2011 Holiday gift guide for the muay thai enthusiast

It's been a couple years since I posted a muay thai holiday gift guide...whoops.  I'm back at it, and that's all that matters, right?

So, you want to get a gift for someone in your life who either trains muay thai, or is a fan of the combat sport, but what the hell is muay thai, and where do you start looking? Perhaps you train, and you want to give your girlfriend or grandma some ideas of what you want for Christmas. My grandma Baker would get me corduroy pants every year without fail. Let's avoid that happening to you.

Muay Thai Hoodie

Its hard to go wrong with this gift that can be worn year-round. Amazon.com carries a fairly good selection of muay thai logo hoodies and crew neck sweatshirts. This yellow hoodie is a little pricey at USD49.99. I found a version in black for USD21.90 and and I love it. You can find the yellow sucker here.

Twins Pro Boxing Gloves

I've been training and teaching muay thai for half my life. I've used pretty much every brand of boxing and muay thai  gear imaginable, and when it comes to boxing gloves nobody, and I mean nobody, beats Twins. The prices are fair, especially when you compare them to brands like Everlast. 

For North American shoppers I recommend going through TitleBoxing.com - you'll pay around USD60.00 for them. Twins can be found for about half the price on sites like MuayThaiStuff.com, but chances are slim you'll get them by  Christmas as all orders ship from Thailand and take minimum 3 weeks to get to the USA.

The Ong Bak  DVD Set (Kinda like the Stars Wars trilogy for muay thai fans)

If you're not sure exactly what to get the muay thai fan in your life, this is easily your safest bet. There is no way you can go wrong with the box set of all three Ong Bak films that delivers the best demonstration of the older muay thai systems (except for Ong Bak 2 where Tony Jaa tries to cover practically every martial art in existence). But seriously, you're guaranteed to make the recipient of this gift happy (I'll take a copy please).  This link is for my readers in the UK, I really appreciate your loyalty :)

 Namman Thai Boxing Liniment

Thai boxing liniment is a great stocking stuffer, and is the fastest way into a muay thai practitioner's heart. It's true value is known only to those who've been initiated, but once you understand it's benefits it becomes a general cure all for all aches and pains. You have to be careful from who you buy Thai liniment as it is largely overpriced, considering a 120cc bottle sells in Thailand for less than 2 dollars, however online merchants will mark up the price to as much as $15 for the same product that may be past it's expiration date. Here's a site that offers decent prices, and their online store is protected by Thawte SSL, so you can be sure your data is secure.

Competitive Ace is the official North American dealer for Namman.  This liniment is about as fresh as you can get it, however, the prices are little higher than other resources, so you'll have to weigh the benefits for yourself.

Thai Pads - A must for muay thai trainers

Alright now, among muay thai purists, there are really 3 camps of opinion as to which brand manufactures the best thai pads:  Twins, Windy and Fairtex. Pretty much everything Twins makes is of very good quality, their thai pads are no exception.

What makes a good thai pad a good thai pad? Density, thickness, material quality, and restraint assembly. I love Twins with exception of the thai pad line which uses Velcro strips, which eventually fray and can come undone during intense pad work sessions.

You want leather pads with a thickness of at least 4 inches of padding thickness with a buckle restraint system. In my experience, the most durable brand, the thai pads that last for 10+ years of extensive training has been Windy. Ladies, this is a sure bet way to make your man incredibly happy this holiday.

Muay Thai: The Most Distinguished Art of Fighting

If you ever get one book on the subject of muay thai, this one is it. The hardcover book is viewed by many as the textbook on muay thai. Transcribed from the bedside of aging Master Ket Sriyapai in 1978, this book is humble in layout. I swear most of the book was photocopied from notes, but don't let that fool you. This book is filled with incredibly usefull information, tips on training for a fight, techniques, and serves as an enlightening history of the transformation of the modern sport muay thai in the twentieth century.  Due to the dry reading, I suggest holding off on purchasing this for any muay thai student under the age of 18.  I'm generalizing here, but most teenagers won't want a book for Christmas. You can find it here.


This is by no means a comprehensive list, and I'm sure I missed a few other 'must haves'. There are a number of online resources for muay thai training gear and accessories across the Internet. The common brands for muay thai gear include Twins, Windy, Thaismai, Kombat Gear, and Fairtex.

 What do you think should be on this year's list? Add it in your comments!

Happy holidays!

Donnie Baker-

As muay thai gets more popular, what will happen to the older muay thai systems?

For me, it started with a bootleg VHS tape of fights at Lumpinee Stadium in 1992. Then, a couple weeks later I caught Paulo Tocha in Bloodsport on HBO, and in my teenage mind I was convinced. I didn't know what they called it, but whatever this fighting system was two things were certain: i. the style looked both brutal and at the same time elegant, and ii. those shorts with the writing on the front looked really, really comfortable.  Hence begun my search to learn what was to be introduced to me as muay thai.

For the better part of the 1990's (and even today to a large extent) I'd get blank stares if/when I tell people that I train muay thai. Top three typical responses are "What's that?", "Mai tai?", or "Is that like kickboxing?". The system has been on the outside of the stable of popular martial arts until MMA came along and has made the name muay thai more common (I would largely disagree with the application of muay thai being used in MMA as an accurate representation of muay thai). K-1 popularized muay thai in Europe and Asia in the early part of the twenty-first century, but the USA has football and the NBA, oh well, call us late adopters.

Outside of the occasional episode of Human Weapon on the History Channel, or the occasional documentary about the exploitation of children through muay thai in Thailand (which I agree and yet, disagree with), mainstream media never covers the Thai national sport, and its official martial art.

This is beginning to change, however. CNN  recently did a little spot on the growth in popularity of muay thai on the international stage. It's good to see this kind of exposure for the sport version of muay thai. Watch the short segment below.




The History Channel produced the series, Human Weapon where the two hosts traveled around the world receiving crash courses in martial arts from various masters or well known practitioners.What I did like about this episode is that they touched on a few of the various branches of muay thai. They trained for modern ring style muay thai, the covered lerd rit, the militarized application of muay thai, and they also went up north and got some exposure to one of the older system, Muay Chaiya.

Here's the full episode, but the commercials can get annoying.

 I'd still like to see more exposure of the older systems such as muay chao cherk, lerd rit, and chaiya  - which BTW, are lumped under the umbrella of muay boran. If someone opens up a muay boran school in your area and markets it as a single martial art, they're simply marketing it to you. Tony Jaa has done a great job of including the various subsets of muay thai in his Ong Bak and The Protector movies.

If you're lucky enough to find and train at a school that covers one of the older systems, be prepared to have others in the outside world (retail thai boxing gyms) say that your techniques are wrong. Not to worry, I've been training and teaching muay chao cherk, lerd rit and a subset of the Burmese system (boar bando) for 18 years (half my life, ugh I'm old). Just know that what's taught at the typical modern muay thai gym is a watered down version of what only scratches the surface of what a muay thai practitioner would have learned over a hundred years ago. You are among the lucky few burdened with the responsibility of continuing a dying tradition.

Hopefully the continued growth in muay thai's popularity will bring about a renaissance for the older systems used for the purposes of combat instead of sport.

Black Friday & holiday shopping safety tips with a tactical twist

So Black Friday has come and gone with some unsurprising violent outcomes across the United States. A woman in Southern California had the bright idea to discourage other shoppers from vying for an Xbox360 by using pepper spray, injuring 10 people in the process. I give her points for ingenuity, but she sort went against some social mores, such as that little known 'do unto others' rule that keeps us from eating each other. In San Leandro, CA (East Bay)  shoppers were robbed in a Walmart parking lot as they left a 1:30 am shopping spree, leaving one shopper critically injured by a bullet wound. And  this trend towards consumer-on consumer & opportunistic predatory behavior echoed across the country over the past 24 hours.

We still have a month of shopping and that means a month of somewhat higher risk for robbery or assault given the current economic state and the fact that we're all distracted with the obligatory holiday distractions.

Below is the standard list of basic safety tips issued every year for the clueless holiday shopper. I've added what I think have been missing from this list  as well. My tips are in italic.

• Park in well-lit areas, and always lock the car, close the  windows, and hide shopping bags and gifts in the trunk even if you only  plan to be gone for a few minutes. Do not leave valuables in plain view  inside your vehicle. Out of sight, out of mind!
• DB- If possible, back your car into the spot. Many attackers will approach victims from behind after they've they approached their car. If you pull head on into your spot,that open door funnels you into a corner With your car backed in, an open car door can serve as a barrier between you and your would be attacker.
• If possible, shop before dark. Coordinate shopping trips with a friend if you plan to be out late.
• Stay alert and be aware of what’s going on around you. If you see  people “hanging around” parking garages, parking lots, or the outside of  stores, avoid the area. Notify the police or security department.  
• DB - Situational awareness is huge! Keep an eye out for familiar faces, and ask yourself why you keep crossing paths that person or group of people. Are you being sized up for a potential robbery or worse?
• DB - consolidate your purchases into as few bags as possible, and make that bag the lowest end store in the mall. For example, if you buy your girlfriend a Coach purse, place it in a JC Penny shopping bag. Perception is key. If you try to appear wealthy, you're a prized pig.
• Avoid carrying large amount of cash; pay with check or credit card whenever possible.
• Limit the amount of jewelry you wear.
• Be extra careful with purses and wallets. Carry a purse close to  your body, not dangling by the straps. Don’t leave purses unattended in  shopping carts even for a moment.  
• DB- Keep your wallet in your front pants pocket.
• Deter pickpockets and purse-snatchers. Don’t overburden yourself  with packages. Have your purchases delivered whenever practical.
• DB - Thieves often work in teams: one with distract you while the other picks your pocket. If someone bumps into you in the mall, don't stop to turn around and pardon yourself or confront the individual, keep moving.
• Have your keys in hand when you return to your car. Always check the interior of your car before you unlock the door to get in.  
• DB- Don't be on your mobile phone while walking to your car, scan your sector (look around by visually sweeping the field in front of you and to your sides) keep your posture erect and look pissed off. Make yourself a hard target through your body language. 
• DB - I don't particularly condone carrying a blade if you aren't trained on basic weapon retention and use simply because introducing a weapon instantly escalates a situation in which a simple robbery turns potentially fatal. If  someone really wants you dead, they'll kill you. If they want your stuff, they'll threaten harm. Sometimes it's simply not worth the risk, and handing over your bags is the safest option. It sucks, it's better to spend the holidays with your family than in a  hospital bed.

Most importantly, if you find yourself in the midst of some crazed Walmart mob killing each other over a $2 waffle iron, maintain a wide, low stance, and remember that nice, clean, tight elbow points strategically used on soft mid sections can help move you through the crowd. Get yourself and your family/friend/partner away from the mob as quickly as possible. Look for ways out such as a nearby aisle or a gap in the crowd. That, and keep your hands on your pockets!



Happy hunting!

Muay thai front leg round kick round up

Front leg kicks are usually used as set up strikes, whether you're in the cage, in the ring, or in the street. The right use of body mechanics can make it powerful, but its rare that a front leg kick would drop a guy and keep him down.

There are a number of ways to throw it - with the reigning method has the fighter stepping out before throwing the kick. Technique aside, a key difference in how a front round kick is used in differing scenarios is the follow up. Do you follow up with a right cross? Do you shoot in on the guy? Do you throw elbows? Do you run cause he has 3 friends closing in?

The context in which I use a front leg round kick is for street or combat. If, in theory, its a set up strike and often offers the element of surprise, I don't want to be (or perhaps I can't be) in a fighting stance. If you're training in order to defend yourself in the street, or a club, or a parking lot, you really need to be able to execute all of your techniques from a neutral, casual stance. If you're military or law enforcement, your gear, weapon, or a number of other environmental factors may prevent you from getting into a proper conventional fighting stance.

Here are two examples of a similar technique modified for use in two completely different contexts.

The guy in the video below, obviously, is using the front leg round kick technique for MMA. The camouflage shorts gave him away. It's a rather long video, so if you want to see the technique thrown full speed scrub ahead to about 4:30 into the clip. I myself am also guilty of getting chatty from time to time in my videos.



What I see in this, and many other instructional videos on this topic is that the striker steps out with the rear leg in order to load his kick. It also gets him out of the way of a straight counter. I don't believe that you have to waste a step in order to throw a loaded front leg round kick. Exploding the kick out with an angled forward drive can do the trick, and it keeps you in your native stance. Although I cannot stress the importance of becoming ambidextrous when it comes to your training.




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Truck and Car Pushing

Conditioning Secrets Finally Revealed

Back in the late 90’s there was a T.V. show called “Breaking the Magician’s Code: Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed”.

A masked magician would expose the methods behind large scale magic tricks and illusions by explaining how they were done and showing you how they were performed.

His reason for doing this was because he was tired of seeing magician after magician perform the same tricks and illusions over and over again.

By exposing these secrets it would force magicians to come up with new tricks and illusions to entertain us.

Today I’m going to uncover a conditioning exercise that needs to be exposed and updated.

And that lowly exercise is truck and car pushing.

For years I have read articles and have watched videos from coaches, trainers, athletes, MMA fighters on pushing vehicles for conditioning.

If you go to YouTube you’ll find a large amount of videos on car or truck pushing.

For years I have watched and waited for someone else besides myself to come up with a new way to push a vehicle for conditioning.

But sadly it’s been the same way year in and year out, video to video.

Put your arms about shoulder width apart on the back of a vehicle, feet spread about shoulder width and start pushing forward for distance or time.

Then get in front of the hood and push it back, while this works well for conditioning, man is this ever boring!

If you had a barbell and all you ever did was bench press or squat with it, you’d get pretty bored very quickly.

Recently to my excitement I found one, one person who has come up with a new way to push a vehicle.

Getting into a push up position this person put his feet on the back bumper of his truck and pushed the truck with his hands on the ground.

That was awesome, but unfortunately after 35 plus years all I have found are two ways to push a vehicle.

Come on people where is the creativity or out side the box thinking when it comes to pushing a car or truck.

Did you know that one of the favorite exercises of the ancient Greeks was pushing large columns and round boulders on soft sand.

They learned this by watching how their slaves developed strong bodies by moving these types of objects on their properties.

And since slaves were forbidden to train at the local gymnasiums in the city, they reasoned that this was a great way to develop the body.

So to all you experts, trainers and coaches out there, I challenge you to come up with new exercises for pushing a vehicle.

If you can come up with variations for bodyweight exercises, sand bags, kettlebells, dumbbells, barbells, clubbells, medicine balls, suspension trainers etc…

Then way can’t you come up with a single variation when it comes to pushing a vehicle for conditioning?

In my next article I will get your mental juices flowing by teaching you five new exercises with variations to get you started.

So now that I have exposed this conditioning exercise, it’s your turn to create the magic!

Until next time, train safely and creatively.


Daniel Sambrano
http://oldstylemuaythai.com

Attacked by Twenty:True Multiple Opponent Realities

After fighting and dealing with three, I had to deal with twenty more who swarmed and encircled me. Didn’t see that coming.

Punches, elbows, forearms, hammer fists and chops worked. Knocked out a few but knocked down a lot more of them.

Kicks and knees wouldn’t work. There was just too many of them and they swarmed too fast.

I wasn’t tired until I stopped fighting. Must have been the adrenaline working.

Didn’t see very much, because it was too dark to see. I could only see the asphalt as my face was heading towards it from being hit in the back of the head and shoulders by a bat or two by four. And shoes kicking and stomping me, everywhere at once.

Every time I moved my arms I hit someone, whether moving my arms forward or back. My fists and elbows were both swollen from hitting people, talk about close quarter fighting.

You had to fight offensively and move quickly. Even your defense had to be offensive in nature.

Trying to grapple or ground fight would have killed me. Too many attackers.

Striking and moving was the best way to fight. Didn’t extend the arms too far, too many fists coming at you to block or parry. The further you extended your arms out the more you got hit; you opened yourself up too much.

Being explosive first, having endurance second and finally having isometric strength last seems to be the best way to train for this.

Nobody came to help only to fight me. My two friends were pinned to the wall by others.

You can take a lot of pain and keep fighting. Fear of death tends to keep pain at bay.

Never give up! Keep fighting till the end! Or it will be the end of you!

Use the environment. Walls and cars work well, so do edges of buildings.

Strength and skill won’t keep you alive; God, luck and tenacity are the things that will! Believe me I know first hand.

Running is a 50/50 chance at best. They may catch up to you and drag you down. Where will you run to? Where will you go? How much of your precious energy will you use up?

I later found out these same punks chased down another guy for four blocks and surrounded him at the top of a four story parking garage and beat him into a coma. So much for running.

Nothing good ever happens after midnight. Just ask Cinderella or me about that.

The police never showed up, never! You only had yourself to rely on.

Make sure you get checked for any cuts, holes or cracks. You don’t want to be dying slowly and not know it.

Let the adrenaline go! You don’t want to hold it in, get rid of it as soon as possible.

Don’t wrestle, hit and move, that’s all the time you have for! Don’t waste your energy, forget submissions or chokes.

Don’t go to the ground on purpose! You’re only going to get kicked and stomped on.

Kill the head, kill the body. Take out the leader, the mouth; this can stop the assault very quickly. That’s what I did!

Spread the attackers out, linearly if possible. Less will want to fight you; some will step out of the fight. You’ll have more space to move and fight.

When you decide to make a stand, make sure that there is a wall, fence or car behind you, so that they can’t get behind you. Stand a few feet away from it so you can move explosively.

If you go down to the ground get up as fast as you can, don’t even hesitate for a second, get up!!! Don’t lay there and die!

Don’t listen to your internal dialog, unless it’s yelling at you to get up or fight! Otherwise you won’t be all there; you’ll be somewhere else. Stay focused!

My fists were swollen but not broken and I know I was hitting them hard and powerfully. Just goes to show what happens when you condition your fists and know how to hit bare-knuckle.
You’ll be swollen, in pain, bloody and your clothes will be torn, don’t worry all these things can be fixed. Just be glad you’re alive.

Learn from the experience. The school of hard knocks is the only place where the test is given before the lesson is learned.

And finally no matter how badass you think you are, there is always someone or multiples of someone who will prove you wrong. So be careful out there.

I hope you learned a few things from this multiple assault, I know I did. This was just a glimpse of a multiple attack and what I learned from it. My hope is that you never have to experience this type of violence in your lifetime. But if you do, learn from my experience and train to be ready for it or at the very least to know what to expect before it happens.

And lastly train as realistically as possible and get rid of all the myths and fantasies about multiple attacks.

Until next time, be safe and take care.

Daniel Sambrano
www.OldStyleMuayThai.com

Three Dimensional Knowledge

How It Really Goes Down in a Multiple Attack

If you get on the internet, you’ll find a large amount of information on multiple opponent fighting. A large percentage of it is crap, but not because it isn’t any good. In fact a large amount of it is very well thought out and logical, but unfortunately it’s just conjecture and theory. In other words it’s just an educated guess.

My friend Richard Demitri has a saying on his website at Senshido.com, “Ask the experienced not the learned”. Now why is that? It’s because they’ve been there and done that. They can tell you things that books and theory can’t. They have what I call “Three Dimensional Knowledge”. They’ve been through the wringer, they have studied and understood it, and they can explain it.

Most theories have a one dimensional or maybe a two dimensional knowledge of a subject at best. They lack the third dimension, the physical, where the rubber meets the rode. Unless your theories, tactics and techniques have been tested, you won’t truly know if they work or not. The third dimension is the proving ground; it lets you know what is and what isn’t. It gets rid of the illusion and shows you the reality, there is no bias it just gives you the plain truth. Then it’s up to you whether to accept it or reject it to your peril.

In the next installment I’m going to teach you about a multiple opponent attack that happened to me. I’m going to try and explain to you what happened and what worked and what didn’t. It took me some time to piece together what happened that night and what I could have done to have avoided the situation. My reason to tell you this story is to help you understand the truth of this type of assault and not the fantasy that you might believe happens in this type of attack. My hope is that you learn from my experience and become the wiser for it.

And always remember three dimensional knowledge is always the best teacher when it comes to life and death.

Take care,
Daniel Sambrano