that's the norm, but occasionally if I switch stance they get confused because it's not what they're used to training with (generally speaking). I'm almost useless when I go southpaw and I don't do it because I'm so skilled that I can switch, I can only stay like that for a short while. There's this guy JR who is incredible. He's naturally southpaw but will fight the first two rounds orthodox, then switch in the 3rd round. It not only confuses the hell out of his opponent, but he's STRONGER than the first two rounds... even though he could kick anyone's ass in any stance at all. Master K, my first trainer, is also southpaw but learned and fought orthodox because he just copied what everyone else at his gym was doing. So he's just massively strong on his front side, which is awesome for fighting.
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That is a nice HL reel! I wish there was a "where are they now?" kind of follow-up.
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No, the organization doesn't really exist anymore. There's a new female-oriented promotion that is run by the Thai Fight people, but they've only had one event on the Queen's Birthday this year, up in the North of Thailand.
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I know a woman in NY who snuck her contacts into the ring with her. One got knocked out of her eye by a strike during the fight and she was very disoriented by having one in and one out. She asked the referee if she could just have a second to take the other one out (I assume her corner would have done this), but he didn't stop the fight for her. So, if you DO sneak them in, be aware that they might not stay in. And maybe training without them will help you feel prepared for whatever you end up doing in the fight.
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I've seen this, where the guard stays the same instead of extending the arm on the same side as the kicking leg. It kind of has an out-dated, old-thyme feel to it and no contemporary fighters do this; I've never had a trainer suggest it. Some trainers do want you to extend the arm straight out, so your hand is in the opponent's face, while others like the arm to kind of swing down to create more torque. The reason the arm extends is for power and being able to turn the hip over - it has a purpose. Stepping outside your opponent's stance in order to kick is 100% something to focus on and that's how you get power and increase your chances of actually landing the kick. If you step outside, the odds of an opponent's punch hitting you simultaneously is also reduced - so the guard would be less important. Everyone is different. For a very long time I swung my arm down, but very recently I've experimented by imitating a trainer I saw who brings the arm across his chin first and then goes straight out. I get more power like this, no doubt. So I'm keeping with it for the time being. I've since noticed a couple of the kids at my gym do this same style, but most don't. If you're comfortable keeping your arms up while kicking, go for it. But it's not "correct" enough to convince 99% of the people I've ever seen to do it, and I've never once seen a fighter using it. The only person I can remember actually advising me to do this was a drunk man who wandered into the gym, took off his shirt and started hitting the bag and looking terrible. He did have some really impressive calf-muscles though :)
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Just exhale while striking. You don't have to count, just coordinate it with your punches the same way you do with pushups or whatever. Breathe in between strikes, breathe all your air out on a strike and don't hold your breath.
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I've never heard about this need to change the mouthguard on a time-schedule, rather than just when it's clearly deteriorating. I brush mine with toothpaste and brush, occasionally will drop it in a mixture of Hydrogen Peroxide and water over night if there's blood on it from a fight. But I generally go a few years on each of my pieces. The reason I have a new one now is because I lost the other one (never made it back to me from my cornerman after a fight).
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I've fought Thanonchanok (blue) twice, the last time it was really, really close, and I really want to fight her again. Each of these fighters are a few weight classes above me, but they are quality I'm aiming at. I've been trying to book a fight with Hongkaw (red) and almost had one, but it was rained out in Hua Hin. Lots of Thai posturing and attitude in this fight, which is its own kind of battle. While Thanonchanok is not my style of fighting, and I can't believe she hasn't yet learned how to clinch, she is someone I aspire to in that when you take photos of her fighting she is an absolute poster of technique and ease. I'm a Thanonchanok fan. Thanonchanok held the WPMF 49 kg title for more than 2 years.
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Oh my god, I love Thanonchai so damn much. He's just so relentless.
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Over-worrying is totally real. There are times I feel like I can't do anything and I'm just mentally exhausted. Usually for me it's because I'm overly concerned about pleasing my trainers or I'm obsessing and stressing about "not doing well" in training; sometimes it's because assholes on the internet are being really nasty to me and even though I know I shouldn't care, I do... all kinds of things can overload your brain and then your movements aren't free and flowing. You get kind of tense all around. It's incredible how exhausting even just a little bit of tension can be when you're trying to push through hard training also. Given your workload (you have a LOT going on), I'd recommend finding dome method to clear your mind of those stresses so you can train more freely. It's like how you can't sleep if you have your mind racing. So there are methods of writing everything down before bed so you don't keep thinking about it, or doing breathing exercises, or mental imaging to clear your mind so you're not "attaching" to your thoughts... those kinds of things prior to and after training might do wonders for you. I do this when I seal the ring before fights - everything outside of the fight is outside those ropes and I don't have to think about them.
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My experience with that deeper breathing is that it also slows your breath, which helps keep your heart-rate down as well. When you're "red lining" as they call it when you panic, your breath becomes shallow and your heart-rate rockets and you can't respond to anything. So the deep breaths not only get oxygen to your muscles where it's needed, but it also helps you focus and stay relaxed... as well as you can relax while someone is trying to hit you in the face, haha. Everyone mouth-breathes as they become stressed or tired. Obviously, you get better with this as you become more comfortable and experienced, but watch ANY fight and you'll see people mouth-breathing in later rounds. Or in the UFC after 2 minutes because those guys gas like crazy. What I'm saying is it's normal to EVENTUALLY be breathing through your mouth as you fatigue and you will never totally get rid of it, so don't have unrealistic expectations. It's not being a beginner so much as being an oxygen-breathing mammal.
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I also use a youth size and it helps with the very back cutting into your mouth. I trim the back with scissors to make it fit as well. For a couple years I used an Under Armour guard that was great. The one I have now is from a local shop and I don't know the brand. It was the Fairtex shop so I could maybe assume it's their own brand but there's no label on it, which is unlike them - they put their name on everything. I put the mouthguard in boiled (not boiling; take it off the heat) water for about 40-60 seconds, lift it out with a fork and let it cool for about 10 seconds, then put it in my mouth and bring my bottom jaw forward a tiny bit before biting down. Then I suck all the water out while it's on my teeth and use my fingers to push the front against my top teeth. I grind my jaw back and forth a very little bit to create a good mold, then pop it out and stick it in a bowl of cold water for a couple minutes. Probably 1 minute is fine but I just leave it in there for a while and do other things.
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Just make whatever noise comes out of you. There's no benefit of one sound over another. There's a guy at my gym who growls, most sounds are a kind of "hae! hae!" sound. I know a young guy in Chiang Mai and two trainers down here who make a kind of "huh, huh, huh" sound that's really fast, like panting almost - it's a little scary and makes me super aggressive when I hear it. If you go on Youtube and watch videos of famous Thai fighters training (Buakaw, Sam A, Yodsanklai, et al) you'll hear them and probably people in the background as well. Those are the typical sounds of a Thai gym.
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I'm loud. I make the shhhht, shhhhht sound on the bag most of the time but in pads when I'm feeling free and powerful I'm always yelling. I didn't used to do it because I was self-conscious, but now I don't know whether I'm doing it or not. Generally, if I haven't been yelling I get more tired. The boys do all different sounds and make fun of each other for if those sounds are higher-pitched, which is how I know they pay any mind to it at all. But the padholders make sounds too. They're all ex-fighters so I don't know if it comes from that but they do it for their own pace and stamina as well. It's all in-through-the-nose, out-through-the-mouth on strikes but you can do short bursts back out through the nose while you're between strikes. Master K always told me to do that.