We've recently seen a spike in new student enrollments at the Muay Thai Academy International, a number of which have defected from Fairtex and Master Toddy. Others have a background in TKD & other sports oriented martial arts. Regardless of their respective backgrounds, they all tend to have one trait in common - they have the 'exchange' mentality.
Almost all sports oriented martial arts teach students to always stand in front one's opponent. Body movement is much like that in fencing - get in, strike, and back out - but always be in front of your opponent. Whether we're doing shadow boxing, pad drills, or sparring: most new students want to strike and wait to counter, thus exchanging blows with their partners.
If I'm in a fight, the last place I want to be is in front of my opponent trading punches. I've been trained to use continuous movement and react on the fly. Instead of simply blocking, I move in at angles to get myself close enough so its uncomfortable for him to attack. That's my comfort zone. If I don't move in, I'm trying to get behind him because, where else could you be safer than behind you enemy?
Its really just a matter of your mindset. If you train to stay dynamic and reject the rule that states you have to stand still and absorb blows you'll find your movements more fluid and your sparring partners more frustrated.
Once again, great post. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Donnie,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog when I was doing a search on you-tube trying to learn more about muay boran and the related thai MA-arts and I must say I’m impressed by your skill and dedication to the old fighting arts. Martial-artists are human too and it’s all too easy to market a watered-down, cool-looking version of the old arts or to jump the bandwagon of the latest fad (MMA, BJJ…). For myself I made the decision long ago that I wasn’t interested in making a good impression on others and train to gain fame or recognition through competition but to honour and master the old fighting-arts (regardless of origin or culture) and strive for effectiveness and authenticity. What I train now is a modified form of modern ju-jutsu (a lot of locking/throwing-techniques, striking based on a boxing-platform and incorporating what is forbidden in competition and effective on the street) mixed with elements from other styles (krav-maga, kali, JKD, even some BJJ) but I’m interested in other, more striking-based, arts as well. At the academy where I train there’s also the possibility to take up JKD, kali, thaiboxing and MMA and while I’d prefer JKD and kali just because they’re fighting arts or so called street-orientated kickboxing styles (kali’s a weapon-style as well so that’s an added benefit) I’m thinking about doing a class of muay thai once in a while. However from what I observed it’s great for conditioning and developing power-strikes but not so great for defense: basically they just stand there and absorb the hits with their arms, shins and (even worse) gloves and only then retaliate.
If you’re fighting a bigger guy there’s always the danger he’ll just power through your guard and staying relatively static in a street-fight is just asking for trouble. For one there’s the danger of multiple opponents (from what I gather modern thaiboxing is a purely one-on-one style): if you stand still they’ll all gang up on you and hit you in the back or from angles you cannot possibly defend, on top of that there’s the very real danger of weapons. I don’t care how tough and well-conditioned you may be but it’s plain foolishness to think you can actually block weapons: you may be able to block a blunt object (may be and only if you block perfectly with your elbows and even then it’ll still damage and hurt you) but if he has a knife he’ll cut you up every time you try to block (which in all likelihood will only be once since you will be dead after). From what I’ve seen it’s completely contrary to everything I’ve learned so far: hard blocks instead of parries, blocking instead of evading, going in to score only to back out instead of staying in range to finish the fight… I’ve been told thaiboxing is the hardest stand-up style there is and this may be true in terms of sheer conditioning you have to go through in order to become good at it and the effectiveness in a ring-format is pretty much undisputed but for a genuine MA there a lot of things lacking (proper footwork, evasion, angling, minimizing risks, multiple opponents…) and this does bother me and makes me wonder whether or not it would be something for me. It’ll be good as an add-on to my regular training and I’m sure it’s great for conditioning and sparring but at the same time I really do not want to get stuck in terminator-mode (I’ll take everything you throw at me, look how tough I am) and stay nailed to the floor all the time. What do you think about this? I’ve looked it up and there is one club in my country that teaches original muay boran (at least as an add-on to their regular muay-thai classes) but unfortunately it’s too far away to be a feasible option.
Zara
As to the content of your post: I wholeheartedly agree. Fights are won at short range and you should always enter at an angle (minimize his chance to use his weapons, maximize your own) and most of all: keep moving. If he’s even semi-trained he’ll keep coming at you with a flurry of strikes and at least one of those will get through eventually, especially since chances are the attack will more or less surprise you (people do not walk around expecting to be attacked all day). Also: when you do nail him keep attacking (breaking his balance) and finish it, the longer a fight lasts the greater the chance you’ll end up the loser and the last thing you should be worried about is looking cool when you fight.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Zara
Way to work Fairtex into your post again! You're strategy must be working! Post some of your students working the pads next time so we can see how great they are!
ReplyDeleteWell Anonymous, thanks for reading so many of my posts. I hope you notice that I don't just focus on Fairtex exclusively. I give my opinion about Master Toddy's program, AKA, the whole UFC culture.
ReplyDelete