SevenStar

yeah, the upper cut is best worked on the pads. When I'm in front of a bag, I will throw the uppercut, and naturally, it will hit air. That's cool though, as I know I put the uppercut in there as opposed to forgetting about it.

that's a good one also. We call it free feeding.

fairtex is good. They are slow though, generally. I have friends who have waited in excess of five months for their gear. I was able to expedite my order by telling them I had a fight coming up - they shipped it out right away. you may also look into ringside and twins. Both have great equipment. ringside's thai pads have improved in quality. For cheap things like gloves and wraps, I still get mine online. I don't use bag gloves - gitting ready to buy some, however, but some of the wraps at ringside.com are the same price as they are at my local wal-mart, plus I can but them in packs.

bag work. pad work. make sure your form is correct. make sure that you are using your hip properly - extending it forward, turning it over, etc, depending on which type of knee you are doing. Is there any specific type of knee you are curious about, or just knees in general?

yeah, locks will be taught right away. A problem you may run into though are beginners with the "I gotta win" syndrome. they tend to get wild in an attempt to "win" as if they are in a competition or have something to prove.

from what I hear, many of the better bjj guys in brazil are also judo blackbelts. throws are indeed taught in bjj, but as johnny said, it's not a focus. Just like ground work isn't a focus at many judo schools.

1.5 - 3 hrs a day, 4 days a week, plus 4 hours on saturday.

sambo

he'll be in my prayers.

I don't think that at all. Nothing to feel bad about.

no art will make you invincible. muay thai has alot of good points to it though. In addition to being able to use it for self defense, the higher contact level will aid in helping you deal with the shock of being hit if you are ever in a confrontation. The mental and physical toughness you develop through thai boxing will be a great asset. As has already been said, you may want to add ground work or grappling as well, but no single art is "complete", so you would run into that obstacle with any style you train in.

what are you trying to say here?

exactly

what ken and vito said.

no doubt they can grapple, I'm saying they are mainly strikes by way of their training. mo was a thai boxer, lidell did kenpo and (boxing?), siva was a thai boxer (I know he's a bb in bjj too though), etc.

It's not supposed to be - it was a week long seminar. In a seminar, you are trying to learn.... you condition inside of class and out. I would be highly upset it I paid for a seminar and all we did was conditioning, as the point of the seminar is to learn techniques I may have not yet been exposed to.

I'm not sure grinning will deter an opponent. My thai coach and I both have a habit of grinning after a hard shot - it's just a way of saying "yeah, that was a good one" I will do it sparring with anyone, but tend not to do it in the ring.

http://stickgrappler.tripod.com/mt/mt.html also, Do a search for "the belt is in the ring" and find the site by pop pratibatuga. there is also https://www.muaythai.com

watch some mma matches. lidell, mo smith, silva, belfort, cro cop... all are primarily strikers.

if that strong striker can't defend takedowns well, he's still gonna have a hard time.

I can agree with this, but it's when you get those that learn the latter and claim to know the former is when you get people wriled up. I was watching a thing on the TV once, maybe TBS, soluting Martial Artists. Sinbad (the comedian) came out and starting talking about being a Black Belt and his master. Then he revealed that his "master" was Billy Blanks. that got me all upset. i know that billy blanks isn't XMA, but it's similar, you see where i'm going with this? Maybe a good analogy would be a lawyer who went through law school getting upset because someone was just learning the big words and saying that he was a lawyer. okay, that was a bad analogy, i admit. i'm rambling, so i'll quit. sorry blanks has legitimate skills, despite popularizing tae bo. Could you take him?

Yea I agree but I am going to be a little more harsh. No doubt XMA is cool, flips and stuff that is impressive, but it all means nothing. It doesn't prove that you can fight, have a sparring match. I watched it on Discovery and it was guys swinging weapons around. They have to know the exact placement of weapons and the pin points of a swing. Not just up down, fast, looks like type ish. no offense, but a high kicking tkd guy insulting the xma? Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black? just as there are merits to tkd, there are some to xma.