elbows_and_knees

that's not true, actually. bone density increases with impact. Why do you think a healing broken bone gets that huge mass of calcium around it? aside from nutrition, weight bearing exercises and impact are great ways to increase bone density. where do you think exercises like iron palm and three star came from? Why do people hit the heavy bag or the makiwara?

If you are taught Muay Thai by a competent instructor you will learn to defend yourself in a fight. Very important to know how to protect yourself and counterattack. No sense in learning to punch, elbow, knee and kick if every time you try to strike you get whacked in the head. Fights end very quickly this way. But I don't think it's quite accurate to say that one has to experience a fight to be a good fighter. I've been punched in the head before and it didn't seem to improve my fighting prowess. One does, however, need to be comfortable with distancing and physical contact and practice learned skills repeatedly so that they become a natural response to a threat without thinking. Contact, yes. A full-out brawl, probably not necessary. Respectfully, Sohan why would it not be accurate? If you have no experience, you have nothing to judge by, so you are merely guessing where your skills are. being in a ring or street fight are drastically different from sparring at the gym. I personally would never train muay thai under a coach who had never been in the ring. there are things about being in the ring - more than just fighting - that can't always be accurately taught by someone with no experience. same thing with a street fight. I've seen several black belts in various systems who did plenty of sparring get massacred in street fights - they didn't have the experience and happened to fight people more experienced than them. Naturally, I don't advocate going out and getting into streetfights, but I am a big advocate of ring fighting. I think that EVERY MA should step into the ring at least once. as a bouncer, I've seen a few green bouncers get beaten and I've seen some freeze and panic instead of breaking up a fight. it's an experience thing.

Sounds like a good gym so far. However, IMO you shouldn't be sparring this early, only doing a lot of drilling. I've noticed that hard contact sparring so early can ingrain bad habits into a noob. The self-defense aspect of muay thai is a little different. Yes, you can use the sportive muay thai very effectively - most prefer it - but there are traditional techniques that some schools drill also. included are elbows to the base of the neck, knees to the spine, etc. I think this is more the SD aspect of muay thai - the traditional techniques.

I'm not referring to anything that influenced it over the years. I'm talking about it's origin. It's origin is judo, not jjj.

what's the name of the capoeira group?

Actually, I've always been told that when it comes to conditioning (chinese threestar drills, arm boxing, etc) that if you get bruised then you are doing it wrong - you are going too hard. Once you have the bruise, you either have to lay off for a while or lighten the contact, which are both counter-productive. You want to clash hard enough to feel it, but not hard enough to bruise. When it comes to sparring, bruises happen. That's just the result of hard contact.

1. you must remember that there is no such thing as "toning up". "tone" is nothing more than residual tension in the muscle, even while relaxed. this is a result of regular weight training. 2. low bodyfat % - proper diet. These two things combined will give you the look you are after.

two things 1. lift big 2. eat big use compound and olympic lifts - cleans, deads, squats, bench, etc. reps in the 5-8 range, 3-5 sets. food intake must increase also.

my capoeira class has more whites than blacks and latinos...

the thing with training multiple styles is that you need to train styles that compliment eachother, yet are so different that similar movements will not confuse you. For example, I trained longfist alongside muay thai, and there were a lot of differences that would've comfused me had I not already had an ma background. with capoeira and wc, there are major differences in the footwork and overall philosophy of fighting. Whast they have in common is that (if the capoeira is taught right and is under a more fighting oriented group), there is a lot of infighting. headbutts, elbows_and_knees, takedowns, etc. so yes, you can use it for self defense. I personally would train capoeira first, then once I am solid with it, undetake WC.

1. technically, bjj is judo. That is where is came from. Sure, judo is a jjj offshoot, but bjj is judo. 2. you won't get the crap beaten out of you every muay thai class. You will work extremely hard, but you get the crap beaten outta you when you compete and train for your fight. 3. muay thai and bjj go great together. Muay thai and judo do as well. Do them both, so you can be versed in both you stand up and ground game.

why can't you do it? what hurts when you go low? what gives out?

Unless you exhaust the triceps and anterior (front) shoulder muscles first, presses of any kind are not the most efficient way to train the chest muscles. That distinction belongs to the fly's. Dumbbell fly, cable fly, etc. Aodhan depends on what you're trying to do. If I'm going for mass, the bench is the way to go. If you only want to isolate the chest, do flyes.

Most likely, you don't. That's why you use it supplementally. Same thing with protein, vitamins, etc. they supplement what you are already deficient in. as I said above, the body excretes excess creatine. This shouldn't be an issue. the average non bodybuilding male doesn't care about cater weight. the muscle density gained and strength increases - that is what they care about. That and the energy production and lessened lactic acid buildup. As for aerobic conditioning, I never noticed a difference when I was using it. It's a well known myth that bigger = slower. you have to be HUGE for that to happen. If he's that big, he doesn't need creatine - he needs jenny craig.

That is a VERY dangerous stratregy to use these days. Sure, it worked for royce 12 years ago, because nobody knew what the guard was, so they didn't know how to escape it, how to prevent getting tapped from there, etc. Today, this is common knowledge. Being on the bottom is fine, but I wouldn't base a strategy around being there.

that is very overrated - don't rely on it. in the heat and high stress of a fight, you often don't realize you were kicked there until the fight is over. I had the same experience. I didn't feel it till the fight was over. Also, as a general rule, pain compliance is NEVER the proper answer. pain is tolerable. People can and will fight trough pain. This is basic training for any ring fighter. you have to stop them, not make them comply through pain. This is why a lot of grapplers laigh at pressure points. They are used to pain and many pressure points are nothing more than nuissances. a nuissance can be tolerated; unconsciousness or a broken limb cannot.

The more I hear people say this, and the longer I work as a bouncer, the more I disagree with it. 1. there is nothing wrong with restriction. In the club, we are not allowed to strike - we can only restrain. lawsuits come very easily these days. So, when faced with multiple opponents and weapons, I use muay thai clinching and my judo and bjj training. On rare occasion, I may throw an elbow, short punch or knee - things I can easily mask as being accidental. Not throwing "lethal" strikes has never been necessary. 2. I've seen traditional cats get mauled in streetfights. Where were the lethal strikes then? 3. it's HARD to hit many of those targets properly when you are fighting a person who does not want to get hit. I once sparred a guy and allowed groin and throat shots, encouraging him to hit me there. He could not. It's not because I'm good - he was actually a higher rank than me (I was training in a traditional school at the time) it's just darn hard to do.

maybe... depends on the person and how well they learn. Also depends on what you consider a long time. One of our guys has only been training for like 7 months and last weekend won his first ring fight with a guy who had been training for like 4 years... I agree with everything else you said though.

excessive amounts of creatine does nothing - posititve or negative - for the body. Just like excess protein, it is excreted out of the body.

it depends on you. If you are just training, it won't be that bad. It will be a lot of hard work, but that's it. Now, if you want to fight, that's when people are trying to KO you. you will not experience that in a classroom setting.

a lot of people don't realize just how well conditioned boxers and thai boxers are. That is part of why they make such formidable opponents.

timing and angles don't equate to you being faster than him. On a side note, I have some cousins in laurel.

no. what happens if they are younger and faster than you? you need timing and angles. watch tyson in his younger days. timing and angles is what gets the job done when you are at a reach disadvantage.

No, it doesn't... 1. there are no absolutes. 2. you guys always seem to assume that the big guy is slow and unskilled. this is not always the case.

that's really not true. I've seen several MA get mauled in streetfights. mindset has a lot to do with it.