Training Myanmar Lethwei ( i know its been asked)

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little_scrapper

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I have recently fallen in love with a sport many of you will be familiar with known as Lethwei. It is the traditional kickboxing art of Burma, and it has taken my heart completely. Everytime i'm in the gym, i ask the person im sparring with to hit me harder or throw me harder, because every time im in the gym all i can think about is having a heart like the Myanmar boxer. I have seen forums before that have asked this question, but i did not pay much attention to them due to the ignorance and the fact that everyone think this is Muay Thai. THIS IS NOT MUAY THAI. It is much more traditional, it has not been altered to look more like a sport, its rules have not been altered (preserving alot of very old techniques), and it is not the same as Muay Thai. Even if the techniques are similar to Muay Thai (which in my opinion they are not. Most burmese boxers seem to be ampadextrious with their striking, and they transition from south paw to regular in a variety of combinations through punches, kicks and knees), i believe that they train harder. I have seen MANY MANY bouts between Muay Thai and Lethwei, and the Lethwei fighter seems to be able to take more punishment. Please, please, PLEASE do not respond to this if you are here to bash my opinions on the sport of Lethwei. I have one very serious question. I have heard that Burma is a VERY bad place for foriegners, but does anyone know of a gym in Burma or near Burma where i can train Lethwei with real Myanmar Lethwei fighters? I am open to suggestions on source material of Lethwei, and I am open minded to any opinions on Lethwei (as long as you dont just say "it is identical to muay thai" like everyone else has said). So basically, can anyone help a very desperate fighter find a real Lethwei gym? Your POSITIVE input is greatly appreciated.
 
Your goal shouldn't be getting hit so hard you learn to take a hit. I recommend trying to get avoid getting hit for the most part. Heart is something that for the most part your born with. Yes, repeated impacts will harden you to some extent, but that doesn't build heart.

Take for example your shins. If you can tolerate X amount of pain then thats what you can take. You kick the bags and spar and your shins become more conditioned to strikes that used to make you limp. Does this mean you have increased your heart? No. It means that it just takes more damage to get you to feel the pain that will challenge your heart. Again, its something your born with for the most part, dont hurt yourself trying to force it.
 
pimpstrocity said:
Your goal shouldn't be getting hit so hard you learn to take a hit. I recommend trying to get avoid getting hit for the most part. Heart is something that for the most part your born with. Yes, repeated impacts will harden you to some extent, but that doesn't build heart.

Take for example your shins. If you can tolerate X amount of pain then thats what you can take. You kick the bags and spar and your shins become more conditioned to strikes that used to make you limp. Does this mean you have increased your heart? No. It means that it just takes more damage to get you to feel the pain that will challenge your heart. Again, its something your born with for the most part, dont hurt yourself trying to force it.
Click to expand...

Not so sure it is something you are totally born with. I think it is something you are born into. I don't think a kid raised in a nice rich family with no hardships is going to be as tough as a kid raised in a poor villiage in Buriram.

I teach PE in a very very rich suburb of Washington DC and I spend my summers training in Thailand. I see the kids in Thailand rough housing and most of the stuff would make the kids I teach curl up in a fetal position and cry for mommy.

Last summer I saw a 3 year old boy fall off the edge of the ring face first into the concrete. His head bounced hard enough to give me chills. He stood right up, looked at his father and took off playing like nothing happened. I gave the father a "holy shit" look and he just smiled back like it was no big deal. That wouldn't happen with the kids I teach. The kids would be crying for mommy for hours. Their nanny would come and pick them up from school and take them out for ice cream and a new toy.

Ok, back to the retarded topic...
 
Yep. Exactly what i expected. Only in America....by the way im 17 and im poor as shit jerk.
 
Lethwei is similar in concept, but radically different from Muay Thai due to the allowance of head-butts. In comparison, Lethwei can be interpreted as being bolder and more extreme. The techniques are a bit slower and stronger than in the other Southeast Asian kickboxing forms, possibly because it has more Indian influence than the other styles. There are records recording Lethwei style matches dating back to the Pyu empire in Burma. Ancient Burma armies successfully used Lethwei, Bando and its armed sibling Banshay in winning many wars against neighboring countries.

It should be noted that the modern style of Myanma Traditional Boxing greatly resembles Muay Thai in its sporting outlook, and not the rough and tumble fighting of its rural roots.

In many traditional and rural fights, members from the audience are welcomed onto the ring to fight with the professional boxers. Sometimes, fighters among the audience successfully knock out the boxers in the ring.

Many of the ethnic groups within Burma have their own variant of the indigenous martial arts giving them different styles of Lethwei that make for exciting action.

The Kachin variant of Lethwei is referred to as soft (relaxed). There is very little wasted motion or effort. Lethwei matches usually start in long range with kicks to the legs and raking punches to the face in an effort to draw blood. As the match continues, the fighters often end up in a clinch and the primary techniques used are standing grappling coupled with various takedowns and sweeps. The preferred finishing techniques are head butts, elbows, and knees. The Kachin Practitioner generally prefers to fight from the clinch and tends not to fall after missing with a long distance strike, opting instead to follow low line kicks and raking punches into close range.

If the sport is viewed in the context of preparing an athlete for combat you can see that it not only teaches timing, distance, and movement but also the ability to absorb and deliver punishment, thereby winning a war of attrition. The goal is not so much the winning and losing but fighting hard and learning lessons about survival.

These are not my own words. I actually know a couple guys from Burma who did/do lethwei for a while on another site and they hate to compare the two sports. Unfortunately i haven't heard from them in a very long time and i doubt i will again. But i guess sense you live in a different country and you get everything from your computer screens it all looks the same.

As i said, im not looking for the modernized version, im looking for REAL Lethwei. Hopefully someone who has traveled to Burma will read this.
 
You probably would've avoided a lot of problems if you wouldn't have started off with a rant and then got all defensive.
 
lol ampadextrous..

And kids crying from being hurt is more due to environmental conditioning.

Baby bumps his head, hurts himself. Mommy and daddy freak out, baby senses these feelings, starts crying. etc. A wuss in the making.
 
Quit school now, move to Burma, and find a gym when you get there.
 
little_scrapper said:
Yep. Exactly what i expected. Only in America....by the way im 17 and im poor as shit jerk.
Click to expand...

You're posting on a fucking computer. The monthy internet access that mommy pays for you is more than the average Burman makes in a month.
 
Yeah well we dont pay for the internet smart guy. And i would move to Burma if foreigners dont get killed over there all the time.
 
And i didnt post the link because it should be right in your fucking faces yet you say its the same sport. Just to make you joyess and happy i'll post links on every little detail that might be on the internet. All my fucking money (yes including my mommies) goes into my training. I also got this computer for free. Dont go judging shit you dont know. I dont understand what everyones problems are, i asked for everyone to keep it positive, and sure enough all of you did the exact opposite.
 
Fuck... this is just getting to much. I.. no.. no no...



No.
 
lease just dont answer if you havent traveled to Burma. Im asking for anyone whos been to Burma, not your opinion. If you disagree on what i have to say then why post in my thread in the first place?
 
you want positive ok, but you may not like it.
my experience with lethwai has shown me that there are considerably less quality camps then muay thai,there conditioning and training is not superior.
and as a result there are far superior fighters in thailand.
as for heart that comes down to the individual.
i was watching two 9 year olds spar in thailand and one got ko'd with an elbow, out cold. he woke up and jumped to his feet laughing ready to go again.
many of these fighters from isan my friend have had to go days on end in there youth eating nothing but rice and a little chilli and fish sauce. there lies there motivation to fight.
 
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