- Joined
- Nov 28, 2021
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- 492
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- 670
I used to box and had a few fights both in the amateur's and pros but stopped due to injuries several years ago. I trained sporadically once a blue moon since then. I mean the last time I sparred was earlier this year after not even having hit the bag in years. I did worse than I would have liked, but better than I feared. I didn't completely lose it at least. I didn't even have a mouth piece lol.
Anyway, I'm now living in Thailand and I figure since I'm here, I should do Muay Thai. I met an expat who's actively fighting here and she said that her gym will actually let people have little smokers with people of their level after a month of training. I would like to do it for the experience and to test how well my boxing can be applied in a fight with kicks and knees in the cinch.
I've done a couple classes already at different gyms to try it out before committing to a specific gym and I noticed a few things. I always hear how boxers have wide stances compared to MT fighters because of low kicks, but the stance the trainer taught us was wider than expected. It seemed my natural boxing stance didn't need to be adjusted much. I could tell I definitely had better hands than anyone else in the class, although I am sure I was also the only one there who also used to fight competetively. There's a lot of other intricacies that I will need to get used to.
Kicking is something I need to get used to. I also did taekwondo many many years ago and I still have the bad habit of hitting with the top of my foot instead of the shin. I need to figure this out. Other than punches, everything else feels new to my body as it hasn't been ingrained as muscle memory. Putting together combinations with punches and kicks has been a challenge. One trainer on the pads had me throw a rear low kick after a lead hook and making the weight shift was weird. It felt more natural to throw a kick from the same side as the punch, like a rear low kick after a rear straight. All of this is of course obvious because throwing punches on the bag also used to feel weird when I started.
I like throwing elbows though, it feels more natural to me because it's the same mechanics as throwing a punch but with the elbow.
Defense will be another issue. I always trained to slip and roll under punches to stay in range to throw back, but this may make me open to knees and head kicks. I'm thinking I need to rely more on stepping out of range or leaning back to avoid counters. Or step into a clinch instead.
Has anyone boxed and done muay thai both?
Anyway, I'm now living in Thailand and I figure since I'm here, I should do Muay Thai. I met an expat who's actively fighting here and she said that her gym will actually let people have little smokers with people of their level after a month of training. I would like to do it for the experience and to test how well my boxing can be applied in a fight with kicks and knees in the cinch.
I've done a couple classes already at different gyms to try it out before committing to a specific gym and I noticed a few things. I always hear how boxers have wide stances compared to MT fighters because of low kicks, but the stance the trainer taught us was wider than expected. It seemed my natural boxing stance didn't need to be adjusted much. I could tell I definitely had better hands than anyone else in the class, although I am sure I was also the only one there who also used to fight competetively. There's a lot of other intricacies that I will need to get used to.
Kicking is something I need to get used to. I also did taekwondo many many years ago and I still have the bad habit of hitting with the top of my foot instead of the shin. I need to figure this out. Other than punches, everything else feels new to my body as it hasn't been ingrained as muscle memory. Putting together combinations with punches and kicks has been a challenge. One trainer on the pads had me throw a rear low kick after a lead hook and making the weight shift was weird. It felt more natural to throw a kick from the same side as the punch, like a rear low kick after a rear straight. All of this is of course obvious because throwing punches on the bag also used to feel weird when I started.
I like throwing elbows though, it feels more natural to me because it's the same mechanics as throwing a punch but with the elbow.
Defense will be another issue. I always trained to slip and roll under punches to stay in range to throw back, but this may make me open to knees and head kicks. I'm thinking I need to rely more on stepping out of range or leaning back to avoid counters. Or step into a clinch instead.
Has anyone boxed and done muay thai both?