Fenris-wolf

OK, I know I'm not actually contributing to the conversation... But I just want to know; what is IMO/UFC?? Thanks

Damn! And since I live in NZ it probably won't emerge for years yet... Oh well, hopefully I'll be going over to Thailand to train sometime next year, so I could have a look around while I'm there. Maybe see if anyone at the camp I go to knows anything about it. Thanks, anyway

Hey, MuayThai fighter, how common is your style? I've never heard of it (not that that's saying much ), and it sounds interesting. I'm absolutely in love with Muay Thai, and this sounds pretty damn cool!

Yes, I completely agree. Almost every single poll has left me going "Um.." My opinion on the matter is that full-contact sparring is very important, and that some diciplines (not to offend anybody, I hope) should focus on it more. But it's certainly not the only factor and katas are not "useless"! Full-contact sparring is a must in my opinion, at least as you progress higher in the ranks, because while it's not entirely realistic, it's a really good way of teaching you to think even when you feel overwhelmed, how to deal with the adrenalin (sp??) and fear... Also, I confess, I personally love it!

Yeah, it's more complicated than it sounds... I spent a long time not wanting to be alive, but not wanting to hurt myself... and more importantly I couldn't do that to my loved ones. Now I'm feeling a lot better and despite no fear of the concept of death it's quite amazing how much your body doesn't want to give up when push comes to shove. So baisically I have no problem with death in itself. Unfortunately the less intellectual parts of me have a big problem with dying! P.S. Definately, I could never choose my own life over someone elses. Even if I wasn't particularly fond of them. P.P.S. Except of course in the case that they're trying to kill me!

Is the "age of consent" 18 in America?? It's 16 here (NZ), so MonkeyGirl's comment sounded kind of odd. And I have to confess I had a big crush on my instructor for a while, but even apart from the 14 year age gap (he's older), he has a long-term g/f so I wouldn't even bother. I really think that all these rules are just like statistics; they have to be exaggerated because we're talking about such a huge range of people. It's all about how mature you can be about the relationship both when in it and out of it. I broke the biggest rule in the book and slept with my flatmate -4 days after I moved in! He's also in my Muay Thai club. The only little hitch we had is that he had difficulty sparring with my at first; I just laughed and went hard out until he got the point!!

I like that! Really, I think it's less that we should have an "age limit", and more that if the student's are being graded strenuously, it's very unlikely that a 10 year old is going to get a black belt!

Hiya all. God, it's weird, I've never actually had anyone challenge me, and since I love MA it quite frequently comes up in casual conversation. Everyone I know knows I do Muay Thai -if they let me it's all I'll talk about! Maybe NZ's a bit more relaxed about these kind of things. Although once when I was late I biked to Karate in my gi and I got some amused/confused/intimidated looks. And I was only 14!

Wow, that's pretty much exactly what I was going to say! Look man, there is NO way you should have to pretend to be "friends" with this bastard. Just don't even bother. Fine, clear the air, obviously this confrontation is going to happen unless you want to keep having him walk all over you. Just don't hurt him too much! Make your point, then walk away and get some new friends. Good luck!

Yeah, I'm agreeing with GreenDragon. Actually, I'm agreeing with everyone. We can give you advise, but only if we get more information. And of course, if you're anything like me, what will probably happen is you will look at our advise, think about it, then dismiss it and make your own decision anyway!

Wow, are you TRYING to provoke people? It sounds like it... Ahh, I can't resist commenting. Yes, men as a rule are stronger than women. But strength is certainly not everything, especially in karate! I practice Muay Thai, and of course none of the fighters are going to go all out. (I'm female by the way) But then again, I couldn't bear to go 100% with someone who was mis-matched anyway. It's fairly obvious that there is no "better" between genders. A man may be able to hold is own when sparring more quickly than a women due to pure muscle mass, but I have to say that it's the THINKING that I have difficulty with, not hitting hard! Believe me, everyone at my club made fun of me because when I first started sparring I always hit too hard. Unless there's a 20kg difference, it's the intelligent fighter who wins. And to respond to somebody's comment about the fact there are more men in the armed forces; this reflects a slowly dying prejudice, not that they're "better"! Women in the New Zealand Army still cannot enter combat roles (eg: gunner, rifleman, SAS) due to a nice little clause in the gender discrimination act. Blah.

Well, martial arts in general I love because they feel so... right. I don't know, have you noticed how you almost never get nasty people in martial arts? It's great; you fight, you try and hit each other, hurt each other and after you hug and are friends again. More specifically, I practice Muay Thai and I love how REAL it is. (ie: contact sparring)

Thanks

Um, I'm probably not even going to be in here if anybody replies, but what is Krav Maga? Is it Russian? Would a practitioner of this particular MA enlighten me; I practice Muay Thai and would be very interested in knowing about Krav Maga because it sounds very similar.

I definately think that unless you have trained HARD at karate the street fighter will win. Karate you know a lot of fancy moves, but a street fighter learns very quickly how to be economical. Winning a street fight means getting in and getting out with minimal damage. No rules, no chivalry, just kick their ass and run. I can't really see how karate could compete with that. Especially since in a karate fight you don't hit in the head. How will you deal with it when they just smash a big hook into your face? Of course, it all depends on the experience of both. Karate isn't exactly ineffectual; it's just that it is very seldom applied to reality these days, whereas all a street fighter's ever known is reality. Although anybody whose experience with fights is in a gang is likely to freak if they have to fight you on an equal footing. And if their main advantage is strength that could fairly easily be used against them provided you know what you're doing.

I know I'm just repeating what the other two said but... lead leg first! No matter which way you're going, it's the leg that is closest. (eg: foward = front leg, right = right leg...) Not as easy as it sounds.

Actually, it's alright to use a rolling pin; but ROLL, don't hit! If you hit your shins, you're going to damage them. Of course, in a fight/sparring, that's inevitable, but it's not something you want to encourage. Easiest way is just to kick a fairly hard bag repeditively (at least 100 times, apparently), and to pause occasionally to massage blood back into that area.

haha, I have experience this problem. Not nice! Most people leave about two hours before they go to training. A tip though; bananas, bananas, bananas! My trainer's explained why this is, but I can't remember; all I remember is that you can eat one half way through training and not have a problem. Hope that helps!

Excuse me! You realise you just made it sound really simplistic, right?? I'm sure that it would be very easy to be passable at Muay Thai, since yes, there are no katas or anything else. No gradings, just bouts -but it is not "nothing fancy"! Have you done Muay Thai? If you want to be a truly good Muay Thai fighter you could spend as long training as at any karate! Ok, I'm done.

Hiya. Nobody loves you, eh? Me neither. *LOL* I personally would recommend Muay Thai (thai kickboxing), but then, I'm biased! I did karate for a few years, and I really enjoyed that, but Muay Thai is above and beyond that. I love the exhileration of actually hitting and getting hit. It is a million times more difficult and more realistic. And (for me at least) it has been a great atmosphere, no pressure, really supportive. Good luck finding somewhere to train!

It's hard to know... It's sounds like maybe the guys need to go a bit softer on you. Muay Thai is great in that you pick the level you train at and you always have to choose to challenge yourself -yeah, it's going to hurt sometimes, and you will have to toughen up, but if it's your first couple of times they should NOT be hitting so hard that you get big bruises! It's hard to hold thai pads at first; just tell them if they're going too hard. You are perfectly within your rights.

I think that boxing can definately be under-rated, but personally the thing that can make me be a little contemptuous is purely the politics which I have observed. Which of course has nothing to do with the style. I'm sure boxing is very complex, and an intelligent fighter could certainly use it in a street-fighting situation, but you have to realise that in comparison to Muay Thai or kickboxing you have less than half the weapons. A Muay Thai fighter may not have quite as hard a punch, but then again, he might. Whereas a boxer has no reason to know how to knee/elbow/kick let alone how to block these weapons. A little behind in the conversation, I know, but I couldn't resist.

Hiya

Hiya all. Um, well, I'm new here obviously. Starting at the start; I'm female, 18, and I live in New Zealand. I did Seido Karate in Christchurch from around 12-15, which I really enjoyed, but bailed out for no reason which makes sense to me now. I had just completed my green belt grading when I left. Silly me. I moved to Wellington at the beginning of last year, and started at Victoria University Muay Thai club in March this year. I love Muay Thai, I think I can keep myself entertained for a good few years on this. I hope one day in the not-too-distant future to train in Thailand (somewhere where they accept women!), but I have a long way to go yet. I stumbled across this site while looking up martial art sites for diet advise and found this a welcome surprise! Great to find a forum of like-minded people by complete accident.

Hi all. My club is going to have some novice fights in September which I hope to enter, but I should really lose a few kilos first. (I weigh 65k now, ideal fight weight for me would be 59-62) I train six days a week (1-2.5hrs) and swim/jog a couple of times a week at the moment. Over the next three months I will be adding in more fitness/strength training upon advise from my trainer. While I have a general idea of what I should or should not eat I was wondering if anybody has any advise specific to Muay Thai/martial arts.