I recall a conversation I had with my mentor, Bob Gajda, back in the early 1980's at his SPRI training facility in Carol Stream, Illinois, about the newest training approach on the athletic conditioning market-PLYOMETRIC TRAINING. Bob informed me that while it was effective in the short run, what it would lead to in the long run would be tendon, ligament, and joint injuries from all of the leaping and landing on higher / lower surfaces and then rebounding back to the original starting point rapidly and in successive reps.
I noticed myself that when I experimented with "plyometric bounding" training methods, I came to the conclusion that it was placing a lot of stress on my feet, ankles, and knee joints. I instinctively knew that if I were to persist with such training over a protracted period of time, I would probably end up with some injuries or arthritic problems somewhere down the line.
I have seen Bob's words, and my own instincts prove to be true over the past several decades as friends and associates have begun to complain about knee, ankle, foot, and low back problems that are just now beginning to nag them every day...possibly as caused by plyometric training done years ago. I have also seen some pretty debilitating joint injuries incurred by such training in many gyms, fitness facilities, and university athletic training centers. Why risk it when you can get similar results in safer ways?
I started thinking of writing this post when I came across an article in a local paper that was touting a plyometric training regimen that would allow guys with "dreams" to have the ability to dunk a basketball. Yeah, some people do find that a protracted period of plyometric training can give them the exstra "umph" needed to dunk a basketball, but at what price?
Usually it is an older, heavier, and more mature individual who takes up such training, and that type of individual conveniently neglects to read the signals his or her body is giving out regarding just how stressful such training is on the muscles and joints. All they want to do is dunk a basketball and jump higher. They never think of the effects of, let's say, the tremendous forces that must be absorbed byt the tendons, ligaments, and joints every time they come back down from those dunks or near dunks. They never think about the problems with the possibity of being "undercut" or pushed into really awkward positions while going up or coming back down. Again, all they can think of is "taking it to the hoop," or touching the sky!
I have also noted that most of the folks who want to dunk at all costs are usually not the most technically skilled players in the first place. Who needs to dunk if you can fake your man out of his shoes, dribble like a magician, and then drain the subsequent open shot like butter running down a hot knife? Plus, all of the natural "great leapers" I have known all succumb to the same lowerbody and lower back injuries over time...yeah, even eagles fall out of the sky in the end.
Personally, I wouldn't mess with plyometrics because of the eventual price to be paid. It is just like those stupid martial arts magazine ads showing some guy or gal doing the splits between two chairs...for what? No one really needs that kind of flexibility in order to be able to fight well. And, most people will find that if they do go through such flexibility training for 3-6 months, they rapidly lose the flexibility rapidly unless they spend a lot of time every day maintaining it. Time that could be put to better ends in other pursuits, believe me. In fact, unless you are interested in becoming a master gymnast, or a member of Cirque du Soliel, you don't nee anywhere near the ability to perform the splits between chairs. Also, the reason why the body snaps back rapidly to more normal ranges of motion after ceasing "super flexibility" training is because the body instinctively knows what IT needs best for daily optimum functional operation and survival. LISTEN TO YOUR BODY AND DON'T GET THROWN FOR A LOOP BY MARKETERS AND CON ARTISTS.
More on this subject in the near future. Until then, try to THINK before you buy the outrageous trainig methods, supplements, and promises of those who pray on those of us who arre involved in physical culture, athletics, and martial arts. It will save you a lot of grief in the long run, trust me.
************************************************************************************
Those of you who are reallyh interest in the martial arts of Thailand, Muay Thai / Krabi Krabong, should visit the fine website at: http://www.edges2.com and look at the really nice Krabi-Krabong training and exhibition swords that they sell, and the two volume DVD set devoted to understanding and mastering Muay Thai clinching techniques. The DVD's are really informative, and the training swords are the best you can buy in this part of the world. A great website, and a great martial arts supplies business. If you are really involved in Filipino martial arts you will also love this website. Visit the site, and tell the owner, Bobert Burgee, that Herb April sent you. Highly recommended!
Friday, December 15, 2006
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Life Is Both Living With The Tiger & Loving The Tiger, NOT Taming The Tiger!
- NO WORDS ARE NECESSARY-
Check Out "IRON MIND" For Strength Training Tools!
I just received the fantastic new training gear catalog from IRON MIND ( WWW.IRONMIND.COM ). I have to admit that everytime I read one of their catalogs, visit their IRON MIND website, or read their incredible quarterly magazine, MILO, I am really inspired to buy more of their great equipment, and to get up immediately and train. I have mixed emotions about this inspiration because I KNOW that many of the "strength athletes" who are prominantly in their ads and articles are users of anabolics and other drugs. I could care less about what those gentlemen choose to put into their bodies for the sake of size and strength, but I don't want to feel like I am in any way proselytizing their use of pharmaceuticals. Some of you readers may get the idea that I advocate drug use because I speak so highly of a business that the drug users also rave about. The truth is that the overwhelming majority of the visitors and customers of IRON MIND have no interest in ever taking drugs for anything. They are interested in a source for world class strength training equipment, gear, literature, supplements, and more. IRON MIND is perhaps the best source on the planet for such products, in my opinion.
The IRON MIND products that I suggest you serious iron gamers out there relly look into are:
1) Vulcan Racks II+ System / Squat Rack w/ Dipping Bar Uprights (also an added Chinning Bar Attachment)
2) Five Star Flat Bench
3) Pillars of Power II Spotter Racks
4) The IRON MIND "Strong & Healthy Hands Kit"
5) The IRON MIND "Expand Your Hands" Bands
Visit the Iron Mind website whenever you need unique tools for physical superiority enhancement. I will also suggest that you seriously consider ordering a sample of their wonderful tasting JUST PROTEIN protein powder. It is an inexpensive protein powder that will give you muscle mass and strength results not unlike what their "designer protein powder" competitors promise, but at a far heftier cost.
The IRON MIND products that I suggest you serious iron gamers out there relly look into are:
1) Vulcan Racks II+ System / Squat Rack w/ Dipping Bar Uprights (also an added Chinning Bar Attachment)
2) Five Star Flat Bench
3) Pillars of Power II Spotter Racks
4) The IRON MIND "Strong & Healthy Hands Kit"
5) The IRON MIND "Expand Your Hands" Bands
Visit the Iron Mind website whenever you need unique tools for physical superiority enhancement. I will also suggest that you seriously consider ordering a sample of their wonderful tasting JUST PROTEIN protein powder. It is an inexpensive protein powder that will give you muscle mass and strength results not unlike what their "designer protein powder" competitors promise, but at a far heftier cost.
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Waiting Patiently for the Muay Thai Poseurs to Go Away
The thought just crossed my mind that all of this current hot international interest within the martial arts community worldwide re: Muay Thai and fighters like Buakaw and Khaoklai, is just another passing fad.
Like the kickboxing fad of the seventies, and the ninja craze of the seventies/eighties, and the kung fu craze in the seventies, and the numerous "hot flashes" I have seen come and go like rainwater, THIS (Muay Thai) TOO SHALL PASS! Only then will I be able to enjoy pure, un-westernized, Muay Thai as it was meant to be enjoyed prior to, say, 1995.
The "farangs are, as usual hard at work altering and reshaping Muay Thai into what THEY claim the western public wants it to be...the hell with what the Thais think. The hell with the art of Muay Thai and it's long evolutionary history. And the Thais are going along with the western shenanigans because they are being given a considerable (by their standards) amount of Baht to smile and go along with the prostitution of Thai martial arts. The entrepreneurs are selling Muay Thai to the western combat sports audience as if it were something that was created in the seventies and held under wraps by (western) wise men until the public was mentally prepared to see such "sportive brutality" on pay-per-view.
For a blatant example, just look at the odd and everchanging K1 organization in Japan. Even though K1 was inspired by Muay Thai, they have "fixed" (and continue to fix and re-fix) the rules of the sport so that the Thai fighters are essentially neutered (little clinching, no overemphasis on kneein exchanges, no elbows, etc). In this way the top honchos of K1 try to tilt the scales towards the Japanese shootboxers and kickboxers, or the European ones if the, uh, price is right? Can't let those lowly Thais force their ring brothers in the Land of The Rising Sun lose too much face too often, eh?
Right now two Muay Thai fighters from Thailand are the toast of the K1 circuit-Khaoklai and Buakaw Por Pramuk, but keep your eyes on the referees (and the rules dictums slyly added by the powers that run the show) and watch how those two superb Thai fighters start losing some incredibly odd points decisions (Buakaw got his in his 2005 K1 Max title match loss (???) to Andy Souwer. Souwer is an excellent fighter, and the match was close, but to my eye Buakaw won despite not being able to clince and knee very much. Ah, the sweet (???) smell of the fix.
I am sick already of all the clips of inept Muay Thai wannabes on the various video download sites like YOUTUBE and GROUPER. I am sick of all the websites that herald american Muay Thai schools (??) that make outrageous clams of "authenticity" because the head of the school sponsors seminars by this or that former Thai boxer. And I know for certain that I can live without the absolutely terrible displays of supposed female Muay Thai by female kickboxers who suddenly prefer the colorful Thai boxing trunks rather than the long legged or plain boxing trunks that are usually worn in western and european kickboxing matches ( I recently heard one female kickboxer asking a girlfriend where she could purchase a "color coordinated anklet / trunks / school t-shirt / armband outfit for her next "title fight". Nevermind that the young lady is as much a "Nak Muayz" (Thai boxing student) as I am a martian. Oh, lord!)
I almost threw up when I read one guy's video comment on YOUTUBE.COM which included something about his instructor considering using the Thai armbands as symbols of students ranking. I suppose both the simpleminded young man and his teacher know nothing about the armband being used to hold buddha and birthdate amulets for spiritual/magical purposes. Man, in the west its all about looking cool and colorful. What a crock of crap. Westerners have no interest in Wai Kru or Ram Muay whatsoever...all they want to do is get in the ring and go beserk with elbows, low kicks, high head kicks, spin kicks, and novice like boxing skills. And the public outside of asia buys that crap hook, line, and sinker. Screw the history, traditions, and people of Thailand...do "dirty fighting" (elbows, knees, etc) and wear those cool Thai trunks, armbands (like Stallone in RAMBO), and sometimes desecrate the mongkon. It is the way of the west over, and over, and over again.
I recall a series of conversations I had with an internationally known and financially successful midwest martial arts entrepreneur about FMA (in the mid-seventies) and Muay Thai (in the early eighties). I demonstrated elements of those arts for him, and let him see some private videotapes of Filipino stick and blade training and Muay Thai championship matches. I told him that I thought they were superb martial arts systems that they would be even more popular (and much, much, more practical for real world self defence)than the atypical karate, tae kwon do, kung fu, sport kickboxing, and "streetfighting" classes that he was at that time foisting upon an ignorant public. Ha, the BIG NAME always shrugged off my comments as meaningless because he thought FMA (Inosanto style at that) was just "stick waving," and Muay Thai was too full of injury prone techniques to be taught to the average pupil (this from a dude who always stressed all out full contact boxing and kickboxing to his higher ranking pupils...what a hypocrite). In other words, he saw no way at that time to make a quick buck off of the public via those arts. I gave up trying to educate tha blockhead a long time ago, but the last time I saw his local yellow pages ad it included (along with a virtual encyclopedia of assorted other arts including Brazilian Ju Jitsu, Ninjitsu, etc.) FMA and Muay Thai classes prominently. And he now proudly considers himself to be a part of the JKD "family" as well. I guess he finally saw the light in the late eighties, stopped kowtowing to the propaganda about Bill Wallace, Chuck Norris, Benny Urquidez, Don Wilson, and Joe Lewis being the ultimate martial artists of all time, and he so, in the name of the almighty dollar, became a proselytizer for everything from JKD to Pentjak Silat to No Holds Barred Ju Jitsu and beyond. Now he is really raking in the bucks, but you can bet your bottom dollar that what he actually gives his students is more chop suey than "fine cuisine."
The comments by Hapkido, Tae Kwon Do ignoramuses in response to Muay Thai video clips on YOUTUBE.COM show how stupid most Korean style martial artists are when it comes to evaluating what the world outside their "dojangs" is up to in terms of fighting arts. Hell, a half-witted TKD or Hapkido student is smart enough not to tangle with a Korean (or Japanese, or European, or North American, or South American) judoka, but they will shout out for all the world to hear that their arts are more effective than Muay Thai, and that they have "beaten" Muay Thai students on the street and in the ring!? Huh? Where? When? How?
I get the same crap from classical Japanese karateka budoka on occasion, but not to the degree that I do from Korean martial arts propagandists and trainees. Hey, I have all the respect in the world for ROK military martial black belts, and true Korean greats like He Il Cho who have come over here to the USA to both display their considerable skill AND compete on our sport karate / kung fu tournament circuits, but not for all of the arrogant TKD and Hapkido poseurs I see everywhere yapping about the superiority of TKD and Hapkido in comparison to Muay Thai...everywhere that is except in the ring with Muay Thai boxers in Bangkok. Lip service far exceeds their actual fighting prowess 99.9% of the time.
I really rolled my eyeballs a few months back when I saw an article in a Tae Kwon Do magazine that had photos of the instructor wearing Muay Thai trunks emblazoned with a TKD association patch. He was kicking on Thai pads and Thai "banana bags." Oh, boy?
Notice how fast the shootboxers, the kyokushinkai (Oyama) black belts, the free stylists, the classical Japanese karateka, the Kung fu clowns, and just about everybody else, go down for the count in short order when matched against skilled opponents with good Muay Thai skills in K1 and other freestyle international competitions (especially when pitted against someone like Anderson Silva who has an exquisitely unique blend of grappling skills and Muay Thai skills that set him apart in UFC competition)? I WONDER WHY THAT IS? I ALSO WONDER WHY THERE ARE NO TKD OR HAPKIDO STYLISTS IN K1 or UFC STYLE COMPETITIONS. I think I know why, and I think that you my friend knows why. You don't have to be a rocket scientest to figure this stuff out.
By the way, I, myself, earned a black belt in Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do back in the early seventies. I enjoyed the training, and learned a lot of unique skills, but I always knew that Muay Thai was in another totally different fighting universe. So, I don't hate Korean martial arts or anything like that. I just wish the practitioners would just study their arts and keep their daydreaming mouths shut!
In regards to women in TKD or Hapkido; just how do you think any, ANY, female practitioner of those arts would fare against a Rijker, an Elmont, or a Randamie? The answer is quite simple. So simple that I am going to let you answer it in your head rather than write it down. Need I say more?
Enough of this rant...I have better things to write about on this blog. I will just bide my time while the western poseurs praise Muay Thai to the heavens (while at the same time raping and plundering the art in every way imaginable) for the next year or two, and then breathe a sigh of relief when the western vampires jump ship and make allegiance to some other "deadly fighting art du jour" in the near future. Then I can return to observing the Muay Thai fighting art that I have grown to know and love passionately over the past four decades, without having to wade through all the punks, poseuers, and human weasels who are sucking up to, and selling to the world, their version of Muay Thai today. It will happen. The fads all end up that way...the slick people and the con men have a genetic predisposition to milk something until it is dry, and then move on to the next confidence game don't they. Anyone out there interested in buying "rare dutch tulips?" That's a joke dear readers.
Herb A. - 11/30/06
Like the kickboxing fad of the seventies, and the ninja craze of the seventies/eighties, and the kung fu craze in the seventies, and the numerous "hot flashes" I have seen come and go like rainwater, THIS (Muay Thai) TOO SHALL PASS! Only then will I be able to enjoy pure, un-westernized, Muay Thai as it was meant to be enjoyed prior to, say, 1995.
The "farangs are, as usual hard at work altering and reshaping Muay Thai into what THEY claim the western public wants it to be...the hell with what the Thais think. The hell with the art of Muay Thai and it's long evolutionary history. And the Thais are going along with the western shenanigans because they are being given a considerable (by their standards) amount of Baht to smile and go along with the prostitution of Thai martial arts. The entrepreneurs are selling Muay Thai to the western combat sports audience as if it were something that was created in the seventies and held under wraps by (western) wise men until the public was mentally prepared to see such "sportive brutality" on pay-per-view.
For a blatant example, just look at the odd and everchanging K1 organization in Japan. Even though K1 was inspired by Muay Thai, they have "fixed" (and continue to fix and re-fix) the rules of the sport so that the Thai fighters are essentially neutered (little clinching, no overemphasis on kneein exchanges, no elbows, etc). In this way the top honchos of K1 try to tilt the scales towards the Japanese shootboxers and kickboxers, or the European ones if the, uh, price is right? Can't let those lowly Thais force their ring brothers in the Land of The Rising Sun lose too much face too often, eh?
Right now two Muay Thai fighters from Thailand are the toast of the K1 circuit-Khaoklai and Buakaw Por Pramuk, but keep your eyes on the referees (and the rules dictums slyly added by the powers that run the show) and watch how those two superb Thai fighters start losing some incredibly odd points decisions (Buakaw got his in his 2005 K1 Max title match loss (???) to Andy Souwer. Souwer is an excellent fighter, and the match was close, but to my eye Buakaw won despite not being able to clince and knee very much. Ah, the sweet (???) smell of the fix.
I am sick already of all the clips of inept Muay Thai wannabes on the various video download sites like YOUTUBE and GROUPER. I am sick of all the websites that herald american Muay Thai schools (??) that make outrageous clams of "authenticity" because the head of the school sponsors seminars by this or that former Thai boxer. And I know for certain that I can live without the absolutely terrible displays of supposed female Muay Thai by female kickboxers who suddenly prefer the colorful Thai boxing trunks rather than the long legged or plain boxing trunks that are usually worn in western and european kickboxing matches ( I recently heard one female kickboxer asking a girlfriend where she could purchase a "color coordinated anklet / trunks / school t-shirt / armband outfit for her next "title fight". Nevermind that the young lady is as much a "Nak Muayz" (Thai boxing student) as I am a martian. Oh, lord!)
I almost threw up when I read one guy's video comment on YOUTUBE.COM which included something about his instructor considering using the Thai armbands as symbols of students ranking. I suppose both the simpleminded young man and his teacher know nothing about the armband being used to hold buddha and birthdate amulets for spiritual/magical purposes. Man, in the west its all about looking cool and colorful. What a crock of crap. Westerners have no interest in Wai Kru or Ram Muay whatsoever...all they want to do is get in the ring and go beserk with elbows, low kicks, high head kicks, spin kicks, and novice like boxing skills. And the public outside of asia buys that crap hook, line, and sinker. Screw the history, traditions, and people of Thailand...do "dirty fighting" (elbows, knees, etc) and wear those cool Thai trunks, armbands (like Stallone in RAMBO), and sometimes desecrate the mongkon. It is the way of the west over, and over, and over again.
I recall a series of conversations I had with an internationally known and financially successful midwest martial arts entrepreneur about FMA (in the mid-seventies) and Muay Thai (in the early eighties). I demonstrated elements of those arts for him, and let him see some private videotapes of Filipino stick and blade training and Muay Thai championship matches. I told him that I thought they were superb martial arts systems that they would be even more popular (and much, much, more practical for real world self defence)than the atypical karate, tae kwon do, kung fu, sport kickboxing, and "streetfighting" classes that he was at that time foisting upon an ignorant public. Ha, the BIG NAME always shrugged off my comments as meaningless because he thought FMA (Inosanto style at that) was just "stick waving," and Muay Thai was too full of injury prone techniques to be taught to the average pupil (this from a dude who always stressed all out full contact boxing and kickboxing to his higher ranking pupils...what a hypocrite). In other words, he saw no way at that time to make a quick buck off of the public via those arts. I gave up trying to educate tha blockhead a long time ago, but the last time I saw his local yellow pages ad it included (along with a virtual encyclopedia of assorted other arts including Brazilian Ju Jitsu, Ninjitsu, etc.) FMA and Muay Thai classes prominently. And he now proudly considers himself to be a part of the JKD "family" as well. I guess he finally saw the light in the late eighties, stopped kowtowing to the propaganda about Bill Wallace, Chuck Norris, Benny Urquidez, Don Wilson, and Joe Lewis being the ultimate martial artists of all time, and he so, in the name of the almighty dollar, became a proselytizer for everything from JKD to Pentjak Silat to No Holds Barred Ju Jitsu and beyond. Now he is really raking in the bucks, but you can bet your bottom dollar that what he actually gives his students is more chop suey than "fine cuisine."
The comments by Hapkido, Tae Kwon Do ignoramuses in response to Muay Thai video clips on YOUTUBE.COM show how stupid most Korean style martial artists are when it comes to evaluating what the world outside their "dojangs" is up to in terms of fighting arts. Hell, a half-witted TKD or Hapkido student is smart enough not to tangle with a Korean (or Japanese, or European, or North American, or South American) judoka, but they will shout out for all the world to hear that their arts are more effective than Muay Thai, and that they have "beaten" Muay Thai students on the street and in the ring!? Huh? Where? When? How?
I get the same crap from classical Japanese karateka budoka on occasion, but not to the degree that I do from Korean martial arts propagandists and trainees. Hey, I have all the respect in the world for ROK military martial black belts, and true Korean greats like He Il Cho who have come over here to the USA to both display their considerable skill AND compete on our sport karate / kung fu tournament circuits, but not for all of the arrogant TKD and Hapkido poseurs I see everywhere yapping about the superiority of TKD and Hapkido in comparison to Muay Thai...everywhere that is except in the ring with Muay Thai boxers in Bangkok. Lip service far exceeds their actual fighting prowess 99.9% of the time.
I really rolled my eyeballs a few months back when I saw an article in a Tae Kwon Do magazine that had photos of the instructor wearing Muay Thai trunks emblazoned with a TKD association patch. He was kicking on Thai pads and Thai "banana bags." Oh, boy?
Notice how fast the shootboxers, the kyokushinkai (Oyama) black belts, the free stylists, the classical Japanese karateka, the Kung fu clowns, and just about everybody else, go down for the count in short order when matched against skilled opponents with good Muay Thai skills in K1 and other freestyle international competitions (especially when pitted against someone like Anderson Silva who has an exquisitely unique blend of grappling skills and Muay Thai skills that set him apart in UFC competition)? I WONDER WHY THAT IS? I ALSO WONDER WHY THERE ARE NO TKD OR HAPKIDO STYLISTS IN K1 or UFC STYLE COMPETITIONS. I think I know why, and I think that you my friend knows why. You don't have to be a rocket scientest to figure this stuff out.
By the way, I, myself, earned a black belt in Chung Do Kwan Tae Kwon Do back in the early seventies. I enjoyed the training, and learned a lot of unique skills, but I always knew that Muay Thai was in another totally different fighting universe. So, I don't hate Korean martial arts or anything like that. I just wish the practitioners would just study their arts and keep their daydreaming mouths shut!
In regards to women in TKD or Hapkido; just how do you think any, ANY, female practitioner of those arts would fare against a Rijker, an Elmont, or a Randamie? The answer is quite simple. So simple that I am going to let you answer it in your head rather than write it down. Need I say more?
Enough of this rant...I have better things to write about on this blog. I will just bide my time while the western poseurs praise Muay Thai to the heavens (while at the same time raping and plundering the art in every way imaginable) for the next year or two, and then breathe a sigh of relief when the western vampires jump ship and make allegiance to some other "deadly fighting art du jour" in the near future. Then I can return to observing the Muay Thai fighting art that I have grown to know and love passionately over the past four decades, without having to wade through all the punks, poseuers, and human weasels who are sucking up to, and selling to the world, their version of Muay Thai today. It will happen. The fads all end up that way...the slick people and the con men have a genetic predisposition to milk something until it is dry, and then move on to the next confidence game don't they. Anyone out there interested in buying "rare dutch tulips?" That's a joke dear readers.
Herb A. - 11/30/06
Monday, November 27, 2006
Check Out Jim Bryan's Martial Arts & Iron Game Website
1. Reduce the likelihood and severity of injury.
2. Stimulate positive physiological adaptations.
3. Improve confidence and mental toughness.
1. Safety.
2. Efficiency.
3. Effectiveness.
These Goals also work for the General Population.
Bryan Strength & Conditioning
"The Strength Department"
Jim Bryan
Everyone who has an interest in this blogsite should check out Jim Bryan's site and services at: http://hometown.aol.com/macthai/myhomepagebusiness.html
Jim is an iron man, a martial arts man, a family man, a military man, and a man's man. If you live in Florida you should definately check him out for training knowledge. He is especially well versed in personal knowledge regarding Arthur Jones and the Nautilus Machine legacy. He is a trainer you can trust!
Monday, November 20, 2006
Throwing Out The Garbage (and classical messes)
Asl I look bak on my many, many years of involvement in martial art's, combat arts, combat sports, and athletics in general (46 years and counting), I have finally concluded that the only training that was truly functional and useful in the real world was when I boxed, trained in Muay Thai, learned elements of Non-Classical Gung Fu, and the glimpse into JKD (that I received in California at the old Filipino Kali Academy), and the filipino stick, blade and fist arts.
The time I spent in deep involvement with Tae Kwon Do, Japanese Karate Do, Kyokushinkai Karate Do, Kung fu, and other sidelines, was time I would have been better off spending in refining my boxing and Muay Thai, Krabi-Krabong, and FMA skills.
I spent a good number of years trying to get to the roots of the Wing Chun system. The confusion it engendered in me can be summed up by checking out the seemingly endless number of Wing chun techniques, skills, strategies, etc. presented by Randy williams in all of his books and videos. Functional combat skill is not that complicated! No wonder Bruce Lee called it a great style, but a flawed style. Wing Chun is much ado about very little. That is not to say that it doesn't work, or that it is not an effective system of self defense. But, my friends, good basic western boxing skills are just as effectiv (if not moreso) on the street and in the ring. Add Muay thai elbows, knees, and shin kicks, and what more do you need?
Hey, if you have a lot of time, and a lot of money to spare, you, too, can travel the world in search of the "secrets???" of Wing Chun, or any other Kung Fu or Karate system. It's your time, and your money. But if you want to get to the heart of hand to hand fighting, master boxing, Muay Thai, and FMA. Once you have that stuff down pat you will be a formidable warrior who also has a few bucks in his pocket. Classical martial arts training has it's place, but it is not worth the time or money that some individuals are led to believe it has. Trust me.
Also, remember that you don't have to involve lyourself in the competitive aspects of western boxing, Muay Thai, FMA, etc. in order to evolve as a fighter. You do have to spar with a lot of folks in order to refine your skills, but that beats shadowboxing and endless forms that most martial artists indulge themselves in on top of non, light, or moderate contact sparring. It's no wonder that martial artists get their butts handed to them in Muay Thai rings, boxing rings, and back-alleys every day of the week (it is even worse for female martial artists who quite often find out just how ineffective their "brown(???) and black belt(???) skills are in the real world).
More on this subject soon. Suffice to say that most martial arts training avaliable in the west (or in the east for that matter) is bull when it comes to being true "martial" arts. Just my opinion.
P.S. A classical budo practicing friend of mind once asked me if I thought I would fare well in a matchup with a skilled swordsman. I told him, OF COURSE I WOULD FARE WELL PROVIDED MY TRUST "TWELVE GUAGE" DIDN'T MISFIRE, AND MY "COLT 1911 OR GLOCK" DIDN'T JAM!"
The time I spent in deep involvement with Tae Kwon Do, Japanese Karate Do, Kyokushinkai Karate Do, Kung fu, and other sidelines, was time I would have been better off spending in refining my boxing and Muay Thai, Krabi-Krabong, and FMA skills.
I spent a good number of years trying to get to the roots of the Wing Chun system. The confusion it engendered in me can be summed up by checking out the seemingly endless number of Wing chun techniques, skills, strategies, etc. presented by Randy williams in all of his books and videos. Functional combat skill is not that complicated! No wonder Bruce Lee called it a great style, but a flawed style. Wing Chun is much ado about very little. That is not to say that it doesn't work, or that it is not an effective system of self defense. But, my friends, good basic western boxing skills are just as effectiv (if not moreso) on the street and in the ring. Add Muay thai elbows, knees, and shin kicks, and what more do you need?
Hey, if you have a lot of time, and a lot of money to spare, you, too, can travel the world in search of the "secrets???" of Wing Chun, or any other Kung Fu or Karate system. It's your time, and your money. But if you want to get to the heart of hand to hand fighting, master boxing, Muay Thai, and FMA. Once you have that stuff down pat you will be a formidable warrior who also has a few bucks in his pocket. Classical martial arts training has it's place, but it is not worth the time or money that some individuals are led to believe it has. Trust me.
Also, remember that you don't have to involve lyourself in the competitive aspects of western boxing, Muay Thai, FMA, etc. in order to evolve as a fighter. You do have to spar with a lot of folks in order to refine your skills, but that beats shadowboxing and endless forms that most martial artists indulge themselves in on top of non, light, or moderate contact sparring. It's no wonder that martial artists get their butts handed to them in Muay Thai rings, boxing rings, and back-alleys every day of the week (it is even worse for female martial artists who quite often find out just how ineffective their "brown(???) and black belt(???) skills are in the real world).
More on this subject soon. Suffice to say that most martial arts training avaliable in the west (or in the east for that matter) is bull when it comes to being true "martial" arts. Just my opinion.
P.S. A classical budo practicing friend of mind once asked me if I thought I would fare well in a matchup with a skilled swordsman. I told him, OF COURSE I WOULD FARE WELL PROVIDED MY TRUST "TWELVE GUAGE" DIDN'T MISFIRE, AND MY "COLT 1911 OR GLOCK" DIDN'T JAM!"
The Best Holiday Gift For Your Martial Arts Friends!
The best book you can give as a gift to your martial arts friends and teachers is MUAY THAI:THE BOXERS OF THAILAND by Jeremy Skaggs. buy it now, and thank me later! This is the best I've seen on Muay thai or any martial arts in my entire 45+ years of involvement in martial arts and combat sports!
Check it out, and purchase it, at:http://MTBoxers.com"
************************************************************************************
While I have the time I might as well state that when it comes to the best of the bes female fighting arts warriors on the planet...they are Ilonka Elmont and Germaine Randamie, who both live in The Netherlands (Holland). Check them out on YOUTUBE.COM. Ms. Elmont has a cool website at: "http://killer-queen.nl"
Of course, the greatest female fighting warrior of all times is the one and only LUCIA RIJKER, who was also a native of The Netherlands (she is now based in California, USA...check out her website at: http://www.luciarijker.net"
She was / is the true female queen of the ring without question.
Check it out, and purchase it, at:http://MTBoxers.com"
************************************************************************************
While I have the time I might as well state that when it comes to the best of the bes female fighting arts warriors on the planet...they are Ilonka Elmont and Germaine Randamie, who both live in The Netherlands (Holland). Check them out on YOUTUBE.COM. Ms. Elmont has a cool website at: "http://killer-queen.nl"
Of course, the greatest female fighting warrior of all times is the one and only LUCIA RIJKER, who was also a native of The Netherlands (she is now based in California, USA...check out her website at: http://www.luciarijker.net"
She was / is the true female queen of the ring without question.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Superb New Muay Thai Book by Jeremy Skaggs
If you love Muay Thai (and all things Thai like the people, the culture, the food, the architecture, and most of all the Thai martial arts) like I do, there is an exciting new book out on the sport and it's participants by Jeremy Skaggs titled:
MUAY THAI: THE BOXERS OF THAILAND
This is perhaps the best ever photo documentary publication on the sport and art of MUAY THAI as actually practiced by Thai's in Thailand. You have to add it to your martial arts books collection. It is priceless. Visit the following link for more info, and for information on how to order the book directly from the author, Jeremy Skaggs: "http://MTBoxers.com"
Monday, October 23, 2006
Sting #7-New Muay Thai Books & Women in Muay Thai
First of all let me say that I am not a "politically correct" individual who will say or do things just to please, and/or appease others. So, those of you who get angered when someone writes something "negative" about female participation in any facet of martial arts, prepare yourselves.
Yesterday, Sunday, October 22, 2006, I did a few hours of browsing at a local Barnes & Noble bookstore, and a local Borders bookstore. I wanted to check out the latest books on Muay Thai and martial arts in general. It is great to be able to walk into a bookstore, pick out a stack of brand new books, buy a cup of tea and pastry, and then sit down and peruse the contents of books that interest me.
The first book that I grabbed off the shelf was MUAY THAI: A Living Legacy by Kat Prayukvong and Lesley D. Junlaken. What a magnificent coffee table book on the art of Muay Thai and the Thai culture that it exists within. Beautiful pictures, an artistic layout of the history, evolution, and current state of the Muay Thai art, a comprehensive overview of "everything" Muay Thai, and (in my opinion) a complete success as a book. My advice is simply that if you love Muay Thai, you must have this book in your personal library. It is head and shoulders above all of the other Muay Thai "overview" books that I have read and purchased over the past 35 years. Anyone reading this book will want to run out and find a Muay Thai teacher after even thumbing through it. Worth every penny it will cost you! As a matter of fact, buy a paperback and a hardcover version. A GREAT martial arts publication.
The second title I perused was MUAY THAI UNLEASHED by Erich Krauss. This book is a great book that is filled with a huge amount of information on Muay Thai training, pad training, strategy, tactics, and much, much more. You can't go wrong by buying this book even if you have trained in Thailand and have lots of experience. Well written, well illustrated, and a real learning tool for the dedicated Muay Thai enthusiast, practitioner, trainer, and martial arts afficianado. Buy this book! You won't be disappointed.
There were two more books on Muay Thai that I went through, but was bothered by for two reasons primarily. Therefore I won't reveal the titles or the authors names because that would be a putdown of their considerable efforts. What I am saying is that the other two books were well put together, well written, comprehensive, informative, and well photographed, but they struck a wrong nerve in me because of the aforementioned "two reasons" why I was personally bothered by the books. The "two reasons" are:
1) Both books had quite a few pictures of female Muay Thai practitioners. Nothing wrong with that, but what irked me was that most of the photos of females showed the ladies smiling angelically as they looslely and gracefully posed punching and kicking pads, bags, or a sparring partner. Those pictures are a joke! Hey, I love to look at pictures of beautiful, smiling, athletic looking women. But, I draw the line at "cutesy" pictures of models who give the impression that Muay Thai is "perfect" for "powderpuffs" who want to study Muay Thai in full makeup without mussing up their costly hairdos, or breaking manicured fingernails, or even breaking a sweat.
Ridiculous! Look, I realize that there are "commercial considerations" that go into publishing a successful book of any sort, but there should be some limits. What is wrong with showing some women really going at it in training or in the ring? Or is this the only way that the authors think that females can be drawn into Muay Thai training?
Also, I noted that the authors had very little to say about women in Muay Thai other than to cover their "politically correct" kowtowing to those who feel that all women should be able to engage in Muay Thai even if they are not mentally, physically, or spiritually "geared" to such study. That is precisely the attitude that has created the pathetic "sports" of women's boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai.
The truth is that 90% (at the very least) of women involved in contact / combat sports are NOT WORTH WATCHING or PAYING TO WATCH! That is the bottomline, unadorned truth. The handful of really well trained, skilled, focused, aggressive, and have the physical makeup necessary to become real fighters are few and far between. Since the overwhelming majority of females involved in boxing, kickboxing, or Muay Thai simply don't have "IT," what is the point (other than the fitness conditioning aspect of Muay Thai non-ring exercise...AeroboMuayThai???). I recently viewed a YOUTUBE.COM video clip of a German girl who performed a beautiful Ram Muay, and then was pitted against a young Thai girl who appeared to have no Muay Thai or kickboxing skills whatsoever. Hell, the Thai girl didn't even have "street thug swagger!" Of course the German girl won the match simply because she had a bit of Muay Thai training because she was a "farang (foreigner) with money" who would take this one victorious "match(???)" and her ram muay, and her anklets, her trunks, her tank top, handwraps, and mongkon back home to Germany to impress her girlfriends to the point where some will want to travel to Thailand to emulate her success. Great business for the the Thais' and the local economy, and great for the egos of the "farangs" as well. Money talks! It even talks louder when it allows a great tradition to be besmirched and belittled. It's far beyond, for example, the Japanese tourists who visit "dude / cowboy" ranches in the western USA and get to take home their cowboy outfits, ropes, spurs, ten gallon hats, and "cowboy spirit." Incredible.
I recently came across a photo of a european female who had won a "women's Muay Thai title (??) as a result of her "second" fight. I was appalled. I have never seen this woman in the ring, but I would bet my last dime that the "new caucasian Muay Thai titleholder" would not last one round against real women Muay Thai champions like Ilonka Elmont or Germaine Randamie. The truth is that they train the european women for a few weeks in a Thai camp, then put them in the ring with a pug ugly Thai woman who is as skilled in Muay Thai as I am in rocket science, and I assure you that the poor (literally and figuratively) Thai girl will go down to defeat so that the european woman can go back home with Thai boxing training gear and a shiny new title belt! The whole affair is not much better than the prostitution that goes on 24/7 on Soi Cowboy. Disgusting!
2) The second reason why the other unnamed books bothered me is because the vast majority of the photos in the books were of blond haired, blue eyed, "farang" practitioners and teachers. To be concise, straightforward, and brutally blunt, I must say that when I open a book on Muay Thai I want to primarily see Thai's in the photos. I am a person of color, but I don't want to try and digest a general overview of Muay Thai that features "primarily" individuals of color or caucasians rather than the Thai people and warriors that are the history, heart, and soul of Muay Thai!
I have no problem with, for example, a book on a non-Thai fighter or champion who is presenting an overview of his, or her, career, training, and personal biography. If Ramon Dekker, Rob Kaman, or Ernesto Hoost wanted to put out a book on their "expression" and interpretation of Muay Thai, and they want to use non-Thai models, that is cool by me ( though I would hope that they would at least pay homage in some small way to the Thai culture and warriors that inspired them to learn the art ). Yet, when it comes to a generalized overview of the art of Muay Thai, I just find it hard to have to put up with page after page of illustrations of non-Thai practitioners and teachers that gives the impression that the "farangs" now rule and own" the art of Muay Thai. Such presentations are stomach turning in my opinions. Where is the balance of true respect for an art when the birthplace, teachers, and practitioners, and masters of the art are give short shrift from start to finish of the publication. Ah, but that is the way of the western mind in a nutshell; find an interesting activity in another culture, learn it by paying the "natives" the requisite "wampum (trinkets and cash)," then "creating (???)" a "new and improved western version" of the activity, and then fleecing the local yokels who don't know any better! Think back to all of the europeans and americans who had the gall and audacity to open karate and kung-ful schools (???) in the sixties and seventies with little or no knowledge of real asian martial arts or self defense methods. Think of all the tenth (and beyond) degree american and european masters that were teaching (???) their gullible and ignorant fellow countrymen. Books like the unnamed two that I read DO HAVE VALID AND USEFUL information to share with the world, but the racism that is inherent in their lack of visual or written respect for the indigenous culture (cultures) that their art evolved from is a not so subtle slap in the face to those from whom they learned and their "pretend" to hold the highest respect for. Anything for the almighty buck! Shame on them. Shame, shame, shame on them.
.....................................................................................
NOTE: The greatest female warrior I have ever seen remains the magnificent Lucia Rijker (I reccommend that everyone interested in learning more about this magnificent champion visit her website at: . She is a great kickboxer, a great Muay Thai fighter, and a great boxer by any standard, MALE or FEMALE. How many women have you seen or heard of that are anywhere close to her level of achievement in and out of the ring. She is a standard bearer for all women martial artists! Until more females strive to come close to the standards that Lucia has set, I find little reason to champion women in Muay Thai or in boxing. Logically then, it follows that I am not inclined to express enjoyment or interest in reading a book that cries crocodile tears with statements of hypocritical outrage about why most Thais don't even want to think about a woman wanting to step into a Muay Thai ring. I personally think that not only the "spirits" are riled by their presence, but the good taste of the observors (Thai and non-Thai) who have to watch what usually is a disgrace to the concept of fighting. The sad truth is that 98% of all the females who think they are skilled Muay Thai, boxing, or kickboxing are deluding both themselves and the public. I have all the respect in the world for Ilonka Elmont and Germaine Randamie of the Netherlands...they are true warriors by any standard. I would actually pay to see them fight some stiff competition, but the truth is that their competition is probably stiffer in their native Holland than anywhere else in the world. I recommend that everyone, male or female, that reads this blog and has a true interest in the art of Muay Thai in all of it's brutal beauty, should check out Ilonka Elmont's website at: . The videos and clips from her past fights that you will find on her sight will tell you more about her level of skill, ferocity, and warriorhood than my words can. The same goes for the videos of Randamie's fights that can be viewed on YOUTUBE.COM. They are the true female Muay Thai elite of this generation. They actually fight like Thai men fight. No more need be said by me on those two champions of the Muay Thai ring.
Ladies, if you are truly interested in becoming representatives of Muay Thai, get as good as Lucia Rijker, or at least as good as some of Master Toddy's excellent British female fighter stable back in the seventies and eighties. Then I will look you do from a warriors perspective. Until such a time has come to pass the least the average women involved in Muay Thai can do is try to get those who write about them, or publish their pictures worldwide, to show who and what you really are. And forget about wearing the obviously bogus "Thai title" belts unless you have really earned one by going up against the likes of an Elmont or Randamie. Is that too much to ask?
I have seen a handful of females who do display superlative Muay Thai skills, spirit, and fighting ability. I will devote a future post to those "chosen few" in the near future. Sadly for them, there is not much of an arena for them to develop and refine their skills and techniques because most of those they "compete" with are incompetent, poorly skilled, or ineptly taught. Who wants to see even a truly gifted female champion pitted against a female "stiff, or lady bum of the month?" I don't.
One more point I'd like to get across; Whereas for men involved in Muay Thai ring competition in Thailand, there literally thousands of Nak Muayz who can give them hell to deal with in the ring. The same cannot be said for the Thai women who take up Muay Thai for whatever reason. You won't find 9 year old little girls being shuttled off to Muay Thai camps to become future Muay Thai champs like you see within the ranks of the pre-teen and teen males. The reason for this is quite simply that no intelligent Thai girl would want to go through the 8-10 year grind that the males do in attempting to reach the top of the Muay Thai game. And, of course, there is no money in the Muay Thai world for women fighters anyway because the society does not think highly of females getting in the ring, let alone actually fighting. Like it or not, Muay thai is a man's game in Thailand, and always will be. Seeing females beating up on one another is not the average Thai's vision of sport.
Of course, the european female Muay Thai practitioners want to change all that (the same can be said for the north american female kickboxing enthusiasts), but the fact is that there is a cultural wall that prevents that from ever becoming the norm in Thailand...whether caucasian feminists with chips on their shoulders and social axes to grind 24/7 will accept that reality or not. That is not to say that Thai people would not appreciate and enjoy the sight of a Rijker, Elmont, or Randamie demolishing an opponent using pure Muay Thai technique, attitude, and spirit...they most definately would applaud such prowess on display. but would they ever make such prowess financially rewarding on a regular basis in Thailand? Hell, no! Anyone who thinks otherwise is either a fool, an idiot, or someone who doesn't have a clue about how Thai people think as a society. That is why it is really rare to find a thai female who can actually "fight" in Thai style. Ergo, there is no pool of female Muay Thai fighters from which western world female Muay Thai "wannabes" can dip into for true trial by fire in the ring. what you do have is young Thai female "tomboys" who are more than willing to get in the ring and take a dive for a few baht.
Those north american and european females who think they are tough Muay Thai "cookies" should first spend a few weeks training not in Thailand, but in the Dutch schools where Elmont and Randamie cut their Muay Thai teeth. Then, and only the, will they learn that they probably don't have the skill, will, or guts that it takes to be a real champion. So, German, Italian, Spanish, Canadian, and North American female "titleholders," if you are smart you will visit Holland first before you go back homw from Bangkok with your shiny but meaningless title belts. I'm willing to bet that your title belt will never be taken out of storage after a few rounds with Elmont, Randamie, or their Dutch female training peers.
Black Scorpion-10/22/06
Yesterday, Sunday, October 22, 2006, I did a few hours of browsing at a local Barnes & Noble bookstore, and a local Borders bookstore. I wanted to check out the latest books on Muay Thai and martial arts in general. It is great to be able to walk into a bookstore, pick out a stack of brand new books, buy a cup of tea and pastry, and then sit down and peruse the contents of books that interest me.
The first book that I grabbed off the shelf was MUAY THAI: A Living Legacy by Kat Prayukvong and Lesley D. Junlaken. What a magnificent coffee table book on the art of Muay Thai and the Thai culture that it exists within. Beautiful pictures, an artistic layout of the history, evolution, and current state of the Muay Thai art, a comprehensive overview of "everything" Muay Thai, and (in my opinion) a complete success as a book. My advice is simply that if you love Muay Thai, you must have this book in your personal library. It is head and shoulders above all of the other Muay Thai "overview" books that I have read and purchased over the past 35 years. Anyone reading this book will want to run out and find a Muay Thai teacher after even thumbing through it. Worth every penny it will cost you! As a matter of fact, buy a paperback and a hardcover version. A GREAT martial arts publication.
The second title I perused was MUAY THAI UNLEASHED by Erich Krauss. This book is a great book that is filled with a huge amount of information on Muay Thai training, pad training, strategy, tactics, and much, much more. You can't go wrong by buying this book even if you have trained in Thailand and have lots of experience. Well written, well illustrated, and a real learning tool for the dedicated Muay Thai enthusiast, practitioner, trainer, and martial arts afficianado. Buy this book! You won't be disappointed.
There were two more books on Muay Thai that I went through, but was bothered by for two reasons primarily. Therefore I won't reveal the titles or the authors names because that would be a putdown of their considerable efforts. What I am saying is that the other two books were well put together, well written, comprehensive, informative, and well photographed, but they struck a wrong nerve in me because of the aforementioned "two reasons" why I was personally bothered by the books. The "two reasons" are:
1) Both books had quite a few pictures of female Muay Thai practitioners. Nothing wrong with that, but what irked me was that most of the photos of females showed the ladies smiling angelically as they looslely and gracefully posed punching and kicking pads, bags, or a sparring partner. Those pictures are a joke! Hey, I love to look at pictures of beautiful, smiling, athletic looking women. But, I draw the line at "cutesy" pictures of models who give the impression that Muay Thai is "perfect" for "powderpuffs" who want to study Muay Thai in full makeup without mussing up their costly hairdos, or breaking manicured fingernails, or even breaking a sweat.
Ridiculous! Look, I realize that there are "commercial considerations" that go into publishing a successful book of any sort, but there should be some limits. What is wrong with showing some women really going at it in training or in the ring? Or is this the only way that the authors think that females can be drawn into Muay Thai training?
Also, I noted that the authors had very little to say about women in Muay Thai other than to cover their "politically correct" kowtowing to those who feel that all women should be able to engage in Muay Thai even if they are not mentally, physically, or spiritually "geared" to such study. That is precisely the attitude that has created the pathetic "sports" of women's boxing, kickboxing, and Muay Thai.
The truth is that 90% (at the very least) of women involved in contact / combat sports are NOT WORTH WATCHING or PAYING TO WATCH! That is the bottomline, unadorned truth. The handful of really well trained, skilled, focused, aggressive, and have the physical makeup necessary to become real fighters are few and far between. Since the overwhelming majority of females involved in boxing, kickboxing, or Muay Thai simply don't have "IT," what is the point (other than the fitness conditioning aspect of Muay Thai non-ring exercise...AeroboMuayThai???). I recently viewed a YOUTUBE.COM video clip of a German girl who performed a beautiful Ram Muay, and then was pitted against a young Thai girl who appeared to have no Muay Thai or kickboxing skills whatsoever. Hell, the Thai girl didn't even have "street thug swagger!" Of course the German girl won the match simply because she had a bit of Muay Thai training because she was a "farang (foreigner) with money" who would take this one victorious "match(???)" and her ram muay, and her anklets, her trunks, her tank top, handwraps, and mongkon back home to Germany to impress her girlfriends to the point where some will want to travel to Thailand to emulate her success. Great business for the the Thais' and the local economy, and great for the egos of the "farangs" as well. Money talks! It even talks louder when it allows a great tradition to be besmirched and belittled. It's far beyond, for example, the Japanese tourists who visit "dude / cowboy" ranches in the western USA and get to take home their cowboy outfits, ropes, spurs, ten gallon hats, and "cowboy spirit." Incredible.
I recently came across a photo of a european female who had won a "women's Muay Thai title (??) as a result of her "second" fight. I was appalled. I have never seen this woman in the ring, but I would bet my last dime that the "new caucasian Muay Thai titleholder" would not last one round against real women Muay Thai champions like Ilonka Elmont or Germaine Randamie. The truth is that they train the european women for a few weeks in a Thai camp, then put them in the ring with a pug ugly Thai woman who is as skilled in Muay Thai as I am in rocket science, and I assure you that the poor (literally and figuratively) Thai girl will go down to defeat so that the european woman can go back home with Thai boxing training gear and a shiny new title belt! The whole affair is not much better than the prostitution that goes on 24/7 on Soi Cowboy. Disgusting!
2) The second reason why the other unnamed books bothered me is because the vast majority of the photos in the books were of blond haired, blue eyed, "farang" practitioners and teachers. To be concise, straightforward, and brutally blunt, I must say that when I open a book on Muay Thai I want to primarily see Thai's in the photos. I am a person of color, but I don't want to try and digest a general overview of Muay Thai that features "primarily" individuals of color or caucasians rather than the Thai people and warriors that are the history, heart, and soul of Muay Thai!
I have no problem with, for example, a book on a non-Thai fighter or champion who is presenting an overview of his, or her, career, training, and personal biography. If Ramon Dekker, Rob Kaman, or Ernesto Hoost wanted to put out a book on their "expression" and interpretation of Muay Thai, and they want to use non-Thai models, that is cool by me ( though I would hope that they would at least pay homage in some small way to the Thai culture and warriors that inspired them to learn the art ). Yet, when it comes to a generalized overview of the art of Muay Thai, I just find it hard to have to put up with page after page of illustrations of non-Thai practitioners and teachers that gives the impression that the "farangs" now rule and own" the art of Muay Thai. Such presentations are stomach turning in my opinions. Where is the balance of true respect for an art when the birthplace, teachers, and practitioners, and masters of the art are give short shrift from start to finish of the publication. Ah, but that is the way of the western mind in a nutshell; find an interesting activity in another culture, learn it by paying the "natives" the requisite "wampum (trinkets and cash)," then "creating (???)" a "new and improved western version" of the activity, and then fleecing the local yokels who don't know any better! Think back to all of the europeans and americans who had the gall and audacity to open karate and kung-ful schools (???) in the sixties and seventies with little or no knowledge of real asian martial arts or self defense methods. Think of all the tenth (and beyond) degree american and european masters that were teaching (???) their gullible and ignorant fellow countrymen. Books like the unnamed two that I read DO HAVE VALID AND USEFUL information to share with the world, but the racism that is inherent in their lack of visual or written respect for the indigenous culture (cultures) that their art evolved from is a not so subtle slap in the face to those from whom they learned and their "pretend" to hold the highest respect for. Anything for the almighty buck! Shame on them. Shame, shame, shame on them.
.....................................................................................
NOTE: The greatest female warrior I have ever seen remains the magnificent Lucia Rijker (I reccommend that everyone interested in learning more about this magnificent champion visit her website at: . She is a great kickboxer, a great Muay Thai fighter, and a great boxer by any standard, MALE or FEMALE. How many women have you seen or heard of that are anywhere close to her level of achievement in and out of the ring. She is a standard bearer for all women martial artists! Until more females strive to come close to the standards that Lucia has set, I find little reason to champion women in Muay Thai or in boxing. Logically then, it follows that I am not inclined to express enjoyment or interest in reading a book that cries crocodile tears with statements of hypocritical outrage about why most Thais don't even want to think about a woman wanting to step into a Muay Thai ring. I personally think that not only the "spirits" are riled by their presence, but the good taste of the observors (Thai and non-Thai) who have to watch what usually is a disgrace to the concept of fighting. The sad truth is that 98% of all the females who think they are skilled Muay Thai, boxing, or kickboxing are deluding both themselves and the public. I have all the respect in the world for Ilonka Elmont and Germaine Randamie of the Netherlands...they are true warriors by any standard. I would actually pay to see them fight some stiff competition, but the truth is that their competition is probably stiffer in their native Holland than anywhere else in the world. I recommend that everyone, male or female, that reads this blog and has a true interest in the art of Muay Thai in all of it's brutal beauty, should check out Ilonka Elmont's website at: . The videos and clips from her past fights that you will find on her sight will tell you more about her level of skill, ferocity, and warriorhood than my words can. The same goes for the videos of Randamie's fights that can be viewed on YOUTUBE.COM. They are the true female Muay Thai elite of this generation. They actually fight like Thai men fight. No more need be said by me on those two champions of the Muay Thai ring.
Ladies, if you are truly interested in becoming representatives of Muay Thai, get as good as Lucia Rijker, or at least as good as some of Master Toddy's excellent British female fighter stable back in the seventies and eighties. Then I will look you do from a warriors perspective. Until such a time has come to pass the least the average women involved in Muay Thai can do is try to get those who write about them, or publish their pictures worldwide, to show who and what you really are. And forget about wearing the obviously bogus "Thai title" belts unless you have really earned one by going up against the likes of an Elmont or Randamie. Is that too much to ask?
I have seen a handful of females who do display superlative Muay Thai skills, spirit, and fighting ability. I will devote a future post to those "chosen few" in the near future. Sadly for them, there is not much of an arena for them to develop and refine their skills and techniques because most of those they "compete" with are incompetent, poorly skilled, or ineptly taught. Who wants to see even a truly gifted female champion pitted against a female "stiff, or lady bum of the month?" I don't.
One more point I'd like to get across; Whereas for men involved in Muay Thai ring competition in Thailand, there literally thousands of Nak Muayz who can give them hell to deal with in the ring. The same cannot be said for the Thai women who take up Muay Thai for whatever reason. You won't find 9 year old little girls being shuttled off to Muay Thai camps to become future Muay Thai champs like you see within the ranks of the pre-teen and teen males. The reason for this is quite simply that no intelligent Thai girl would want to go through the 8-10 year grind that the males do in attempting to reach the top of the Muay Thai game. And, of course, there is no money in the Muay Thai world for women fighters anyway because the society does not think highly of females getting in the ring, let alone actually fighting. Like it or not, Muay thai is a man's game in Thailand, and always will be. Seeing females beating up on one another is not the average Thai's vision of sport.
Of course, the european female Muay Thai practitioners want to change all that (the same can be said for the north american female kickboxing enthusiasts), but the fact is that there is a cultural wall that prevents that from ever becoming the norm in Thailand...whether caucasian feminists with chips on their shoulders and social axes to grind 24/7 will accept that reality or not. That is not to say that Thai people would not appreciate and enjoy the sight of a Rijker, Elmont, or Randamie demolishing an opponent using pure Muay Thai technique, attitude, and spirit...they most definately would applaud such prowess on display. but would they ever make such prowess financially rewarding on a regular basis in Thailand? Hell, no! Anyone who thinks otherwise is either a fool, an idiot, or someone who doesn't have a clue about how Thai people think as a society. That is why it is really rare to find a thai female who can actually "fight" in Thai style. Ergo, there is no pool of female Muay Thai fighters from which western world female Muay Thai "wannabes" can dip into for true trial by fire in the ring. what you do have is young Thai female "tomboys" who are more than willing to get in the ring and take a dive for a few baht.
Those north american and european females who think they are tough Muay Thai "cookies" should first spend a few weeks training not in Thailand, but in the Dutch schools where Elmont and Randamie cut their Muay Thai teeth. Then, and only the, will they learn that they probably don't have the skill, will, or guts that it takes to be a real champion. So, German, Italian, Spanish, Canadian, and North American female "titleholders," if you are smart you will visit Holland first before you go back homw from Bangkok with your shiny but meaningless title belts. I'm willing to bet that your title belt will never be taken out of storage after a few rounds with Elmont, Randamie, or their Dutch female training peers.
Black Scorpion-10/22/06
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Sting #6-Anderson Silva: UFC/MMA Warrior
I have recently had the opportunity to look at several videos of Brazilian martial artist Anderson Silva on YOUTUBE.COM, and let me tell you, he is the most impressive ring warrior I have seen today...yeah, even tougher than Buakaw Por Pramuk who rules the K1-Max roost at the moment. Silva is a very dangerous fighter who doesn't sport the steroid muscles or useless bulk of most of todays MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) competitors, yet he has the grappling skills, Muay Thai skills, western boxing skills, and streetfighting experience needed to win any and all of the ring fighting titles available in international competition. I don't know how he would fare in the Bangkok stadium circuit, but in the UFC/MMA world he is perhaps the best of the best. I can honestly say that I learned quite a few things from watching his matches that are displayed on YOUTUBE.COM: Check out the links below to see him in action.
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROr4d4oc0B0"
For those who really enjoy MMA/UFC competition, Anderson Silva is really something to see in action. For those of you who prefer primarily Muay Thai, you might not like him better than Buakow, but you will gain instant respect for the incredible combination of skills that he displays so efficiently and effectively in all-out combat competitions. I just hope that he is not broken up from injuries over the next few years so badly that he has to retire from the ring (or suffer serious injury that curtails his career).
If Anderson Silva were to make a video series giving an overview of his training and fight methodologies, I would purchase it in a flash.
.....................................................................................
For those of you who are waiting for me to continue my rant about american and western kickboxing as a sorry activity in comparison with Muay Thai (or even the MMA/UFC/Vale Tudo competitons which I personally have little interest in watching on a regular basis), I am not going to continue to beat that dead horse. Anyone who thinks that western / american kickboxing competitions have been their cup of tea over the past three decades of their pupularity has got exactly what they deserve in terms of fighting (???) competition. Same goes for those who can sit through traditional martial arts (karate or kung fu) competitions and feel satisfied. I have different interests and tastes...I would rather watch a good boxing match on Telemundo than attend a karate or kung fu tournament. Different strokes for different folks. And, when I come across real fighting STARS like Anderson Silva and Buakaw, I can really appreciate them for what they do and how they do it.
H.April
10/17/06
"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROr4d4oc0B0"
For those who really enjoy MMA/UFC competition, Anderson Silva is really something to see in action. For those of you who prefer primarily Muay Thai, you might not like him better than Buakow, but you will gain instant respect for the incredible combination of skills that he displays so efficiently and effectively in all-out combat competitions. I just hope that he is not broken up from injuries over the next few years so badly that he has to retire from the ring (or suffer serious injury that curtails his career).
If Anderson Silva were to make a video series giving an overview of his training and fight methodologies, I would purchase it in a flash.
.....................................................................................
For those of you who are waiting for me to continue my rant about american and western kickboxing as a sorry activity in comparison with Muay Thai (or even the MMA/UFC/Vale Tudo competitons which I personally have little interest in watching on a regular basis), I am not going to continue to beat that dead horse. Anyone who thinks that western / american kickboxing competitions have been their cup of tea over the past three decades of their pupularity has got exactly what they deserve in terms of fighting (???) competition. Same goes for those who can sit through traditional martial arts (karate or kung fu) competitions and feel satisfied. I have different interests and tastes...I would rather watch a good boxing match on Telemundo than attend a karate or kung fu tournament. Different strokes for different folks. And, when I come across real fighting STARS like Anderson Silva and Buakaw, I can really appreciate them for what they do and how they do it.
H.April
10/17/06
Saturday, October 14, 2006
New Post Coming Soon!
I will take some time and post some new stuff, and edit the previous stuff for better comprehension, soon!
Black Scorpion
Black Scorpion
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Sting #5
Two of the biggest letdowns in my "martial arts life" were 1) watching the "first world martial arts full contact championships" on television back in the seventies (featuring Joe Lewis, Bill Wallace, Jeff Smith, and Isuena Duenas versus a collection of international "stiffs"-September, 1974), and 2) seeing Benny "The Jet" Urquidez fighting some kung fu poseur from New York City in a World Series of Martial Arts competition here in the midwest. Both were really big letdowns because they were so dull, boring, and, overall, lacking in the type of "kickboxing" that I had grown to enjoy and love while in the major Bangkok arenas. I recall asking myself why I was wasting my time watching what amounted to little more than "sport" karate with cheap hand and foot padding on the participants.
Now, over three decades later, I am still having to put up with less than satisfying martial arts kickboxing "fights"(???) that are now called international kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and no-holds-barred competitions. Todays shows are not as boring as those two big martial arts letdowns mentioned above, but outside from having one or two outstanding fighters in the mix, it is still not that much more entertaining than the stuff I saw back in the seventies and eighties in so-called kickboxing and full-contact karate matches. A decent amateur golden Gloves, Olympic, or professional boxing match is more compelling and interesting. And if one is observing one is observing a Muay Thai match at Lumpini Stadium or Rajadamnern Stadium...ah, that is the top of the crop, baby.
It si strange indeed that the Dutch were the first to have the guts to jump into the fray and learn real kickboxing in Thailand, and develop at least a handful of fighters who could compete toe to toe with Thai champs in matches under full or slightly modified (no elbows) Muay Thai matches. The americans would have nothing to do with the Thais' in western rings unless the matches were under american kickboxing rules, and the Thai fighter were always required to put on more protective. padding than an entire NFL offensive line wears.
Check out the old Kietsongrit versus Rick Roufus debacle to see how much the fighters, the cornermen, the crowd, and the promoters despised even the addition of Thai kicks to the leg. It appeared that Mr. Roufus had never studied how to defend against, or counter, roundhouse kicks to the legs. Roufus got the butt whipping he deserved for not taking the time and effort to how his opponent fought. That is as stupid as a martial artist getting in the ring with a semi-pro boxer and assuming that his flashy martial arts blocks, traps, snappy backfists, reverse punches, and intricate martial arts footwork will allow him to cope with "real deal" hooks, uppercuts, and straight punches that will rock him from head to toe every time one lands.
You know, it is downright ludicrous that most martial arts trainees around the world still believe that fighting invisible opponents, spending 90% of training time doing "controlled" kicks and punches (i.e. "pulling" punches and kicks), and "avoidance" of actually getting in a ring to do some real banging on occasion with someone who will hit back, is the path to fighting and self-defense arts perfection. If you think I'm kidding just check out some of those absurd clips on YOUTUBE.COM that show, for example, Wing Chun versus Kickboxer dude, or Muay Thai versus Kung Fu. Preposterous! I am so incensed with the thought of that garbage right now that I am going to stop right here, and continue my thoughts on this subject tomorrow. I have to clear my brain right now.
Black Scorpion 47
Now, over three decades later, I am still having to put up with less than satisfying martial arts kickboxing "fights"(???) that are now called international kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and no-holds-barred competitions. Todays shows are not as boring as those two big martial arts letdowns mentioned above, but outside from having one or two outstanding fighters in the mix, it is still not that much more entertaining than the stuff I saw back in the seventies and eighties in so-called kickboxing and full-contact karate matches. A decent amateur golden Gloves, Olympic, or professional boxing match is more compelling and interesting. And if one is observing one is observing a Muay Thai match at Lumpini Stadium or Rajadamnern Stadium...ah, that is the top of the crop, baby.
It si strange indeed that the Dutch were the first to have the guts to jump into the fray and learn real kickboxing in Thailand, and develop at least a handful of fighters who could compete toe to toe with Thai champs in matches under full or slightly modified (no elbows) Muay Thai matches. The americans would have nothing to do with the Thais' in western rings unless the matches were under american kickboxing rules, and the Thai fighter were always required to put on more protective. padding than an entire NFL offensive line wears.
Check out the old Kietsongrit versus Rick Roufus debacle to see how much the fighters, the cornermen, the crowd, and the promoters despised even the addition of Thai kicks to the leg. It appeared that Mr. Roufus had never studied how to defend against, or counter, roundhouse kicks to the legs. Roufus got the butt whipping he deserved for not taking the time and effort to how his opponent fought. That is as stupid as a martial artist getting in the ring with a semi-pro boxer and assuming that his flashy martial arts blocks, traps, snappy backfists, reverse punches, and intricate martial arts footwork will allow him to cope with "real deal" hooks, uppercuts, and straight punches that will rock him from head to toe every time one lands.
You know, it is downright ludicrous that most martial arts trainees around the world still believe that fighting invisible opponents, spending 90% of training time doing "controlled" kicks and punches (i.e. "pulling" punches and kicks), and "avoidance" of actually getting in a ring to do some real banging on occasion with someone who will hit back, is the path to fighting and self-defense arts perfection. If you think I'm kidding just check out some of those absurd clips on YOUTUBE.COM that show, for example, Wing Chun versus Kickboxer dude, or Muay Thai versus Kung Fu. Preposterous! I am so incensed with the thought of that garbage right now that I am going to stop right here, and continue my thoughts on this subject tomorrow. I have to clear my brain right now.
Black Scorpion 47
Monday, September 18, 2006
Sting #4
A bit more on my previous comments re: Benny "The Jet" Urquidez; I watched Benny fight in a few sport karate matches in the early seventies, and I saw him fighting in four full-cantact matches. He was a straightahead, no nonsense, fighter who was entertaining to watch in the sport karate matches, but his full-contact matches were not that interesting (in my opinion) because A) The competitors I saw him matched with were karate or kung fu black belts who had converted to kickboxing without having any boxing or other "ring" arts experience...which made them essentially "stiffs" in the ring against Benny, who had many years of training and sparring experience in local L.A. boxing gyms with top amateurs, pros, and under the eye of wise old boxing trainers...a tremendous edge, and B) The sport karate matches allowed him to just go all out with his visually appealing combination of speed, athleticism, and point karate bag of tricks (kick and punch combinations done with great flair).
I was a fan of Muay Thai and western boxing many, many years before I saw Benny in the full contact ring, so what he was doing was not all that impressive in my eyes. I always wanted to see him get in the ring with a Thai boxer (of equal size) to see how he would cope with what the Thai would "bring to the table." However, I realized that the only way he could hope to beat a Thai in a elbows and knees, or knees, allowed match would be if Benny spent at least a year or so in a Muay Thai camp in Thailand under the watchful eye of a good Muay Thai Kru (teacher). That was not going to happen. And there was no way that Benny would be able to cut it in the professional boxing ranks because that too would have required some heavy duty specialization and standing at the rear of a long line of really tough fighters, many of whom could clock Benny rather handily in a western style boxing match. And I was told by a couple of boxing gym rats at a downtown L.A. boxing gym that Benny did not have a "good chin" by boxing standards.
The legendary Karate and Kickboxing star, Joe Lewis, was on top of the world in the sport karate ring and the early full contact karate ring, but, when he took on a journeyman boxer in Hawaii named Teddy Limoz, he got beat up quite handily by Teddy. There are a lot of tough guy boxers like Teddy Limoz. If you want to get to the top ten rankings in pro boxing you have to meet and defeat at least a few Teddy Limoz types. Lewis found out the hard way in a full contact match. Benny found out while training in the gyms with tough latino and american journeymen pro boxers without suffering the public ignominy that Lewis did in his match with Limoz.
This reminds me of how a handful of really good USKA Black Belts who had done well in local (Chicago), midwest, and national sport (light contact) competitions during the seventies threw their belts in the ring and summarily got their butts and belts handed to them by full contact fighters who had the good sense to spend a lot of time training in conventional boxing. They were good sport karate competitors, but when it came to really banging it out with gloves on, they were far behind those who actually "cross-trained." It also brought to mind the question as to how those black belts (who shall remain unnamed) would have done in an alley against a tough street thug.
Ah, but I digress. Benny Urquidez was indeed a very interesting to watch sport karate competitor. As a kickboxer he simply had too much size, firepower, stamina, and an ability to absorb punishment (from hastily converted sport karate competitors)to lose to most of the martial arts stiffs that he ran his record up with. He was smart enough not to actually get in the ring with a tough Thai fighter, or with a Teddy Limoz type, either of whom would have handed Benny's head to him on a platter.
I know there are those who drink a lot of Benny Urquidez "kool-aid" and worship him as if he were some sort of martial arts deity. Thats cool. To each his own. Still the truth is out there for any intellligent researcher to glean from videos and written reviews of Benny's career. Good fighter, great (if disputable) ring record, but despite his (or his publicists) claim that he would fight any martial artist, anywhere, anytime, he avoided Muay Thai boxers like the plague ( and the two times he did get in the ring against Thai fighters-read the link supplied in Sting #3-it was under no elbows, no clinches, no knees kickboxing rules, or the Thai had to wear an abundance of foot, shin, and overpadded gloves "safety???" equipment before Benny would enter the ring. And, I might add that there was always the claim that any match against a Thai would be considered an "exhibition" just in case Benny got his clock cleaned. In short, any Thai facing Benny would have to play against a stacked deck. Two Thais did, they still beat the odds, but to this day Benny denies the validity of the outcome of those matches. In fact, one might say that according to the Urquidez camp, and those with vested interests in the history and lore of American kickboxing and it's champions, Benny never actually fought Thais at all.
What else need be said! His legacy, at least in America is ironclad and bulletproof amongst his fans. Those of us who know better respect his legacy only up to a point, and that point is defined by his never having given it a go in a ring with a Thai champion under either full-Thai or modified-Thai rules. Ah, but the immortal Bruce Lee never chose to touch gloves with a Muay Thai fighter either...so Benny is in good company, eh?
*You might wonder how I think Benny would have fared in a match with a Thai fighter under full or modified Thai rules? I would say Benny would have suffered worse results than his cousin Blinky Rodriguez did when he fought the renowned Dutch Muay Thai and International Kickboxing Champion Rob Kaman...but you would have to multiply the damage that the Thai champion would put on Benny by at least twice the amount Kaman laid on Blinky. Just my opinion.
H.A. 09/18/06
I was a fan of Muay Thai and western boxing many, many years before I saw Benny in the full contact ring, so what he was doing was not all that impressive in my eyes. I always wanted to see him get in the ring with a Thai boxer (of equal size) to see how he would cope with what the Thai would "bring to the table." However, I realized that the only way he could hope to beat a Thai in a elbows and knees, or knees, allowed match would be if Benny spent at least a year or so in a Muay Thai camp in Thailand under the watchful eye of a good Muay Thai Kru (teacher). That was not going to happen. And there was no way that Benny would be able to cut it in the professional boxing ranks because that too would have required some heavy duty specialization and standing at the rear of a long line of really tough fighters, many of whom could clock Benny rather handily in a western style boxing match. And I was told by a couple of boxing gym rats at a downtown L.A. boxing gym that Benny did not have a "good chin" by boxing standards.
The legendary Karate and Kickboxing star, Joe Lewis, was on top of the world in the sport karate ring and the early full contact karate ring, but, when he took on a journeyman boxer in Hawaii named Teddy Limoz, he got beat up quite handily by Teddy. There are a lot of tough guy boxers like Teddy Limoz. If you want to get to the top ten rankings in pro boxing you have to meet and defeat at least a few Teddy Limoz types. Lewis found out the hard way in a full contact match. Benny found out while training in the gyms with tough latino and american journeymen pro boxers without suffering the public ignominy that Lewis did in his match with Limoz.
This reminds me of how a handful of really good USKA Black Belts who had done well in local (Chicago), midwest, and national sport (light contact) competitions during the seventies threw their belts in the ring and summarily got their butts and belts handed to them by full contact fighters who had the good sense to spend a lot of time training in conventional boxing. They were good sport karate competitors, but when it came to really banging it out with gloves on, they were far behind those who actually "cross-trained." It also brought to mind the question as to how those black belts (who shall remain unnamed) would have done in an alley against a tough street thug.
Ah, but I digress. Benny Urquidez was indeed a very interesting to watch sport karate competitor. As a kickboxer he simply had too much size, firepower, stamina, and an ability to absorb punishment (from hastily converted sport karate competitors)to lose to most of the martial arts stiffs that he ran his record up with. He was smart enough not to actually get in the ring with a tough Thai fighter, or with a Teddy Limoz type, either of whom would have handed Benny's head to him on a platter.
I know there are those who drink a lot of Benny Urquidez "kool-aid" and worship him as if he were some sort of martial arts deity. Thats cool. To each his own. Still the truth is out there for any intellligent researcher to glean from videos and written reviews of Benny's career. Good fighter, great (if disputable) ring record, but despite his (or his publicists) claim that he would fight any martial artist, anywhere, anytime, he avoided Muay Thai boxers like the plague ( and the two times he did get in the ring against Thai fighters-read the link supplied in Sting #3-it was under no elbows, no clinches, no knees kickboxing rules, or the Thai had to wear an abundance of foot, shin, and overpadded gloves "safety???" equipment before Benny would enter the ring. And, I might add that there was always the claim that any match against a Thai would be considered an "exhibition" just in case Benny got his clock cleaned. In short, any Thai facing Benny would have to play against a stacked deck. Two Thais did, they still beat the odds, but to this day Benny denies the validity of the outcome of those matches. In fact, one might say that according to the Urquidez camp, and those with vested interests in the history and lore of American kickboxing and it's champions, Benny never actually fought Thais at all.
What else need be said! His legacy, at least in America is ironclad and bulletproof amongst his fans. Those of us who know better respect his legacy only up to a point, and that point is defined by his never having given it a go in a ring with a Thai champion under either full-Thai or modified-Thai rules. Ah, but the immortal Bruce Lee never chose to touch gloves with a Muay Thai fighter either...so Benny is in good company, eh?
*You might wonder how I think Benny would have fared in a match with a Thai fighter under full or modified Thai rules? I would say Benny would have suffered worse results than his cousin Blinky Rodriguez did when he fought the renowned Dutch Muay Thai and International Kickboxing Champion Rob Kaman...but you would have to multiply the damage that the Thai champion would put on Benny by at least twice the amount Kaman laid on Blinky. Just my opinion.
H.A. 09/18/06
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Sting #3
In my last posting I included a video link to YOUTUBE.COM that had a wonderful training video of a Thai child going through part of his daily pad regimen with his teacher. I said that it was THE TRUTH about real world functional martial arts training...and it is!
Now I would like to refer you to a website titled "The Belt is In The Ring (Muay Thai Ring of Champions)" that will give you the TRUTH about Muay Thai and it's history with western martial arts. It is especially enlightening regarding the longtime controversial relationship between the famous American kickboxer Benny Urquidez and his "claimed" victories over Thai boxers. The author of the site, Pop Praditbatuga, has given us all a very well thought out and well written overview of Muay Thai history, rules, development, and how it has stood up against other ring martial arts.
You can view the site by visiting the following link:
"http://members.aol.com/Thaiboxing2000/muay.html"
Regarding my personal opinion on the Muay Thai and Benny Urquidez controversy, I think that Benny was too smart to get in the ring with a Thai boxer using full Thai rules (leg kicks and elbows), and that his listed "victories" over two Thai fighters is a crock of crap. Whenever he was asked about those "losses" to Thai fighters, Benny did a lot of world class verbal backpedaling. He called them exhibitions, or he claimed that the american public didn't want to see leg kicks and elbows, or some other jive talk. Lip service par excellance. Funny thing is that Benny always claimed that he was ready and willing to fight anyone, under any rules, anywhere in the world. Or maybe that was just what his publicists said? The truth of the matter is that Thai fighters were in a totally different league of ring warriors than the martial arts crossover stiffs that made up most of the people that Benny fought over the course of his career. He avoided Muay Thai fighters out of common sense. Read the article on the website listed above and judge for yourself. *I will comment a bit more on this subject in my next posting.
H.A. 09/17/06
Now I would like to refer you to a website titled "The Belt is In The Ring (Muay Thai Ring of Champions)" that will give you the TRUTH about Muay Thai and it's history with western martial arts. It is especially enlightening regarding the longtime controversial relationship between the famous American kickboxer Benny Urquidez and his "claimed" victories over Thai boxers. The author of the site, Pop Praditbatuga, has given us all a very well thought out and well written overview of Muay Thai history, rules, development, and how it has stood up against other ring martial arts.
You can view the site by visiting the following link:
"http://members.aol.com/Thaiboxing2000/muay.html"
Regarding my personal opinion on the Muay Thai and Benny Urquidez controversy, I think that Benny was too smart to get in the ring with a Thai boxer using full Thai rules (leg kicks and elbows), and that his listed "victories" over two Thai fighters is a crock of crap. Whenever he was asked about those "losses" to Thai fighters, Benny did a lot of world class verbal backpedaling. He called them exhibitions, or he claimed that the american public didn't want to see leg kicks and elbows, or some other jive talk. Lip service par excellance. Funny thing is that Benny always claimed that he was ready and willing to fight anyone, under any rules, anywhere in the world. Or maybe that was just what his publicists said? The truth of the matter is that Thai fighters were in a totally different league of ring warriors than the martial arts crossover stiffs that made up most of the people that Benny fought over the course of his career. He avoided Muay Thai fighters out of common sense. Read the article on the website listed above and judge for yourself. *I will comment a bit more on this subject in my next posting.
H.A. 09/17/06
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Sting #2-A video worth a MILLION dollars!
Check out the video that is at the bottom of this posting (just click on the image "forward button" in the middle of the screen) :
Words fail me when it comes to describing how good this Thai child is at displaying Muay Thai techniques in a training context. Not even breaking a sweat either. Compare this with the pathetic "martial arts" displays you see in commercial karate schools and kung fu kwoons in the USA and europe...hell, there is no comparison.
Yet you will note that the comments on the video (located beneath the video screen) are fixated on comparison's of the kids kicks with Tae Kwon do kicks, and other nonsense that lets you see just how narrowminded and blind to the obvious are western martial artists. The yahoos commenting wouldn't know real fight technique from ballet dancing. You can't educate morons like that because they are too busy making comparisons and pontificating to actually train, and spar, and fight, and do all the things it takes to develop serious fighting expertise.
Everything that kid displayed was beautiful, efficient, and effective. No jumping/spinning back kicks, no stiff karate punches at an imaginary adversary, no yelling/screaming/kiais, no bull! I can't tell you how much I love this video...yet there are thousands of little kids in boxing camps across Thailand who have similar skills, knowledge, and potential to the one you see pictured. The kid is not the exception to the rule...he is the norm. And to think that all those martial arts "afficianados" and would be "experts" can say about this display is what amounts to a crock full of crap. I seriously suggest that you don't even bother to read the viewer comments on YOUTUBE.COM. It is a waste of your time. The intelligent and incisive comments are buried under by the idiotic comments. This is definately one of the best martial arts clips I have seen over the past 50 years! It both impresses and inspires me.
H.A. 09/14/06 >
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
The First Sting!
I have plans on using this blogsite as a place where I can post non-pc, irreverent, off the wall, yet thoroughly truthful commentaries on some of my experiences in the wacky worlds of martial arts and physical culture (bodybuilding, athletic conditioning, and exercise in general) over the past forty+ years. This site will serve as an adjunct to several websites that I have on the internet already.
I am going to say exactly what I feel about the martial arts world and the physical conditioning world in a straight forward manner that anyone can use to glean certain bits of knowledge that will help them to avoid certain "elements," and to progress faster in whatever they do in the way of martial arts, self-defense, physical conditioning, and general resistance exercise training.
I fully expect to receive lots of negative comments from closed minded individuals who believe that they have "all the answers" already, so they will spend time ripping everything I write without simply reading what I have to say, mulling it over for a bit, and then either accepting certain aspects of it for possible future personal experimentation, or rejecting my words as something that "your" experiences simply disagree with.
Sometimes I will make short posts, sometimes I will post longer ruminations. I hope that most of my postings, short or long, will give each and every one of you something to chew on in your mind if not in the gym while actively training.
Please note beforehand that while I appreciate classical and traditional martial arts to a great degree, I have always been more of an "old-school, non-classical, non-traditional" sort of martial artist and/or bodybuilder. All that really means is that I have taken the classical and/or traditional things that I have been taught, mastered them, and then took them to another level of functionality for my personal needs. Show me a tree, and then let me take in the rest of the scenario in a way that fits my personality and my physical gifts. Don't tell me how to look at the entire scenario, or how to "label" everything surrounding the tree-let me do that myself.
Case in point; I began my physical culture career in the late fifties at the age of twelve trying to emulate my childhood sports heroes, Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis. I wanted to become a boxing champion someday just like my heroes. That youthful goal has colored my martial arts interest ever sense. I have little interest in learning a "thousand ways" to defeat an opponent. No, what I want to learn is a few efficient and functional techniques that I can add to "who I am and what I am" at the moment, and then I will "naturally" improvise upon those few things as I absorb and master them. The question of how to "master" a specific style or system has seldom ever crossed my mind. That is not to say that I reject out of hand spending several years involvement in a particular style or system of training. No, I have tended to stay involved in a particular art for as long as I maintain an interest in exploring it's possibilities.
At this point in my life I am still intrigued after all these years of training by western style boxing, Muay Thai, FMA, Non-Classical Gung Fu, and Krabi-Krabong.What I have learned from those methods of physical expression has given me all I personally need to tap into anything that comes along and captures my fancy. However, you are not going to find me going ga-ga over Capoiera, Exotic Esoteric "Internal" Chinese martial arts, or things that require a tremendous "leap of faith" to accept.
For example, I do not have enough time in my life to spend studying "soft-style" Wing Chun sticking hands, or trying to learn all the thousands of hand and arm technique possibilities that such training can reveal. The non-classical sticking hands method that I learned from Jesse Glover a long time ago serves my needs well. Hey, all sticking hands is supposed to do is give one "responses" to having been "intercepted" on the way in (in a self-defense situation). A thousand or more response possibilities are unnecessary. However, if one decides to commit himself or herself to the Wing Chun self defense system and no other, having to learn 1000+ variations of each technique would be part and parcel of the package I suppose. Hey, whatever floats your boat.
I am going to say exactly what I feel about the martial arts world and the physical conditioning world in a straight forward manner that anyone can use to glean certain bits of knowledge that will help them to avoid certain "elements," and to progress faster in whatever they do in the way of martial arts, self-defense, physical conditioning, and general resistance exercise training.
I fully expect to receive lots of negative comments from closed minded individuals who believe that they have "all the answers" already, so they will spend time ripping everything I write without simply reading what I have to say, mulling it over for a bit, and then either accepting certain aspects of it for possible future personal experimentation, or rejecting my words as something that "your" experiences simply disagree with.
Sometimes I will make short posts, sometimes I will post longer ruminations. I hope that most of my postings, short or long, will give each and every one of you something to chew on in your mind if not in the gym while actively training.
Please note beforehand that while I appreciate classical and traditional martial arts to a great degree, I have always been more of an "old-school, non-classical, non-traditional" sort of martial artist and/or bodybuilder. All that really means is that I have taken the classical and/or traditional things that I have been taught, mastered them, and then took them to another level of functionality for my personal needs. Show me a tree, and then let me take in the rest of the scenario in a way that fits my personality and my physical gifts. Don't tell me how to look at the entire scenario, or how to "label" everything surrounding the tree-let me do that myself.
Case in point; I began my physical culture career in the late fifties at the age of twelve trying to emulate my childhood sports heroes, Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis. I wanted to become a boxing champion someday just like my heroes. That youthful goal has colored my martial arts interest ever sense. I have little interest in learning a "thousand ways" to defeat an opponent. No, what I want to learn is a few efficient and functional techniques that I can add to "who I am and what I am" at the moment, and then I will "naturally" improvise upon those few things as I absorb and master them. The question of how to "master" a specific style or system has seldom ever crossed my mind. That is not to say that I reject out of hand spending several years involvement in a particular style or system of training. No, I have tended to stay involved in a particular art for as long as I maintain an interest in exploring it's possibilities.
At this point in my life I am still intrigued after all these years of training by western style boxing, Muay Thai, FMA, Non-Classical Gung Fu, and Krabi-Krabong.What I have learned from those methods of physical expression has given me all I personally need to tap into anything that comes along and captures my fancy. However, you are not going to find me going ga-ga over Capoiera, Exotic Esoteric "Internal" Chinese martial arts, or things that require a tremendous "leap of faith" to accept.
For example, I do not have enough time in my life to spend studying "soft-style" Wing Chun sticking hands, or trying to learn all the thousands of hand and arm technique possibilities that such training can reveal. The non-classical sticking hands method that I learned from Jesse Glover a long time ago serves my needs well. Hey, all sticking hands is supposed to do is give one "responses" to having been "intercepted" on the way in (in a self-defense situation). A thousand or more response possibilities are unnecessary. However, if one decides to commit himself or herself to the Wing Chun self defense system and no other, having to learn 1000+ variations of each technique would be part and parcel of the package I suppose. Hey, whatever floats your boat.
I realize that my initial fascination with Wing Chun sticking hands many years ago was because Bruce Lee said that Wing Chun was a "great style" that he had studied in Hong Kong. If it was "great" in the eyes of Bruce Lee, it was interesting to me. It was not until the mid-seventies that I began to see that Wing Chun was NOT the reason for Bruce Lee's martial arts skills. Wing Chun was not what impressed me so much while viewing Lee as the Kato character in the "Green Hornet television series. In fact, Bruce Lee never even learned most of the Wing Chun system himself (for a variety of reasons). I was lucky enough to figure out early on that Wing Chun, while a potentially quite effective self-defense system, was, in my opinion, not in a league with the boxing and Muay Thai skills that I had acquired during my "evolutionary years." I was thus saved many years of wasted time. No Wing Chun "master" I have come across has intrigued me as much as Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, of the topo Muay Thai boxers in Thailand. This is not a putdown of Wing Chun, but rather a recognizance of "my" interests and goals.
I learned what I needed to learn about Bruce Lee's approach to martial arts from Bruce's first American student, Jesse Glover, and from Richard Bustillo. Those two men pointed me toward the essence of Bruce Lee's approach to martial arts training. That was all I needed to get what I wanted out of the Bruce Lee legacy.
Hey, I have to go and get some sleep right now...I will continue this flow of thought in my next "Black Scorpion Sting" posting. I suggest that those of you who would like to expand your mind regarding what I have written about in this "First Sting," should visit http://youtube.com and view the Wing Chun videos they have. Then view the Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis videos that they also show. Then check out a few of the Muay Thai videos ( do check out the exciting new fighting star from Thailand, BUAKAW POR PRAMUK ). Then decide for yourself what is worthwhile for your personal needs, and what isn't.
Hey, I have to go and get some sleep right now...I will continue this flow of thought in my next "Black Scorpion Sting" posting. I suggest that those of you who would like to expand your mind regarding what I have written about in this "First Sting," should visit http://youtube.com and view the Wing Chun videos they have. Then view the Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis videos that they also show. Then check out a few of the Muay Thai videos ( do check out the exciting new fighting star from Thailand, BUAKAW POR PRAMUK ). Then decide for yourself what is worthwhile for your personal needs, and what isn't.
Until the next posting...Tranquility to All!
H.A. / 09/13/06
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