Muay Thai - Any Good?
Discussion
I am looking for some advice.
My 15 year old son wants to start Muay Thai, and I know nothing about it. He is a Tae kwondo Blackbelt (junior until next year, but did the full adult grading including the breaks and light contact sparring with adults who were grading to 2nd Dan) he fights full contact competitively, and so far has only lost 1 fight.
What is Muay Thai?
Will it suit a TKD trained martial artist (he is 6ft 3" if height is relevant)
Will it complement Tkd or hinder it? (he wants to progress at TKD)
Finally has anyone heard of Trojan Free Fighters, they do Muay Thai training near where we live.
Thanks in advance
My 15 year old son wants to start Muay Thai, and I know nothing about it. He is a Tae kwondo Blackbelt (junior until next year, but did the full adult grading including the breaks and light contact sparring with adults who were grading to 2nd Dan) he fights full contact competitively, and so far has only lost 1 fight.
What is Muay Thai?
Will it suit a TKD trained martial artist (he is 6ft 3" if height is relevant)
Will it complement Tkd or hinder it? (he wants to progress at TKD)
Finally has anyone heard of Trojan Free Fighters, they do Muay Thai training near where we live.
Thanks in advance
Muay thai is a form of kick boxing, where you can use your legs, knee, elbows and fists, hence the hole 8 weapon nickname.
Its quite a brutal form of kick boxing, but obviously your son wont be kneeing people in the head or elbowing people anytime soon, ill link a vid to help you uderstand more about muay thai, i do it, i love it, your shins take ages to condition, its very attack based you get hit you attack back, i love muay thai.
In thailand kids fight to live, they fight to give there parents a better life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dimeNdBJB_Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3R4xtjl5b4
Dont be scared by the fact he wants to do it.
Its quite a brutal form of kick boxing, but obviously your son wont be kneeing people in the head or elbowing people anytime soon, ill link a vid to help you uderstand more about muay thai, i do it, i love it, your shins take ages to condition, its very attack based you get hit you attack back, i love muay thai.
In thailand kids fight to live, they fight to give there parents a better life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dimeNdBJB_Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3R4xtjl5b4
Dont be scared by the fact he wants to do it.
Muay Thai is arguably the toughest MA to train in.Very good for self defence and fitness.
I'm sure your son is a sensible lad and I notice he's done some fights,but if he walks into any of the 5 or 6 Thai gyms that I know with
any kind of attitude he'll get his arse handed to him on a plate.TKD Blackbelt and broken boards?? Mostly very good kickers/knees/elbows but not such good boxers.
Not heard of the club you mention,just make sure he/they are fully insured before he steps into the ring.VERY important.
I'm sure your son is a sensible lad and I notice he's done some fights,but if he walks into any of the 5 or 6 Thai gyms that I know with
any kind of attitude he'll get his arse handed to him on a plate.TKD Blackbelt and broken boards?? Mostly very good kickers/knees/elbows but not such good boxers.
Not heard of the club you mention,just make sure he/they are fully insured before he steps into the ring.VERY important.
d. TKD by way of reference wont stop folk knicking his dinner money. spent a ew months at it and intended to enter into a gym contest.at 35 the shellacking my knees took during sparring was terrible.terrible to the point i had to pack it in,not train for 2 months and stick to pure boxing again after that.cracking sport though!very hard on your body if you spar full contact but a teenager will adjust to this far quicker and easier than an old man like me!!and after everything i've said i'm still starting again this week because the training is superb.might just give the full contact sparring a bit of a wide berth this time though!
deevlash said:
Oh, no doubt martial arts man will be along soon to give you the low down on the gym but from what I know Trojan free fighters is a good gym (I think they have a few gyms actually).
The current UFC LHW champ is a Muay Thai fighter.
The current UFC LHW champ is a Muay Thai fighter.
Trojan are a good outfit, for sure.
Really friendly guys; wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.
OP,
I need you to clarify something for me; are you SURE that your son has been fighting full contact at 15?!?!?!?
If so, full contact what?
At his age, full contact ring sport is AFAIK illegal in that martial arts competition insurers will not cover participants of this age. There has been much controversy (in M/T particularly) over the last few years as young boys have been flying out to Thailand to compete in full contact bouts to circumnavigate these rules. The general consensus in the industry is that it is wreckless endangerment.
Young bodies (despite your son being rather large) and young brains need to be protected, not bashed up for no gain.
What does your son want to gain from his martial arts?
For instance, if he wants to be a pro instructor, he's best sticking with his TKD; nobody (inc me) is as good at making money from the industry as the big TKD orgs.
If he wants to be pro fighter (UFC etc) moving to Trojan is a wise move (although he might have to move teams again at some point....pro MMA is the most nepotistic industry in the land!).
Like everything, it's horses for courses.
Which body is he registered with; TAGB?
I need you to clarify something for me; are you SURE that your son has been fighting full contact at 15?!?!?!?
If so, full contact what?
At his age, full contact ring sport is AFAIK illegal in that martial arts competition insurers will not cover participants of this age. There has been much controversy (in M/T particularly) over the last few years as young boys have been flying out to Thailand to compete in full contact bouts to circumnavigate these rules. The general consensus in the industry is that it is wreckless endangerment.
Young bodies (despite your son being rather large) and young brains need to be protected, not bashed up for no gain.
What does your son want to gain from his martial arts?
For instance, if he wants to be a pro instructor, he's best sticking with his TKD; nobody (inc me) is as good at making money from the industry as the big TKD orgs.
If he wants to be pro fighter (UFC etc) moving to Trojan is a wise move (although he might have to move teams again at some point....pro MMA is the most nepotistic industry in the land!).
Like everything, it's horses for courses.
Which body is he registered with; TAGB?
Martial Arts Man said:
OP,
I need you to clarify something for me; are you SURE that your son has been fighting full contact at 15?!?!?!?
If so, full contact what?
At his age, full contact ring sport is AFAIK illegal in that martial arts competition insurers will not cover participants of this age. There has been much controversy (in M/T particularly) over the last few years as young boys have been flying out to Thailand to compete in full contact bouts to circumnavigate these rules. The general consensus in the industry is that it is wreckless endangerment.
Young bodies (despite your son being rather large) and young brains need to be protected, not bashed up for no gain.
What does your son want to gain from his martial arts?
For instance, if he wants to be a pro instructor, he's best sticking with his TKD; nobody (inc me) is as good at making money from the industry as the big TKD orgs.
If he wants to be pro fighter (UFC etc) moving to Trojan is a wise move (although he might have to move teams again at some point....pro MMA is the most nepotistic industry in the land!).
Like everything, it's horses for courses.
Which body is he registered with; TAGB?
Until this year he was doing light contact point stop TKD comps, he has now done 2 full contact tournaments, with head and body protection as used in Olympic comps. One of these events had the national TKD selector present and a couple more are planned this year, all full contact. Head shots are not allowed in Junior full contact tkd.I need you to clarify something for me; are you SURE that your son has been fighting full contact at 15?!?!?!?
If so, full contact what?
At his age, full contact ring sport is AFAIK illegal in that martial arts competition insurers will not cover participants of this age. There has been much controversy (in M/T particularly) over the last few years as young boys have been flying out to Thailand to compete in full contact bouts to circumnavigate these rules. The general consensus in the industry is that it is wreckless endangerment.
Young bodies (despite your son being rather large) and young brains need to be protected, not bashed up for no gain.
What does your son want to gain from his martial arts?
For instance, if he wants to be a pro instructor, he's best sticking with his TKD; nobody (inc me) is as good at making money from the industry as the big TKD orgs.
If he wants to be pro fighter (UFC etc) moving to Trojan is a wise move (although he might have to move teams again at some point....pro MMA is the most nepotistic industry in the land!).
Like everything, it's horses for courses.
Which body is he registered with; TAGB?
Martial arts are for his self fulfillment, he likes to be fit, and excel at what he does, he has no career aspirations in martial arts although he wouldn't mind conmpeting in tkd for his country if he gets the chance. Ithink he wants to be sure he has a good chance if any maniac picks on him etc. He thinks MT will make him a better fighter and may give him a bigger edge in tkd comps.
He is registered with IMA, and his tkd gym focus on competitive tkd witha fair amount of full contact sparring. (Some gyms seem pretty tame in this respect)
blueg33 said:
Martial Arts Man said:
OP,
I need you to clarify something for me; are you SURE that your son has been fighting full contact at 15?!?!?!?
If so, full contact what?
At his age, full contact ring sport is AFAIK illegal in that martial arts competition insurers will not cover participants of this age. There has been much controversy (in M/T particularly) over the last few years as young boys have been flying out to Thailand to compete in full contact bouts to circumnavigate these rules. The general consensus in the industry is that it is wreckless endangerment.
Young bodies (despite your son being rather large) and young brains need to be protected, not bashed up for no gain.
What does your son want to gain from his martial arts?
For instance, if he wants to be a pro instructor, he's best sticking with his TKD; nobody (inc me) is as good at making money from the industry as the big TKD orgs.
If he wants to be pro fighter (UFC etc) moving to Trojan is a wise move (although he might have to move teams again at some point....pro MMA is the most nepotistic industry in the land!).
Like everything, it's horses for courses.
Which body is he registered with; TAGB?
Until this year he was doing light contact point stop TKD comps, he has now done 2 full contact tournaments, with head and body protection as used in Olympic comps. One of these events had the national TKD selector present and a couple more are planned this year, all full contact. Head shots are not allowed in Junior full contact tkd.I need you to clarify something for me; are you SURE that your son has been fighting full contact at 15?!?!?!?
If so, full contact what?
At his age, full contact ring sport is AFAIK illegal in that martial arts competition insurers will not cover participants of this age. There has been much controversy (in M/T particularly) over the last few years as young boys have been flying out to Thailand to compete in full contact bouts to circumnavigate these rules. The general consensus in the industry is that it is wreckless endangerment.
Young bodies (despite your son being rather large) and young brains need to be protected, not bashed up for no gain.
What does your son want to gain from his martial arts?
For instance, if he wants to be a pro instructor, he's best sticking with his TKD; nobody (inc me) is as good at making money from the industry as the big TKD orgs.
If he wants to be pro fighter (UFC etc) moving to Trojan is a wise move (although he might have to move teams again at some point....pro MMA is the most nepotistic industry in the land!).
Like everything, it's horses for courses.
Which body is he registered with; TAGB?
Martial arts are for his self fulfillment, he likes to be fit, and excel at what he does, he has no career aspirations in martial arts although he wouldn't mind conmpeting in tkd for his country if he gets the chance. Ithink he wants to be sure he has a good chance if any maniac picks on him etc. He thinks MT will make him a better fighter and may give him a bigger edge in tkd comps.
He is registered with IMA, and his tkd gym focus on competitive tkd witha fair amount of full contact sparring. (Some gyms seem pretty tame in this respect)
In the martial arts world "full contact" = no headguard, no body protection, ultimate goal is a KO and sometimes no boots as well.
Your son needs to decide whether he wants to:
a) pursue the tkd potentially to Olympic level or
b) be a bad ass who can handle himself out on the street via MT.
I'm not sure he can do both at the same time.
You see, a MT gym will entirely change his fighting style; it is so fundamentally different to TKD in almost every way. MT is scored on effectiveness (well it's supposed to be...lots of UK based MT instructors/referees struggle with the concept) rather than a point based system, unlike tkd or boxing/kickboxing etc; MT is unique in this aspect.
Basically what I'm saying is that what works on the TKD mat will not work in the MT ring and vice versa. They are both sport-martial arts bt different.
I guess a good comparison would be rugby league and rugby union. Ostensibly the same sport; yet totally different!
If I was your son, given his age, I would stick with the TKD and try and take it as far as he can. Of course, he will AFAIK (it's been a couple of years since I've been involved in top level TKD politics so everything may have changed....5 minutes is a long time in martial politics!) have to switch to a WTF club in order to be considered for Olympic selection. If memory serves me correctly, ITF does light-continuous competiton wheras WTF is stop-start after each score.
He's so young he can then have a crack at heavier contact arts in his late teens knowing that he gave TKD a full shot.
Ultimately though it's your boy's choice. He's picked a good MT gym if he's serious about his training. He will be trained and beasted at Trojan in a way he never imagined possible!
Let us know how he gets on and please feel free to ask any more questions!
All the best!
Thanks for your input. I will discuss it with him. We have been told that he won't need to re register with wtf for the olympics as the recognise IMA, plus he has applied for an international grading.
My gut feel is that he should stick with tkd, I am not happy about him fighting without head protection. He really wants to hone his skills as a fighter, and is also looking at Escrima.
My gut feel is that he should stick with tkd, I am not happy about him fighting without head protection. He really wants to hone his skills as a fighter, and is also looking at Escrima.
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