And Its All Over...

Back in the UK now after a fairly long but uneventful flight.  Still jetlagged and feeling rubbish but at least managed a bit of sleep.  The sick thing is that I woke up at 6:30 and got up and immediately banged out 100 pressups and shadowboxed for 15 minutes...I don't know if its just nostalgia or genuine force of habit but I felt compelled to do it.  Still, if that's a permanent change, I don't think its a bad one!
So, having completed a month of training in Thailand, would I recommend it to anyone?  Yes, absolutely.  In fact, I'd recommend training for longer.  At 3 or 4 weeks, I was hitting my stride and my body was coping with 2 sessions a day, 6 days a week (with one afternoon off in the middle).  Staying for shorter periods, you can't train as intensely - you'll burn out, get injured and/or sick.  I'm not the most physically robust person in the world (hence the repeated sprains and strains) but I'm pretty pigheaded and can train through most things.  The camp I visited was, to a man, filled with some of the nicest and most awesome people I've met abroad.  Everyone was there to train and as such, we had some great cameraderie and making friends was easy.  There was a big mix of abilities - from complete beginners, to a bit shit (me) all the way to seasoned fighters on serious training camps.  No egos at all (a first for any MA club I've been in - most have at least one or two or occasional displays...there was ZERO attitude at Sinbi).  If you want to train in Muay Thai, you can do a lot worse than visit Sinbi - beautiful surroundings and plenty to do besides train (let's face it, Phuket is tourism central) as well as a clean, well appointed gym and trainers that are as decorated as any gym in Thailand.  Plus, they speak basic English, unlike a lot of places.
So - family atmosphere, beautiful setting, great gym and brilliant instruction...Sinbi has it covered.

Things I have learned from Thailand
1) Don't brake for dogs on a bike.  They'll get out of your way.  And if they don't, consider it a selective cull.
2) Wear shoes when riding a motorbike
3) Try to train both sides of your body equally.  You undoubtedly have a 'favourite' side for every move (grappling included).  Having my right side taken away from me for 3 weeks was a big blessing in disguise.
4) Man, there really is a lot more to the teep than at first glance.
5) Elbows are awesome as long as you can manage to land them and not get elbowed back.
6) Knees finish fights.
7) Head kicks are overrated.
8) I need to learn to box and generally get hit in the face more often
9) I miss BJJ
10) Be careful about what and where you eat - I didn't get sick but saw lots of people get laid low for days.
11) Be aggressive but don't be stupid.
and, finally, the biggest thing:
12) It doesn't matter what martial art you do.  Grappler or striker, everything comes down to HIPS.

Owning the clinch and then getting kneed in the balls by a Frenchman.  Is the 'Cup Chieck' part of their school curriculum or something?

Det, my favourite trainer (and chef extraordinaire)

Bao V - my other favourite trainer.  Old, utterly nails.  Kinda like a Thai version of Mr Miyagi...but can actually fight.  And much more violent.

THANK YOU SINBI MUAY THAI!!!

Oh, and look, here I am (scroll down) http://www.sinbi-muaythai.com/Sinbi-muaythai-student.php

Thanks to all my readers as well.  Check out http://www.fightlinker.com/ and http://www.scramblestuff.com/ for more martial arts awesomeness!

Guy

Nearly there! TRAINING PHOTO UPDATE

Well, my plan to honour 'X' by also cultivating a tache of power seems to have paid off.  My kicks on the pads were stronger, my punches harder and elbows more...slashy?  I attribute this improvement entirely to the concentrated manliness that was present in my moustache.  It was really hot today and I sweated gallons on the warmups in both sessions, leaking all over the floor.
My old Domyos gloves have finally had their last use from me - not bad for something I got for 20 quid from Decathlon 4 years ago.  They had compacted into rock hard weapons and were really unpleasantly smelly.  So, after checking the UK prices, I got my hands on some nice new Top King bag gloves - I decided I needed a treat!  They're rather swish and the difference is amazing, both in weight and support.
Had Det in the morning and Ped in the afternoon on the pads.  Lots of kicks today, had some little defensive pointers from Pet about where my hands should be - I didn't even realise I was crossing my opposite hand over my face rather than protecting my temple but it has even been captured in a photograph, plain as day.  So, that's been rectified at least.
Made the mistake of chugging an M-150 (imagine Red Bull on steroids) before afternoon training.  Felt awesome during the warmup then crashed badly on the pads.  Error.  Won't be doing that again.  Finished the afternoon with some clinching practice which I seem to do quite well on.  I drove the arms in relentlessly and ragged my opponent against the ropes and to the floor.  I felt bad when I saw the rope-burn on his back and arms though...
Mike kindly took some photos of me working the pads in the afternoon with Ped.  Here's a selection, all of them are on Facebook.  Some little things to improve on in most of them but I really have come on massively since training here - especially for a strking-retarded grappler.
Last day of training tomorrow!!

With X - Power Taches of the world unite!!

Busy Weekend and then some more TRAINING!

Trained on Saturday morning, got a good workout on the pads from X and another thrashing on the bagwork, this time from Sing.  Decided that since it was a beautiful day, I should skip training with a few friends and head to Nai Harn beach again.  We stopped off on the way for some delicious Thai barbecue (2 quid for all you can eat, chicken and marinated pork!) and played frisbee on the beach, had a few beers and generally chilled out.  My plans to go to Patong to visit a rock bar fell through, so after a super-cheap bite to eat at another Thai restuarant we filled up on booze and stockpiled it at the gym and went out in search of a good bar.  I found one that had some live music on - just a couple of Thai guys with 2 expat drummers (2 kits on stage) playing covers.  Obviously what this needed was MORE DRUMMERS so I jumped on the conga drums and played along for a few songs.  I got some approving looks from the band (probably because I could actually keep time, unlike some of the others who joined in on the bongos) and I had an awesome time.
Headed back to the gym for more booze and drank until after 2.  It was at this point that I went feral and disappeared off on my bike...so drunk I can't remember what happened and I decided that it was a great idea to drive.  Bad Guy.
Anyway, Sunday was a nice, relaxing day.  Helped Jake the fighter move house and then, in the evening, Det led a large convoy of us to Phuket town to visit a massive night market there with his wife.  It was such a lovely thing to do, he had no real need to but he looked after us all, kept us in a group and made sure no-one got lost and even bought us dinner!  What a legend!
Managed training twice today as well - pads by Det both times and some sparring in each session - morning sparring was Thai with Duc (real name Jerome, from France) and boxing in the afternoon.  Thgai sparring was quite evenly matched.  Duc's teep worked well whereas I found a home for the low kicks and dominated the clinch.  Was clinched up with the plum locked up and just placing the knees in his abdomen, being gentle and then suddenly he kneed me really hard 3 times on the inside of the thigh...what the fuck?  Some people need to calm down.  Still, he walked onto a few punches later and ducked right into a left hook so I felt that justice was mostly done.
I'm still a farily shit boxer but I used some situational awareness to my advantage and kept the late afternoon sun behind me to blind my opponent while sticking my jab out.  Worked quite well and kept my chin down, guard up and dived into the pocket when I could.
We all went down to Det's wife's food stall for dinner tonight.  Det works there after he's finished training us - massive work ethic or what?  Had a beautiful chicken green curry, Thai omelette and iced chai for 60 baht (just over a pound).  You really can't beat that, can you?  Looking forward to training tomorrow and Wednesday, not long left to go!!

Playing the conga drums

The key to a good night...

Farhad and Jackie also having a good time

FUCK FUCK FUCK

Damnation!
I finally manned up and went back to training today.  Sadly, it had been raining and the peripheries of the gym were wet.  During the warmup, I slipped on one of the strips of gaffa tape holding the carpet in place and skinned my knee (which had just finished healing and today was going to be the first time in about 3 weeks where I could throw right knees).  So, after a quick break to stem the bloodflow and attempt to dress it, I cracked on and got back into the stretching and warmup.
Glad that I missed most of the warmup to be honest, as I had to do 10 whole rounds on the bags before I got to go on the pads.
The ring was slick with sweat and after one round with X, we decided to take it down to the floor.  So, down on the carpet, with both ankles heavily bound up, I was able to throw my right kick for the first time since the accident.  Sadly, its shit compared to my left now as my hips don't seem to work in that way.  Bugger.  I was hoping that all that time working my weak side would rub off on my right...sadly not.  Still, being able to use everything except my left kick and right knee felt good.
After the padwork and the bag beasting was done with, I did some underhook pummelling with Jake, the fighter who got cut up in Bangla Stadium.  I showed him a few things and it was nice to do something grappling-esque for a little while again.  I then got jumped by X, still wearing his shin guards, who started play-kicking me - I played along, checked them and then clinched and grabbed the body lock.  I attempted to take the back, X countered with the schoolboy headlock.  I escaped, took the back and gently put him down on the carpet - X tapped out from the seatbelt grip.  All good fun!
On the upside, my bespoke suits and shirts are finally ready after 3 fittings and I have just picked them up - very suave, if I do say so myself!
And by the way, Jake and Michael's fights from last Saturday are up on Youtube - you can see them on the Sinbi website, here: WATCH FIGHTS!
Jake definitely would have won his fight if the doctor hadn't stopped it - his opponent was gassing hard and not doing much in the latter stages.

Being Weak And Pathetic

Yesterday's session was a mixed bag - I got a decent amount of phys but since I can't kick or knee, I was getting a bit bored on the bags just boxing.  Once in the ring for the pads, it was ok though.  Back with X who donned his tiny (palm sized) focus mitts and worked my hands for five rounds.  We did a lot of counters and footwork and I was glad that one of the trainers has decided that I am not made of glass and decided to whack me if I drop my guard.
I decided that my increasingly knackered legs needed some TLC so I went for another massage after dinner.  This time I went to a place recommended by the gym.  When I arrived, I was heartened to see the Sinbi Muay Thai leaflets on the counter and the fact that the person who would be giving me my massage was a middle-aged Thai lady, rather than a young girl.  She had hands like iron and I was in moderate amounts of pain for most of the massage - she resorted to elbows to try and sort out the massive knots in my traps and lats.  Teres minor also got special attention - she definitely massages a lot of boxers.  The way that it hurt while she ground her elbows in was weird...it was really quite unpleasant but as soon as she stopped, it felt awesome.  Pain endorphins, anyone?
Because there were a lot of customers that evening, she didn't have any time to sort out my lumpy hip so I went back at 11 o'clock today for a freebie.  She got the boiling hot herbal poultice out and massaged the lump with it.  It feels pretty good now and certainly the haematoma seems to have reduced in size a bit. 
In view of my many niggling injuries and this new treatment today, I've decided to make today a rest day (hence the title of this post).  Hopefully I'll be a lot better tomorrow and can get 2 full days of training in before my next day off on Sunday.

Wear and Tear

So now I'm back in my room after making it to the morning session and even getting up in time for the morning run!  Did about 8km which was pleasant apart from the packs of feral dogs that were still roaming around.  Had one hairy moment  with about ten of them but as soon as I heard them coming up behind me I turned around, stared the leader in the eye and shouted FUCK OFF as loud as I could...he stopped, growled a bit and watched as I picked up the largest, heaviest stick I could grab.  A few big slashes with that convinced the dogs to stop trying to circle around me and I backed away up the road.  I held onto the stick until I was back on the main road...no fun really.
Arrived late from my run due to this little altercation and had missed the skipping (score!).  5 rounds on the bags, working my hands, elbows and left knee kept the blood flowing - I was already slick after the run but by the 5th round sweat was spraying off me with every strike and the bag was very slippery, which made throwing clean knees a bit difficult.
I was then grabbed by Pot for my padwork.  I have a bit of a love/hate thing going on with Pot - he speaks great English and likes to correct my technique but I never get much of a workout from him.  He also seems to give me a different stance than the other trainers - its difficult to get things right when 'right' depends on who is holding the pads for you!  The reason I like Bao V and Det to hold the pads for me is that they both have the same sort of traditional style and they both give me a good mix of technique and physical thrashing!  Still, I'm in no position to second-guess Pot on anything - if he says I'm doing it wrong, I must be!
Really regretting that shit massage.  The silly bitch definitely hurt my ankle...on my good leg.  I've got chronic damage to both ankles (thanks BJJ!!) and it doesn't take much to tweak them.  So now, just as my open wounds on my foot and knee are almost healed, my left ankle gets sprained and I can't kick any more.  So, now all I can do is: Left knee, both elbows, both punches.
Quick summary of my damage accrued in 2.5 weeks of training:
1) Abrasions R foot and ankle (no right kick) (almost healed)
2) Abrasion R Knee (no right knee) (almost healed)
3) Large intermuscular haematoma, R hip (still present, painful to run, kick/check with either leg)
4) Infected cut, L little finger (healing, painful to punch, man up)
5) Mild sprain L ankle (fine when supported with shoes and bandages, extremely painful when kicking)
6) Contusion L vastus medialis (from Det banging my leg rather too enthusiastically with the pads when throwing knees - can live with it but its quite sore)
7) R periorbital haematoma (resolving)

None of these are particularly severe but when taken all together, I'm beginning to feel a little bit broken.  Its demoralising to have the number of attacks I can safely throw slowly reducing.  Soon, I guess I'll just be reduced to spending 2 hours jabbing the heavy bag with all my other joints bandaged up!

Clinchwork

Another exhausting session - arrived in another downpour for the customary skipping thrashing.  I have a massive intermuscular haematoma left over from the bike accident on my right hip and its getting progressively more painful.  I've been trying to massage the swelling out but its difficult given the pain.  You can imagine how bad it makes all the cardio work and anyone who has done muay Thai knows that your hips are kinda necessary.  So while my foot and knee wounds are nearly healed, my hip is still giving me gyp.
Anyway, I cracked on through the discomfort and soon it was time for bagwork.  I concentrated on my left switch kick and must have thrown a few hundred on the bag before I was called into the ring for padwork.  I was back with Det again who was keen to push the pace this time.  We did some nice little tricks, working on dodge-knees and elbows but mostly I got lots of boxing combos and kicks.  Det laughed after a run of particularly thumping kicks and said that even when my right foot is healed, my left may still be the more powerful!!  This is an impressive turn of events for an attack which, before I came to Thailand, was employed mostly as a distraction and the occasional inside lead low kick...now he's telling me I could happily TKO someone with it, either to the body or the head.  Perhaps the bike accident really was a blessing in disguise.
After the pads, head sadist Pot had me in the other ring working on clinch fighting with a tall Korean chap called Han.  Now, I was already knackered and what I really didn't want was a drawn out bout of clinch wrestling with a guy who has a height advantage and narrower shoulders than me.  But, anyway, that's what I got.  All I could do was keep on crossfacing him and forcing back into the single collar-tie.  Forcing him up against the ropes with my forearm in his throat worked well but I was fighting a losing battle against gravity and, it must be admitted, better technique.  Robbed of my normal counters to the Thai clinch (body lock, back take/slam) my shoulders were burning out and I was gassing hard.  I managed three rounds and I was then hanging off the ropes, virtually unable to stand any longer.  Good session!

We went for Thai barbecue afterwards and then an oil massage (no happy ending!).  2 weeks of solid abuse meant that I really needed it but, to be honest, the girl seemed like more of an enthusiastic amateur than a really good masseuse.  I woke up this morning with a painful ankle - it feels like she may have given me an inversion sprain of my left ankle (albeit a mild one) with some of her manipulations.  I'll have to ask around the gym for a more reliable recommendation for a good massage than Farhad the party animal!