Fighter and trainer bond

[RB Coop]

Hi guys, so in December i'm going to go to Thailand, maybe i'll even get a fight if i'm lucky and in a good shape, but the question i want to ask is about the trainer and the fighter bond. The thing i'm concerned about is my health, i'm going only in December, and i have decent amount of health problems, but that doesn't stop me from wanting to fight, the main one's that are on the body that could really make me a little less than 100% in a fight would be not fully healed knee ACL ligament, was torn, also turn TFCC on a right hand and a 3rd degree sprained ankle, i'm strongly doing the rehab and i hope i'll get 100% healed, but it's not a sure thing. The 2nd thing is Asthma, i was diagnosed from childhood, it's not as bad as it was when i was little, but if there is cold or some wind, i can immediately feel it's way harder to breathe, also considering the adrenaline and how nervous you would be fighting there, i bet it would make thing's similar, i just had to relax as much as i can. What i'm asking is should i tell all these things to my trainer and let him decide if i can fight once he watches me, or should i keep this 2 myself ? I know if i fight i don't show my opponent these things, but how about the trainer? Thanks in advance guys. Also if you're wondering i'll be going to Chiang Mai's Manop Gym. Starting to get a decent training from monday going to try to rehab as much of my problems as i can, increase endurance as much as i can and learn some technique of thai muay thai as much as i can because i only know some of the boxing techniques i used 2 do. 

[MadelineGrace]

i would think you need to tell your trainer.

( I say that ONLY as someone with a lot of life experience, but not a lot of Muay Thai experience.

I am new to Muay Thai and never fought)

 

We’ll see what the more experienced people on here say 

[MadelineGrace]

Ps- if that’s you in the photo, you look fit as hell.   Also goodluck!!

[MadelineGrace]

One more thing. From my reading and following fighters like Sylvie and a few others .... when you’re  in Thailand and going to fight.... MY UNDERSTANDING IS the trainers PUSH YOU TO THE LIMIT. You do whatever they say. They are the experts. They say jump you say how how and do it. What if you get an asthma attack or experience pain in your injured areas? If they know they may be able to give you an alternative exercise or drill or work out. Or offer tips on helping it heal and working around your injury. If they don’t know they can’t do that and help you. And you might get injured more.

If you have the heart to fight and the drive to train .... I’d think they see and respect that and  will work with you and help you.  And work around your injuries. ( I think over time all athletes have injuries to contend with. It goes with the territory and trainers know this)

 

(reiterating I have no personal experience. But I’m experienced in other ways if that makes sense. I don’t want to state my age )

 

( adding I do have experience with very tough mt trainers) 

[LengLeng]

@RB Coop

I always feel this is the hardest part to deal with, how to manage injuries. You want to be responsible and so on, at the same time not risking that the trainer won't invest in you. Add some language barriers and it gets complicated  

I try to downplay any kind of injury but that's from a woman point of view. Some trainers are very traditional and think girls are much more sensitive so if I start talking about some issue it becomes a big deal. 

Anyhow in muay thai everybody is injured. If I were you I'd not mention it at first, try out the training, test your limits and how you can manage. Most likely your trainer will notice if you're in pain and if you need your asthma medication and will be able to determine whether you can fight or not regardless of you explaining your health issues or not. And probably you're not the first fighter with these issues he's trained. 

I've seen it many times where a newcomer arrives and directly goes to a trainer and explains everything about themselves and what they want and need and cannot do and the trainer is always like "yeah yeah" but my interpretation is what he's thinking is "let's first see you train". 

Just my two cents. 

[RB Coop]

16 hours ago, MadelineGrace said:

One more thing. From my reading and following fighters like Sylvie and a few others .... when you’re  in Thailand and going to fight.... MY UNDERSTANDING IS the trainers PUSH YOU TO THE LIMIT. You do whatever they say. They are the experts. They say jump you say how how and do it. What if you get an asthma attack or experience pain in your injured areas? If they know they may be able to give you an alternative exercise or drill or work out. Or offer tips on helping it heal and working around your injury. If they don’t know they can’t do that and help you. And you might get injured more.

If you have the heart to fight and the drive to train .... I’d think they see and respect that and  will work with you and help you.  And work around your injuries. ( I think over time all athletes have injuries to contend with. It goes with the territory and trainers know this)

 

(reiterating I have no personal experience. But I’m experienced in other ways if that makes sense. I don’t want to state my age )

 

( adding I do have experience with very tough mt trainers) 

That's me in the pic, thanks. I can go thru pain no problem had broken metacarpals , played basketball and some other shit until i find out i need a surgery. Asthma is the real deal, i couldn't manage the sympthoms if it went over the roof. Once i'm given a task i know i'll be able to do anything, the question is the price i'm going to pay. I remember back in the day i promised myself i'll run 5miles  ,there is 1 beautiful place on the start of the autumn, after like a week a got lung inflamation, but i didn't want to break my promise. The run was really hard, i almost passed out, but i did that 5 mile jog and the panoramic view from that spot was crazy good. I ended up in hospital because i almost died from lack of oxygen. As far as tasks go i can manage everything, it's just the price you know... I'd love input from people with more experience.

[RB Coop]

4 hours ago, LengLeng said:

@RB Coop

I always feel this is the hardest part to deal with, how to manage injuries. You want to be responsible and so on, at the same time not risking that the trainer won't invest in you. Add some language barriers and it gets complicated  

I try to downplay any kind of injury but that's from a woman point of view. Some trainers are very traditional and think girls are much more sensitive so if I start talking about some issue it becomes a big deal. 

Anyhow in muay thai everybody is injured. If I were you I'd not mention it at first, try out the training, test your limits and how you can manage. Most likely your trainer will notice if you're in pain and if you need your asthma medication and will be able to determine whether you can fight or not regardless of you explaining your health issues or not. And probably you're not the first fighter with these issues he's trained. 

I've seen it many times where a newcomer arrives and directly goes to a trainer and explains everything about themselves and what they want and need and cannot do and the trainer is always like "yeah yeah" but my interpretation is what he's thinking is "let's first see you train". 

Just my two cents. 

Thanks for the advice !

[MadelineGrace]

On 10/6/2019 at 10:48 PM, LengLeng said:

@RB Coop

I always feel this is the hardest part to deal with, how to manage injuries. You want to be responsible and so on, at the same time not risking that the trainer won't invest in you. Add some language barriers and it gets complicated  

I try to downplay any kind of injury but that's from a woman point of view. Some trainers are very traditional and think girls are much more sensitive so if I start talking about some issue it becomes a big deal. 

Anyhow in muay thai everybody is injured. If I were you I'd not mention it at first, try out the training, test your limits and how you can manage. Most likely your trainer will notice if you're in pain and if you need your asthma medication and will be able to determine whether you can fight or not regardless of you explaining your health issues or not. And probably you're not the first fighter with these issues he's trained. 

I've seen it many times where a newcomer arrives and directly goes to a trainer and explains everything about themselves and what they want and need and cannot do and the trainer is always like "yeah yeah" but my interpretation is what he's thinking is "let's first see you train". 

Just my two cents. 

Based on this I’m retracting what I posted above! Disregard it !  . Lengleng would know better than I! 

 

As a human being  though- please don’t be foolish re your asthma - I don’t want you to die! Asthma is no joke! 

[LengLeng]

2 hours ago, MadelineGrace said:

Based on this I’m retracting what I posted above! Disregard it !  . Lengleng would know better than I! 

 

As a human being  though- please don’t be foolish re your asthma - I don’t want you to die! Asthma is no joke! 

No no please don't . I think it depends on context and how he feels about his trainer. 

[RB Coop]

It's not like i'm trying to die, i just always give 100% for everything i'm doing, it's only been so bad only once , so that's not 2 bad considering i had asthma from 3 yrs old, so it's like 22years and only 1 bad asthma attack. 

[MadelineGrace]

6 hours ago, RB Coop said:

It's not like i'm trying to die, i just always give 100% for everything i'm doing, it's only been so bad only once , so that's not 2 bad considering i had asthma from 3 yrs old, so it's like 22years and only 1 bad asthma attack. 

I’m glad to hear that, and your work ethic is impressive! I wish you luck and success! 

[LengLeng]

15 hours ago, RB Coop said:

It's not like i'm trying to die, i just always give 100% for everything i'm doing, it's only been so bad only once , so that's not 2 bad considering i had asthma from 3 yrs old, so it's like 22years and only 1 bad asthma attack. 

Not to scare you, but since you have asthma just to let you know the air quality in Bangkok has been awful lately. I think Chiang Mai was ok. Usually air is bad Feb-Mar but this year it's been worse lasted well into May and started earlier. Might be a good idea to invest in a mask for runs. You can check PM 2.5 using apps or here: https://aqicn.org/city/chiang-mai/

[RB Coop]

2 hours ago, LengLeng said:

Not to scare you, but since you have asthma just to let you know the air quality in Bangkok has been awful lately. I think Chiang Mai was ok. Usually air is bad Feb-Mar but this year it's been worse lasted well into May and started earlier. Might be a good idea to invest in a mask for runs. You can check PM 2.5 using apps or here: https://aqicn.org/city/chiang-mai/

the only bad thing for me is when it's really strong wind or when it's cold, the air quality doesn't really do much when it comes to asthma. Also a quick question, do you use groin protection and shin guards always? Should i get some? 

[LengLeng]

7 hours ago, RB Coop said:

the only bad thing for me is when it's really strong wind or when it's cold, the air quality doesn't really do much when it comes to asthma. Also a quick question, do you use groin protection and shin guards always? Should i get some? 

Ah ok sounds good. When it hits 170 and above I get a headache and nausea and also got a rash in my throat. But it's manageable and December should be fine.

No idea about groin protection as women rarely use them when fighting although some do. Some guys will use during clinch but not very common. But during fights of course. 

I have my own shin guards but of the softer kind (like socks) and some trainers don't like them so I usually get the regular ones from the gym when sparring (always used during muay thai sparring IMO but I know some gyms do sparring without). But shin guards from gyms are of varying quality so it might be good to get your own. 

I bought all my equipment in Thailand (training gloves, fighting gloves, mouthguard, wraps, shin guards, tape, liniment, vaseline, gauze,  mongkol) so I'm not sure how western prices compare. But I assume prices in Thailand are ok. And you can always get most stuff from the gym (except mouthguard of course) but they can be smelly and old. 

As the Thais say: up to you .

[RB Coop]

11 minutes ago, LengLeng said:

Ah ok sounds good. When it hits 170 and above I get a headache and nausea and also got a rash in my throat. But it's manageable and December should be fine.

No idea about groin protection as women rarely use them when fighting although some do. Some guys will use during clinch but not very common. But during fights of course. 

I have my own shin guards but of the softer kind (like socks) and some trainers don't like them so I usually get the regular ones from the gym when sparring (always used during muay thai sparring IMO but I know some gyms do sparring without). But shin guards from gyms are of varying quality so it might be good to get your own. 

I bought all my equipment in Thailand (training gloves, fighting gloves, mouthguard, wraps, shin guards, tape, liniment, vaseline, gauze,  mongkol) so I'm not sure how western prices compare. But I assume prices in Thailand are ok. And you can always get most stuff from the gym (except mouthguard of course) but they can be smelly and old. 

As the Thais say: up to you .

do you use the tape in training or only when you have fights and only wraps in the training? also vaseline, gauze, liniment and mongkol for fighting i guess or do you also use it for training? i only have 16Oz gloves, i guess that could be for sparring, for training might need a smaller size.

[LengLeng]

9 minutes ago, RB Coop said:

do you use the tape in training or only when you have fights and only wraps in the training? also vaseline, gauze, liniment and mongkol for fighting i guess or do you also use it for training? i only have 16Oz gloves, i guess that could be for sparring, for training might need a smaller size.

Liniment many use during training and you can get it at 7/11.

At my gym we sometimes use vaseline during sparring when we do hard, serious sparring (like mock fights) but not sure how common it is. We never spar with elbows or knees other than in a very very controlled way. Vaseline also in every 7/11.

Tape and gauze and mongkol only during fights and mongkol gym can provide. I wanted my own as women have to enter ring crawling in under bottom rope and only get the mongkol put on after we have entered the ring so somehow I wanted to counter this bs with having my own headpiece. 

16 oz. we use during sparring mainly. And men 12 or 14 during training. Women 10 or 12. 

[RB Coop]

3 minutes ago, LengLeng said:

Liniment many use during training and you can get it at 7/11.

At my gym we sometimes use vaseline during sparring when we do hard, serious sparring (like mock fights) but not sure how common it is. We never spar with elbows or knees other than in a very very controlled way. Vaseline also in every 7/11.

Tape and gauze and mongkol only during fights and mongkol gym can provide. I wanted my own as women have to enter ring crawling in under bottom rope and only get the mongkol put on after we have entered the ring so somehow I wanted to counter this bs with having my own headpiece. 

16 oz. we use during sparring mainly. And men 12 or 14 during training. Women 10 or 12. 

Ahh so i'll have to get 12oz, thought so, nice! Have couple of ideas already that i want to try, will  have to talk with the guy's i'm sparring so they don't get hurt tho.  Thanks for the information!

[LengLeng]

3 hours ago, RB Coop said:

Ahh so i'll have to get 12oz, thought so, nice! Have couple of ideas already that i want to try, will  have to talk with the guy's i'm sparring so they don't get hurt tho.  Thanks for the information!

Oh please don't take my 2 cents as a rule . Just my observation from training. I train with 12 oz which is slightly more than other girls but not overly so. I fight around 60kg and fight gloves are 8 oz. A lot of times the thai fighters at my gym (48kg-64kg) just take any gloves to do pads could be 8 or 12 or 14. 

[RB Coop]

1 hour ago, LengLeng said:

Oh please don't take my 2 cents as a rule . Just my observation from training. I train with 12 oz which is slightly more than other girls but not overly so. I fight around 60kg and fight gloves are 8 oz. A lot of times the thai fighters at my gym (48kg-64kg) just take any gloves to do pads could be 8 or 12 or 14. 

I'm always around 80-85kg. What size gloves you get for the fight in the stadium? 8-10?

[LengLeng]

19 hours ago, RB Coop said:

I'm always around 80-85kg. What size gloves you get for the fight in the stadium? 8-10?

Sorry no idea. I'm around 60kg and woman and get 8.oz. Hopefully someone more experienced can answer. 

[Oliver]

This is quite interesting, so many opinions out there on best gloves to hit pads with.

Some friends tell me small, for training better accuracy, and so they feel closer to the gloves you fight in, so just 10s or 8s for girls. Other friends say heavier gloves train your arms better in keeping your guard up, but that might be an Eastern European thing rather than Thai, dunno.

Sparring 16s for the boys. At my gym trainers even went and checked our gloves and if somebody had 14s they made them change and use the gym's spare 16s instead. And they were super serious about it. 

 

[RB Coop]

38 minutes ago, Oliver said:

This is quite interesting, so many opinions out there on best gloves to hit pads with.

Some friends tell me small, for training better accuracy, and so they feel closer to the gloves you fight in, so just 10s or 8s for girls. Other friends say heavier gloves train your arms better in keeping your guard up, but that might be an Eastern European thing rather than Thai, dunno.

Sparring 16s for the boys. At my gym trainers even went and checked our gloves and if somebody had 14s they made them change and use the gym's spare 16s instead. And they were super serious about it. 

 

Yeah for sparring it's def 16, but for training i'm not sure, 16 seems way 2 bulky. Maybe 12 or somth. 

[LengLeng]

12 hours ago, Oliver said:

 Other friends say heavier gloves train your arms better in keeping your guard up, but that might be an Eastern European thing rather than Thai, dunno.

 

Using 12 when training I feel this effect too, that I'm getting stronger. And when I'm using 10 I have more energy left after padrounds. 

[Xestaro]

Interesting.... my Trainer is the one who sold my my (first) pair of gloves. I'm 194cm tall and over 100kg. He gave me 14Oz gloves.

[MadelineGrace]

I’m 5’2” 118 lbs, started Muay Thai 8 months ago.... my trainer ( a retired professional fighter) ordered me 12 oz gloves to train with. 

 

(  that’s ~ 157cm and 53 kg )