Unsolicited advice during training

[AndyMaBobs]

I'm happy to listen to unsolicited advice, even if someone has less experience than me. Sometimes people may say I'm doing a technique 'wrong', but that is very rare and when I hear something like that, I know better, people are sometimes confused by my technique because I've got more of a Thai style than a lot of the gym owing to having a different teacher. An environment where everyone gives each other advice and feel comfortable asking for advice should be encouraged. If someone finds it annoying then the best thing to do is politely say that you know what you're doing and want to keep practising it. You might be 'wrong' in that persons opinion, or wrong conventionally, but it shouldn't matter what that person thinks. 

Muay Thai is a team sport. You might fight on your own and get the glory on your own, but working with other people, training with them and building trust with them and exchanging techniques is what makes us all grow. So for me, I prefer a gym environment where that interaction exists. 

[Oliver]

Yeah that sounds fair enough on the touchey feely thing. Seriously never thought about it that way, it's probably from growing up taking ridiculously crammed trains and busses every day where you have your face rammed into a 3 day unshowered armpit for 45 mins straight. Kinda becomes normal....and maybe it shouldn't be.

And the face slap with the Thai pad thing? Yeah it was thrown full throttle and without warning. But you just gotta accept it's your own fault, carry on, and show no facial reaction of being shocked or annoyed. Cuz if you do, then you're really fucked, and he'll keep pushing that button. Originally he showed how to hold hands further up in a higher guard, then did it at first and he was happy, then forgot to do it after fatigue set in, so he's like...OK I'm gonna make this dude pay for his laziness. Crack. After that? Never did that shit again. So you can't really argue with the guy, it worked. 

 

[Oliver]

5 hours ago, LengLeng said:

Never met any western guy like this?  

Now that you put it that way, kinda makes sense. My other foreigner training partners were mostly Korean, Japanese or Chinese, so it was Google Translate friendships and hand signals. Sometimes Brazilian and French dudes but they didn't do the unsolicited advice.

[Tyler Byers]

1 hour ago, Oliver said:

Seriously never thought about it that way, it's probably from growing up taking ridiculously crammed trains and busses every day where you have your face rammed into a 3 day unshowered armpit for 45 mins straight. Kinda becomes normal....and maybe it shouldn't be.

You see this with a lot of people in Asia as well (especially those from China). I think you are 100% right, its just cultural differences for the most part. It definitely took me a long time to get used to the trains in BKK! 

 

1 hour ago, Oliver said:

And the face slap with the Thai pad thing? Yeah it was thrown full throttle and without warning. But you just gotta accept it's your own fault, carry on, and show no facial reaction of being shocked or annoyed. Cuz if you do, then you're really fucked, and he'll keep pushing that button.

I think for fighters this is totally fine. This is probably something that is cultural as well. Similar to how Europeans spar notoriously hard vs gyms in other places. Hahaha my old Thai trainer used to just randomly teep me around the house (I lived with him and his family), gotta have your defense up at all times! It actually became a fun game between us. There is definitely some good that can come from this kind of pressured training, but for people who only train casually or for fitness it's too much imo. Fighters gotta get used to it though!

[Oliver]

Got the feeling he would have done it to whoever. But Eastern European trainers would do this too, for sure. Probably because, they don't care if you suck or how little you know, but if you do anything out of laziness or even look like it, that pisses trainers off more than anything. 

[Matty]

On 7/12/2019 at 3:39 AM, Jeremy Stewart said:

From a western perspective, in a group class setting,  senior students are expected to give training advice. One reason is in anticipation of them being teachers themselves one day, another is kru's eyes can't be everywhere at once. I personally don't mind it, if I find it valid. If I don't find the critique valid, I just tell them that's the way I do it.

Good points here.

Not a trainer/teacher/coach, but I remember when I first started, I was really glad whenever I get to partner with one of the more senior guys. Every once in a while, they would give me pointers on how to do something correctly. The instructor usually don't give advice at that level of meticulousness. 

And I was too timid to ask questions (still kinda am)...

Not knowing what you don't know is also an issue. A newbie, as I were, could have no clue that they were doing it wrong.

That said, I have also experience with some clueless dudes who have been at the gym for only a few months and already trying to correct me on things (ie: showing me how to do them incorrectly).