Fighting Frog

Don't feel like this - it's your life, your training, your feelings... And you're still giving them custom by exercising there. And you're not going around saying, "Ooh, don't train at X, it's awful!". It was wasn't the right place for you. If they get funny with you then you have every right to complain about them. Would you feel like this if you started using a different supermarket? Garage? Other service provider? Of course not! You wouldn't feel guilty or 'cheating' if you stopped using Sainsbury's for your main shop and went to Tescos instead, and only used Sainsbury's for the occasional pint of milk, would you? So don't feel bad about this! So this trainer, who is otherwise excellent, just isn't right for you. This happens. And you're sensible enough to have recognised this, and been fortunate enough to find another trainer who does suit you. I'd say Lucky You, that you've got a choice of MT training within reasonable travel times!

Oops, sorry for the multiple postings - i didnt think the 'post' button was working and hit it too often!

Take a look at Cong Carter's facebook page - a video got posted today showing some clinch work between a tall chap and another bloke who only comes up to his opponent's chin - and the shorter bloke is chucking the taller guy around all over the place! So you can be shorter and kick ass... (mind you, in fairness, I think the taller man is not as experienced, but still, it makes a point).

Take a look at Cong Carter's facebook page - a video got posted today showing some clinch work between a tall chap and another bloke who only comes up to his opponent's chin - and the shorter bloke is chucking the taller guy around all over the place! So you can be shorter and kick ass... (mind you, in fairness, I think the taller man is not as experienced, but still, it makes a point).

Take a look at Cong Carter's facebook page - a video got posted today showing some clinch work between a tall chap and another bloke who only comes up to his opponent's chin - and the shorter bloke is chucking the taller guy around all over the place! So you can be shorter and kick ass... (mind you, in fairness, I think the taller man is not as experienced, but still, it makes a point).

Try not to go in feeling defeated...that's the most important thing. Go into that ring convinced you're going to win. Then consider all your advantages when sparring with a bigger opponent: you mention being speedy on your feet, so use that. Lower kicks - well, who said you have to make head kicks? Use those quick mean low kicks to wear your opponent down - keep them constantly having to lift those big heavy legs to block your snappy moves. They have to punch down at you, so that's tiring for their shoulders, so you dive in with smart uppercuts to that unprotected chin that's right in your target zone. Feint loads so they're constantly having to anticipate - keep them on the defensive. Think about their advantages, and make sure that they can't use them. If they're way taller than you then head shots are going to be a tempting target for them, so don't give them the chance - keep your guard really high and tight and move that head. Keep in close perhaps; where you again have the advantage - don't let them use those long legs for roundhouse kicks. Be careful about getting into a clinch, although practise that like mad when you can - if you can defeat or hold your own with a taller opponent you'll have no trouble with someone closer to your own size! It's a tremendous opportunity to really learn loads if you spar with someone significantly taller and heavier than you. My TKD friend is over 6 foot, weighs nearly half as much as me again, and her speciality is a devastating head kick. So when I spar with her I just don't let her get into the position where she can use her advantages, and I can use all of mine (which is, to be fair, mostly aggression!)

Thanks for this - I've just ordered a pair from Amazon! Not that I'm going to Thailand (unless Santa decides to be super-nice) but I do taekwondo in a hall with a really horrible floor and my big toes are suffering, which then makes doing Muay Thai painful. I go barefoot a lot at home, but it just isn't enough!

This is one of the reasons why I infinitely prefer one-to-one training (that, and it makes more economical sense for me). Obviously my trainer is streets ahead of me, and therefore can adjust his power/speed/aggression to fit me and my training needs. When we're sparring the trainer can say, "Okay, really light taps and kicks, we're looking at super-neat technique here" or "Right, 80% power from you" or "Going for speed now" etc. Also that way I get exactly the training I want; for example, yesterday I wanted to concentrate on my defence work, so nearly the entire session was him kicking and punching me (soooo hard not to blast back! But that wasn't the point of the exercise!) But that's no help to you... I would say though that calling out what you want when you're holding pads (right roundhouse, left low, jab, right hook, whatever) will really help, especially if she is new to the sport. I mean, it's easy to get over-excited on pads and bang out before the holder is ready, or hit too hard. But she really should listen if you're saying "Lighten up/be careful". Perhaps she should have a few rounds with the trainer so she can understand what she's doing wrong. If she's getting knackered too, that won't help, she probably feels embarrassed about that. Argh, group work! I hate it! :teehee:

I'd go further... this morning when working the heavy bag I thought I'd work a bit on my head kicks (as they are not too good). Somehow I managed a lovely high one - and my instep connected hard with the metal tag that holds the leather fold near the top of the bag. Ouchy. So far I just have a red lump, I expect by tomorrow it will be a nice shade of purple. So if you're going to deliberately kick with your instep - be careful!!!

Lucy: Thanks for that - I'm in the South West. At the moment I am hopelessly unfit (been off any significant exercise for about two months due to a foot injury) so I don't think I'd be ready for anything until the new year. Is there a website or something where I can find out about UK interclubs? If I had one I could aim for it would be great, and would certainly help the motivation to get fit again and lose that bit of weight!

If you possibly can bear to, try not to put any pressure or strain on the joint for a few weeks - there's probably some soft tissue damage which nothing but time will heal. I recently cracked and chipped a bone in my foot (and had soft tissue damage) and was unable to do anything heavy or twisty - no bag or pad work, no punching, no kicks, I couldn't skip, run, or do push-ups or other exercises that involved bending the foot at the toe end - for seven weeks. I found ways around it - lots of sit ups, lateral work on the floor, that sort of thing, but of course nothing for CV fitness! When I went back into exercise I had to be careful as it took another couple of weeks before it stopped hurting when I put weight on the bent foot (as in push-up position). It sucked big time, all the more so since now I get hideously puffed out really quickly! (And I've put weight on...) On the other hand, I gave my foot every opportunity to heal properly, so now it's just a case of Getting Back There. Incidentally, compression is not always the best treatment - speak to a physiotherapist or orthopaedic person for whether it is suitable for your injury. Congrats on your first shin-pad-free fight!

In Taekwondo you strike with the top of the foot, and presumably a knockout can occur in the full contact sport. I would be very very careful striking a heavy bag with the top of the foot - as Sylvie says, you can break the foot bones very easily (and I've cracked and chipped foot bones fighting in TKD). If you plan to deliberately kick a heavy bag like that I suggest you wear an instep guard and take it gently. You really do not want to smash up your foot, it can be a life changing injury, potentially far worse than breaking your shin. It's quite easy to actually kick the heavy bag with the top of the foot - just do your usual roundhouse with the shin but be a bit further away - the top of the foot strikes the back/side of the bag. I'm sure we've all done this by accident anyway!

Definitely don't give up! Just keep on practicing and enter the next interclub you're offered... after all, what's the worst thing that can happen? So maybe you will freeze again, but you probably won't. Actually, Lucy, I notice you're in the UK - where are all these interclubs?! I can't seem to track down any!

Although it's a bit late now, another time train and spar loads with someone heavier than you, so you get used to the feel etc of a heavier/bigger opponent. I find it weird sparring with someone smaller than me or the same size, as my trainers are way taller and heavier than me; and my best friend that I spar with (doing taekwondo) is about eight inches taller than me, extremely powerful, some six stone heavier, and specialises in massive head kicks! She frightens her opponents to death, but if you can find someone like that to work with then I promise you an opponent who is just a few kilos heavier will not worry you one bit. Good luck!

Well, duh, of course children who box risk a certain amount of brain damage. So do adults. And so do kids and adults who undergo practically any sport - if you partake in a sport you are at an increased risk of some sort of injury or other. If you ride horses, sooner or later you are going to be hurt (and by 'hurt' I mean an injury that requires medical intervention of some sort). Play football (soccer) or rugby: you are going to get hurt. Netball, rounders, golf, swimming - you can get hurt to a greater or lesser degree (my God, swimming yes - I've twice broken bones swimming! And no, I wasn't diving or doing anything daft!) Kids (and adults) can suffer brain damage from playing any sport. The point is that of course certain sports are more risky than others in terms of head injury, but frankly in this life you pays your money and takes your choice. Obviously smaller children who perhaps can't fully comprehend the risks should always wear full protection, and only indulge in the sport if they really want to. I personally don't have a problem with happy and willing kids practicing any high risk sport, provided that they are being taught correctly and with all reasonable safeguards in place (for example, if they are riding ponies, that the pony is of suitable temperament etc, there is a qualified instructor, the kid is learning in a proper environment, and is wearing suitable clothing and headgear etc etc etc). Boxing or any other martial art is just the same. I do take the point that presumably some children in Thailand are earning money for their families by fighting, and so are obviously at greater risk of injury. But one also presumes that if the family needs the kid to be a breadwinner then fighting is probably one of less risky ways of him (or her) earning a crust. At least in fighting they have a chance of being a major success.

This is interesting. When I first reached the point in training where I was to start sparring I found it extraordinarily hard to actually hit someone. That reticence, caution and, dare I say it, embarrassment and nervousness lasted approximately five minutes. To put it mildly, I do not have a problem with aggression in training (or in the one tournament I have had to date, which was in a different martial art). I am extremely aggressive! I like being aggressive. :woot: I would say that in 'normal' life I am quite quiet, and not at all confrontational.

Just realised I should have updated this... I ended up buying Twins medium shorts online from the UK official importer (my friend wasn't sure whether she would be going near the official stockists near Lumpinee Stadium so I decided not to risk it). They were a bit tight but are beginning to loosen up now. Very pleased with them, but once they're broken in I shall save them for best! Only annoying thing is of course the importers only have a very small selection from the whole range, and I had set my heart on one particular design... oh well! I feel like a real Muay Thai trainee in them!

Well, they say that courage is impossible without fear: it's the act of overcoming your fear. And heroes are the people who overcome that fear for that extra couple of seconds. When I'm sparring (I LOVE sparring) if I start to feel afraid then I grab that fear by the throat and use it to fuel an attack. I'll be damned if I'm going to be afraid in fighting.

I have 12oz Twins Special, and they're lovely! I wash my wraps after every session, and always use fresh ones. I try to air the gloves themselves as much as possible in warm dry air. The gloves fit me fine (I have largish hands and wear a 7.5 size 'ordinary' glove) with wraps and are comfortable and offer good protection for pad work, bag work and sparring.

Yeah, my trainer says to imagine that I'm cutting through him, and also to 'aim' for halfway through him or even his other side, so there's plenty of power at contact. Actually, when I want more power I just picture A Certain Unloved Person there and bam! Cut through...

Thanks for the info everyone! I'm going to ask my chum to see if she can get me some XL Twins shorts... I think they should be okay fit-wise, and it looks like they should be available for a reasonable price.

I'm thinking of getting myself a pair of 'real' Muay Thai shorts. A friend will be visiting Thailand in the near future and I'm going to ask her to get me a pair. Can anyone advise what is a fair price to pay, and what size should I get -I'm a UK 12 but I don't want them tight! Thanks!

If you get a popping sensation in the back of the ankle again, or if this pain comes back, gently feel with your thumb or finger up and down the Achilles' tendon. If there is a 'dink' or interruption /notch/dent in the otherwise smooth firm tendon then you have major trouble because your tendon has snapped or has nearly so. Also it will probably be hard to raise and lower your foot from the ankle. It may hurt, it may not be especially painful. When the Achilles goes people usually hear and feel a definite snap, crack or pop, and are immediately lame. And you will need an operation within a few days. If you have had similar ankle problems in the past then your travel insurance may not pay for your treatment in Thailand. Sorry to be looking on the very pessimistic side. Hope it turns out to be just a bit of swelling as suspected.

I remember the first time my trainer said to hit HIM and not the pads... Wow, it was quite a hard step to take and a real mental jump. Mind you, it only took a couple of tentative punches before I was merrily into it! It'll be interesting though to see how I feel about hitting someone new; thus far I've only sparred with him. I will be starting going to a club in the near future, and I really don't know what to expect. I don't mind being hit back, but I do find it quite challenging when he's keeping me at arms length with push kicks or whatever, and I'm having to really work hard to get past and at him.

I have appalling vision, and without my glasses nothing - and I mean nothing - is in focus. I never wear any sight correction when training or sparring, and I don't find it a problem. If my trainer is really giving the hard nasty scary stare then I can just about make it out, but otherwise he is, to all intents and purposes, a blurry shape. With arms and legs. I sometimes wonder what it would be like to be able to see when sparring, but I do okay. Perhaps it's helped because I do a lot of horse riding with my eyes shut (a very good way of really 'feeling' the horse's movement and your own balance and position). I have hearing problems too, and obviously can't wear my hearing aids when training either. Maybe the whole sensory deprivation thing means that I have a well developed spidey sense!