I got called by my coach after sparring class should I find a different gym?

[sarabhussain]

Hi all!

I've recently gotten back into Muay Thai after a hiatus. I've been to a few of the sparring classes at my new gym. After class my coach tells me that a few people have an issue with my use of leg kicks and that i'm throwing too many low kicks and calf kicks and that it can be frustrating to my partner.

I understand if I was doing something dangerous but I was sparring controlled and was definitely not throwing my kicks full blast so why was this seen as an issue?

 

[wab25]

At the end of the day... you have to play by the rules of the school / gym / dojo you train in. Otherwise, it may turn into a situation where they are asking you to leave. Either play by their rules or find a different gym that has different rules....

It would be interesting to know why they have those rules....

Were you dropping people with leg kicks? Were they unable to continue the full class? Are they bruising up after class...?

What type of people are in the class? Is this gym full of people training for upcoming fights? Is it full of a bunch of soccer moms and dads really just wanting some cardio?

At the Karate Dojo where I used to train, we would spar where most strikes were allowed. As we got close to a tournament, we adjusted the sparring rules to match the tournament so that those competing would be adjusted. Contact was expected and given. After a few years, they decided to eliminate head contact.... after a broken cheek bone, a loose tooth, many black eyes and split lips.... most of us were just hobbyist martial artists and we had day jobs. So they chose to eliminate head contact. (we kept contact to the body) This policy led to some interesting stories when we had new students join that had rank in Shotokan... we learned who could take what they dished out and who couldn't.....

At the end of the day, the head instructor sets the rules he /she is comfortable with.... you have to play by their rules to play in their school.

ps. I love leg kicks..... when I use them

 

[jks919986 11]

Ask your coach to explain the problem to you. Your "controlled kicks" may be harder that other students want... but it's also possible that your using them in a way that's not letting your training partners get any practice in. Maybe you're jamming them, or using the kicks in another way that is frustrating their practice.

 

[isshinryuronin4 4]

Your "controlled kicks" may be harder that other students want.

Leg kicks (to the thigh) score no points in karate competition and usually are not allowed. In practical combat use or full contact sport, unless used as a distraction, they must be very hard to do damage. Less than that, they can add up over time (like body shots in boxing) and eventually affect the opponent's use of that limb. But you only find that time in sports with a round system when fighting lasts an extended time. Pain is always good to inflict on an opponent but would be frowned upon inside a dojo as it interferes with the learning process.

 

[Gyakuto115 124]

You’re free sparring; fighting without restraint but not with full force of course, and you’re overwhelming your class mates… they can’t get past you? It sounds like you’ve mastered Muay Thai and you should move on to something more challenging…like swordsmanship

If, on the other hand, these sparring sessions aren’t ‘free’ and they’re about cultivating various skills in everyone participating, then you must show restraint in the use of these low kicks.

When I was an intermediate Kendo player, I discovered I had a rather good thrust to the neck (tsuki). I could stop people in their tracks and at arms length so they couldn’t counterattack. Occasionally the thrust would slip off the throat guard and hit my opponents necks producing what looked like a ‘hickey’; difficult to explain to partners on returning home. I quickly sensed my super weapon was causing irritation in my class mates, so I realised I should use it very sparingly, and perhaps try perfecting other techniques which would allow them to perfect theirs. It’s part of the toing and froing of combat sports, the cooperation one must tolerate for the sake of others……and the reason I now practise a solo martial art, in complete isolation from every single other needy, time-sapping human being.

 

[Kung Fu Wang115 145]

i'm throwing too many low kicks and calf kicks and that it can be frustrating to my partner.

When you use low roundhouse kick to kick your opponent's leading leg below his knee, if your shin bone meet with his leg muscle, your kick can cause pain on his leg. If your opponent turns his shin bone to meet your shin bone, both of you will feel pain. The worst case can be one of your shin bones can crack the other's shin bone. No MA instructor wants to see that happen in his students.

 

[Fungus104 2]

I've recently gotten back into Muay Thai after a hiatus. I've been to a few of the sparring classes at my new gym. After class my coach tells me that a few people have an issue with my use of leg kicks and that i'm throwing too many low kicks and calf kicks and that it can be frustrating to my partner.

I think the normal method in our dojo is that you actually communicate with your sparring partner during the sparring, if you want to up or down power. In our group we range from big guys to kids, and there is on single dojo-level. The appropriate level is up to your partner.

If your partner says, take it easiy, you just cut down on power. Or they can also say go harder. I have also had many comments like that, but not from the senpai fbut from the partner and then you just instnatly adapt. I think this is normal, especially if you come into a new gym and dont know all the others.

The real question I would ask is. Why did your partners not tell up upfront during sparring? Perhaps hte atmosphere does not encourage it? I our kyokushin the senpai always say "think about who you are up to - adapt your power to your partner"

 

[Fungus104 2]

Almost every sparring sessing I litteraly ask partner "if it's ok?". I also ask the instructor when i meet him, and he is tough and i go harder and so does he on me, where just eating it all becomes hard. As i ask if its ok, he usually says "for me, yes, but not for when you mee others". So after time you learn to calibrate to each individual partner. After som years, you have met them all a few times and get to know the tresholds.

 

[Gyakuto115 124]

So it looks like it’s about open dialogue between you and everyone else <shudder>

I hate other people They’re so inconvenient.

 

[Fungus104 2]

I hate other people They’re so inconvenient.

Yes! People are genereally stupid, they are best observed at distance and dialogue is rarely constructive. If you must interact, poke with a sword.

 

[skribs114 134]

I hate other people They’re so inconvenient.

Exactly! If it weren't for the other people in my bracket yesterday, I would've won gold.

 

[Gyakuto115 124]

Exactly! If it weren't for the other people in my bracket yesterday, I would've won gold.

That’s your fault for making the decision to engage with them

 

[Gyakuto115 124]

Yes! People are genereally stupid, they are best observed at distance and dialogue is rarely constructive. If you must interact, poke with a sword.

You’re a man after my own heart! It’d be lovely to meet you one day, but, by definition we’d hate each other.

I’ll poke myself with a sword on your behalf

 

[Prince_Alarming114 144]

One gets a lot of this when white belts spar full contact for the first time. Hacking at your opponent's shins is not the ultimate tactic that a lot of beginners think it is. It disrupts the rythm of instruction and it's hardly going to save your farce in a real fight. Listen to your instructor and stop doing it.

 

[frank raud61]

Leg kicks (to the thigh) score no points in karate competition and usually are not allowed. In practical combat use or full contact sport, unless used as a distraction, they must be very hard to do damage. Less than that, they can add up over time (like body shots in boxing) and eventually affect the opponent's use of that limb. But you only find that time in sports with a round system when fighting lasts an extended time. Pain is always good to inflict on an opponent but would be frowned upon inside a dojo as it interferes with the learning process.

OP is in a Muay Thai class, not karate. Leg kicks can score points in Muay Thai.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf114 145]

You’re free sparring; fighting without restraint but not with full force of course, and you’re overwhelming your class mates… they can’t get past you? It sounds like you’ve mastered Muay Thai and you should move on to something more challenging…like swordsmanship

If, on the other hand, these sparring sessions aren’t ‘free’ and they’re about cultivating various skills in everyone participating, then you must show restraint in the use of these low kicks.

When I was an intermediate Kendo player, I discovered I had a rather good thrust to the neck (tsuki). I could stop people in their tracks and at arms length so they couldn’t counterattack. Occasionally the thrust would slip off the throat guard and hit my opponents necks producing what looked like a ‘hickey’; difficult to explain to partners on returning home. I quickly sensed my super weapon was causing irritation in my class mates, so I realised I should use it very sparingly, and perhaps try perfecting other techniques which would allow them to perfect theirs. It’s part of the toing and froing of combat sports, the cooperation one must tolerate for the sake of others……and the reason I now practise a solo martial art, in complete isolation from every single other needy, time-sapping human being.

See, I just would show my wife each "stick hickey" that I'd get after classes and she'd laugh and tell me that means I need to stop getting hit.

 

[Gyakuto115 124]

See, I just would show my wife each "stick hickey" that I'd get after classes and she'd laugh and tell me that means I need to stop getting hit.

The other slight complication to the shinai hickey phenomenon was there was a dojo tradition that after keiko and over a pint or two everyone would have a packet of lemon scampi fries. The fishy-lemony odour ‘stained’ one’s fingers and morphed into an oddly familiar fragrance, as it wore off. So we’d go home with hickies on our necks and our fingers smelling vaguely of fish Suspicious wives/girlfriends didn’t need much evidence for accusations of misdemeanors.

 

[drop bear115 54]

If you desperately want to round kick people heavy. You need to change gyms.

If you don't want to change gyms. Kick lighter

 

[isshinryuronin4 4]

Suspicious wives/girlfriends didn’t need much evidence for accusations of misdemeanors.

May be a misdemeanor to the man, but his significant other would see it as a felony, perhaps a capital crime.

 

[Gyakuto115 124]

May be a misdemeanor to the man, but his significant other would see it as a felony, perhaps a capital crime.

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