First Muay Thai session

[ebff]

Wow! I have a new respect for boxers now (whether Thai or normal)...

At the time I thought the session wasn't that tough really (except maybe the pad work but that's because I was with one of the club's fighters), now I've changed my mind, even after a night's sleep my hands are still shaking... I thought the gloves were a wimp option, after training bare-handed... it just means they hit harder! I love it though! Especially the kicking!

I have a question for regular MT practitioners. Last night was technique work, and we'd spend maybe 2min on a certain technique (like right, left, knee, right uppercut, left hook), 30s on another one, and then 2min on a new one and so on for about 20 min before switching pad/gloves. How does this work out in the long run? In Wing Chun we'd spend about 20 min on a single technique (or a specific chi sao drill), and possibly get through a max of 3 drills by the end of the session, which meant it had become semi-automatic and I remembered everything (except the forms ). Here I can barely remember any of the drills, and didn't have the time to make any of them work. How are you meant to learn how to apply a technique in 2 min if you've never seen it before? I couldn't do a back roundhouse kick (I assume that's what it was, kick to the head with the heel) and by the time the kru had showed me how, we moved on to the next drill...

Oh yeah if anybody could tell me how to do such a kick I'd love to see cos I'd like to practice it for next week

Anyway MT rocks

But I miss the cool techniques from Wing Chun when you just took down somebody with something other than just hitting...

[Sohan]

Glad you enjoyed it. You'll find MT a great complement to your WC experience. Good luck with your future classes!

Respectfully,

Sohan

[elbows_and_knees]

Wow! I have a new respect for boxers now (whether Thai or normal)...

At the time I thought the session wasn't that tough really (except maybe the pad work but that's because I was with one of the club's fighters), now I've changed my mind, even after a night's sleep my hands are still shaking... I thought the gloves were a wimp option, after training bare-handed... it just means they hit harder! I love it though! Especially the kicking!

gloves are never a wimp option. The thing you gotta realize is during a class - sparring, bag work, mitt work, etc. you are throwing literally hundreds of punches per session. thousands per week. that is a lot of wear on the hands. Also, since you fight in gloves, it makes sense to train in them, no? And sparring is usually harder than you do barehanded.

I have a question for regular MT practitioners. Last night was technique work, and we'd spend maybe 2min on a certain technique (like right, left, knee, right uppercut, left hook), 30s on another one, and then 2min on a new one and so on for about 20 min before switching pad/gloves. How does this work out in the long run? In Wing Chun we'd spend about 20 min on a single technique (or a specific chi sao drill), and possibly get through a max of 3 drills by the end of the session, which meant it had become semi-automatic and I remembered everything (except the forms ). Here I can barely remember any of the drills, and didn't have the time to make any of them work. How are you meant to learn how to apply a technique in 2 min if you've never seen it before? I couldn't do a back roundhouse kick (I assume that's what it was, kick to the head with the heel) and by the time the kru had showed me how, we moved on to the next drill...

Oh yeah if anybody could tell me how to do such a kick I'd love to see cos I'd like to practice it for next week

muay thai is more alive than wing chun. you aren't necessarily supposed to remember the drills. Just focus on learning the technique so that you can apply them not matter what drill you do. If the class is structured, you will build in a logical order on what you are learning, so you won't forget the technique, even though you may forget the drill. And there is LOTS more repetition in MT because you have fewer things to work on - it will even out.

The kick you mention sounds like "alligator whips it's tail" - a hook kick.

But I miss the cool techniques from Wing Chun when you just took down somebody with something other than just hitting...

the thing about real fighting is that often times you can't just take someone down - but I digress. you will learn to target certain areas - jaw, liver, kidneys, sciatic nerve, etc. and (depending what your coach knows and what he prefers) you may learn some takedowns.

[ebff]

Thank you very much for your reply. I have by now realised that gloved training is just as tough if not tougher than bare handed training.

I'm not that bothered about learning to fight per se - I fight relatively little, and when I do it always ends up on the floor with joint locks, strangling, that kind of stuff (I suppose wrestling?), instinctively I tend not to kick or punch in fights - maybe MT will change that. But I took it up mainly for fitness, and to see whether I could resist training and become a better person through it, more than just to learn how to destroy somebody else quickly. Let's say it's a side advantage.