Muay Thai Gym Attire

[threeoaks]

I like all slob, all the time.  I even like "paying extra" in sweat for crappy cotton t-shirts.  Sometimes I have to succumb and wear "sports" fabric tanks if its too hot but I don't like people looking at my arms (even though I am vain about it too).  Love the hilarious image of dude in tiny shorts.  Of course we don't have the cultural component here, much.  There is a young woman with a spectacular body who trains at my gym (she is a fitness pro in pilates or some such).  She rarely wears shorts but I admire her legs when she does!  For me just the short shorts of MT are kind of impossible.  Although I am skinny I am eh, old.  I don't like shorts.  I also would feel pretentious wearing Thai shorts (even though I have a few pairs from a shoot).  I need skillz first. :teehee:  I make do with some "board shorts" when I have to, because they are long and stretchy if I have to wear the ACL brace (which is rare now).  Feel better in that than some kind of fancy legging stuff.  I am a tomboy.

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

 I also would feel pretentious wearing Thai shorts (even though I have a few pairs from a shoot).  I need skillz first. :teehee:  I make do with some "board shorts" when I have to, because they are long and stretchy if I have to wear the ACL brace (which is rare now).  Feel better in that than some kind of fancy legging stuff.  I am a tomboy.

I've never heard that before. Why do you associate Muay Thai shorts with correlative skill? I could find myself not being willing to buy expensive yoga pants because I'm going to use them for napping way more than for yoga (I don't do yoga), but the shorts to me are like wearing a swimming suit for swimming. I did note that my trainers, who are in their 40's, opt for longer shorts now - still nylon material rather than the board shorts, but similar length. Kinda like how western boxing trunks are now, but that carries over to basketball also... which is a damn shame. Those short shorts back in the Larry Bird days were something I could holler at! Ah-whoooo-gah!  :woot:

[Finn Cartlidge]

I've never heard that before. Why do you associate Muay Thai shorts with correlative skill? 

Just my take on it: when you walk into a western gym you kind of guess who the experienced guys/girls are from what they wear, like they'll have branded gloves/shins/shorts. It's also common for people to use cheap or provided gear as beginners, whether this is because they don't want to attract attention or it's because they aren't sure if they're committed to it long-term.

When I was new at this one gym I didn't want to wear a gym t-shirt from Thailand, in case people would be like 'oh you trained in Thailand you must be good' - in reality, no one would probably care, but I just didn't want to be perceived as something I'm not.

PS. I find it difficult to write my thoughts into words so that's why it might be wrote a bit messy.

[Giulia Caruso]

I just realized I have the same feeling too, like the same goes in my gym: beginners = random clothes and cheap gear, advanced = thai shorts and cool gear.

 

My problem with thai/kickboxing shorts is actually the material. I have very sensitive skin and I'll have a rash wearing something that is not cotton or viscosa... :(

[maybethestars]

Initially I actually didn't like the Muay Thai shorts because I just felt awkward and silly wearing them with the way they're usually styled. Now I realize how great it is that they flare out so much because its less restrictive when it comes to kicks. Though I definitely think there is a big difference in perception abroad with those who wear MT shorts vs. those who don't. I also think it may be partially because of availability/pricing. In Thailand its generally easy enough to find these shorts even in stalls on the streets, whereas if you go to the gym in the UK for example, you have to really go to one of those speciality fightgear shops to find these style of shorts, which implies the person is much more experienced and invested since they do so in the first place.

[Mae-Lin Leow]

Interesting, I'm not a fighter but I've recently started following Muay Thai and MMA fighters on face book and watching fights on youtube. Most of the women who show up in my feed are wearing shorts/skorts and a sports bra/crop top. As someone who is an outsider to the sport I assumed that to be the standard attire for female fighters. 

Do gyms have a dress code? Are there rules about what fighters can and can't wear in the ring?

Of course sex sells and in many professional sports women's attire is revealing to appeal to a heterosexual male audience.

Attire in MMA and attire in Muay Thai can be very different. Also training vs fighting and being in the West vs being in Asia are all also different. In my experience even most of the Western WMMA fighters who wear "revealing" clothes while fighting (e.g. crop top and vale tudo shorts) would usually wear more than that while training (e.g. long spats, rashguard), in a similar way to how wrestlers compete in a lycra singlet but train in sweats or shorts and a t-shirt. While you're grappling in competition you want minimal clothing in the way (thus the choice of either minimal or very fitted materials) but while training (especially with mostly straight male team-mates) you feel more comfortable with more coverage. Of course, all of this is a bit separate from the cultural issue which is being discussed on this thread. Hope this makes sense.

It doesn't just apply to women either. I have a male coach who is very body-conscious and aware of the message he sends to new students so actually wears multiple layers of clothing to cover up while training, often keeping everything covered except his head, feet and hands.

[Mae-Lin Leow]

As a husband looking on I can really just feel the way in which some (western) men are saying: This is MY space. There is an unspoken degree of freedom, a freedom of movement that men simply accept as their own. Some don't think about it at all. Some do think about it, and make a point of their freedom. Come on Italian dude. Don't go stand next to a woman and put your cup on. There is something about power going on here.

Interesting that you correlate this to power! I've witnessed the dynamic being completely reversed in a female-dominant space (women't wrestling camp). A lot of women were wearing compression tights or shorts which would were comfortable and convenient for grappling, but would have been interpreted as "sexy" in a male space. (Upper bodies were always well-covered during training though with high-necked rash-guards - again, the convenience factor). The head-coach was breast-feeding her child after training, without hiding or covering up. I have to say that it was an empowering feeling, and the gender dynamic was very much reversed in that it was the men who were in the minority and expected to avert their eyes, be professional or otherwise just "deal with it" the way that women normally have to deal with male-semi-nudity in male spaces.

[Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu]

The head-coach was breast-feeding her child after training, without hiding or covering up. I have to say that it was an empowering feeling, and the gender dynamic was very much reversed in that it was the men who were in the minority and expected to avert their eyes, be professional or otherwise just "deal with it" the way that women normally have to deal with male-semi-nudity in male spaces.

 

That is pretty amazing. It shows you that things we take to be socially and structurally ingrained, like the power of the male gaze, or the codification of spaces (gym = male), can be subverted rather fluidly. Just change the numbers and purposes of most of the people involved in a space and power and eyes function differently.

We are always not far from reversals, and new things.

[Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu]

It doesn't just apply to women either. I have a male coach who is very body-conscious and aware of the message he sends to new students so actually wears multiple layers of clothing to cover up while training, often keeping everything covered except his head, feet and hands.

Interesting that you correlate this to power! I've witnessed the dynamic being completely reversed in a female-dominant space (women't wrestling camp).  I have to say that it was an empowering feeling, and the gender dynamic was very much reversed in that it was the men who were in the minority and expected to avert their eyes, be professional or otherwise just "deal with it" the way that women normally have to deal with male-semi-nudity in male spaces.

Good point about fighting vs training in both functionality and comfort (or alternately functionality vs. comfort). I'm not sure if I said this before on this thread, but I've heard more than once from different men in Thailand who were having their first fight that they were far more afraid of being shirtless in public (in the ring, which amounts to a "stage") than they were about another man trying to kick their face in.  These men sometimes were diligent about wearing a T-shirt in training due to self-consciousness and some were okay in the "privacy" of the familiar gym space to be half naked.

And the gender majority power dynamic shift is a brilliant phenomenon. I went to a college that used to be all-women and since going co-ed in the 70's has remained roughly 75% female. So, in many classes there were very few men and in some classes only one. In most classes in the US where there are equal numbers or even more men (like in the sciences), women totally hang back and don't speak up as much; in general women tend to clutter our language with "I think/ I feel" or "maybe it's just me, but," or other such softeners to take away authoritative tone. But in these classes where there were so few men, it was THEY who took up a kind of "does anyone else feel?" kind of intro, whereas the women would far more comfortably speak out, speak up, or even disagree far more freely than more traditionally ratio-ed classes.

[NewThai]

Training in the US I wear a tanktop and thai shorts to train (with the appropriate sports undergarments). I remove my shirt for clinch as I'll be fighting without one and it makes sense to me to be used to working skin-to-skin. If I were overseas I am guessing I'd stick to the tank top since things are a bit different culturally.

 

Edited to add: the men at my gym train shirtless a majority of the time and are required to be shirtless for clinch. The women have never been asked to dress any certain way. When I train at my friend's gym (the one from thailand) I never go shirtless as none of the men do. I think each gym has its own culture and it makes sense to follow suit where appropriate.