Arm Tassel in Muay Thai

[Bennosuke]

What is the deal with the shoulder tassel? I've heard it's used in ranking, but I also heard MT has no ranking system. Whats the deal? :redface:

 

[MMA RLZ]

The Kruang Huang is used as a talisman to ward off harm...kind of like a lucky charm.

 

[ArchAngelos]

The Prajioud is NOT a ranking system. That's just a quick way for a club owner to make a buck off of a kid who doesn't know the difference. If your "Kru" is using them as a ranking system, has a "Kru" certification from the WMC and can't produce his own personal fight record, you are getting taken for a ride.

 

[Boxer123]

The Prajioud is NOT a ranking system. That's just a quick way for a club owner to make a buck off of a kid who doesn't know the difference. If your "Kru" is using them as a ranking system, has a "Kru" certification from the WMC and can't produce his own personal fight record, you are getting taken for a ride.

Exactly this, it's a western crock of shit to charge students testing fees.

 

[Bennosuke]

Ahahah! While looking for a place to practice stand up in Albany, NY, I went to this really expensive McDojo MMA place. I watched the Muay Thai class, and was really confused why they were wearing Karate belts! When I asked, the instructor said it was just an adaptation since MT practitioners normally used the Prajioud to denote rank. The place was 150$ a month and the class was so bad. That just made it all the better :icon_chee

 

[ArchAngelos]

Ahahah! While looking for a place to practice stand up in Albany, NY, I went to this really expensive McDojo MMA place. I watched the Muay Thai class, and was really confused why they were wearing Karate belts! When I asked, the instructor said it was just an adaptation since MT practitioners normally used the Prajioud to denote rank. The place was 150$ a month and the class was so bad. That just made it all the better :icon_chee

The only thing that counts is your fight record.

 

[mjw1]

They are kind of like those things that the Ultimate Warrior used to wear in professional wrestling. If you are going to wear them you might as well bust out the makeup and the whole costume ........:icon_lol:

 

[c0r1nth14n]

They actually offer "level-up testu" at my Muay Thai gym, but it seems to be entirely up to you whether or not you want to partake in the level system, and mostly for self-motivation. Made me suspicious at first, but considering how cheap my gym is, and that they only ask for $10 when you test, it doesn't bother me too much.

But more on topic, I think the armband is at least partly just traditional/decorative. Some of the pros at my gym wear it when they fight, and they're Korean. Pretty sure they don't have any personal religious faith or superstitions involving it.

 

[BigInJapan]

The Kruang Huang is used as a talisman to ward off harm...kind of like a lucky charm.

what is a kruang huang? Prajioud is traditionally not a ranking system its a good luck charm to ward off injury. Black magic type thing. Anyway now some legit gyms (Saekson's for example) are adopting the prajioud for rank in the USA because of discrepancies between gym members and how theyre ranked, for example new guys giving experienced guys advice in the gym.

 

[Jacob Black]

at my gym they're rankings.
red white > red > red blue > blue > blue black > black

 

[Centaur]

Though I'm not really into the whole ranking system, a lot of places have adopted it. Some to charge money for "belt tests", others use it as a legitame way to organize and motive their students.
I even know of a boxing gym that uses the color of the wraps for rankings. Hell, even Chute Boxe uses a belt system for Muay Thai.

At one gym I taught at, I was asked to develop a curriculum and ranking system. I charged $20 for the test, half of which would be refunded if the student passed it. I only charged money to deter people who would just want to test every goddamn month or if they didn't show up.

That said, I still think the only belts that should be in Muay Thai (or Boxing) are the ones you win in the ring.

 

[Ryukyu Damashi]

Ranking systems are lame.


Splitting the class into skill levels is smart. Offering seperate classes for beginners is even better. Most gyms don't have 10+ trainers to work one on one with new students.

 

[Connoisseur]

^^ That was one of the biggest advantages of training at Xtreme Couture. It was damn expensive ($129 a month), but for unlimited access, and they have so many different classes with so many great teachers, I just decided to bite the bullet and go for it. I started out going 3x a week, 3 hours at a time; since i'd already done some jits, i'd either do beginning or intermediate BJJ (Neil Melansen is a seriously amazing teacher), muay thai with Kampmann (Summer of '09) & Joey Varner, & Boxing with Ron Frazier or Gil Martinez, with the occasional wrestling class.

Top grade facilities, awesome instructors, and elite sparring partners (many XC amateur team members join in on the classes); it really is true when they say you get what you pay for.

 

[NuTzOnSwOll]

They actually offer "level-up testu" at my Muay Thai gym, but it seems to be entirely up to you whether or not you want to partake in the level system, and mostly for self-motivation. Made me suspicious at first, but considering how cheap my gym is, and that they only ask for $10 when you test, it doesn't bother me too much.

But more on topic, I think the armband is at least partly just traditional/decorative. Some of the pros at my gym wear it when they fight, and they're Korean. Pretty sure they don't have any personal religious faith or superstitions involving it.

im pretty sure most korean are buddhist.
that said its usually worn as 'protection' or magic mumbo-jumbo. The thais usually get a priest to twist it who rattles on calling the Great Peaceful Buddha to help knock a fellow human's brains in.
Some twist sacred amulets,parchments,lucky objects,M&Ms etc into it.
Muslims do it too sometimes.

Personally i think its dumb cuz its pretty annoying and distracting when its slips down ....but a lot of whiteys love to wear the lil "Mo-ey Tai" outfit , complete with shorts,anklets and arm bands.

 

[ArchAngelos]

Belt/level systems should be used to separate white belts from getting killed by black belts in competition. What's it's turned to in the US is ridiculous.

If a novice/intermediate is trying to give advice to an advanced level fighter in the gym, you should be able to point directly to the guys fight record, but you can't do that in 99% of the gyms in the US because nobody actually trains to fight. It's bullshit!

 

[c0r1nth14n]

im pretty sure most korean are buddhist.
that said its usually worn as 'protection' or magic mumbo-jumbo. The thais usually get a priest to twist it who rattles on calling the Great Peaceful Buddha to help knock a fellow human's brains in.
Some twist sacred amulets,parchments,lucky objects,M&Ms etc into it.
Muslims do it too sometimes.

Personally i think its dumb cuz its pretty annoying and distracting when its slips down ....but a lot of whiteys love to wear the lil "Mo-ey Tai" outfit , complete with shorts,anklets and arm bands.

Christianity is pretty big here these days, actually. And too be fair, Christians do stuff like that all the time - saint's medallions, rosaries, various bracelets and necklaces, etc.

 

[Mike Taison]

the tassel is cool

 

[ECS123]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the MT "shorts test" yet. Some of the ones that I have watched are a real hoot. Master So and So, tries to take out a students eye with an inappropriately use Thai pad, and if the student survives blindness, he gets to wear MT shorts. What a scam.

The sad thing about it is, that well intended students are getting sucked in, and spending their time and money to learn from some hack who can't even proficiently perform MT, let alone teach it.

I can certainly understand the Mongkol and Prajioud, but some of the things that have morphed up here in the USA are really something else.

:icon_chee

 

[EdmondDantes]

i don't understand how some people say that the ranking is used to rip off students.

Firstly there's all sorts of superstitious shit in muay thay like the wai kru before the fight, and the rehearsals of the way kru that I find undignifying, I don't bow down to some dude. It's wrong in my culture, but I have to do it in muay thai if I don't want to "disrespect" my teacher and get my ass kicked with unnecessery extra conditioning work and throw me into the bags when I shoulld be practicing my moves with other students.

So I feel that bowing, and geting on my knees to do the wai kru much more undignifying than giving some bread to the guy.

Secondly, nobody is going to make "money" with grading classes. What is it going to be max? $10 for the band, and $20 for the test. Big deal, there are much bigger costs, like petrol for driving to the school, rehab work from injury, food and appropriate nutrition, membership fees (which are expensive), a little test fee every 3-4 months is nothing compared to the overall cost of training in muay thai. And that's IF the teachers charge the fees at all.

There's no ranking system in muay thai for whatever reason, it doesn't mean that it hurts to grade the students properly and match them up with appropriate level students. I can imagine that it could get confusing if you have multiple kru and lots and lots of students in the gym.

There are a lot of stuff in traditional muay thai which is different to how we do in the west, like in thailand they don't use punches much, but in the west we like to punch a bit more. doesnt mean one is right or wrong.

 

[c0r1nth14n]

i don't understand how some people say that the ranking is used to rip off students.

Firstly there's all sorts of superstitious shit in muay thay like the wai kru before the fight, and the rehearsals of the way kru that I find undignifying, I don't bow down to some dude. It's wrong in my culture, but I have to do it in muay thai if I don't want to "disrespect" my teacher and get my ass kicked with unnecessery extra conditioning work and throw me into the bags when I shoulld be practicing my moves with other students.

So I feel that bowing, and geting on my knees to do the wai kru much more undignifying than giving some bread to the guy.

Secondly, nobody is going to make "money" with grading classes. What is it going to be max? $10 for the band, and $20 for the test. Big deal, there are much bigger costs, like petrol for driving to the school, rehab work from injury, food and appropriate nutrition, membership fees (which are expensive), a little test fee every 3-4 months is nothing compared to the overall cost of training in muay thai. And that's IF the teachers charge the fees at all.

There's no ranking system in muay thai for whatever reason, it doesn't mean that it hurts to grade the students properly and match them up with appropriate level students. I can imagine that it could get confusing if you have multiple kru and lots and lots of students in the gym.

There are a lot of stuff in traditional muay thai which is different to how we do in the west, like in thailand they don't use punches much, but in the west we like to punch a bit more. doesnt mean one is right or wrong.

Well, that depends... like I said, at my gym, testing is entirely optional and only costs $10, which seems a very fair price to get critiqued by three champions. But if you're looking at some MT McDojo, do you really think they're going to stop at $30? Or that they'll only let their students test every 3-4 months? There are plenty of examples of schools testing people every month at a high cost - hell, here in Korea, you can easily get a TKD black belt in a year. That's a lot of tests in not much time.