Earlier today I briefly spoke about a Canadian guy called Vincent who fought last month the Thai fighter threw the fight. Officially, the Thai fighter didn’t but have a look at the video below to see what I mean. I didn’t know Vincent but a few of my friends did. He looked pretty good at training so if I was him I would have been pissed off.
Hey all,
I have now been in Thailand for about a month so I thought I would give you all another update.
All in all I have been having a blast and have enjoyed training, though it has been frustrating. Pulling my hamstring meant that I couldn’t kick so I had to limit my training to punching, elbows, knees and front kicks (even though front kicks still hurt my leg a little). The only problem with this solution though is the language barrier between you and the trainers. They all have very basic english so trying to tell that that you can’t kick is difficult to say the least.
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat
When I told them the first day that I couldn’t kick they just replied ‘Ýou kick, it’s ok, just kick’. When I tell them I can’t they continue and ask me to kick. This happened every day in the ring but the main problem was the technique section. In this part of training you go through 3 new techniques, which usually involve kicking and blocking. Most of the time you have to kick middle to high, which I couldn’t do. Instead of being in the ring with one trainer, everyone is on the mats and each trainer wanders around correcting everyone and making sure everyone is doing the technique correctly. There are probably around 6 or 7 trainers doing this.
This means that I have had to explain to several trainers in the last 3-4 weeks that I cannot kick. This has happened every single day in the last 3-4 weeks so you can imagine how annoying it gets. Sometimes I just laugh at how easy they forget but at 8am, it’s easy to get annoyed with this sort of thing. It’s actually got worse in the last week or so as I have been trying to do low kicks on the bags (my hamstring pull meant I couldn’t do middle to high kicks) but doing so gave them the impression my leg was ok. They just suggest a massage and say that my leg will be better the next day (even after a month it’s still bad and I’ve read it can take a few months). Rest is not a word in the thai dictionary!
Improving
Last week I paid extra to do VIP training, which is where you get an additional hour of training every day with a trainer. That was really good. I think I learned more last week than I did in the rest of my time here. New combos, new blocks etc. And everything just seems to click when you are doing it with the same trainer every day.
In the middle of the week my right knuckle swollen up really badly. This is an injury I had last September/October from punching the boards at Taekwondo. It hasn’t swollen up as bad as then but I was doing 5x3minute rounds twice a day on the pads plus an hour vip (which is mostly padwork too), so my right punch got lighter and lighter as I was holding back because of the pain.
On the friday night we went to the Wat Chalong market, which is a huge market which is only there once a month or something. I went to the herbal/medical stall and was recommended some type of ointment to use on my hamstring and my hand (cost : 1 UK pound). It smelled like vicks but there was a good chance it was just a mosquito repellent. Nevertheless, I gave it a try. After a minute or so of rubbing it in, my leg and hand feels really warm. Basically, it draws all the blood to the area so this speeds up recovery, I guess a bit like Deep Heat. I was very skeptical at first but I’m a believer now. After a few days of using it my hamstring was feeling a lot better.
Getting back to kicking
Yesterday, my hamsting was feeling a lot better. I was applying the ointment before training and it seemed to help a lot. Plus I was trying to do a little bit longer warming up.
So I was kicking the bag and was getting higher. Fin, the head trainer, noticed me hitting the bag hard and came over and asked me how long I was here for. I told him I had another month or two. At which point he asked if I wanted to fight. I told him I couldn’t kick with my left leg but he just laughed that it was ok and that would find me some easy thai guy. Seriously, they will put you into a fight here regardless of injury, sickness or whatever : they just want to provide fighters for the fight nights.
After hitting the bag he told me to go to ring 1. Ring 1 is the ring where 99% of the people training have either fought or are training for a fight. The fact that I had been here for a month and had never been put in there illustrates that they are trying to convince me to fight. They did this with a few other people who fought i.e. they just kept annoying them and asked them to fight and then they did.
The training in ring 1 was better. I was training with Petsila, a nice thai guy who is incredibly laid back and still fights. This guy never trains, never runs and no one ever sees him hitting pads or practicing kicks. Yet he still fights every few weeks and wins!
I was kicking great with my right leg and it felt good. My left leg was a different story, I could only kick up and could only do that at waist height. I’m actually really happy to have at least one leg working again!!!
At the very end of round 5 the whistle blew but Petsila told me to do 2 more kicks. On my last kick I collapsed to the ground. It felt like someone had run up behind me and hit the back of my calf with a baseball bat. It was incredibly painful but I was confused more than anything. The manager, Tuk (who is a lumpini champion) must have saw this as he came running over and said it was cramp and that I should try and walk it off. I tried walking it off but I just couldn’t, so I had to hop to my bag. They suggested a massage but even touching my leg is sore. I’ve had minor cramp before but it usually came on slowly. When this happened I was ok one second and a second later I was on the ground.
So I have to take another few days off for the cramp to go away. Which I’m actually not concerned about at all as it will give me some time to rest my hamstring some more and my knuckle, and the cramp should just be temporary. I still can’t walk but it does feel a little better after a nights sleep. Apparently this can happen when you train in the heat and you haven’t had enough salt in your diet (it could be dehydration too).
Training
I’m really looking forward to the cramp going away and getting back to training. I can’t kick with my left but I’m excited about even practicing with one leg as I have been kneeing every day for a month. I have 6-7 weeks training left so I feel like I’m just starting in a way because training has been a little frustating so far.
Will I fight? Mmm, probably not but I won’t rule it out. I doubt my left leg will get to a good level plus fighting means no drinking and running 10k+ every day. After training 5-6 days solid I enjoy having a few beers on the Saturday night.
The other reason is, it could be a waste of time. A guy from Canada called Vincent fought a few weeks ago and it was a total fix. He threw an elbow and completely missed the guy but the guy fell to the ground. The thai fighter realised he hadn’t connected and got back up but then went down again with just a small push. It was a complete joke. I heard Vincent was really pissed off and I can’t blame him, he had been training 5 hours a day for 3-4 weeks and then that happened. Whats the point.
Perhaps I will think differently in a few weeks if my left leg gets better. Not all fights are rigged and it would be a good experience. Though my main priority this year is my black belt grading in Taekwondo and the risk of getting another injury is high in a fight. Perhaps it would be better to come back next year and do a fight?
Moving
My accomodation runs out in the bungalow this weekend so me and my friend James are looking for a new place, Specifically, one with a swimming pool. We have been looking for places but havent found anything as yet. Hopefully we get something in the next few days.
I’ll take some pictures and do an update once we move.
Some pictures
A lof of this post has involved me complaining about one thing or another but training frustations aside, I’m having a great time here and would definately come back. It’s not like I’m the only one who has been injured. Many people have caught ringworm and someone even caught some variation of the superbug, which doesn’t surprise me as all the cleaner does is remove the leaves from the floor i.e. the bags are never cleaned.
I haven’t taken many pictures of myself training as yet. I’ll maybe do that before I leave. In the meantime, here are some pictures of the gym.
The pictures below are of Rawai beach. It’s a pretty poor beach. No one really sunbathes on it, it’s used more for boats etc.
This beach is called naehorn beach and is where we usually go. They were taken around 5.30pm so it looks cold but it was actually quite warm. We don’t go down in the afternoon as it’s too hot, so we wait til 4.30pm+ as it’s a bit more bearable.
Hope you all enjoyed the update. I won’t lie to you, it’s funny seeing the news about all the snow back in the UK as it’s been 35 degrees+ every day here since I got here. 
You could fight Mohamed “I’m Hard” Bruce Lee after watching the training section of Rocky 2.
There’s one thing I want you to do for me. Win!!
What are we waiting for!
Seeing as this is my 7th day in Thailand, I thought I would do a quick post about how things are going here. First off, I haven’t taken any pictures. Though I will try and get some good ones of the gym in the next few weeks.
The Muay Thai Life
I left Scotland last Sunday, 4th January. I flew to Kuluar Lumpur via Dubai (with a 3 hour wait for th change). In Malaysia all I did was head to my hotel, sleep, get up, eat breakfast and head back to the airport. I then fly from KL to Phuket.
I arrived in Phuket last Tuesday just after 1pm. I then got a taxi to Rawai Muay Thai, which is based in the south of Phuket. The owner, Danny Avison, kindly drove me around a bit so that I had an idea where everything was and then he took me to my bungalow (called Goongs). My room is really good – a big double bed, air conditioning, fridge, kettle, microwave and a toaster that doesn’t work. It also has a safe and a decent wi-fi connection (some pics of the room here).
The gym is about 3km from where I’m staying. On the day I arrived I didn’t get my things sorted til after 3.30pm so I walked to the gym and got there about 4.15pm, which was a little late as afternoon training starts at 4pm. I was put in the beginner class that afternoon and the next morning but the next afternoon they put me in the normal class.
The training is really good. You do your own warm up and stretching and then you get right into it. First you do 5 3-minute rounds or 3 5-minute rounds of shadow boxing. After that you either hit the bags or you go in the ring and do padwork or sparring. Again both of these are for 5 rounds each. What you do first depends on how many people are there. If you are in the ring first you will then do the heavy bags and vice versa. Between every round you do 20 sit ups or 20 press ups. After shadow boxing, bag work and sparring, you then do technique.
Technique changes every day. Sometimes you do 3 different defensive or offensive techniques, other times you do grappling. On Thursday we did the wai cru, which is the traditional thai dance you see before a muay thai fight. I enjoyed that as I hadn’t done that before. After technique you do 200 bag kicks, 200 knees and 150 sit ups.
The first few days I walked to and from training. It takes about 35 minutes to walk there and the same back. The walk before morning training and and the walk after afternoon training is good because it’s cool but in the afternoon it’s hard work because it’s so hot and humid. The sun really saps you’re energy.
Disaster Strikes
On my 4th training session I unfortunately pulled my hamstring. I had arrived late and so didn’t do a good warm up so I must have overextended my leg during a kick or something. Either way I was limping on the way home. I stupidly went to the next training session and it felt ok but I couldn’t turn when kicking so I was incorrectly kicking upwards. That night I was limping again (even more so) on the way home and I did the right thing and decided to rest it. I read online that a light hamstring pull can take a week to recover and a severe one can take a few weeks or even a few months.
When I read this I was severely frustrated. I’ve never pulled my hamstring before so I had no way of knowing how bad it was. The thought of not training for a month or even worse, going home early because of the injury really scared me. So I took the Friday off and stayed in bed all day and watched TV. After a day of doing this I was really bored and thankfully, my left hamstring was starting to feel a little better. I still couldn’t throw a kick but I wasn’t limping (as much) and I could feel it getting better.
Therefore on Saturday I decided to go to afternoon training. Training didn’t start til 4 but having sat in my room for a day I wanted to make up for it so got there at 2 and did weights for an hour and then did an hour of stretching and light cardio. I did some light kicks during the padwork session but both my left and right leg were still really poor, but I could feel a huge improvement.
Sunday is the day everyone has off from training, which was good as it gave me another day to rest my leg. This morning I felt a huge improvement in my kicks. I still can’t kick as high or as strongly as I usually do and my hamstring is still sore but it’s much better. This week I’m going to just take things lightly and progress slowly so that it doesn’t happen again.
Once my hamstring is better I should be able to work on my kicks a lot. Muay Thai kicks are different from the Taekwondo style kicks I’m used to throwing. In Taekwondo you chamber your leg before extending it but in Muay Thai it’s a bigger more powerful swing of the leg.
My daily life
On Saturday I hired a moped for a month, which is what most people here do so that they can get around. I didn’t actually mind the walk too much as I walk to my gym back home but in the afternoon the sun takes all your energy away and you arrive at the gym dehydrated and tired. Obviously, driving to training and doing less walking should help my leg recover a little too.
The moped also gives me a lot more time. Before it took me 35 minutes to get to the gym but now it takes me 5 minutes, so I have an extra 2 hours a day.
Here’s my current daily schedule :
Mon to Sat
6.00 am Wake up, eat cereal, have shower
6.25am Drive to gym
6.30 Arrive at gym. Do light warm up with skipping ropes, stretching and wrap hands.
7.00am Start training (i.e. shadow boxing, pad-work/sparring, bag work, technique)
9.00am 200 kicks, 200 knees, 15 sit ups
9.15am Warm down, light static stretching
9.30am Drive to bungalow, get showered
10.00am Have breakfast across the street
10.30am-2.55pm Relax = TV, catch up on emails
2.55pm Drive to gym
3.00pm Arrive at gym. Do light warm up with skipping ropes, stretching and wrap hands. Alternate days I do light weights.
4.00pm Start training (i.e. shadow boxing, pad-work/sparring, bag work, technique)
6.00pm 200 kicks, 200 knees, 15 sit ups
6.15pm Warm down, light static stretching
6.30pm Arrive back at bungalow – get showered
7.00pm Go for dinner.
9.00pm-10.00pm Bedtime!!!
On my day off yesterday I went down to the beach for an hour or so. It’s about a 10 minute walk (2 minute drive) away (I’m not a huge sun worshipper if I’m honest and even though I had a book, I get bored quite quickly!). I was shattered when I got back though.
During the day time I have 4-5 hours to myself but I try and do as little as possible i.e. stay out of the sun. Seriously, I can’t stress how much the sun here drains you. Which isn’t a major problem if you are just chilling all day by the beach and having a few cocktails but if you’re training 6 hours a day you need to be proactive and try not to tire or dehydrate yourself. I’m currently drinking around 2.5 litres of water every session (with electrolyte supplement added) and at the end I sometimes need to buy more because I’ve run out!
So Far So Good…
I’ve been here less than a week but I have really been enjoying it. On paper the training schedule looks really difficult but it isn’t as bad as it looks, you just need to keep hydrated and get enough sleep. I’m sure training would be much harder if I was out late drinking and only getting a few hours sleep but I’m doing my best to focus on the training.
The gym has a lot of westerners training there too and I’ve made a few nice people already. It’s early days yet but I think I’m going to have a ball the next few months (I have to admit, hearing about how cold and wet it is back home has helped!!). You can’t help but be inspired by the other fighters and trainers. The gym has a few lumpinee champions and southern thailand champions (respected titles) and several trainers are still actively fighting.
To get more of an idea of what I’m doing, check out the Rawai Muay Thai website.
Kevin
p.s. I’ll try and get some pictures taken at one point in the next few weeks
Well I’m off to Thailand to train in Muay Thai for a few months. I will be staying in the south of Phuket and will be training at Rawaii Muay Thai.
It’s been around -5 degrees celcius the last week or so in Scotland so I’m looking forward to training in the sunshine every day.
I first visited Thailand in 2003 and went back in 2004 and 2006, each time for a few weeks before I went to a new destination. Back in 2003 the net connections were awful. There were many times I was trying to email home and it was near impossible because there were a dozen or so sharing the same with a 56k modem. No joking, this happened several times!!
Thankfully, the net connections have improved and doing my work overwhere won’t be an issue. I will have wifi in my beach bungalow. I’m not sure how quick the connection is but I know the connection at the camp is quicker than my connection at home in Scotland so it should be fine.
I’ll update you all with more details/pics etc once I’m settled in.
Cheers,
Kev
p.s. thanks to emirates and their free wifi, I was able to post this in Dubai
For the last year or so I have been blogging at my company home page System0.net. A lot of my posts have been personal recently or completely unrelated to my developments with System0 so I thought I would use my domain KevinMuldoon.com, which I have owned for several years.
So here is what I have done :
Remember to update your books and update your newsreader via RSS or subscribe via email.
You can read the official announcement regarding this change here.
I came across a cool webpage the other day which uses your webcam to take a snapshot of you in an ascii format. I recommend checking it out.
Link : Amazing Instant Ascii Cam
December 27, 2008 in
Geek Stuff with
1 Comment
I’m not a fan of comics but I remember watching Spiderman when I was a kid and used to love it. My friend Joe sent a link to this video tonight so I thought I’d pass it on.
The video below shows some highlights from the original Spiderman TV show, entitled ‘The Amazing Spider-Man’.
Enjoy
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