Hello All
Been a while since ive been on this forum. Just thought i'd throw in my two bits worth.
I am involved in a club in australia. We train twice a week (this is for people just wanting to learn self defence) basically a training session here consists of a warm up in the form of a minute of unders and then a minute of straight punches (nonstop so two minutes total). then we do 5-6 sets of combinations 5-6 minutes each and switch to our partners. then we do at least three sparring rounds of 3 minute length, incorporatig all we know, experienced guys go reasonably hard on each other, but the general rule inhouse is, you only go as hard as your partner does.
Bad injuries (which have sidelined me for upto a month from training) include very bad bruising (haematoma) beside the shinbone (due to not quite checking perpendicular shin to shin) also if out of range can accidently kick with foot. Also we are taught to keep our elbows protecting ribs, so a guy I was sparring rib kicked my elbow and hurt his shin (as it is a tougher bone). Also an incorrect or late check can lead to getting kicked in the side of the knee cap. Apart from the obvious, blood nose, black eye etc from the boxing component. All during sparring of course.
The only formality we have is bowing at start and end of lesson to kru, and our sparring partners before and after a round. No traditional dancing is done.
Wai kru is basically only done in thailand or by very diehard western fighters who totally embrace the thais total culture, not just the lethal techniques to use as they please.
