# one month on and....



## joebrooks86 (Nov 12, 2009)

Im really enjoying muay thai!!
I am training in a fantastic camp which is owned by a grandmaster, so the training seems to a high standard and learning vast amounts each time i am training.
already i know the basics, punches -flying hooks, straights ect, kicks, clinch, and elbows, straight uppercut, overhand. (still need to perfect this over years though)
 Its coming together faster than i hoped. I do struggle with the fact that i stand in a right gaurd (southpaw) so in advanced lessions i have to work out the steps ect what he shows the class in my own gaurd, but i am gradually coming to terms with this. 
 I might take my grading next month, just have to learn well my Ram Muay -also interested in fighting interclubs which are also held at the gym, how long would you say need to be training for to feel comfertable before taking it to this compitition? 
I am about 100kg 6.2ft as used to be into bodybuilding so i suppose could trim down a few pounds to get a ideall weight? 
just bit daunting fighting some one else this weight when never really done any aggressive sparring?

any thoughts, tips or general comments will be greatly welcomed!!

thanks joe


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## alphacat (Nov 12, 2009)

Hey,
I started my Muay Thai training 2.5 months ago and I feel just the same about it, I really love it and always think how to get better in it.

These months are very crucial for how good of a fighter you'll become, so work hard on your technique.
I'd start considering getting into interclub competitions when I'm 6 months into Muay Thai.

Would you like to share you training routine?

Best of luck.


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## joebrooks86 (Nov 12, 2009)

Hi thanks for the reply

I currently train about 4 times per week, sometimes try and double up after and and onther - so for instance 6.30 -7.30 beginers, then intermiadate 7.30 -8.30 -its hard work 

Beginers  -warm up for about 15 mins, normally sit ups, press ups, burpees, squats, and other conditioning ect... then we pair up and namely concentrate on one aspect per lession, so for instance punching, jab, cross, jab cross -always on the move and pad holder enconraged to give a whack if guard is down -we then move to jab, cross, left hook right hook -then uppercut ect.. we do this for elbows -knees

Intermiates is slightly differant - clinch work, and alot more focus on the stance, and where feet should be when performing the combos -light sparring - we normally have about 15 in a class -so the Kru can spend alot of time with the partners to help us out! -each week i think i am improving and dont have to think 'feet should be here, keep hands up -as this is being done automatically now.

i was thinking to improve shins, and overall conditioning to do extra work on my own, such as 
50 low kicks
50 high
3 min fast punches
50 elbows ect... to make it relevent to what you would do in a fight.

What things do you do? and tips about being more flexible?

joe here is a link to my academy, www.mastersken.com


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## alphacat (Nov 12, 2009)

Hey Joe.

I attend my school 3 times a week, which one of them is dedicated just to work on the bag, which is really great.

In each of the 2 remained classes, we do warm-up and stretches at the first 5-10 minutes, then we split to partners and practice techniques - one works on offense while the other one works on defense, and backwards.
Usually in the end of the class, we do (relatively hard) sparring.

At the punching bag workout today, I focused on kicking high with power.
High kicks are much harder to perform on the bag rather than on air or even against a person, I don&#8217;t know how to explain it.

I really need to work on my high kicks, I find it very helpful to make a light 45 degrees step with the supporting foot before throwing the kick, I just need to work on speed when doing it, since this step tells your opponents that you're gonna kick him.

For flexibility, perform stretches after each workout.
At that time, your muscles are tired and therefore you'll be able to stretch better.
You'll see that as time passes, you'll be able to reach farther and higher with your muscles.

By the way, if you got a msn you can send your email to me through PM.


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## alphacat (Nov 12, 2009)

Here is a pic of my leg from yesterday's workout, after focusing on conditioning our shins.

It was a ****ng good one 

I must say that it's not even close to how Akira's leg looked like in one of the conditioning threads there were here.


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## Rob2109 (Nov 12, 2009)

Ah, Master Sken. My training partner trained under him for many years, where abouts is he based now?


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## joebrooks86 (Nov 13, 2009)

Thanks alphacat,
your legs do look sore, but best to condition them now, then to be blocking, taking powerful pickls in the future.
I have sprained my wrist on tuesday (soccer accident) so i will be practasing my kicks, knees ect... without attending the classes for the next two weeks. Lucky as i 6.2/3 ft i can quite easily reach my leg to over 6ft but like my trainer says, speed, power, accuracy!!!
   Just feel would benifit from more sparring, as this only really puts the technique to test, and is a good guide to how far, and how much is learnt -as you have to concentrate on all aspects defence/offence- and not only 1-2 single movements like in training!!
this saturday i will be working on heavy bags again with my legs, i will try get some pictures up as well. 

Master sken where i train at the HQ is based in stockport mate, see www.mastersken.com -  he only teaches the fighters classes/muay boran - but still watching himis unreal - - just put in master sken on you tube and see some of his demos.... he also now puts on world class fights msa premier league ect... most recent was last saturday -which will be showing on sky see the website for details senchai sor kingstar if thats his name, was on the bill!!!

joe


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## Akira (Nov 13, 2009)

alphacat said:


> I must say that it's not even close to how Akira's leg looked like in one of the conditioning threads there were here.


 
Yeah but that guys a p-u-s-s-y

What, we can't ever write *****?  What if I want to talk about cats?  Thats ****en wack


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## joebrooks86 (Nov 13, 2009)

Haha right,

Akira, are you still training in Thailand? I was over there for a few months last  year, i went bk, and phuket.

Just was enquiring and looking at the threads about what camps are best ect... and the prices. I am interested going over for 3 months next year (towards the end of the year) how much money (baht) does it cost for a room, be this in hostels, or apartments, or best to stay within the camp?
i have seen few all inc deals with the camps for around 9 -10,000 baht per month, this is training and accomodation.
what are you rough out goings to live and train in thailand? i understand you have had a few fights, so your gym costs may not apply?

thanks joe.


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## Akira (Nov 13, 2009)

Hi mate,

Depends on which camp you're going to really. I stayed at the gym the first month I was there to work out where things were, how things worked and to get into some kind of routine.

By the end of that month I was desperate to move out. I'd had enough of showering out of a bucket of cold water, hearing that training bell ring every 3 minutes when I was having a day off, and the other ferang who were more interested in partying then training vomiting in the rooms we all shared when they came home at 3am.

However, some gyms have some awesome accomodation with hot water, free wifi, they even change the sheets before you arrive!

I rent an apartment in Bangkok (Bang Kapi, near Lad Prao) all year round even when I'm not over there. It's 4,600 THB a month for rent (around $50 AUD a week) and I have to pay electricity on top of that which is next to nothing. My apartment is one room, and a bathroom, air con, hot water shower and a balcony. 

You *can* rent apartments cheaper than that, for 3,000 THB a month. Someone from the gym you're staying at will be able to help you out, or if you have a specific area you're looking at renting pm me and I'll ask some of my mates over there if you want. I'm in Australia looking after my mum who had to have an operation. Soon as she can walk again I'm going back to Thailand.

9,000 - 10,000 thb for training and accommodation is a good deal. Does that include meals?

The cost of living in Thailand really depends on what else you do while you're over there. If you're fighting and cycling your training, you probably won't be spending much money on going out, or eating much western food because you'll be trying to cut weight. I can live really comfortably on 5,000 THB a week, take the girlfriend out, buy some dvds, clothes etc. Alternatively I could get by eating cheap thai food on 2,500 THB a week, including eating western food once a week. 

As you can imagine, there are a lot of variables. But to give you an idea, roadside food stalls cost about 30 - 40 THB per meal. Western food goes from 80 - 300 THB a meal. If you need to buy clothes, t-shirts cost around 100 THB from the markets, jeans cost 500 - 600 THB. A thai mobile phone will cost between 2,000 - 5,000 THB, sim cards are about 100 THB, you can buy cheap international phone cards from 300 THB, local sms messages cost 2 THB to send and international sms messages cost 10 THB. Internet access is 10 THB for 30 minutes at internet cafes and you can get a good thai massage for about 250 THB.

That's what I would call basic living expenses. If you're going out partying and picking up girls, expect to pay at least 1,500 THB in taxi fare & drinks for the night, more if you're eating out at a restaurant too.

Look I hope that helps, I could write a bucket load on this but that should give you a basic idea. When I got there I bought a pair of gloves and shin pads (never used the shin pads yet), the only consumables I had to buy were hand wraps, shorts and that lovely smelling liniment oil. Usually I was too knackered to go out after training so I managed to live pretty cheaply over there. I did splash out and buy a tv because my apartment had free cable. But as long as you have the essentials (gloves, wraps, shorts, mouth guard, plenty of clothes), you won't have to outlay much cash on arrival at all.

If your training + accommodation is only costing you 9,000 THB I would highly recommend staying at your gym if you can stand it. You'll immerse yourself much deeper into the training and culture as opposed to someone who lives away from the gym. But it depends on what the accommodation is like too, and if your room mates snore.

As for getting free training in exchange for regular fights, most gyms won't entertain that notion unless you're there for 1 year or longer. You'd want to make sure you're pretty good too and I would suggest if this is what you want to do, you're going to have to have a couple of low paid fights out of BKK first (Issan or Pattaya). Put on a good show there and you can probably strike up a deal with the owner of the gym.

I hope that makes sense, I'm kind of drunk now and trying to stay on topic without rambling too much.


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## Rob2109 (Nov 13, 2009)

> Master sken where i train at the HQ is based in stockport


Last i heard he was over in America. My mate trained with him in Stockport many years ago. I'm just up the road from you in Preston at Sor Chanas. Small world.

Also like to add that i'm a Southpaw and it confuses everyone constantly! The current European Champion and British Champion train here and they're both Southpaws, so that should give you some encouragement mate.


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## joebrooks86 (Nov 13, 2009)

Thanks for the info Akira, no doubt i will be speaking more on the matter -just have to convince my girl friend to let me go for a few months!! haha
I proberly spent around £500 english pounds a month whilst i was in thailand last time, and this is living like a king!! be it in a hotel. but thanks for the input gives me a idea how much to save ect...

As for master sken i seen him monday and he has been busy promoting as well, there was a really speacial event in bolton at the week end, so keep and eye on the website and tickets are around £40 so not far from preston!! and as i said above the show will be showing on sky in few weeks. do you fight, or do interclubs rob?


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## alphacat (Nov 13, 2009)

joebrooks86 said:


> Lucky as i 6.2/3 ft i can quite easily reach my leg to over 6ft but like my trainer says, speed, power, accuracy!!!


 
Yeah, kicks are very hard to perfect.

When I kick a high target, I'm thrusting my leg a little above the target and then push it down so the shin hits it with more power.
The problem is that I feel that my kick becomes less quick due to that.

Any advices how to work on speed when pushing the leg down?

Plus, how do guys avoid getting your leg caught by the opponent when throwing a foot jab? (Front kick).
And what do you do when your leg still gets caught?

Thanks. :asian:


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## Rob2109 (Nov 13, 2009)

Hi Joe, was it the one with Johnny Roy? There have been tickets available at the club for that one. I'm totally skint so couldn't go unfortunately.

Alphacat: Push Kick (Teep i think?) Should be a 'stab' bring it back down to minimize the chance of it been grabbed. If you keep your guard up you've less chance of getting seriously hurt but expect to be on your *** with a good fighter.


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## Akira (Nov 13, 2009)

alphacat said:


> Any advices how to work on speed when pushing the leg down?


 
Practice, practice, practice. 

Concentrate on technique over power. Eventually the speed will come and you'll be able to throw more weight into it. 

Get used to ripping out 5/10 kicks at a time on the pads.  

Do 50 kicks on each leg after training on the heavy bag. Later, do 100 kicks eat side. 




alphacat said:


> Plus, how do guys avoid getting your leg caught by the opponent when throwing a foot jab? (Front kick).


 
Aim it at their face instead.






When you get better and have more speed you'll find this won't be so much of a problem and you'll kind of hop into your push kicks and leg kicks.

The technique for what to do when your leg gets caught is hard to describe over the internet (at least for me). You bend at the knee of the leg thats caught and turn 90 degreees outwards on your other leg and push forward into their stomach. If you watch some thai matches a lot of them do this to avoid being clinched. The only thing I don't like about that technique is it leaves you open to getting your other leg kicked out from under you.

Hopefully someone can describe it better than that though.


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## alphacat (Nov 14, 2009)

Thanks guys,
Great advices.

I understood you word by word Akira.
Wow, what a powerful foot jab, its awesome, the way he stretched his leg to form a straight line and smash his opponent's face.

I'll work on it and will update here on any progress


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## Akira (Nov 16, 2009)

Yeah Boo has some power, that's for sure.

The other thing you can do is mix it up a bit, teep them in the stomach, in the leg, the chest, fake a teep and then step in with a knee or good hand combo.  Use both your front teep and back teep, keep them guessing. The physical side of muay thai is only half of the training...


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