Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu

Welcome to the Forum and Welcome back to Muay Thai! See you in the threads

I watch my trainers let someone be "wrong" for a really, really long time with no correction. Then they'll make a small correction, enforce it, and then let it go. Kevin's reference to the Inner Game of Tennis is really good because it's about the learning process, and correction, critique, and commentating really don't help that at all. Very often, people are already over-thinking and not feeling, so over-verbalizing is counter-productive. But in terms of where the line is, to me the most important aspect was raised by LengLeng: did this person ask? If you offer a small point, unsolicited, did they then ask for more?

I don't mean to imply that ALL of Muay Thai is not aggressive. The point I try to make is that aggressiveness is not in and of itself a positive quality, but dominance always is. Sometimes that looks aggressive. Dieselnoi was aggressive; violent, even. I love him. Rotdang is fun to watch, he's very "aggressive," but also unaffected when he's hit back. Kevin and I used to follow the UFC, we don't anymore. The fights just aren't as good, as far as my eyes go nowdays. That's fine, it's just not interesting to me anymore. Even when I was watching it pretty regularly, the problem with MMA in general to me was the caliber of knowledge from each fighter was pretty low. It's like being able to ask where the bathroom is in 5 different languages, but can't hold a conversation in any of them. But there are some fighters who had depth of knowledge in one martial art, like Lyoto Machida. He was interesting to watch. Rousey, before she tried to become more "well rounded" with shitty boxing, she was interesting to watch as Judo player against very different skills.

As an American you can get a 6 month Tourist Visa (as of my fingers typing this; immigration stuff changes ALL THE TIME) before coming. I'd advise that. We have a thread on gym recommendations and reviews. If you're willing to go outside of Bangkok a bit I'd recommend checking out Sasakul Gym, Samart's Gym, getting a private with Sagat at 13 Coins (best private in Thailand); Chiang Mai is all pretty close together so you can see a few gyms in a period of a few days.

This is such a hard pill to swallow, but you are so right that when people say "I train 3 hours a day" that's not super accurate. I'm lazier than I think I am, too. But the honest answer is also what you get to next, which is that the amount of time required is just whatever gets you fight ready, mentally to the point where you know you did the work. I don't know that an "x" number of miles works for everyone, or "y" number of sparring rounds. I've fought with zero clinching and sparring (due to stitches or whatever), or with daily clinching/sparring leading up. I'm an anomaly in terms of how often I get to fight, but not in what those training methods' purposes are. They're to make you ready. And to me "ready" is a state of mind more than anything. If someone walked into my gym and said, "Sylvie, put me on a program to get me ready for a fight," I'd just make sure that the rounds of pads and on the bag are at least 1 minute longer than the rounds of the actual fight. So, 2 minute rounds in a fight = 3 minutes or more for each round in training. 3 minute rounds in a fight = 4 minutes in training, etc. And more rounds than the fight will be. So, if it's a 3 round fight, do 5 rounds on the bag and on pads. If it's a 5 round fight do 6-7 on pads and the bag. Although, padwork is largely up to your trainer, so you might have to do whatever they say and then get your extra time/rounds on the bag. Shadow a lot to get the feeling of movement and timing. I'd tell this person to run every morning (mileage doesn't matter, as long as it's pushing you to do it every day). Situps, knees, pushups, pullups, and teeps.

Usually the parents or grandparents and really early on. Babies have them and keep them. Tons of people called "ouan" (meaning fat) aren't fat anymore, but were as babies.

I call him Pi Ken (Kaensak), as his play name is Ken. Arjan is very respectful, but given how he talks on Facebook you'd be the only person ever doing that. Kru is respectful and not too formal. But just ask him how he wants to be called. That's the 100% best way to know. As for people's given names, you might never know them. Play names are what's used almost all the time.

It's a great thing to get used to if you AND your partner have good control. There's not a lot of shin-to-shin contact without shinguards in Thailand. Trainers and folks sparring will kind of use the bottom of their foot to "kick" on the leg, if it's blocked, rather than go shin to shin. But kicking the arms, legs, and sides of the body with control and bare shins is totally fun and much more realistic to what kicks will feel like in a fight that doesn't have pads. You'll often see one pair of shinguards split between 2 people, so your blocking leg has a guard and your kicking leg doesn't, but in a same-stance pair it's the opposite, so their blocking leg also has a guard and their kicking leg doesn't.

Kevin and I think of you often and you come up in conversation. I didn't realize you had this struggle, but knowing now makes me feel more connected - and in the most positive way possible, more responsible for the decisions I make. I'm glad to know you, even from afar, even in such a sliver.

Gravel is good. My first trainer, Master K, used gardening gravel in his heavy bags and that worked great. As for shadow, it's awkward and limited and weird for a long time and then it just suddenly isn't anymore. It's like learning a language. At first you can only ask for the bathroom and say you are enjoying your food, over and over again. But gradually you start thinking, understanding, asking questions, etc. Just give it time. If you want to watch some fights and steal a few moves that you can throw in, that's going to be interesting, but it won't be "better" for you than just moving and letting the weapons come out of your own rhythm and flow. Better than coming up with "moves" or "combinations" for variety, is to get better at picturing an opponent and throwing weapons in response to whatever you're visualizing there. That's a much more useful skill.

Most people are called by their nicknames, or "play" name. School kids call their teachers by "Kru" and then the play name. "Real" names are very rarely used. Nobody calls anybody by their real name unless it's a legal document or something like the IFMA where you have to register with your legal name. For fighters, they're called by their fight name by fans and when being referred to as that fighter, but if someone knows them even as an acquaintance it's the play name. So, Dieselnoi will refer to Karuhat in the 3rd person but call him by his play name to his face or if he's talking to me, because I know him personally also. I occasionally call Dieselnoi by his play name, but mostly I use "Ajarn Dieselnoi" as a sign of respect, but Ajarn + his play name works just as well. "Pi" is an older sibling, so it's appropriate if you are semi-familiar or familiar with someone who is your age or older. Pi Nu is "Pi" plus the play name (which in his case is just a shortening of his real name, like how westerners have nicknames that are just shorter versions of given-names, whereas many play names are completely different from given names. Example is Pi Nu's son: real name: Titee, play name: Bank, fight name: Tongchai) Dieselnoi is too much older than me for me to call him "Pi" unless I kind of forget. It's appropriate to call him "Lung", which is like an uncle, but "Arjan" feels more respectful to me. Karuhat is also old enough that I could call him "Lung Sian," but he'd be offended by that, like I was calling him old, so even though the age difference makes that appropriate, I use "Pi" for his ego, hahaha.

If you want a location like Kem's, the price will be like Kem's. The accommodation and meals are included because it's so isolated, so it will be hard to find a cheaper version. As for Burning Season, it's pretty awful. Yes, gyms still train and run, but some who can afford it and have the desire to do so skip the season all together and there's a bit of an "exodus" from Chiang Mai at that time. I stayed and trained completely as per usual in the 2+ years I was there (so, probably 3 Burning Seasons), so I wouldn't personally consider it to be debilitating. My husband doesn't remember it as being particularly bad, for what that's worth.

Hi, welcome to the community! For hip flexibility I have this recommendation: However, I suspect it's less to do with flexibility in a general sense, but that your back foot isn't at the same width/position that your lead foot is when you throw the kick. When we switch our stance or do things opposite from our dominant side, we often don't position the body with symmetry. See where you put your lead foot in relation to your shoulder and hips, then see if it's the same on the other side. Likely, you're too narrow. Learning Femeu style is 99% moving and feeling. This means lots and lots of shadowboxing and sparring. Experimenting, messing with your partners, seeing if you can trick and fool them, etc. Far more an "imitation game" of watching your favorite fighter and then impersonating them than it is a combination or set of particular "moves" to make you evasive. You can steal the techniques, but you have to just do them and do them forever until they look natural. In the library, Namsaknoi, Karuhat, Silapathai, Attachai are all good for learning some of these techniques.

Shadowboxing. Lots and lots and lots of shadowboxing. That's what Yodkhunpon always tells me. You train the muscle memory of lower body working with the upperbody and landing off of kicks into upperbody techniques, etc. It's like dancing, but practicing the transitions between the upper and lower body as a way to create balance. If you go against a sparring partner who is pretty good at combining their punches and kicks, literally copy everything they do, strike for strike, for a couple of rounds. It's like the "repeat after me" game of learning a language in school. Worth a try.

Sagat and Coban are definitely not Femeu fighters. They're both punchers "Muay Mat". It's funny, talking to Golden Age fighters, they all say that fighters used to be more rounded back in the day. They were specialists, but they also had way more weapons at their disposal in order to fight any other kind of style. But you talk to contemporary fighters and they say the old fogies were all "too specialized" and nowdays everyone is more well-rounded. I tend to agree with the older generation, in that theri styles were more distinct but their vocabulary in arsenal was flexible. Contemporary Muay Thai is more "Jack of all trades but master of none," kind of deal.

Teep always works nicely against "short range" and short stature opponents. I'm a shorty and I feckin' hate the teep. It also sets up for almost anything else, like the jab does. But, honestly your approach to this opponent in your fight was very good anyway. She landed some heavy punches that could have been complicated by a teep, but a good guard is just as good.

I'm hoping someone can direct you to some resources here. It's amazing how few resources we have in English, on tons of topics and elements of Muay Thai. It's one of the reasons I've tried to write and share as much as I do, because the library of information is just so limited. Good luck!

Ah! That's cool that Jomkwan's corner helped you get ready. I arrived during her teammates fight, which I think was bout #2. I was setting up my mat and talking to the promoter, so I didn't really get to watch her in the ring but saw that she was dealing with some serious leg kicks afterward. A few of your knees had both my husband and my cornerman going "oooiiii" as we watched from our mat

Thanks so much. Jomkwan is such a great fighter, I really wish I could see more of her... when not against me.

LengLeng, oh man... her knees and elbows were awesome. Her opponent was also very strong with punches and I heard a few of them even from far away from the ring. It wasn't close though, LengLeng blew the fight out. Awesome, awesome performance, really.

Chatchai Sasakul in Bangkok. 100%: Chatchai is all about balance and weight transfer. Everything is the legs and feet, then not breaking the frame with your upper body. But man, the way he can generate power from such simple and minimal (economical) movement is just incredible. It doesn't require translation between the boxing movements and Muay Thai, and he was a very good Muay Thai fighter before he went into boxing, so he's able to bring it all together. Manop in Chiang Mai: this is again a big point about balance. Manop is kind of rangy, but he understands and can articulate small details about footwork and leg/stance for balance and power. His English is pretty good as far as I have seen, but I mostly speak Thai with him so I'm not totally sure how he explains things in English. But he is able to articulate the nuances into words, so I imagine he does so in English as well. Detail-oriented, for sure. Burklerk in Lampang: his technique is Old School, but it's absolutely useful to contemporary Muay Thai as well. He's really good at breaking down the minute differences between what you're doing and what he wants you to do, but it's not verbal. You have to watch and imitate. But he'll totally point out exactly where the difference is, so you don't have to play "guess what's wrong," you just have to pin-point the adjustment and he's very good at helping you see that. His balance is great, he's scary, and his distance is one that literally any sized fighter has an advantage fighting at.

It's hard to say whether it's "worth it" to train there or not, as giving generalized gym advice is hard because every person is different, has different needs and expectations. I haven't trained at the new Lanna Muay Thai, so I can't give first-hand experience, but I've heard from people who are training there recently that it's crowded and more "class" structured. How busy a gym is changes ALL THE TIME, so I can't say whether that's the case at this moment or not - it's low season in Thailand. Kru Daeng is still there and he's always worth training with. He's fight-oriented, experienced, knowledgeable and a great guy. But you could always take a private with him if the gym itself is not what you're looking for. Hongthong is another that I've never done regular training at. Both Gen and Joe are 100% worth taking private sessions with, but regular training is something that I can't comment on from experience. Both Lanna and Hongthong are gyms that can get you fights, if that's something you're interested in. Manop's gym looks good and Manop is a great trainer. Looks like they have a good group of people training most of the time, so you have clinching and sparring. It's a bit out of town, so you'd need to get a motorbike or be happy staying put most of the time. In general, I advise people to try more than one gym and make their longer-term plans based on their own experiences. None of these gyms are so far away from Chiang Mai that you can't take a few days to try each of them and make your decision from there. You'll know better than anyone what feels right to you, and there's no reason to commit before arrival. You might find this thread helpful:

Jaroentong is also a switching fighter. I'm not sure what you mean by drills for practicing the switch, as it seems you're trying to learn how to switch in the moment, rather than fighting out of both stances. I haven't been taught "how to switch," but rather Karuhat literally reversed my stance and I had to learn how to fight in Southpaw. When literally going from right handed to left handed or vice versa, in general it's just like walking into the opposite stance. Namsaknoi has a really nice galloping switch on a punch, but he doesn't stay in the opposite stance. He just switches on that punch. But I reckon you could use it as your switch and just stay in that other stance. Karuhat does the same thing, but from the opposite stance, which is meaningful because he's going from his "unnatural" stance into his natural stance for a power cross, whereas Namsaknoi's is the inverse of that, so you're landing into the non-dominant position. Sifu's "when to switch" drills and philosophies are the only time switching is talked about conceptually by a teacher in the Library. Otherwise it's my own take on what the switches feel like or mean. The dangers of switching are being off-guard for a moment as you're switching and landing into a position where your "open side" is vulnerable. But you just have to be aware of that and guard or set up the switch by off-balancing your opponent first. In general, don't switch stance in kicking range. Either closer or farther out. I'd choose closer. Karuhat often uses a simple step back (again, same as walking) when reversing his stance and then his attack just flows directly out of that. Almost nobody switches and does nothing. They switch on an attack or on a defensive step that becomes an attack.

Being in the middle of the ring in Thai scoring is not in and of itself an advantage in Thai scoring. Any time Dieselnoi has talked to me about strategy, he's focused on getting the opponent into the ropes before doing much of anything at all. Referees certainly shape fights in all kinds of ways; but being at the center of the ring is not what I'd call an advantage, certainly not so much as when and how the referee breaks the clinch being a much bigger deal in shaping the fight.