Hello everyone! I wont beat around the bush... I'd love to train muay thai, really a lot. It is very fascinating sport and art. But I think I'm kind of..scared? Well, I'm not sure 'scared' is the right word. I've trained shotokan karate (kumite) for 10 years and I am actually very good at it. But I just want to start with full-contact sport with kicks and knees. It's a challange, yes, but there is some stuff that I am thinking about / scared of.: - Scared of injury...I guess - (I haven't any real long experience with full contact and in sport karate isn't allowed to punch hard in the face. Or lowkicks... God damn effective kicks, but again, in karate they are not allowed so I'm not used to them neither. Actually, I'm not even scared of getting hit. I'm just afraid that I wont get used to it like the other fighters are. - I don't want to do muay thai only for self-defence. I want to compete in it. But when I look on the fights on youtube, fighters are like punching each other the whole time of the fight without taking any pause. How in the hell can they do that? I have a great physical condition, but perhaps not as good as they have. How would I make it on some of my first fight then? - And last thing I've been thinking about is, that as I've said before, in karate there are not allowed hard punches in the face. So I am not really used to hit someone so hard while training for example. I just don't feel comfortable when I hit my training partner, because the whole life I've trained, every time I hitted someone a little bit harder, they started to cry almost and we had to immediately stop the fight until he "was alright". <-- please this is with a bit of irony in it. Maybe all I am scared of is, If I can "jump" from karate to muay thai and get used to all the new stuff and forgot the old. I don't know. That's why I am asking you, more experienced, friends. By the way I'm 16 years old. Thank you very much for help!
No offense, but at 16 you're probably not an incredibly proficient karate fighter. I'd slow your roll, start training at a Muay Thai gym and just do what your coach tells you to do. Don't think, just do what he or she says and empty your cup.
Best way to find out? Go try Whatever happens you'll have tried something new and gained from the experience. Mitch
Most of the training drills in MT I have seen are not full-contact and absolutely should not be. Like any other MA you should start at a very low intensity and gradually ramp it up as you get comfortable. Competing at full-contact should be entirely optional at any reputable gym. While I'm certain you'll surprise yourself at how little getting hit hard is a big deal when you're adrenalized, the benefit you get from training that way is quite minimal to the risk, and in my personal opinion should only be done very rarely for mental preparation purposes only, and always in a controlled fashion. I personally would not recommend full-contact fighting competitions for anyone still in their emotional neural developmental stages of life, which is primarily before twenty-five. Let your brain finish emotionally maturing before you decide you want to catch a lot of fists with it I say. Good luck, and relax, you're gonna do just fine. Keep us updated on how it goes.
Thank you for your post And I'm not saying I am "incredibly proficient karate fighter". I just say that I'm pretty good . That's all. But you're right. I should just 'calm down' a bit.
Yeah man, like I said, no offense. Give it a shot, by all means. Just, y'know, worry about competing in Muay Thai a bit later, after you figure out some of the basics
I'm in the "just try it" camp. MT looks fun to me. A good coach/trainer will challenge you but won't throw you into a situation you're not ready for. N00bs (it happens to all of us except the most unusually talented) get "mat spaz" which is dangerous to everyone involved. As you know from karate, you need a solid foundation in basics before moving on to the advanced kumite and such. The same thing holds true in every MA I've tried. IOW, go for it!
Thank you so much! You're absolutely right...next week I'm going on my first training, so I'm going to see how it goes. Thx again.
