Jump to content

Alcohol and Muay Thai - Moderation or Abstinence?


Recommended Posts

Hey everyone 😊

Wondered what people thought about an issue that doesn't get raised much if ever in the open - but noticed fighters have strong opinions either way in private. You guys all sound fairly well schooled in Thai in your countries, so be interested to hear ideas 

On the subject of drinking, do you guys follow the traditional old school view of no alcohol at all, or the more modern everything in moderation view. 

Personally, never drank in training for  fights, but still loved to kick back and party afterwards. But even this is having a horrible effect on my body and ability to feel right and in tune afterwards. 

Oh yeah, also tend to be living in disturbingly alcohol cultures the last few years, where it's a huge part of every day life and everyone expects you to be part of it. Even ppl in the gym

Thanks a lot 😀👊🏼

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not sure one can advise about mind- or mood-altering substances over the internet, but it is pretty amazing how devastating alcohol can be to ex-fighters in Thailand. Of course alcoholism a problem all over the world, but there is something about it and Muay Thai that has a deep cultural groove to it, and a fairly strong moral judgement as well, it seems.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cheers man, yeah have seen older trainers who day drink and smoke a pack a day, and been shocked when they offer me a can or a smoke. So have you found good active fighters still maintain a no booze at all approach?

Have trained with some Thais like this, who probably wouldn't touch a drop on their birthdays, and some who stack up on Leo after a win and get together to get fucked up. But then back to being sober and training right after.

Wondered which was more common. And to anybody reading, how you find drinking affects your body's ability to recover.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 Since I started working out six times a week sometimes twice a day I gave up my moderate ( at most ) alcohol consumption and now I just drink on a very infrequent basis. I can’t afford to not feel my best at my workouts. (If I was still young and single I’d probably drink a little more) but now I focus on adequate sleep, fuel, hydration and very limited/infrequent alcohol 

i want to feel my best. Sometimes I get

’ tired’ during the work outs or class but don’t give up. ( plus there is no option to give up during my Muay Thai class. You do what he says. Period. Only exception is an injury 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️)  If I drank I’d think i’d just suck wind and not be at my best. Not worth it to me. 

  • Like 1
  • Respect 1
  • Gamma 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
On 12/9/2019 at 8:32 AM, MadelineGrace said:

 

i want to feel my best. Sometimes I geti 'tired’ during the work outs or class but don’t give up. ( plus there is no option to give up during my Muay Thai class. You do what he says. Period. Only exception is an injury 🤣🤷🏻‍♀️)  If I drank I’d think i’d just suck wind and not be at my best. Not worth it to me. 

Agreed, 💯.

Since first posting this question on the forum, have given up all booze for good now. Feel way way better, and don't even miss it.

But maybe wasn't much of a sacrifice, never was a big drinker anyway. Seems like it's one of those things that's just socially expected of you.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 hours ago, Oliver said:

Agreed, 💯.

Since first posting this question on the forum, have given up all booze for good now. Feel way way better, and don't even miss it.

But maybe wasn't much of a sacrifice, never was a big drinker anyway. Seems like it's one of those things that's just socially expected of you.

I hate that part. Some people even act like their fun is gone when you don't drink... hahaha

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, 515 said:

I hate that part. Some people even act like their fun is gone when you don't drink... hahaha

Exactly. Worst is when you're only with one other person and you tell them you don't mind if they drink, that they should go for it. But then they get all butthurt and miserable and confused.

Like wtf, why does it matter to them. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a somewhat complicated question in that, especially in Thailand, there's a moral component to alcohol consumption that will be included in how it's viewed by your gym. Trainers who drink aren't viewed as super dependable by those who don't, students who drink are socially engaging with those trainers, but will also be dismissed in some ways by those in the gym who don't. If you're showing up and working hard, you'll be appreciated for that. If you're tired and drained - even if it's occasional - and it's known that the reason behind it is that you were out drinking, you'll be judged for that in addition to what you'd be chastised for if you were just having a "bad" day. 

I'm in the same school as Madeline, where I just can't afford feeling shittier than I would if it were simply a rough night of sleep or being tired from the work I'm already doing. So, I abstain for the same reasons I don't eat sugar or stay up too late to watch Netflix or whatever else. If it's compromising my training, it goes. But people have different goals and different motivations. The 5AM runs make me a total asshole for the day and I still go do those, so we all make compromises, hahaha.

  • Like 7
  • Cool 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 weeks later...
On 1/16/2020 at 9:43 PM, Oliver said:

Agreed, 💯.

Since first posting this question on the forum, have given up all booze for good now. Feel way way better, and don't even miss it.

But maybe wasn't much of a sacrifice, never was a big drinker anyway. Seems like it's one of those things that's just socially expected of you.

I quit drinking several years ago, except for once or twice a year when I have one or two. A few things happened. First, I feel so, so much better and my sleep got so, SO much better. I actually feel less stressed than I did before when I drank to relax. And my friends and family who drink started being weird about it. I don’t try to convert people but it seems as though they take it that way when I turn down a drink. My mom hasn’t seen me with any type of alcohol for probably 5 years but still tries to get me to drink during the holidays. 
 

The culture around alcohol is strange. Well, at least in the US which is the only place I can speak with any authority. Lol

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think your answer will revolve around your reasons for training in thailand whether you should be drinking or not... however I do recall a thai trainer saying, for every drink you run an extra km!

A bit of punishment to acknowledge before you sip 🤣

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 5 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Most Recent Topics

  • Latest Comments

    • This is my wild guess about the possible future of ONE with the rumored loss of both big investors and Amazon Prime: My take...I suspect it will morph into a significantly contracted phase that is something the Thai gov will support as part of its Soft Power commitments which will somewhat balance out the loss of big investors. There may even be rule changes to bend a bit closer to trad elements (maybe glove changes? maybe a touch more clinch?); guessing there will be a significant downgrade of top end pay and bonus rates, and probably significant cuts into the all-important marketing budget too. It will fall more in line with Entertainment offerings like Thai Fight and RWS. The challenge is the struggle over the shrinking Thai talent pool, which is also no longer producing transcendent talents like Superlek and Nong-O, and how it will compete against other Entertainment promotions without big top end pay and bonuses (I believe RWS revenues were reported as much as 6x ONE's in Thailand). It may have difficulty continuing to snipe the high level names produced by other promotions. It still has a well-built-out, massive digital media footprint in a very small info ecosystem and that proven strategy, and has secured a place in the Thai combat sport imagination, two very big assets.
    • It's pretty amazing that ONE has under contract the woman who at least as an argument for being the greatest female Muay Thai fighter of all time -- but hasn't fought a "real" full rules Muay Thai fight for maybe 7 years now -- and they don't even have her fighting their version of "Muay Thai", or have her face their own very qualified female Muay Thai champion...who is having trouble finding opponents. Phetjee Jaa was a VERY good, multi-skilled, every distance Muay Thai fighter before she became an amateur boxer, and then an Entertainment Thai Fight fighter...now in the service of Kickboxing. Properly, Phetjee Jaa should be representing female Muay Thai to the world. It was her true art, that which she was raised in...until she ran out of opponents. Female Muay Thai has historically missed out through her absence. She's not really a Kickboxer, though she can handle the sport and ruleset. She's a Muay Thai fighter. 
    • Was thinking about a commenter telling another redittor that they were "elitist" for not liking ONE FC, and preferring trad Muay Thai, the absolute irony of them thinking that a new globalized version of the traditional form of the sport (a sport which has been practiced and fought by the working poor throughout Thailand for at least a century, in some ways MADE by the rural nakmuay), a new commodity version which has been invented by hi-so wealthy, "elite" Thais, wealthy sons who went to school in very expensive schools in the United States, a new sport modeled in the Thai high-brow love of MMA (MMA is a Thai hi-so taste in Thailand, because originally you needed a satellite dish to watch it, so only rich young people watched it back in the day), so completely born of Thai elite taste making, and then funded massively, to the tune of more than a Half a BILLION dollars, by wealthy Arab investment and other very elite Venture Capital investment groups, some of the most powerful investment sources in the world...all of that, absolutely about as elitist as you can get, reinventing the traditional sport, inverting pretty much all of its values, in the image of wealth itself, so that affluent tourists and consumers will buy it...but, if you don't like it...you are elitist. The whole thing is about as posh as you can get.
  • The Latest From Open Topics Forum

    • Hi all, Does anyone know of any suppliers for blanks (Plain items to design and print a logo on) that are a good quality? Or put me in the right direction? thanks all  
    • The first fight between Poot Lorlek and Posai Sittiboonlert was recently uploaded to youtube. Posai is one of the earliest great Muay Khao fighters and influential to Dieselnoi, but there's very little footage of him. Poot is one of the GOATs and one of Posai's best wins, it's really cool to see how Posai's style looked against another elite fighter.
    • Yeah, this is certainly possible. Thanks! I just like the idea of a training camp pre-fight because of focus and getting more "locked in".. Do you know of any high level gyms in europe you would recommend? 
    • You could just pick a high-level gym in a European city, just live and train there for however long you want (a month?). Lots of gyms have morning and evening classes.
    • Hi, i have a general question concerning Muay-Thai training camps, are there any serious ones in Europe at all? I know there are some for kickboxing in the Netherlands, but that's not interesting to me or what i aim for. I have found some regarding Muay-Thai in google searches, but what iv'e found seem to be only "retreats" with Muay-Thai on a level compareable to fitness-boxing, yoga or mindfullness.. So what i look for, but can't seem to find anywhere, are camps similar to those in Thailand. Grueling, high-intensity workouts with trainers who have actually fought and don't just do this as a hobby/fitness regime. A place where you can actually grow, improve technique and build strength and gas-tank with high intensity, not a vacation... No hate whatsoever to those who do fitness-boxing and attend retreats like these, i just find it VERY ODD that there ain't any training camps like those in Thailand out there, or perhaps i haven't looked good enough?..  Appericiate all responses, thank you! 
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      1.4k
    • Total Posts
      11.5k
×
×
  • Create New...