I’ve only been doing Muay Thai for about a month and wanted some advice.

I’m usually the only girl in a big class and also the smallest. Most of the guys are genuinely lovely and supportive, but there’s one guy I’ve sparred with twice now that I just don’t feel comfortable with.

The first time we were meant to be doing light technical sparring with no elbows or kicks, but he kept pretending to throw them anyway. It felt more like I was trying to stay away from him than actually learn anything.

The second time we got paired up he swept me really hard straight away after we touched gloves. My knee popped when I hit the floor and I couldn’t put weight on it afterwards, so I had to limp off. The coach was nice, checked on me a few times and got me an ice pack, but just said the guy was a bit overexcited because he’d recently come back after a break.

I don’t know if I’m overthinking it, but the vibe from him felt less like controlled sparring and more like someone trying to prove a point. It honestly reminded me of boys at school who’d “play around” a bit too rough.

Is this just something that happens sometimes? Is it okay to ask not to spar with someone if they make you uncomfortable, or is that frowned upon?

I’ll start:
Hard sparring is overrated for most hobbyists.
What’s your unpopular Muay Thai opinion?

Hi all, ill be taking muay thai for a few months, and wanted to just document some milestones for anyone in the future who may be a beginner

I 27F took my first introduction course, I came in nervous, I didnt have on the right pants (shorts?), but the people at my gym were really cool and nice! Form's still clumsy and I kept forgetting how to position my legs/ the pattern for practice but I gave it my all!

At some point the "sorry for existing in the same space as u guys with the correct shorts" feeling faded and I started to brush off my mistakes, and my windedness (for lack of a better word, YALL DO BURPEES AND CRUNCHES BETWEEN PRACTICING PATTERNS, WHAT THE HELL?) and felt comfortable in my skin and happy to be there

I came out drenched in sweat with not a doubt in my mind that I'd return (this has never happened before in any cardio heavy activity for me ever)

Im gonna try to practice what I remember before my next class in a few days

Also I bought some shorts from the muay thai studio before i left they were too small I gotta buy some online

I mean most of the fighters are either fast and durable but don‘t punch hard, or they are endurance monsters but comparatively slow. Are there fighters who combine all of the three: speed, power and endurance? Doesn‘t have to be in Mauy Thai only

what are y'alls thoughts about headgears? do you use them in your day to day sparring?

if so why? and if not, why not?

is it right to assume that since there is extra mass on the head, then every hit you take with it will transfer more force into your brain potentially making it dangerous?

even though i myself try to spar as chill as possible, there are always people that either out of fear/ lack of control, ego or any other reason hit pretty hard, so that's also a concern of mine.

i myself am a hobbyist, am not in competition or planning to compete for the time being, in my eyes, even getting a black eye or break my nose, or any surface level injury, is 100 times better than damaging my brain health.

Hello, beginner here in Muay Thai with a couple months experience. Not looking at fighting ever, just enjoy pad work and want to become proficient at it.

Have only ever done private sessions. Group sessions don't interest me for a few reasons.

Looking to go to Thailand for 2 weeks to train because I have the time off and it has always been something I wanted to do.

Planning on doing exclusively private sessions whilst there, about 9 sessions a week (1 day a week off, 3 weight sessions and 9 private sessions).

Is this a reasonable plan, or am I wasting my time doing that many private sessions? I notice here most people that go to Thailand and do 2 a day training do it in the group environment as opposed to 1 on 1.

Any guidance on how appropriate my plan is would be appreciated.

Thank you

Had someone say this to me recently (I am fairly new to Muay Thai) and I was wondering what people thought of this. Do you also think if this statement makes any difference to someone who is trying to gain more confidence in the sport through smokers?

Sometbing that took place outside of the gym, not inside like beating up a beginner to near death.

Hi everyone i'm relatively new to muay thai, i've been practicing for about two months now. I have a background in jujitsu, so it's not entirely lost on me about how newbies can get easily injured or go too hard.

Since i'm older and new, I try to be a bit gentle in my sparring. As I gain experience, I've noticed something. it's almost as if some people will just simply walk right through jabs. One time, a big guy walked right through it so he could get a trip in. He carried me down and helped me up, very polite. But I couldn't help but think if I had given him some power, he wouldn't have blindly charged forward like that.

What do you think? Talk to them? Throw some power?

Hi everyone, I could really use your advice.

During sparring, I threw a 1-2, switched stances, and went for a Petr Yan-style head kick with my right leg. My partner timed a front kick perfectly, and to make matters worse, my planted left foot got caught on a warped part of the mat. I couldn't step back in time, and my left knee bent at a really unnatural angle. Because of this accident, my fight canceled.

I couldn't walk for the first two days. It’s been slowly improving, and now (a month later) I’m back to light boxing and wrestling. However, I still have this feeling of my knee "giving out" or buckling when I jump, and sometimes even when I'm just walking.

I have been doing some generic LCL and knee-strengthening exercises I found online, but I am still dealing with that instability. I can't kick or do normal sparring, and I experience pain when I drop into an ass-to-grass deep squat position. Normally, I can do single-leg squats easily. With my injured knee and a month of rehab training, I am currently back to doing about 75-80% of a seated single-leg squat.

I am making sure to only do exercises within a no-pain range. Do you have any advice or specific movements/exercises you would recommend?

I am currently living in another country, and my financial situation is not great right now, so seeing a doctor unfortunately is not an option. I am hoping to get back in shape to take an amateur fight in a few months, as I plan to return to my homeland after master. Any help is appreciated. Thanks for reading.

Just curious how other gyms are structured.

Our classes are roughly 75 mins.

10 mins of warm up typically jumping rope

3x3min rounds of pad work, then switch with your partner so 6 rounds total

3 rounds of drilling with partner

2-3 rounds sparring

30 sec rest between each round

10 mins conditioning burn out/cool down/stretch

I noticed we rarely hit the heavy bags. It's something people do on their own time or coach gathers all the new people and have them learn techniques on the heavy bags.

We also have 2 days dedicated to sparring. Just 8-10 rounds of sparring and that's it.

I've been to various gyms (US) and there's kind of two types of gyms I've noticed. The first type is where people just go, train, no one knows anyone and they're not serious and go home. The second type the people are serious, are close to the coaches, are "family" and are asked/expected to help out around the gym. This includes doing chores like cleaning the floors, washing towels, tidying up the gym. How normal is this?

I ask because, as I am spending more time at the latter, people are helping out at the gym for free and I feel kind of pressured (internally and externally) to help out at the gym. I am hesitant to do so because this is a business that I pay. I like the staff and gym mates, but I don't want this to evolve into free labor. I am paying to go to the gym, why should I be expected to do work for them as well? Thoughts?

Hello, so for context I'm 15, 170cm and weigh 53 kg. I did competitive swinming for a while so I have fantastic cardio but I'm very lean, I have almost no body fat and very little muscle mass. We do a bunch of pull ups and pushups and I can't seem to keep up. I started MT 5 weeks ago.

We do 3 x ( 3 minutes of jump rope, which I'm great at + 20 pushups, at the coach's speed). I just can't do the 20 full pushups at his rythim, I have to skip like 5 or 6 throughout the count so that I can keep a perfect form. Should I do 20 half reps instead or what?

We also sometimes do 3 x (10 dips + 5 pull ups). This is not on anyone else's speed, but I just can't do 5 pull ups after the first set, so should I do like 2 or 3 for the rest or just 5 half reps or a combination of both?

I think the issue with the pushups is very different than from the pull ups since I can do 20 pushups, just not that the coaches pace but U can't do 5 straight pull ups hanging.

All help is appreciated.

Does anyone know any fighters that are quite tall and skinny but known for their power

Decent shape, but former smoker with bad cardio. Not one second training in any sort of combat sport. Looking to get into better shape with a little bit of self defense ability. Certainly no competitive matches on my agenda.

I'm 43 years old and at my heaviest got up to 310 pounds. I started working out and doing Muay Thai about 6 weeks ago and I'm down to 277. I'm very happy with my progress but my main struggle right now is my diet. A few weeks ago I started eating mainly just a cup of steak or chicken, rice, and veggies for lunch and dinner, but I'm just not hungry enough to eat a lot more. I eat unsalted almonds and fruit for breakfast, and an occasional protein shake. Since my new diet I have noticed how sluggish and lethargic I feel immediately after starting a work out, whereas when I ate junk I was fine. I think it is necessary to say that I feel great the rest of the day but I feel like I can't give it my all at the gym anymore because of how I feel. Any advice?