postivity/accomplishments

[Gavin]

Thanks dtrick for linking it, it's in my signature, so I thought it's visible :) :)

And I'm glad you enjoy reading it, I try to really think deeper than usual when I write it, it helps me get things in order and the cool thing is, I'm learning a lot about myself by writing it! :) and I'm still working on the visual side ;) I don't have much good pictures from training I can use, but I will sort it out sometime ;)

Today I went to class and as it's a holiday long weekend, I was the only one there, so I basically had a private class with my trainer :) :) The best thing was, he pushed me to do sommersaults (I hope it's the right word, like you roll over you head to the front or back, or over your shoulder and so on) and he also has shown me some new types of sommersaults. He knows I'm not comfortable with rolling over my head, so it was nice to practice it in peace and quite on my own with his guidance. I learned a lot! :)

Micc, glad to hear your forward rolls are getting better. It's just a matter of repetitions. It might help to know why sports like judo and bjj practice forward rolls... it's essentially the same movement as a forward breakfall. If someone was to throw you over your hip, you could fall/land safely, instead of like a sack of potatos, which hurts a lot more.

[Micc]

Gavin, thanks! 

I really don't like anything related to falling, mostly because of my weight, so I try to avoid it during practice, even when we do clinch I always say "please no throws to the ground". I'm not ready yet. I hope that one day when I loose weight it won't be as scary, but maybe with practicing these forward rolls I will get better at handling the falling to the ground part! :) 

Of course I get thrown to the ground a lot, but they do it gently ;) ;)

[Gavin]

I'm over 200lbs too, so I understand to a degree. Here's another interesting tidbit about being thrown - when you resist and tense up it oftens hurts more than had you gone with it and accepted the throw. It will always hurt taking a big throw, but you get conditioned to it over time and just accept that it will hurt somewhat.  If you really want to work on this, you can have people throw you onto a crash mat. It doesn't hurt at all, and will allow you to learn to fall naturally and safely without tensing up. I used to take dozens of falls a night on these when I did Judo... Anyway, enough about this.

[Michelle Nicole]

Hey sorry for the delay in response. I wasn't searching for a southpaw friendly gym (though it is true no one likes to really practice with a person in southpaw I've noticed.. I get a lot of complaints) per se.. Just one where the coach isn't being a douche.

 

I've still not talked to the coach about the way he has been treating me yet. But in my defense, I've been sick off and on for the past two weeks, so I've not really had the energy to deal with him.

 

BUT that being said, I have tried a gym last week (right before I got sick.. Again) and it was a much smaller place, about 10 mins from my apartment, and I thought it had its pros and cons. The coach was nice enough.. He didn't discount me, which was lovely, and even came to talk to me afterward and set up some extra practice drilling. However, I found his style... A little more aggressive? If that's a thing ? And he's more of a go getter than maybe I'm used to. (That probably makes zero sense, but I don't know how else to describe it.)

 

BUT. he worked on my left kick with me (the one I struggle with, as well as injured myself with), and he really was a seemingly nice guy. I had a better vibe with him than I have with Coach in a while.

[Michelle Nicole]

Also Micc, the signature isn't visible on Mobile site, that may be why some of us can't see it. But I'm glad you're keeping up with your blog !!

[xdparkerx]

my biggest accomplishment so far is to have trained 4 fighters that had win tournament in Mexico couple weeks ago.

four of kids that I train won that weekend, that was amazing. Such a incredible feeling to see your fighter won a championship. it's amazing.

 

I'm not a good fighter myself, so it's great to be able the share my knowledge with kids who gonna be so much better than me in the ring.

[Michelle Nicole]

That's great xdparkerx!

I love showing other people what I'm passionate about and try to teach them what I know. I imagine you were feeling pretty freaking awesome that weekend :)

[Finn Cartlidge]

Not being told you're good at something isn't always bad.

Actually I had this discussion at my gym before, they were saying if you always compliment someone it can prevent them from improving. If I was to get told my body kick was perfect everyday, I'd probably start slacking on the technique.

But it works both ways, if someone was to tell me it was bad/sh*t everyday, I'd get frustrated and upset with myself and that would also prevent me from improving.

The discussion ended with giving subtle compliments or backhanded compliments the best way to go, so that it raises your confidence but you still know you have to improve.

Hopefully this was relevant... :)

[Michelle Nicole]

Of course Thailand ! What you said makes perfect sense. There has to be a balance between it all, and unfortunately not everyone knows how to that.

[Finn Cartlidge]

Yeah, but the other thing is that, you can try find to find ways to see that you've improved. For example, if the trainer always corrects your right punch and you find one day that he didn't correct it, maybe because it was good! Maybe you clinched and didn't get threw today, all things like this are signs that you're improving. Sometimes you don't notice your improvements that's why you need someone to remind you to keep yourself positive, as you train the best when your positive.

Also you said people complained about sparring you because you're a southpaw. Are they complaining because you're a southpaw, or because you're tricky? I've sparred many southpaws, and although you have to adjust I certainly wouldn't complain about it (though I might moan about a tricky fighter), also when you spar a southpaw it also makes some things easier, rear roundhouse becomes harder to block for yourself and for the southpaw, so maybe you can land more of them.

Anyway, try to realise when you're improving yourself but as your thread is about, it helps you mentally if your trainer can be positive, he doesn't have to tell you that it was a perfect or amazing kick but he could just say that it was a hard kick, or it was quicker, which is what I was saying before about complimenting without making you feel like you don't need to improve. 

Also, another thing is, but you might not want to do it or you might already do it, is to record yourself on the pads or sparring, maybe just once a month, and when you feel low, just watch last months or watch 3 months ago and compare it to now. You're going to see improvements and that will make you feel good, also laugh at your old mistakes (watching my first fight is always funny), and seeing where you can improve yourself.

 

But on the topic of your trainer, if you have a few gyms in your area, it won't hurt to try some out if you feel like you're not improving like you should be at your current gym.

[Michelle Nicole]

Thailand,

My issue with my current gym isn't with the lack of positivity. It's him being rude and disrespectful to me. There's a fine line of being tough but encouraging, and just being a douche, and that line has been crossed more times than I care for. I can't even get him to talk to me about it because he won't return my messages or phone call.

 

As for training southpaw, it's not sparring, it's practicing combos in class. I've only in the past month switched because of a shoulder injury that is having trouble healing. And because everyone in that class is a beginner, they don't understand how to practice with a southpaw. Hence they don't like it. But I can't do the advanced class because, according to coach, I'm not good enough. So, caught between a rock and a hard place. And where I live, there aren't many muay thai gyms at all. The one I go to is already About an hour drive from me.

 

And if I could, I would record, but I don't have a way to do so.

[Finn Cartlidge]

OK that's just me reading incorrectly. Yeah if you're getting mistreated, you should leave for sure, because the problem is if you get treated like this for a long period of time then you will start to dislike muay and maybe lose trust.

I feel like people shouldn't complain about the combinations though, if they want to be fighters then they will someday have to fight a southpaw, and if they're there for fitness it doesn't make a difference or not.

To be honest, the gym sounds like it has a bad atmosphere which may stem from the trainer, if he's being a dick to people then its going to rub off onto others or make it a place full of dicks. 

Finding a gym, search facebook/google/youtube/rankings, I would assume you've tried all of that already though. The only other thing I can suggest is asking on forums with a wide audience in your country, maybe Sherdog or others. There are a lot of gyms that don't have a website.

Good luck on the gym search. What country are you from?

[Michelle Nicole]

Yeah I was wondering if maybe I hadn't fully explained or something. I'm from the US. I have tried searching online. Authentic muay thai that doesn't have other shit mixed in is basically nonexistent. Another reason I am hesitant to leave altogether. And it doesn't appear that he has a nasty attitude with anyone else. That's why I'm feeling really singled out. The other instructors are great, but he's the owner and the coach of the fight team, which is my ultimate goal to be a part of. I really need to talk to him, though. I really want to find out what his issue with me is. I just don't understand it.

 

On a more positive note.. After two weeks of being sick I went back to the gym today. Just some cycling and a little bit of ab work. But it felt good to burn energy. Hopefully by next week I'll be able to start going to class again. And then maybe talk to Coach finally.

[Finn Cartlidge]

Ah I know the US has a problem with those 'mcdojos' or whatever you want to call them, but I've noticed some really good gyms in the US now, and quite a lot of Thai's teaching there. What's the style of the gym you're at now then?

Anyway, if you're thinking about leaving then talking with the coach can only go well I think, if you're thinking of leaving anyway then he will either say something that'll make you want to leave even more or make you consider staying.

 

Hope you get well quicker... :)

[Michelle Nicole]

Ah, the gym is muay thai. The coach trained in Thailand. I went to go talk to him today.. Only to find out he was in New York this weekend. -_-

[Michelle Nicole]

And thank you for the well wishes :)

[Michelle Nicole]

So I went to go and edit my blogs a bit today and do some updating, and in the process (and feeling slightly forgetful as to the last things I wrote.. haven't been on my blog in a while) I came across this piece that I wrote back in February, a few days after my shoulder surgery. I found that, especially after the last few months of medical drama in my life and not being able to train and go after my goals like I wanted, that it was helpful to me to read again. I hope that someone else might find it useful. 

 http://crazyallyrose.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-big-picture.html